91¸£Àû

Shaheen Ali presents a keynote paper at international workshop in Helsinki “Friend or Foe? Law Reform as double edged sword for women. Some Critical Reflections on Selected law reform in Pakistan and implications for women’s human rights” at the international workshop Women's Agency and Law: Perspectives from the Nordic and the Global South, organized by the Helsinki Collegium of the University of Helsinki, Finland on 30 May 2011.

ABSTRACT:

This presentation attempts to problemmatize the concept of law reform in the Muslim world as an effective tool of social engineering and advancement of women’s rights. It raises a number of questions in this regard including inter alia:

Has law reform proved to be an ally or foe of Muslim women in post-colonial jurisdictions including Pakistan? Under the broad framework of this overarching question, we seek to investigate the following:

To what extent has law reform in Pakistan responded to the demands of the women’s movement?

Women activists have often invoked Islamic law to seek law reform. As a strategy, how has this approach impacted on gender justice?

Can law reform counter discriminatory plural legalities (such as misogynistic customary practices)?

After providing a brief historical overview of law reform impacting on women in the global south focussing on the Indian sub-continent (as it was then) the paper will move on to focus on law reform in Pakistan. It will interrogate the application and impact of selected laws including the Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act 1939 (DMMA); Muslim Personal (Shariat Application)Act 1937 (MPL);the Muslim Family Law Ordinance 1961 (MFLO); the Offence of Zina (Enforcement of Hudood) 1979 and the Women Protection Act 2006 (WPA)of Pakistan.

Guardian University Guide ranks Law School 8th in the UK

Professor Abdul Paliwala appointed as international adviser to the Centre for Rights and Justice at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

James Harrison has just been awarded the 91¸£Àû Award for Teaching Excellence (WATE). As a result, he has been awarded the Butterworth Award for Teaching Excellence prize of £5,000.

The panel considering nominations for this year’s awards, felt that the evidence presented showed James's teaching and support of learning to be of an exceptional standard.

Debt Restructuring, Oxford University Press, 2011, Rodrigo Olivares-Caminal, John Douglas, Randall Guynn, Alan Kornberg, Sarah Paterson, Dalvinder Singh, and Hilary Stonefrost, Edited by Nick Segal and Look Chan Ho

520 pages | 246x171mm

978-0-19-957969-3 | Hardback | 14 April 2011

Price: £155.00

First 16 LLM Graduates of the Ethiopia Project

The 91¸£Àû Law School is proud to announce the graduation of its first 16 students from the Ethiopia Project who have received a LLM in Law & Development. The graduation took place at Mekelle University, which is based in the town of Mekelle in Northern Ethiopia. Degrees were conferred by Professor Roger Burridge and Professor Abdul Paliwala acted as Master of Ceremonies. Chief guests included Minister Dr. Menbere Tsehay Tadesse, Director of The Justice and Legal Research Institute, who delivered the keynote address and the State Minister for Justice Ahmed Abagisa.

Students that graduated with distinction LLM in Law & Development: Kahsay Debesu Gebray, Desta Gebremichael Gidey, Firehiwot Wujira Fujiya

Students that graduated with a LLM in Law & Development : Bayable Getahun Akalu, Dereje Alemu Goftuma, Abadi W/Rufael Araeya, Misker Getahun Assefa, Asnakech Getnet Ayele, Dereje Ayana Etefa, Fanaye Gebrehiwot Feleke, Alem Abraha Gebre-Egziabher, Obong Ojulu Gilo, Nurilign Mulugeta Gurmessa, Tesfay Kumenit Woldu, Robel Ephrem Mebratu, Addiswork Tilahun Teklemariam.

Kahsay Debesu Gebray and Firehiwot Wujira Fujiya received prizes from 91¸£Àû University for outstanding achievement.

This LLM programme is part of a larger capacity building project that the 91¸£Àû Law School embarked on about 2 ½ years ago with the Justice and Legal System Research Institute (A Ethiopian Government Institution). The aim of the project is to assist local universities in Ethiopia to develop a culture and framework for postgraduate legal education and scholarship.

As part of its capacity building strategy The 91¸£Àû Law School ran a LLM programme for two years out in Ethiopia at Mekelle University (the host University), in Law & Development. This LLM came to an end in January 2011. The aim of the LLM was to encourage critical legal research and writing in areas of law related to Law and Development. The programme was innovative and delivered in a course model that was specifically designed for the project which pushed at the frontiers of transnational education.

The capacity building project is itself a 5 year programme and the 91¸£Àû Law School is currently running a Joint LLM in Law & Development in conjunction with Mekelle University. We also currently have enrolled 18 PhD students who are engaged in Legal research and scholarship covering a vast array of areas from Gender and HIV to Dams and Trade Arbitration. As well as these initiatives we engage in other activities to help develop a research and scholarship culture and build administrative capacity.

For more information on the Ethiopia Project please visit our website:

Professor Jackie Hodgson has been awarded €330,000 by the EU Commission for an empirical project examining the procedural rights of suspects in police custody in the UK, France and the Netherlands. The study will be conducted over 2 years together with partners at the University of Maastricht, University of West of England, Justice, the Open Society Justice Initiative and Avon & Somerset Police. It will assist in the successful implementation of EU measures in this area - notably the right to custodial legal advice - and will establish practice-oriented training materials.

Alan Norrie's Dialectic and Difference: Dialectical Critical Realism and the Grounds of Justice (Routledge, 2010) was jointly awarded the Cheryl Frank Memorial Prize for 2010. The prize is awarded for the year's best and/or most innovative new writing in or about the tradition of critical realism.

The Committee state that Dialectic and Difference expounds and develops dialectical critical realism and brilliantly demonstrates how it trumps the irrealism of the Western philosophical tradition in general and poststructuralism in particular. It makes a significant contribution to critical realist ethical theory.

The co-winner was Christian Smith for What is a Person? Rethinking Humanity, Social Life, and the Moral Good from the Person Up (University of Chicago Press, 2010)

Pictured with John Kerr and Solicitor of the year 2010 Nigel Priestly