Accounts of the interface between law, gender and modernity have tended to stress the many ways in which women experienced the metropolis differently from men in the nineteenth century. Considerable attention has been paid to the notion of separate spheres and to the ways in which the public realm came to be closely associated with the masculine worlds of productive labour, politics, law and public service. Much art of the period draws our attention to the symbiotic relationship between representations of gender and prevailing notions of their place. Drawing on well known depictions of women onlookers in the trial in fine art, this essay by Linda Mulcahy explores the ways in which this genre contributed to the disciplining of women in the public sphere and encouraged them to go no further than the margins of the law court.

Devolution for Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales resulted in an asymmetrical constitutional framework. The Welsh settlement was more limited than that for Northern Ireland and Scotland. However, since the Government of Wales Acts of 1998 and 2006, Wales has eventually achieved primary law-making powers. Regrettably, the stages leading to the present position resulted in an often confused and confusing body of law. Practitioners wishing to know the content of Welsh law on a subject may encounter a complex tapestry of different types of enactments. The next step for Wales must be improved accessibility and codification. The process of devolution continues. This paper by Professor John Williams was delivered at the BIALL Annual Conference in June 2014.

Faced with a fragmentation of publishers' portfolios in Germany, the librarian Martina Kuth was interviewed about the challenges to grant a user-oriented library collection in a large commercial law firm like CMS Hasche Sigle.

In this paper Samuel Wiggins uses the results of a survey undertaken by the author in 2011 as a way to contemplate both current and future issues for the legal information sector. The survey results act as a point of reflection for four key areas challenging the profession; relationships between lawyers and librarians, changing budgets, the nature of enquiries, and job roles. The article concludes by reminding the reader of the importance of reflection on their work, as well as highlighting areas where law librarians might strengthen their position within their firm.

The purpose of this article, written by John Furlong, is to provide a comparative overview of the Irish legal system with that of the jurisdictions of the United Kingdom and will cover the range of free-to-use resources that are available in respect of Irish case law, legislation and commentaries. The content is aimed at librarians and legal information professionals who are required from time to time, to understand and source Irish law. The article is based on a paper presented at BIALL's 45th Annual Conference, which was held in Harrogate in 2014.

This article, written by Katherine Read, gives an introduction to printed and electronic German legal resources that are collected by the Library of the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies and including those that are accessible through the web. Particular attention is given to English language sources where they are available to library users.

In this article Leslie J. Moran turns to objects that are often marginal to legal biography and neglected by those engaging in legal biographical projects; pictures. Drawing upon his previous and current work on judicial portraits the article outlines three biographical dimensions of these legal images. The first explores the legal biography potential of what lies within the frame of a judicial portrait. The second focuses upon the biographical dimensions of the process of portrait making. The third draws upon the now well established insight that the meaning of the object, the judicial portrait, is not generated exclusively by, or confined to, what is to be found within the frame of the picture. This provides an opportunity to consider the role of pictures as a method for use by those engaging in legal biographical projects.

In this paper Carole Hinchcliff, Megan Fitzgibbons and Claudia Davies review free resources that can be used when researching the law in Australia, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea. Background descriptions of the countries' legal systems are provided, along with brief descriptions of websites which provide access to the legislation and case law of the relevant jurisdictions. The article is based on a presentation developed by Carole, and subsequently delivered by Megan and Claudia, at the International Federation of Library Association (IFLA) meeting in August, 2013.

The aim of this article, written by Martin Vorberg, is to portray the approach to information logistics at a private law school in Hamburg, Germany which is a largely self-sufficient, coordinated library system, with occasional use of local libraries and supra-regional delivery services. The article describes the management of a main library and more than twenty branch libraries in the context of some challenging times and in relation to hybrid collections and the uses of electronic media.

CLIG (City Legal information Group) Committee members Dunstan Speight and Lisa Sabbage report on the findings of the CLIG Professional Skills survey, winter 2013*. Information professional roles have developed in different directions in law firms in recent years and this survey sought to map the range of tasks being carried out by information professionals. It also documented the range of skills within the profession, including skills and experience which law firms might be able to exploit further. The hope is that, by showing the diversity of tasks and skills to be found in LIS departments across the City, the survey might offer individuals ideas and strategies for developing their roles within their own firms.

This paper, written by Sue du Feu and James Lambert, outlines the challenges faced by the Jersey Legal Information Board (JLIB) in providing free access to legal information. The power of modern internet search engines has implications for a small island jurisdiction wishing to make its case law available on-line (see: www.jerseylaw.je). Having established protocols and policies to ensure a balance between open justice and privacy, several years later, JLIB is faced with concerns from individuals who feel that continuing public access to their earlier misdemeanours is an unfair burden. The paper will explain how the JLIB addressed the challenge of publishing court judgments online while safeguarding the interests of the individual.

This article by Mara Malagodi investigates the legacy of British constitutionalist Sir Ivor Jennings (1903–1965) in South Asia. In 1941, when Jennings moved to Sri Lanka, a new phase of prolific writing on the laws of the British Empire and Commonwealth began for him, together with a practical engagement with constitution-making experiences in decolonising nations across Asia and Africa. The archival material relating to Jennings' work on postcolonial constitutional issues forms part of the collection of Jennings' Private Papers held at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies in London. This article seeks to explain why this material has until now remained so under-researched.

Rich personal and institutional archives, antiquarian manuscript collections and published resources make the British Library an obvious choice for biographical research. While these collections include material relating to high ranking legal officials, legislators, renowned legal scholars and their correspondents the article moves beyond this view of legal biographical source materials. Examples of resources from across the Library's diverse collections are presented through a particular perspective on information needs and sources in broadly socio-legal research. In contribution to the theme of methods in legal biographical research this framework is offered, together with signposts to discovery aids as a way of conceptualising the Library's resource. In doing so, various notions of the nature of legal biographical research, its subjects and its source information are considered in this article by Jonathan Sims.

This report, compiled by Gerry Power, describes the process of updating the records of the FLAG (Foreign Law Guide) database. His article outlines the aims, method and the findings of the 2013 update.

Despite a lack of a national legislation that mandates open government information in the People's Republic of China, each major government branch has taken proactive efforts to make primary legal information issued within their power available to the public. A close examination of Chinese official legal information portals on the national level reveal issues such as a lack of uniformity and a lack of access to authenticated primary legal information. This article, by Xiaomeng Zhang1, proposes a solution that would not only offer more consistent guidelines for the government but would empower the public to assert their right to primary legal information more powerfully and effectively.

Ruth Ward explains how open access to legislation in Africa is a much more recent development than in the developed world. Several recently launched projects are well underway, and are contributing towards promoting justice and the rule of law in Africa. Access to legislation facilitates great transparency and access to the law for the promotion of trade and investment; and supports the resulting economic development on the continent. Several different approaches to establishing projects which deliver reliable consolidated access to legislation are illustrated, and show that successful projects can be established and maintained on modest budgets by very small teams.

Elizabeth Dawson's article outlines archival sources for legal biography held at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, focussing on primary sources of information on individuals, including the Law Society and Bar Examination results. It also summarises additional sources which provide biographical information on legal practitioners and scholars eg. the archives of The Society of Legal Scholars and the Council of Legal Education, IALS institutional archives, The Bar Council, The International Law Association and academic membership associations. The article also provides guidance to researchers on using the IALS Archive, and advice on using related external archival sources.

This is the latest report analysing the results of the Society of Legal Scholars and BIALL Academic Law Library Survey. It has been written by David Gee, Deputy Librarian at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, London.

Since it was established, GlobaLex has become a recognised and heavily accessed worldwide database of international, foreign, and comparative law research articles. As Mirela Roznovschi explains, GlobaLex represents a valuable component of legal research in today's cyberlegal environment. In February 2015 GlobaLex celebrates a 10 year anniversary. This article celebrates the success of the service.

In this article John Bell follows his previous LIM article which was published in December 20121 by suggesting that, despite the development towards an open access world for publically funded research, the journal as a form of publication for peer reviewed research is far from dead; indeed, it has an active role to play in the future.