Synopsis

The main purpose of this seminar is to present the fundamental rules of undertaking and conducting business activity by foreign entrepreneurs in Poland.

The most important legal provisions concerning foreign entrepreneurs are included in the Act of 2 July 2004 on freedom of economic activity and they have been adopted with the idea to make Polish regulations consistent with the European Union law relating to internal market and its basic freedoms, in particular freedom of establishment and freedom to provide services.

The seminar focuses on analysis of basic rights and duties of foreign entrepreneurs operating business in Poland and indicates essential Polish legal provisions in this field in the light of the European Union law and judgments of the European Court of Justice.

Legal issues presented during the lecture are concentrated on two main legal forms of conducting economic activity by foreign entrepreneurs in Poland - a branch office and a representative office. The lecture emphasizes the most interesting legal aspects concerning their establishment and operation - the scope of activity, registration and legal representation.

The last part of the seminar is devoted to introduction to the most important legal questions referring to implementation of the Directive 2006/123/EC on services in the internal market and its impact on the recent changes in Polish law.

Synopsis

On October 7, the Office for Judicial Complaints formally reprimanded Judge George Bathurst Norman for expressing his own political views during his summing up to the jury in a Crown Court trial for conspiracy to commit criminal damage. The damage, to the tune of £200,000, had been carried out to a factory in Brighton in January 2009 during Operation Cast Lead. The defendants at trial justified their 'direct action' on the grounds that they believed the factory was supplying the Israeli Air Force with weapons components and they needed to take this action in order to prevent greater property damage in Gaza. The jury unanimously acquitted the defendants.

This paper will look at Judge Bathurst Norman's summing-up to the jury. His substantive errors and omissions on the law will be analysed, as well as his political bias when summing up on the evidence. Using critical race theory as an analytical framework, consideration will be given to the Judge's use of anti-Semitic tropes and his contribution to the demonization of Israel in contemporary public discourse. Using Ronald Dworkin's theory of 'law as integrity' as an analytical framework, consideration will also be given to the extent to which the Judge's summing up has contributed to the perception that the rule of law has been undermined. The question of what can be done procedurally where the judge gets the law wrong in a criminal trial resulting in an acquittal will also be considered.

Synopsis

This paper will present some of the key issues relating to the methodology and content of my EdD dissertation. The dissertation provided a phenomenographic analysis of perceptions of critical thinking in first year law students. The ability to develop and demonstrate critical thinking is a key element in higher education, being an important criterion for success in terms of assessment. Critical thinking is particularly significant in the context of the study of law, as law embraces both problem-solving in the 'technical' sense as well as the consideration and evaluation of argument, policy and jurisprudential questions. While definitions of critical thinking are problematic, they would include such notions of problem-solving and evaluation, so making legal education interestingly susceptible to such enquiry.

Phenomenography as a qualitative research method is well established, (although also contested) and has been used particularly in the field of educational research. It aims to give a 'second-order' account of perceptions of phenomena and so appeared to be an appropriate methodology in this instance, where the main investigation concerned students' own interpretation of what 'critical thinking' might connote.

I would aim to outline the approach taken by a phenomenographic analysis in the context of critical thinking, and to highlight some of the strengths and more problematic aspects of this form of investigation into the student experience. Time permitting, I would also offer some thoughts on curriculum development and the teaching of law at undergraduate level.

Synopsis

The institution of the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina was created in 1995 immediately after the Dayton Peace Agreement to oversee the civilian implementation of the agreement. Since its establishment the High Representative has exponentially extended and assumed much wider powers than originally envisaged by the Dayton Peace Agreement including law-making powers that cannot be challenged by the domestic institutions including the Constitutional Court. Assuming any law-making powers by the High Representative outside the Dayton Peace Agreement was not only contrary to international law but also counterproductive: it deepened divisions among the former warring factions and prevented the state's full independence and integration into the international community and the processes of stabilisation, as required by the Dayton Peace Agreement. Put simply, the factual situation in the country does not match the legal one: Bosnia and Herzegovina is supposedly an independent and a sovereign country but in reality it is an international protectorate. Democratically elected representatives cannot behave and act as the democratic representatives in the Western democracies; they do not possess law-making powers, the very reason they were elected for in the first place.

Synopsis

Sexual harassment (SH) has been a fertile area of research since 1979, when Catharine MacKinnon published her renowned text, 'Sexual Harassment of Working Women', which identified the phenomenon of SH and revealed its pervasiveness in the workplace. The book exposed sexual harassment as a widespread and deeply destructive aspect of workplace relations. However, numerous studies conducted in the 28 years since publication of MacKinnon's book have identified that, despite greater awareness of the problem, sexual harassment in the workplace persists as a widespread concern (European Commission, 1999; Fitzgerald et al., 1995). In the workplace, conventional relationships of power and authority create a climate in which the scope of abuse is considerable (Conaghan 2002). The European Union has recognized the need for further research in this domain (McColgan2004).

This paper reports on an analysis of court judgments (from the Employment Appeal Tribunal and the Employment Tribunal) on sexual harassment over the last 10 years. The analysis provides information on the litigation process.

Synopsis

Immigration solicitors, as the legal representative of asylum applicants, are required to interact with United Kingdom Border Agency (UKBA) Case Owners in their everyday work in the pursuit of a successful outcome for their client. These legal representatives are expected to manage their own emotions as well as those of the Case Owner during such exchanges, which requires them to produce emotional labour.

Between November 2006 and June 2007 the Early Advice Pilot (Solihull Pilot) was set up to test a new approach jointly proposed by the UKBA and the Legal Services Commission (LSC) to improve the quality of asylum decisions. These changes require more interaction between legal representatives and UKBA Case Owners before, during and after the asylum interview, but prior to the asylum decision being taken. Following on from its successful implementation, the Early Legal Advice Project (ELAP) is now being tested in the Midlands and East of England (MEE) region. This small empirical study focuses on the impact ELAP has on the form and extent of emotional labour produced by immigration solicitors, and the potential consequences of that performance.

The paper begins with a brief overview of emotional labour, a consideration of relevant theoretical considerations, and a discussion of the research methods undertaken. The findings, resulting from the analysis of interviews, reveal that legal representatives not involved in ELAP emphasised the adversarial character of the emotional labour produced. Some participants recounted emotional displays which situated them as the 'zealous advocate', while other referred to more subtle displays characterised as 'strategic friendliness'. Interviews with legal representatives participating in the ELAP scheme will be conducted and contrasts drawn. The paper will conclude with a discussion of the findings and future work to be undertaken.