I wrote a little while ago about plans for most civil judges in England and Wales to cease wearing wigs, wing collars and bands, and to wear radically simplifed judicial gowns. The change was to come into effect from 1 January 2008, but it was postponed until 1 October because because an insufficient number of gowns had been made in time. The revised deadline was met, and from this month, judges in civil and family courts will wear the new dark blue gaberdine robe with velvet facings (right). The colour – gold, red or lilac – of the strips of cloth under the chin (which to my eye recall the eliminated tapes) indicate the level of judge. The designs, by Betty Jackson, raised some controversy when they were first announced, but they seem fine (if unexciting, and distinctly civilian rather than alien) to me. Read the rest of this entry »

NPR

CNN

New York Times here and here

Washington Post here and here.

Full size image here.



Back row (l to r): Stephen Breyer, Clarence Thomas (is it significant that he’s looking to his right?), Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Samuel Alito.

Front Row (l to r): Anthony Kennedy, John Paul Stevens (is it significant that he’s looking a little uneasy?), Chief Justice John Roberts, Antonin Scalia, David Souter.

Let the games begin.

I love libraries – from the wonder that is the New York Public Library through the workaday necessity of my university’s very fine library to the welcome of the local lending library – so the following story in the Irish Times caught my eye:

At the library

Few State services provide greater customer satisfaction than the public library. Some 14 million people visited one last year, a rise of one-sixth in five years, according to a national survey of users [Report | Summary | Press Release (all pdfs)] commissioned by the Library Council. …

Ireland has a long tradition of support for public libraries. Legislative backing began with the Public Libraries Act in 1855. In the early 20th century, American philanthropist Andrew Carnegie provided finance for local authorities to build 80 libraries. In 1947, the government adopted the principle of state aid for public libraries [in the Public Libraries Act, 1947]. In the past decade government and local authorities have made a substantial financial investment to improve facilities. …

According to the press release (pdf):

Introducing the survey results, Norma McDermott, Director of the Library Council, paid tribute to library staff whose helpfulness scored a remarkable 97% satisfaction rate among library users. ‘Library managers and staff should be very proud of the service they provide’, remarked Mrs McDermott: ‘library staff are committed to giving excellent service to the public and their work is clearly appreciated by library users who have given them a huge vote of confidence’.

Well, this is certainly one library user who is happy to endorse that vote of confidence.

The postgraduate students in the School of Law at University College Dublin will host their third annual Legal Research Conference for postgraduates on 5-6 December 2008.

The goal of the conference is to provide a forum for legal researchers at every level of postgraduate study to get together to discuss their research. It is an excellent initiative, and the last two conferences have been helpful and informative, as well as informal and fun. This year’s conference will revolve around the theme of

Legal Processes Beyond the State

Selected papers from last year’s conference appeared in the 2007 UCD Law Review; more details about the conference are available here; and a map of the UCD campus showing the Law School (pictured above left) is available here.