Eoin – Page 144 – Cearta.ie

Chasing Paper

Posted on 18 September, 200812 January, 2013 by Eoin

Eagle-eyed readers may have noticed the recent addition of a law news feed on the top of the right side bar; it’s called Paper Chase, and it provides Jurist headlines updated every 15 minutes or so. (Update: I deleted the feed when the widget ceased to function, but the website is still there, and it is now a subscription in my blogroll, on the right). I presume it gets its name from the novel (1970, reissued 2004), movie (1973) and television series (1978-1978, 1983-1986) of that name. I was reminded of this wonderful cultural insight into elite US law schools by a post by David Papke on the Marquette University Law School Faculty Blog:

The Paper Chase: What Does the Film Tell Us About Contemporary Legal Education?

I recently screened The Paper Chase (1973) in one of my law school classes. While the majority of current law students are more familiar with recent pop cultural portrayals of legal education such as Legally Blonde (2001) [imdb], The Paper Chase seems to me to set the stage for those portrayals, especially through the character of Professor Kingsfield [wikipedia] and the images from his menacing Socratic classes.

…

Libel Tourists – Is Ireland selling what they’re buying?

Posted on 17 September, 200816 November, 2015 by Eoin

In July, the UN Human Rights Committee, as part of its triennial review of member states’ compliance with human rights norms, criticised the UK’s record on freedom of expression (CCPR/C/GBR/CO/6) in the following terms:

25. The Committee is concerned that the State party’s practical application of the law of libel has served to discourage critical media reporting on matters of serious public interest, adversely affecting the ability of scholars and journalists to publish their work, including through the phenomenon known as “libel tourism.” The advent of the internet and the international distribution of foreign media also create the danger that a State party’s unduly restrictive libel law will affect freedom of expression worldwide on matters of valid public interest …

The State party should re-examine its technical doctrines of libel law, and consider the utility of a so-called “public figure” exception, requiring proof by the plaintiff of actual malice in order to go forward on actions concerning reporting on public officials and prominent public figures, …

(The report is on this page, scroll down to the UK section, click on the E in the right-most column; the UN server won’t accept a deeper link, unfortunately.)

UDI – Universities’ Declaration of Independence?

Posted on 16 September, 2008 by Eoin

Given the ongoing debate over the possible reintroduction of student payment of third level fees, and the dangers that lurk there for the universities, a rather unnerving thought occurs to me. It may be that the best universities in Europe are not yet private universities, but Irish universities seeking the freedom to set their own fees might decide to “de-nationalise” and “go private” by means of a Unilateral Declaration of Indepdence. My point is not that Universities should declare independence from government on the matter of fees, but that they should declare independence from government in all matters. There would be steep legal and regulatory obstacles to surmount, but assuming that this can be done, it would give any universities that did so complete freedom of action, not only in the realm of fees, but across the board.

Of course, it will never happen. The universities’ ties to the government are very strong indeed, and go well past the question of fees. There are the various research councils and funding bodies which are a vital part of the universities’ cash flow, and they would not want to jeopardise that. Moreover, the government has recently indicated that it will acquire the universities’ pension fund assets; this will afford the government some cash flow in the short term, and meet a significant shortfall in the funds in the long term; and the universities would not want to jeopardise that.…

Black Swans and The Tragedy of the Commons

Posted on 16 September, 200817 September, 2008 by Eoin

How should universities promote research and, if necessary, afford it legal protection by means of intellectual property rights? Two considerations of that question have recently swum across my desktop.

First there is a new article by Michael Madison “The University as Constructed Cultural Commons” (SSRN) applying Michael Madison, Brett Frischmann and Katherine Strandburg “Constructing Commons in the Cultural Environment” (SSRN) to the university environment (hat tips: University of Pittsburgh School of Law Faculty Blog here and here). …

Teaching Evaluations – the best of both worlds?

Posted on 15 September, 200815 September, 2008 by Eoin

Two – relatively recent – posts on Concurring Opinions caught my eye. They both deal with student survey evaluations of lecturers’ teaching skills.

In the first, Sarah Lawsky asks some important questions:

about teaching evaluations: how they are best structured and analyzed, disseminated, and used to make decisions, and, in the larger scheme, how differing interests should be weighed as we address these issues.

And in the comments, she receives some excellent advice (“the overriding principle is to have a clear understanding of who the intended audience for an instrument is”) and links to further resources on the topic.

In the second, Dave Hoffmann points to another paper on the issue, and concludes from it that

well-regarded, young, inexperienced teachers provide better short-term results (hypothesis: enthusiasm), but over the longer term unpopular, older, experienced teachers add the most value.

Query: in an attempt to give students the best of both worlds, can teachers and lecturers not be both enthusiastic and experienced?…

Another small step towards Mental Capacity legislation

Posted on 15 September, 200830 July, 2013 by Eoin

In December 2006, the Law Reform Commission published a very valuable report on Vulnerable Adults and the Law (83-2006) (pdf). In May of this year, Carol Coulter reported in the Irish Times that the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform intended to act on that Report by means of a Mental Incapacity Bill which would replace the existing wardship jurisdiction with an alternative system for dealing with the affairs of vulnerable people, which will offer them assistance in making decisions and protect them from exploitation. Today’s print version of the Irish Times (but not, so far as I can see, the online version; update: though it did get a mention in the paper’s online Breaking News section) has further developments: …

Harry Potter copyright update

Posted on 10 September, 200819 November, 2010 by Eoin

A little while ago on this blog, I asked Is Harry Potter making a Parody of Copyright Law? One of the points I made was that J.K. Rowling and her publishers had sought to prevent the publication of The Harry Potter Lexicon. Now, from the Wall Street Journal Law Blog comes news that they have succeeded in this endeavour: …

Google and Privacy: the facts speak for themselves

Posted on 10 September, 200823 November, 2010 by Eoin

From the BBC (hat tip also to Canadian Privacy Law Blog; advance warning from The Register):

Google is to halve the amount of time it stores users’ personal search data in response to continued pressure from the EU over its privacy policy. The search giant has said it will anonymise identifiable IP addresses on its server logs after nine months. Google said respecting users’ privacy is “fundamental to earning and keeping their trust”.

From the Official Google blog (cross-posted on the Google Public Policy Blog): …