Director's Introduction 
 

• Wonderful financial and other support of the Centre by the leading law firms, barristers and judges, as well as by some companies, individuals, trusts and foundations. They recognise the immense value of the rule of law worldwide and the threat to the rule of law, and have provided unrestricted funding, which makes an immense difference to the ability of the Bingham Centre to respond to issues effectively.
• Breadth and impact of the research projects undertaken, from immigration detention to appointment of judges, from closed materials in cases before the UK courts to corporate decision-making in foreign direct investment, and from security issues to rule of law and development. This is due to the very high quality of our staff and their dedication, as supported by working with those practicing in these areas.
• The importance of training to support education, capacity building and legal reform around the world. The work of the Bingham Centre in Myanmar/Burma has been ground-breaking, as has its work in other places, such as Libya and Nepal, and includes rule of law issues in BIICL’s annual International Law in Practice course.
• Innovative projects, such as the teaching in schools of programmes on Citizenship and the Rule of Law. This is a project that has such potential for a really significant change in understanding of the importance of the rule of law (and the need for its protection) for a core group of the population and could be replicated elsewhere.
• Exciting events, including the annual Bingham lectures, with excellent, eminent speakers on a wide range of issues. These are enhanced when the events are sponsored by law firms, barrister’s chambers and others.

Professor Robert McCorquodale
Institute Director

 

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Research Activity 

Right to Cultural Heritage
In June 2015, BIICL started to work on a new project which looks at the right to cultural heritage and its protection and enforcement through cooperation in the EU. Kristin Hausler is a principal investigator on this three-year project, which is funded by the AHRC. Developed with partners in Poland and Italy, this project will investigate how human rights guarantees, in relation to cultural heritage, are being understood and implemented in the EU. It will map how this right’s evolving content affects the forms of protection, access to and governance of cultural heritage. It will combine an analysis of the relevant laws, their implementation and enforcement.   
 

Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation adopts Bingham Centre recommendations on judicial authorisation and surveillance oversight
In June, David Anderson QC, the Independent Reviewer, published his landmark report on investigatory powers in the UK. The report adopted a number of recommendations made by the Bingham Centre in its submission to the review, which was primarily authored by Dr Eric Metcalfe, a barrister at Monckton Chambers and a Fellow of the Bingham Centre. The Bingham Centre submission followed an event organised by the Centre last October (hosted by Macfarlanes), which invited a number of experts, including David Anderson QC, to provide their perspectives on the current legal framework, with a view toward contributing to the review process.


Protection of Education in the MENA Region
This month, Kristin Hausler and Robert McCorquodale, will start a new project on the protection of education in the Middle East and North Africa region, focusing on the domestic implementation of international norms protecting education in insecurity and armed conflict. This project will build on their previous work in this area, in particular on the international law handbook they published on the topic in 2012. A few countries from the MENA region will be selected as part of this comparative study. This seven months project is funded by Protect Education in Insecurity and Conflict, a programme of Education Above All. 

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Recent Events

 

Monitoring and Enforcement of the Rule of Law in the EU: Rhetoric and Reality
18 June 2015

From left to right: Professor Sionaidh Douglas-Scott, Professor Laurent Pech, Natacha Kazatchkine, Dr Jonas Grimheden and Justine Stefanelli.

The Bingham Centre and Middlesex University jointly organised a full-day conference which considered the two mechanisms put forward by the EU Commission and the Council of the EU to more effectively uphold and safeguard the rule of law within the EU. Starting with a keynote speech from Claude Moraes MEP, Chairman of the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee, the event heard from academics and practitioners in the UK and abroad, and benefitted from the participation of the EU institutions. The Bingham Centre is grateful to Ashurst for hosting this event.

Competition Law Forum (CLF) Events


Most Favoured Nation Clauses
25 February 2015
The CLF hosted a roundtable discussion on 'Most Favoured Nation Clauses' organised by Dr Liza Lovdahl Gormsen (CLF Director). Speakers included George Barker (Centre for Law and Economics, Australian National University), Philippe Chappatte (Slaughter & May), Silke Hossenfelder (Bundeskartellamt), Nelson Jung (CMA) and Deirdre Trapp (Freshfields). The roundtable looked at competition authorities concern with the use of MFNs. It was discussed to what extent MFNs ought to be regulated. In developing any approach, the task of any competition authority is, in essence, to identify how far they are willing to override contracts for the sake of ensuring fair competition. It was suggested that, in a sense, all contracts restrict freedom and we should also be careful not to obscure the benefits of any MFN with narrow concern solely about their anticompetitive effects. Others also suggested that competition authorities ought to be aware of the potentially very significant problems, which may flow from ill-thought out regulation of MFNs.


State Aid, Tax and the Notion of Selective Advantage
26 March 2015
This conference was held in Brussels. Speakers included Helena Malikova (European Commission), Professor Jonathan Schwarz (Barrister Temple Tax Chamber), David Evans (Ernst & Young), Professor Leigh Hancher (University of Tilburg and Allen & Overy), Rita Szudoczky (Vienna University of Economics & Business), Humbert Drabbe (Fipra International). This event looked at the EU state aid rules of certain tax practices in Member States in the context of aggressive tax planning by certain multinationals. The question of when a tax provision derogating from a wider tax rule confers a selective advantage on those undertakings benefitting from it was discussed.  The OECD arm's length principle and transfer pricing including national tax authority’s discretion and margin of interpretation was discussed. 

EU Damages Directive
9 June 2015
Speakers at this roundtable discussion included Sir Christopher Bellamy (Linklaters), Carl Davies (Business, Innovation & Skills), Peter Durrant (Business, Innovation & Skills), Mark Clough QC (Dentons), and Hugh Stokes (Visa Europe). The purpose of the event was to provide an overview of EU Directive 2014/104/EU of 26 November 2014 on certain rules governing actions for damages under national law for infringements of the competition law provisions of the Member States and the European Union. BIS provided the current timetable and methodology for implementation of the Directive. The limitation period for bringing a damages claim, new disclosure requirements and the relationship between the Damages Directive and the Consumer Rights Bill was discussed in detail.

The next CLF public event is on 9 September on The Role of 'Big Data' in Competition and Privacy Law

Find out more about the Competition Law Forum
 


Annual Grotius Dinner 2015

If you want to read an amusing comment on Magna Carta today, see this after-dinner talk delivered by Sir Paul Jenkins at the Grotius Dinner...

 

Visit our website for listings of forthcoming events 
 

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BIICL Annual Report  

 

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Bingham Centre News

All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Rule of Law
The Bingham Centre now serves as the secretariat for a new All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on the Rule of Law formed in June 2015 in Parliament. The APPG aims to promote parliamentary and public discussion of the rule of law as a practical concept. The APPG’s first substantive meeting was held on 14 July and discussed non-violent extremism and the rule of law, this being particularly topical with the government’s legislative programme to include a new Extremism Bill. The APPG plans to hold 3-4 meetings on topical issues each year. The Rt Hon Dominic Grieve QC MP, the former Attorney General, is the group’s Chair.  Swee Leng Harris, the Bingham Centre’s Research and Training Coordinator, will lead on the secretariat’s work.


A Constitutional Crossroads: The Bingham Centre’s report on devolution in the UK
The Centre launched its report, A Constitutional Crossroads: Ways Forward for the UK on 20 May in Middle Temple.  The report is the work of a major review of devolution in the UK by a distinguished and independent Commission, chaired by Jeffrey Jowell.  Members of the Commission included Professor Linda Colley, Sir Maurice Kay, Professor Monica McWilliams, Philip Stephens, Professor Adam Tomkins (Rapporteur) and Alan Trench (Advisor).  It has received much attention, and was cited a number of times by the Northern Ireland Assembly’s Committee for Finance and Personnel in their Report on the Review of the Operation of the Barnett Formula.   
 

Magna Carta celebrations
The Bingham Centre celebrated the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta with two events held at Gray’s Inn (Tom Bingham’s Room). The Chief Justice of Canada, Beverley McLachlin lectured at the first on the subject of the Magna Carta’s impact internationally.  At the second seminar,  “Do We Need Another Magna Carta?” the speakers included Lord Lester of Herne Hill QC, Professor Jeremy Waldron, Lady Hale and Murray Hunt (chaired by Lord Hope).


Report on the Rule of Law and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) 
The Centre’s study on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and the Rule of Law, published in May, shows that the rule of law is a leading driver of FDI. This project undertaken jointly with BIICL’s Investment Treaty Forum, and Hogan Lovells and with the active participation of their partner Julianne Hughes-Jennett (also a Bingham Centre Fellow). The study was based on a survey of over 300 senior managers of Forbes 2000 companies. 


The Centre’s work promoting the rule of law abroad has continued. We held a Symposium on Constitutional Reform in Myanmar/Burma, sponsored by the FCO, in January, and a Conference on India and the post-2015 development agenda in New Delhi in February.  The Centre Director and research fellow, Dr Jan Van Zyl Smit, have been contributing to the development of principles and procedures for judicial appointments internationally. This work includes a Compendium of Judicial Appointment and Removal Procedures in the Commonwealth, launched on 9 July, and sponsored by the Commonwealth Secretariat, and the Centre’s project with Cape Town University for which they participated in an International workshop on Judicial Appointments Commissions in South Africa in April. Sir Jeffrey has continued working with the Palestinian Authority in their work to improve the structure of their rule of law institutions, hosting in London, the Chief Justice, Minister of Justice, Attorney General and President Abbas’ legal advisor in March. This work was sponsored by the FCO Arab Partnership Fund.

A further major new development has been the Global Rule of Law Exchange launched in partnership with Jones Day, which will consider the rule of law in the context of international development.

 

For further information about the Bingham Centre visit 
www.binghamcentre.biicl.org

 

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Development Update



The BIICL Fund – Shaping our Future
This fund will allow us to expand our team, refurbish our premises, acquire new office space and promote our work to a wider audience.  We would like to thank Lord Collins of Mapesbury, Dr Ernesto Feliz and Susan Bright for their recent donations.


BIICL Supporter of the Year
In March we presented our ‘Supporter of the Year’ Award to Linklaters LLP, at the BIICL Annual Grotius Dinner which was held at The Law Society in London. Linklaters was one of the first law firms to support the establishment of the Bingham Centre in 2010. Since then they have provided substantial core funding and have renewed their support for another four years. They also sponsored an international conference in Singapore last year on ‘The Importance of the Rule of Law in Promoting Development’.
 

Funding for Research Fellows
BIICL is pleased to announce that the Vivmar Foundation, the Dorset Foundation and Herbert Smith Freehills have all generously renewed their funding for the Maurice Wohl Associate Research Fellowship in European Law, the Senior Research Fellowship in Public International Law and the Senior Research Fellowship in Private International Law respectively.
 

The Bingham Appeal
The total amount pledged or donated to date for Phase 2 of the Appeal is £1,759,396. We are extremely grateful to all our donors and would like to thank the following organisations for their recent pledges: The Sigrid Rausing Trust, The David and Elaine Potter Foundation, The Kohlberg Foundation, Baker & McKenzie Foundation and White & Case. We have also received very generous donations from individuals in the UK and the US including most recently Kate Bingham, Paul Saunders, Steve Kobre and Phil Kessler.

The Centre is currently participating in a funding challenge which involves raising $100,000 in both the UK the US, in order to secure a further grant of $100,000 from a US donor.  We are very happy to announce that this target has been reached in the UK. The US donations now total $86,000 and the deadline for pledges is the end of September 2015 with all the donations to be paid in full by June 2017.
 

The Arthur Watts Appeal
The total amount pledged or donated to date for Phase 2 of the Appeal is £32,989. The aim of this phase is establishing the Arthur Watts Fellowship in Public International Law in perpetuity. We have recently received donations from the Binks Trust, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and from individual donors Karyl Nairn,
Dr Ernesto Feliz and Cecilia Gillett. We are also extremely grateful to the Prince of Liechtenstein, Lady Hazel Fox and Allan Myers AO QC of Melbourne for their continued support.


Public International Law funding
We are delighted that the Volterra Fietta Internship scheme is continuing to support a number of BIICL internships in public international law. We are pleased to announce that the Japanese Government will be funding the BIICL Law of the Sea project on the 'Obligation of self-restraint in the undelimited maritime area' which is due to begin this summer.

 

To discuss how you or your organisation could support our work, please contact Development Director, Sarah Taylor, on +44 (0)20 7862 5433 or s.taylor@biicl.org 
- or you can donate online 

 

ICLQ News 

ICLQ Table of Contents
July 2015 


ARTICLES

• Sandesh Sivakumaran – Arbitrary Withholding Of Consent To Humanitarian Assistance In Situations
  Of Disaster 
• Efthymios Papastavridis – ΕUNAVFOR Operation Atlanta Off Somalia: The EU In Unchartered Legal Waters?
• Laurence Lustgarten – The Arms Trade Treaty: Achievements, Failings, Future
• Suzanne Egan – Tackling the Rise of Child Labour in Europe: Homework for the European Court of Human Rights
• Peter Oliver – Companies and Their Fundamental Rights: A Comparative
  Perspective
• Sandra Fredman – Foreign Fads or Fashions? the Role of Comparativism in Human Rights Law

SHORTER ARTICLES

• Myriam Hunter-Henin – Religion, Children and Employment: the Baby Loup
• Jasmine Moussa – Implications of the Indus Water Kishenganga Arbitration for the International Law
  of Watercourses and the Environment

BOOK REVIEWS

• Robert McCorquodale The Governance Gap: Extractive Industries, Human Rights and the Home State Advantage by Penelope Simons and Audrey Macklin [Routledge, London, 2014, xxxvii + 422pp,
  ISBN978-0-415-33470-9, £100 h/bk]
• Fleur Johns Competing Sovereignties by Richard Joyce [Routledge, Abingdon, Oxford and New York, 2013,
  xii + 283pp, ISBN 978-0-415-67814-8,  £85 (h/bk), 978-1-13-801793-1, £26.99 (p/bk)]
• Patrizia Vigni Handbook on the Law of Cultural Heritage and International Trade by J.A.R. NAFZINGER-R.K. PATERSON (eds) [Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, 2014, ISBN: 978 1 78100 733 4, pp. 1-650, £ 180, h/bk]
• Iyiola Solanke Gender and Judging by Ulrike Schulz and Gisela Shaw (Hart Publishing, 2013,
  ISBN: 978-1-84113-640-0, h/bk)
• Jason Haynes Caribbean Integration Law by DAVID S. BERRY [Oxford University Press, 2014,
  ISBN: 978-0-19-967007-9, 512, £85, Hardback]  
  
  
  
                      Further information on the ICLQ can be found on our website
   
  
  

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Publications News 
 

Collective Redress in Europe - Why and How BIICL have published 'Collective Redress in Europe - Why and How', edited by Eva Lein, Duncan Fairgrieve, Marta Otero Crespo and Vincent Smith. The team led the 'Focus on Collective Redress' project at BIICL, funded for two years by the European Commission. It consisted of various events, research resulting in a comprehensive website on European Collective Redress (www.collectiveredress.org) and this publication.  This book explores the need for mass litigation mechanisms in Europe from a series of interdisciplinary perspectives (law and economics, behavioural sciences, and sociological and judicial perspectives). It also analyses the current collective redress landscape in Europe in light of the Commission Recommendation; this includes an assessment of national collective redress mechanisms; views from overseas on the present and future of collective litigation in Europe; commentary on various specific areas of collective redress including competition law, product liability and consumer protection; and the options for and relevance of collective ADR mechanisms. The book is a useful tool for practitioners and academics with an interest in collective redress in Europe and overseas. Available to purchase now from our website, priced at £51 for members (£85 Non-Members), plus post and packing.

The Brussels I Regulation Recast The only text describing the provisions of the Regulation and their inter-relationship with one another, with focus on the changes introduced in the recast process Summarises the structure of the Regulation and the role played by the case law of the European Court of Justice A bibliography for each article enables readers to access other sources of commentary (including leading texts in key jurisdictions, monographs and articles) Critical analysis of the text of the relevant Articles and recitals are combined, with a short reference to the legislative history Written by leading experts in the field Helpfully written in an accessible and concise way Available to purchase now from Oxford University Press, priced at £165.

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Staff Update
 

Kristin Hausler has been appointed as the new Senior Research Fellow in Public International (the Dorset Fellow) with immediate effect. Kristin has been with the Institute for almost eight years, where she developed a wide variety of research projects within the Public International Law programme, covering topics such as climate change or the protection of education, among others. While her primary research focus is on international human rights law in general, she has particular expertise on cultural rights’ issues and is a member of the cultural heritage committee of the International Law Association. Prior to joining the Institute, she worked for several years on a restitutions project with Indigenous communities in Canada.

 

We are delighted to welcome back Lucy Moxham from maternity leave. Lucy joined the Bingham Centre in January 2012 as a Research Fellow in the Rule of Law. Prior to joining the Bingham Centre, Lucy worked for several years at the human rights organisation REDRESS on projects relating to the prohibition of torture and the right to a remedy and reparation at national, regional and international levels. She has previously worked as a consultant at REDRESS, including as an Advocacy Officer promoting the Torture (Damages) Bill. Lucy has also worked and volunteered with a range of other NGOs in this field, including as a Centre Fellow at the Centre for Human Rights & Global Justice at New York University on a pro bono basis.

 

Lise Smit joined the Institute as Research Fellow in Business and Human Rights in March 2015. She will be conducting research into corporate human rights due diligence in collaboration with Norton Rose Fulbright LLP. Prior to joining the Institute, Lise was a practicing advocate at the Cape Town Bar in South Africa. She has worked on business and human rights issues for the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre and the UN Global Compact Office. She was also law clerk to the Chief Justice of South Africa, Pius Langa, at the South African Constitutional Court. She has authored various publications in the area of business and human rights, including a publication on human rights litigation against companies. Lise has an LLM in human rights law from the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa, and a Masters in International Law and Economics from the World Trade Institute in Berne, Switzerland.

 

Mathieu Tromme joined the Bingham Centre in April 2015 as Senior Research Fellow in Development and the Rule of Law. He is responsible for running the Global Rule of Law Exchange programme (GROLEX) at the Bingham Centre, a partnership between the Centre and Law firm Jones Day. The purpose of GROLEX is to promote development and the rule of law internationally through research, a programme of international events and other activities. Before joining the Centre, Mathieu was working as a technical adviser and team leader for a UK Aid-funded Anticorruption Programme in Vietnam. In this position, he oversaw a number of activities, including: grant management of innovative corruption research; media engagement; the implementation of a high-profile series of annual events; design and implementation of capacity-building activities; and the provision of technical advisory on transparency initiatives such as the EITI and CoST.

 

 

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New BIICL-Volterra Fietta Internship Programme 

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Forthcoming Events

The Role of ‘Big Data’ in Competition Law and Privacy and Law
Wed 9 Sept, 14:00-18:00 (BIICL)

Twenty-fifth ITF Public Conference: "The ICSID Convention at 50" 
Fri 18 Sept 2015, 09:00-17:00 (BMA House)

Arthur Watts Public International Law Seminar Series sponsored by Volterra Fietta:
International Law in Domestic Courts: A Global Perspective
Thurs 24 Sept, 17:30-19:30 (BIICL)

Freedom of Information: Extending Transparency to the Private Sector
Mon 28 Sept, 17:30-19:00 (Baker & McKenzie LLP)

A More Literal and Predictable Approach for the Court of Justice of the EU? 
Mon 2 Nov, 17:00-19:00 (BIICL)

Dialogues between International and Public Law 
30 June 2016 - 1 July 2016 (BIICL)
 

Find out more about these events and book online at 
www.biicl.org/events  

 

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