* How do you sue? A new interactive book that teaches students and newly qualified solicitors how to start legal proceedings has been launched by legal experts at Staffordshire University’s law school. The City Litigation Handbook 2008-09 (OUP) has been co-authored by Susan Cunningham-Hill and Karen Elder, senior lecturers on the Legal Practice Course (LPC) in the school. Elder says that it guides students and young practitioners through the civil court system and is “entirely vocational” so includes tips on what to do if you are suing or being sued. Direct links to key sites and expert commentaries on recent legal developments are also included. The book follows a similar format to the Criminal Litigation Handbook produced by the law school and co-authored by Lisa Mountford and Martin Hannibal. The book has been adopted by a number of LPC providers.

* City University’s City Law School has created 15 places on its international commercial law LLM course. Professor Alan Riley says that the move follows “a significant number” of very good quality applications this autumn. This year’s course is now full but students interested in starting next year can contact 020-7040 8783. The school has a strong focus on international commercial law and, in response to the harsher economic climate, has created an LLM in international dispute resolution. This is aimed at equipping students with the skills for working in high-level litigation, including modules on international antitrust legislation, international arbitration and project finance. “We must respond to global economic developments. Our international litigation courses will provide our students with a rounded view of theory and practice, enabling them to work on the complex cases which are sure to arise over the next year or so,” Riley says.

* Nottingham Law School has been chosen by the Solicitors Regulation Authority to be the external assessment organisation for its pilot work-based learning scheme. The two-year pilot project will involve 40 paralegals training to be solicitors and trainees at a handful of law firms who have agreed to be guinea pigs for the skills-based assessment methods being tested out for the Legal Practice Course. Keith Daines, Dean of Nottingham Law School, said: “This is potentially the biggest shake-up in qualification since the introduction of the LPC 15 years ago. If it is adopted after the pilot project, then it will become the way to qualify in the future.”

* A new LPC at Nottingham next year will allow students to study compulsory and elective elements of their course at different times. They will be able to delay decisions over elective parts of the course until they have embarked on it and have a better idea about what they want to do. Part-time study will also be an option. Students can also tailor their studies by opting for a corporate, commercial or public legal services stream of options. Alternatively, they can take a break after the course’s compulsory part and complete the elective options later, either full or part-time. Adrian Savage, one of the NLS education team, says that the course should bring “the greatest possible for students in a way that will be recognised by their prospective future employer law firms as delivering a meaningful, quality result”.

* Baroness Ruth Deech, the independent adjudicator for higher education 2004-08, is to give this year’s Lord Upjohn lecture, The Student Contract. The lecture is sponsored by the Association of Law Teachers and will be held on Friday, October 24, at 6pm at Atkin Building Lecture Theatre, City Law School, Gray’s Inn, London. Admission is free and is followed by a reception. Baroness Deech, whose task was to adjudicate on-campus disputes and student complaints from 147 universities, will address such topics as contracts between universities and students, data protection, disability discrimination, judicial review and whether there is a conflict between the traditional academic/pastoral relationship between students and the university, and this new contractual regime.

* The College of Law has announced a £5.5 million extension of its Birmingham centre and the completion of a £2 million renovation scheme at its Chester centre. This year there are about 700 students on its LPC, Bar Vocational Course and graduate diploma course — a 15 per cent increase in 12 months. The extension is due to be finished in 2010, nine years after the site first opened. In Chester the historic Christleton Hall and gardens have been renovated, and workshop rooms and IT equipment upgraded. Nigel Savage, chief executive of the college, said: “Law firms and aspiring law students are increasingly drawn to our flexible approach to legal education and training. These investments are in the future of the regions and the challenging developing market for legal services.”

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