As part of our 40th Anniversary issue we asked the immediate Past President of the Association, Jackie Fishleigh, to tell us what she felt the most important activities of the Association have been over the past year. We also asked Daniella King, now the President, to write about what she considers are the challenges the Association immediately faces.

On the occasion of the Association's 30th Birthday, Mary Blake produced A History of the British and Irish Association of Law Librarians 1969–1999, to which members are directed for a detailed account of the aims and objectives, activities and publications of the Association during that period. Details of the past ten years can be found in the History which is available on the website. The following account is intended to draw readers' attention to just some of the Association's most important milestones in its journey through the past 40 years, including notable events in the history of Legal Information Management.

Lawyers are threatened as never before by the commoditisation of services and the automation of legal advice. Information professionals have been facing such threats for years. In this keynote article, Tim Buckley Owen asks whether it is time to make common cause?

The Kent Law School at the University of Kent celebrated its 40th Anniversary in 2008 and Diane Raper, the current law librarian, reviews the changes that have taken place over the years in relation to user comment and feedback, and external drivers which have ensured the provision of a first-class library and information service for staff and students. She also considers the major changes in the modus operandi of the service over the last 40 years.

This article by Natasha Choolhun, with input from Emma Harris and colleagues, considers how the proliferation of freely available legal information has affected standards of information literacy and research capability in the current legal environment. Real life examples are given to illustrate how staff in law firms are using resources such as Google and Wikipedia in preference over authoritative legal material. The phrase “Google Generation” is explored and consideration is given to how law schools and commercial firms are attempting to instil in their lawyers principles of good information literacy and research skills.

In the current climate of rapid technological change, upheavals in the legal profession and global recession, Nick Holmes asks “What does the future hold for law publishing?”

This article by James Mullan is based on his paper delivered to the BIALL Conference 2009. It examines the role that social media and Web 2.0 technologies can play in the life of the legal information specialist.

As part of the 40th Anniversary Issue we are including information about some of the regional groups which have come into existence since the foundation of the Association, as this has been a particularly active area of our work. We have not included the City Legal Information Group in this article as we covered it in Vol.8 (4) 257–259.

Professor Mashood Baderin of the School of Oriental and African Studies explains the basic concepts of Islamic law. He discusses its sources, including the distinction between Sharīcah and Fiqh and its methods and principles. He concludes with a discussion of the various Schools of Islamic jurisprudence.

This article by Sarah Spells from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, focuses on the sources of Islamic law and provides a simple introduction to finding and researching this area, with suggestions of useful and notable resources.

Following the enactment of the Civil Procedure Rules in 1999, potential litigants are expected to pursue alternative means to litigation for solving their disputes. In this article, Nigel Broadbent a Director at Lupton Fawcett LLP in Leeds clearly explains the various activities which fall within ADR, including mediation, family dispute resolution, arbitration, conciliation and adjudication.

This list of sources for arbitration law has been compiled by Michelle Celik to accompany the article by Nigel Broadbent on alternative dispute resolution.

In the current economic climate, many law librarians are having to deal with enquiries relating to various aspects of insolvency law with which they may not be familiar. Richard Fergusson, an insolvency specialist at Keeble Hawson in Leeds, has written an overview of the different types of insolvency and the processes involved in each.

This is the latest report analysing the results of the Society of Legal Scholars and BIALL Survey. It has been written by Peter Clinch, Senior Subject Librarian for Law, Cardiff University.