1. Where do we go from here?
Are law schools fit for purpose?
Martin Partington
Author Introduction to the English
Legal System

2. Introductions
• A little about my background
– Academic
– Practitioner
– Law reformer
– Government adviser
• Why did you decide to study law?
• What did you read/know about law before you
started?
• What are your career intentions?

3. What should a law degree offer?
• Introduction to principles of law
• Introduction to the skills of doing law
– Research
– Writing
– Other skills?
• Law and society
• Legal system in transition
– Understanding of the legal world into which you
are going to enter

4. Law and society
• Macro functions
• Micro functions
• Law and orders
• The conflicting aims and purposes of law
• Human rights

5. Legal system in transition (1)
• Public expenditure cuts
– Reshaping the estate
– New approaches to sentencing
– New approaches to the police
– New approaches to criminal trial process
– The future of legal aid?

6. Legal system in transition (2)
• Reshaping the judiciary
– diversity
• Reshaping family justice
– Norgrove report
• Reshaping administrative justice
– Merging courts and tribunals
• Reshaping civil justice
– Costs controls: Fixed fees; contingency fees

7. Legal system in transition (3)
• Reshaping the legal profession
– Legal Services Board
– Professional structures
– Alternative business structures
• The Coop
• Virtual practices
– Legal services vs lawyers services
– Competition
– Access to the law
– Public legal education
– The End of Lawyers?

8. Legal system in transition (4)
• Getting an overview: The ‘holistic’ approach
– Formal institutions
– Informal institutions
– New practices and procedures
– ‘Proportionate justice’
• The variety of law and the justice system

9. Finding out what is going on
• The law schools?
• Careers services?
• Books?
• Websites?

10. Introduction to the English Legal
System
• The book
• The online resources
– http://www.oup.com/uk/orc/bin/9780199644827
/
• The blog
– http://martinpartington.com/
– Podcasts
• Feedback