Sarah Spells provides information about the SOAS Library, including details of the law collection, services offered, and the challenges faced when dealing with queries about Asian, African and Middle Eastern legal materials.

This article by Joe Kennedy of Baker & McKenzie. Wong & Leow in Singapore outlines the legal system in Singapore; explains the legislative process; discusses case reporting and gives guidance on how to find legal materials in both hard copy and online sources and both free and for fee.

This article by Charlotte Pache sets out the background of, and framework for, the legal system in Hong Kong. It outlines the structure of the courts and the legal profession, and details the practice for obtaining transcripts and judgments. It also provides a survey of law reporting and online resources for further information on case law and statute.

Nick Holmes explains the advantages of the new web publishing formats for legal information professionals. He describes what a blog is, how to set one up and publish it. He lists the legal blogs or blawgs, and considers whether blogs are good for business.

Carl Clayton, Director, SINTO - the information partnership, writes that there is no shortage of legal information, yet for some people it can still be difficult to get access to the legal information they may need as citizens. Libraries in the Sheffield area have a strong history of co-operation but this cannot remove all the barriers.

This article by Paulette Storey describes the sources of information produced by the central Information Department of Citizens Advice. They are available to advisers, many of them volunteers, working in the various local bureaux across the country and dealing face-to-face and on the phone, with a huge variety of enquiries. Paulette explains how the databases are structured, their content and how the information within them is written and obtained.

David Byrne - Head of Information at BT Legal - explains that within the commercial, legal and regulatory division of BT, their approach to knowledge management is to introduce cultural change whereby knowledge capture and re-use are subordinate to the prime goals of revenue generation and competitiveness. He discusses the innovative methods used for building effective knowledge-sharing relationships including using the “best of the rest”; ensuring that the right technology is in place; measuring value; collaboration and creating the “Sticky Organisation”.

This paper by Professor Gillian Triggs seeks to explore whether the traditional principles of public international law are ‘fit for purpose’ in responding to such contemporary threats to collective security by reference to three issues: the regulation of the use of force; the need to balance the sovereign rights of states with humanitarian concerns; and the relationship between human rights and the orthodox rules applicable to prisoners of war and security detainees.

In this paper presented at the Joint Study Institute in Oxford, Michael Bowman traces the history of international law, with its basis in custom, and identifies the late Nineteeth century as the period when multi-lateral treaties became commonplace. He considers whether such treaties, which were essentially static in nature, provide a suitable framework for the Twenty-first century global community. However, since the Vienna Convention, treaties have become dynamic as they now incorporate mechanisms for continuous monitoring and review of treaty obligations.

Abstract: The purpose of this paper by Uma Narayan is to provide an insight into how to use Indian legal materials for research purposes. The following subjects are covered: the evolution of the Indian legal system; systems and procedures in enacting laws in Parliament; Indian legal information sources - both government and private - as well as print and electronic sources and how to understand the method of publication of legislation.

In the latest article in our Checklist series, James Mullan and Claire Ireland of CMS Cameron McKenna provide an extremely practical and useful guide to the process of moving the administration of all aspects, including circulation systems, of the acquisition of journals, loose-leafs and other periodical publications to a subscription agent. They consider the advantages and disadvantages and point out potential pitfalls.