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Laura and Harriet (on left)

Two days of mooting madness to finish off the season...

On Tuesday 24th April GDL students Laura Inglis and Harriet Tolkien competed in the final stages of the UKLSA (UK Law Students Association) moot. Previous rounds have seen them face BPP and Sussex. This final stage included the quarter (against Lincoln) and semi-finals (against Plymouth) as well as the final all in one day.

The final (against Oxford) was judged by Lord Sumption at the Supreme Court.

Here's what Harriet had to say about the day:

We made it through to the final of the UKLSA Mooting Competition in the Supreme Court, after beating Lincoln in the quarterfinal, judged by the charming but very interventionist Andrew Caldecott QC, and Plymouth in the semifinal in front of a two judge panel of Vaughan Jacob and Robert Howe QC.

Despite some rather testing questions from Lord Sumption, who was judging they managed to beat Oxford, winning the competition.

Big congratulations to both Laura and Harriet, who stepped in to cover this moot in December. They are now in possession of a very shiny trophy thanks to the UKLSA. If you'd like to see more photographs of the event check out the UKLSA Facebook page.

Wednesday 25th City students were back at the Supreme Court for the final of our GDL Internal Moot Competition. This intense competition began back in late November with over 130 competitors and after getting through the subsequent two rounds, the four finalists making their appearance were Madeline Dixon, Jack Murphy, Andrew Feld and John Schmitt.

Andrew, Madeline, Lord Mance, John and Jack

Kindly judged by Lord Mance for the third year running, the final problem pivoted around the topical issue of school places and whether they can amount to property under the Theft Act 1968. All four mooted superbly with the eventual winner declared as John Schmitt, with runner up Madeline Dixon. John was picked out for the quality of his argument, particularly those around policy and for his skill in going beyond the law, Madeline for her clear, structured submissions and her capability in dealing with the judge's questions.

Lord Mance in his summing up said that of all the mooters he saw each year - City GDL students were always the most accomplished - a fantastic testament to the hard work our students put into this activity, on top of all their other commitments.

Giles Peaker

Ever wondered what furry walls or fungus have to do with the GDL? Well, it can certainly be part of your future career. And if you think that’s a tall tale, wait till you meet Giles Peaker - successful housing lawyer, Chair of the Housing Law Practitioners' Association, founder and editor of the Nearly Legal: Housing Law News and Comment site and… former GDL student at City University. The Legal 500 2011 describes Giles as "one of the most impressive housing solicitors working today".

As a law student, it’s always gratifying and certainly reassuring to meet GDL alumni who survived the course, been there, done that and went on to reap the rewards of all that hard work. Yes, there is light at the end of the tunnel after all.

So how did Giles achieve all of this? And more importantly, any tips for us juniors on life as a solicitor and the practice areas of housing and public law in general?

Giles was previously a senior lecturer in History of Art and after a thirteen-year career; he turned to law in pursuit of new challenges and intellectual stimulus. By now, you must be thinking, “Wow, a teacher who went back to school” and wondering what made him take the plunge into law. Giles shared that it was the unique combination of intellectual challenge together with the practical context of real-life facts that attracted him. Likewise, he was drawn to City University’s academic model of the GDL programme as opposed to other GDL providers, which were more formulaic-driven.

After all, isn’t it the academically challenging environment of City that ups the game a notch by allowing us to hone our analytical skills even further? For there’s a heightened sense of satisfaction when you’re able to distinguish yourself from your peers. Hands up, everyone who loves a good intellectual spar.

And while the GDL is undertaken by ‘courageous people whose social lives are placed in cold storage for a year’, Giles’ experience was that the pressure is not that pressuring, at least until exam time that is.

Tip: It all boils down to time management. And effective multi-tasking. You just need to utilise whatever available time you have.

Indeed, and Giles should know, having gone through the exact same process we’re now caught up with – training contracts, vacation schemes and pupillages.

Always pay attention to the smallest detail! Credit: minifig

Tip: Research, research and more research

It’s important to tailor-fit your Cover Letters to the firm you’re applying to. And always double-check before hitting the ‘submit’ button. Especially if you don’t want your Cover Letter to a family law practice to look something like this. “I’ve always wanted to work in criminal practice.”

Tip: Boost your legal experience to increase your chances of snagging that training contract.

Paralegal work is one way as firms do tend to prefer applicants who have some engagement with the sort of work they do. And if you’re still undecided about whether you prefer the route of a barrister or solicitor, this might help.

Tip: If you enjoy working directly with clients or running a case from beginning to end, you may prefer life as a solicitor. Or if standing and speaking in front of people is your preference, then you may want to consider becoming a barrister.

Despite the fundamental traits that differentiate a solicitor from a barrister, in practice, the relationship between the two is actually variable, dependent on practice area. But it’s really all about teamwork and collaboration at the end of the day, especially in the wake of the Legal Service reforms.

So what defines a good solicitor then? Someone with very good people skills.

Tip: Someone who takes the role of an adviser very seriously.

Clients look for someone who’s on their side, and aware of what they want –their desired outcome as opposed to the legally appropriate solution. However, what’s in their best interests may not always be what they want you to do.

Tip: Think in terms of the client’s long-term benefit. Manage their expectations realistically as what they want may not be possible legally. Advise them on the achievable outcome instead – things that we as lawyers can get for them.

“What they want is justice. What we’ve got is the law.” Take housing law for example, clients may want their day in court for the judge to hear their side of the story. Part of your job is to advise them why in the circumstances, that may not be the best route when there’s a decent settlement on the table.

As a successful housing lawyer, Giles has had his fair share of memorable cases. The biggest story to date in his area, is the human rights defence (Article 8) in public sector eviction cases since 2004. This has been a ping-pong match between the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg and the House of Lords (now Supreme Court) following the cases of Kay v Lambeth London Borough Council [2006] 2 AC 465 and Manchester City Council v Pinnock [2010] UKSC 45. The next question is whether this applies to the private sector. Stay tuned…

And if you’re just as passionate about claims for disrepairs as Giles is, you’ll find the area to be one that’s often overlooked despite the miserable conditions people are forced to suffer for simple things that can be fixed relatively easily by the landlord. Such as families living in damp, sodden flats full of mould or babies in homes with furry walls. Or if public law and judicial review are more your cup of tea, community care cases and those on allocation of resources including free care support and funding tend to be tricky, challenging areas.

The Nearly Legal Housing Law Blog

And because the law in these areas can expose gaping holes, people need free access to law and the latest cases. Especially since more people are now representing themselves - Giles’ reason for sharing these issues on his blog.

At present, the team writing for the blog comprises of ten members (four solicitors and six barristers) since Giles founded it in 2006. It’s now the central community for those in the housing law sector on both landlord and tenant sides. A very successful feat indeed. And if anything, Giles’ achievements are a testament that hard work put into the GDL course will pay off one day. The key is never to give up.

Giles Peaker is a solicitor at Anthony Gold Solicitors - thanks to him and his interviewer Marie Tay, current GDL student.

Several City students were based at Cardozo Law School last year here's what one of them had to say:

"I did the summer intensive programme on US Law at Cardozo last year in July. I'd highly recommend it to anyone willing to experience something different. We got to learn about the US constitutional law as well as other areas of law as it works in the US system. The classes used to be very interactive and it was enjoyable learning and exchanging views on different areas of law with the excellent and friendly tutors in a comfortable environment.

Thinking summer is a long way off? Credit: Matteo Angelino

We used to have activities outside the classes on the weekends and on the tuesday evenings. In those trips we were taken to witness a court hearing, visited a law firm, went to the UN headquarters, had an audio tour at the Ground Zero where the Twin Towers used to be situated, went to the Statue of Liberty Island & the Ellis Island, went for a baseball match and also watched a theatre at the Broadway. Most evenings used to be free so we could do whatever we wanted to, rest, shop, eat(food there was delicious), go for a movie, visit some known places including the Empire State building or just roam around at the Times Square.

In the last two days, we did a mini intensive trial advocacy programme. I personally got to learn a lot from that and also thoroughly enjoyed it. At the end we were all certified following a closing dinner. Overall, it has been an incredible experience being there doing a law related programme in an amazing city like New York at a lovely Law school right on 5th Avenue. It has truly been an experience of a lifetime."

Priya Chowdhury, LLB student

For more information take a look at their website or contact Elliot Hammer, Course Director.

Credit: ex_libris_gul

The Human Rights Lawyers' Association (HRLA) is holding a Careers Day for those interested in pursuing a career in Human Rights Law. You'll hear from a variety of speakers and get involved in group discussions. Most importantly you'll have lots of options to gain advice on internships and applications.

Speakers include academics, barristers, solicitors, government lawyers and those who work for NGO's.

Location: The Law Society, London
Date: 31st May 2012
Time: 1.00pm - 5pm

To find out more or make a booking use the Law Society website.

For those of you who are being held back from undertaking an internship or placement for financial reasons, the HRLA offer bursary awards to assist (and has done since 2006).Here's the blurb from them about this important opportunity.

The HRLA recognises that those without independent financial backing may not be able to undertake unpaid or poorly paid work in human rights law and might be disadvantaged when applying for jobs in the human rights field as a result. Each year the HRLA provides around 5 awards from a maximum annual bursary fund of £5000 to help successful applicants undertake work related to human rights law that they would otherwise be unable to afford to do. For the first time this year, one successful applicant will be awarded the Peter Duffy Bursary Award, in honour of the human rights lawyer who contributed so much to the field.

Reports from previous HRLA bursary recipients can be found on the HRLA website, along with the application form and selection criteria.

The closing date for applications for the 2012 HRLA bursary scheme is 6th May 2012. Candidates will be informed of the outcome of the competition by 15th June 2012.

Find out more about the opportunities and download that application form via their website. Deadline for applications 6th May 2012.

The external valuation of your work at Law School (as at university) is done in terms of percentage marks and final grades, where high numbers are good, low numbers are bad and nobody expects you to get 100% -- well, not too often anyway. Law firms are different. The result that is aimed for is 100% accuracy -- anything less could result in your client making the wrong decisions and your firm being sued.

Fill it for your firm Credit: kenteegardin

Law firms are businesses

Law firms don’t make chocolate bars or designer suits or even fill teeth, all of which are visible end-products. Their end-products are mainly legal advice, representation and negotiation.

At one level trainees are simply part of the tool kit used to provide these law firm products, so your firms needs to know what you are doing. Older lawyers may reminisce about the days when partners used to weigh files in their hands before plucking a figure out of the air which represented the amount of time spent on a matter and its “complexity” although it could be simply an estimate of what the client would bear. Those arcane practices have long since disappeared, along with would be solicitors paying substantial amounts of money to their principals and receiving little or no salary until they qualify.

Accountability

Now that trainees are paid while training, firms expect to be able to charge for what they do. During their initial induction trainees should be introduced to their firm’s time recording method. Whether this is (unusually) a simple paper-based system or a sophisticated electronic system which requires logging on every time you embark on a piece of work, make sure that you familiarise yourself with the firm’s billing procedure and be scrupulous in its application, because.....

Accurate time-recording enables a partner to:

- Ascertain how much time has been spent on a particular matter,
- Therefore work out how large the client’s bill should be, and most important for you,
- See how many hours you are working and deduce how hard you are working.

You could say that the first two items enable a firm to make money and the third item enables it to work out whether you are worth what you are being paid.

Some of the work that you do, such as client development or marketing will not be chargeable to any specific client, but you should still check if and how you can record it. If you are writing journal articles or preparing practice notes during a slack period or you have been asked by a partner to attend a client event, record the time spent if at all possible. It’s often those extras that distinguish the “high-flyer” or “committed trainee” from the “grunt” lawyer. But only if the firm’s decision makers know what you have been contributing.

Credit: Craig A Rodway

How long is a piece of string?

Each time that you carry out some billable work, record it against a client or matter number. If you do something for the first time, keep a personal note of the time taken for future reference. This will help you to manage your time more effectively and also to manage the expectations of your supervisor and in turn the client’s expectations of him. If you allow your supervisor to tell a client that a piece of work will take 30 minutes when you know it will take several hours, your supervisor will be disappointed and so will the client.

Don’t be tempted to “inflate” the time that you spend on something. Your supervisor may have a fair idea of how long it should take, and will not be amused if you put down 2 hours for something when it should have taken 15 minutes because you have been gossiping in the firm’s library.

Don’t be tempted to under-record if something has genuinely taken you a long time, because you will then be in the position of having to explain why you are not putting in the hours that the firm is paying you for. Or worse still, there may well be an expectation that you can do the same amount of work in a very short period of time in the future.

Don’t be tempted to put down less time than you have taken because you think that the client should not have to pay for your “learning time”. It is up to your supervisor to decide whether to write off your time when it comes to billing the client. Even if it takes you longer than someone more experienced, it might still work out cheaper for the client in the long run, because your charge out rate will be much less.
Don’t be tempted to think that accurate billing is unimportant just because the partner has agreed a fixed fee for the work with the client. The partner will not be able to assess whether the fixed fee was a good deal for the firm, unless he knows how long everyone involved spent on the matter.

Record your work

When you have finished a piece of work, record:
- The client and the specific matter to which your work is relevant
- The amount of time it took
- The detail of what you have done...Writing “X plc – 30 minutes” is simply insufficient.

If your work will require more than one session, record the time spent as you go along. It is dangerous to think “I can record it to-morrow/at the end of the week/when I finish it.” Even leaving time recording to the next day is likely to be an unnecessary test of your recall and could lead to inaccurate recording of what you actually did and how much time you spent on it.

At some point someone, and it may well be you, will have to prepare a bill for the client. Bills are not sent out saying simply, “To legal services -- £37,443.” Clients need to be reminded what you did for them, so the request for payment is accompanied by what is called a Bill Narrative. This is a summary of the work that your firm has carried out for the client on this particular matter. The detail that will be included will vary not only according to the amount of time spent on the matter, but also on the nature of the client, how frequently you do the same sort of transaction for a particular client and on how sophisticated the client is.

The conveyancing work that you do for a first-time buyer may paradoxically require a longer narrative than the compliance work that you do for an offshore investment fund for which you do the same sort of thing twenty times a year. But whoever the client is it will be much easier to write the narrative if you have all the detail of what has been done to hand. Even if you are not the one to write the narrative, you will be able to give the relevant information and then get back to “proper work” more quickly if your time recording has been done properly.

Every call counts! Credit: Sumlin

Little and large

Time is recorded in “units” typically of 6 (because that makes 10 per hour) or 10 minutes duration. If possible allocate even the smallest phone call to a matter number. Even a 5 minute phone call will have distracted you from your work and you will need a few minutes “re-settling” time to get back to what you were doing before. If you don’t record the call, you’ve “lost” a unit. If you answer just a few unrecorded calls in a day, you have effectively put yourself in the position of not being able to account for up to one hour of your time. Again it is up to the account partner to write off your time, not you.

Work does not always stop after you leave the office. If you check over a draft agreement or even deal with client related emails on your mobile device, remember that you are doing billable work that needs to be recorded.

In some seats it is easier to record time than in others. Tax lawyers get lots of short queries from other departments, often at the last minute on larger transactions. Junior corporate lawyers may spend blocks of several hours at a time checking documents or accompanying their supervisors to completion meetings.

It seems obvious, but billable hours can end up in bills only if you record your time.

Put yourself in the client’s shoes

Nobody likes paying bills. Receiving a credit card bill isn’t pleasant; it’s often a cold reminder that your salary is not infinitely elastic. But taking a look at the detail may remind you of a special evening out or the deposit on your summer holiday or the relief after your dentist has given you antibiotics for an abscess.

Clients feel the same -- with one significant difference. There is very often no pleasure factor attached to their bills. At least a visit to the dentist may alleviate pain, but in some situations a visit to a lawyer may cause a client even more pain, especially when they are made to face up to their true capital gains tax position or the likelihood that the court will not award them custody of their children on divorce or the amount of due diligence that will be necessary on the purchase of a business. Note that almost a fifth of the complaints received by the Legal Ombudsman in the first half year of its operation (the six months to March 2011) related to costs which clients felt were “excessive” or costs information which was “deficient”
This is why you should....

Bill fully, bill fast and bill often

Make sure that the client understands all that you did for him, so that the bill seems fair for the amount of work done.
Bill the client while what you did for him is fresh in his mind. If you wait for a year, he will not only have forgotten, but he may well feel that he can wait for another year to pay your firm.
In an ongoing matter, don’t let the fees mount up without sending out a bill. Not only does this injure the firm’s cash-flow, but the shock to the client of receiving a bill for 12-18 months work may cancel out any feeling of gratitude for a good job well done.

Some partners are notorious for forgetting this mantra. A large amount of WIP (work in progress) is not necessarily an asset for a firm. Cash in the bank is. Even as a trainee you can help your firm’s profitability by offering to help with drawing up bill narratives when a piece of work is completed and even doing a draft letter to send out with the bill. But remember to help yourself by accurate time-recording.

Professor Penny Cooper of The City Law School and Elizabeth Cruickshank are the authors of ‘All you need to know about being a Trainee Solicitor’ (Longtail, 2008) and together with Boma Ozobia of “The Survival Manual for New Wigs” (Odade 2010).

Here's a quick-fire roundup:

Patricia McKellar & Steven Warburton - Flexible learning with e-readers

The speakers spoke of their e-reader pilot at the University of London - issuing kobo e-readers to their students, pre-loaded with content from OUP and Palgrave, alongside their own materials. The pilot included students from 5 different geographic regions - 2 from regions in the UK, and one from Germany, Kenya and Singapore. Drivers for this include the vast boxes of print material that they need to send out to their students all over the world - incurring massive costs around postage, storage in warehouses and the inevitable need to over-purchase as numbers of students uncertain. The publishers involved were keen to work with the university once they could be sure their materials were secured to the individual reader. Student reactions were reported as positive, with the expected comments around portability, battery life and functionality. The speakers also noted some negative comments around the same issues.

An interesting pilot particularly considering the scale of operation involved, interesting to hear that this is not considered by either the university or those students piloted as a replacement for hard copy, but a complement.

Sandy Meredith raised an important point at the end of the session around referencing - asking if the page numbers differ in the e-version to hard copy. It was confirmed that this was the case and that handouts had to be adjusted to refer to chapters and sections. This could cause major disruption to law programmes.

Philip Leith - Discussion of BAILII survey findings: getting students reading cases

Philip reported back on the results of a recent survey carried out by BAILII, of which he is a trustee. Of particular interest was the breadth of users who use the service and took the time to respond to the questionnaire - over 3000 of them. A wide variety of professions were noted, including 'Housewife. I just like reading the cases' (!) Almost 10% of respondents were students. Questions asked included the proportion of users using the service in preference to commercial services like Lexis or Westlaw, which balanced out at around 50% each way (perhaps expected being that the survey is of existing BAILII users). Leith was concerned that more lecturers weren't linking to BAILII content from their VLE's and remarked on the preference of students for succinct summaries rather than the full text.

Martin Jones - Courting controversy: introducing Twitter into law teaching

Teaching with tweets? Credit: eldh

Have been mulling over the possibilities here for a while so was keen to get some ideas from Martin. He started by saying that he was considered by his school as the tech guy and although was keen to try and integrate new technologies into his teaching (where it added value),he was aware of the mental scarring left on his students after a stint on Second Life as part of his course some years ago!

He stated his motive as 'increasing engagement with EU law', a subject oft-considered dry and dull by students before starting the course. Martin noted they lacked interest in the wider political implications within the subject, seeing it as something which had little relevance to where they saw themselves in practice.

Martin envisaged using Twitter as a prod; a way to fire topical EU news their way, as well as somewhere to make course announcements, help with seminar preparation and to get the students talking. He told us that he did feel a little of that 'pressure to tweet': coming up with new stories to interest them was quite time-consuming, and then invented the TweetCase concept - summing up key cases in 140 characters. This was a really interesting concept and sounds very difficult indeed! He flashed up a couple of examples - including Cassis de Dijon (120/78).

The impact wasn't as resounding as Martin had hoped despite gaining a good deal of followers; the students didn't really interact with each other and also in the post-course survey more students indicated they picked up course notifications via their email than via Twitter. Martin will be trying to build on this interaction next year, possibly with the utilisation of a tweetwall. Asking the students to write their own TweetCases is also an option he's looking to pursue.

Really interesting case study - I definitely want to try it out now...

Me - Too cool for (law) school? Using technology to engage students in legal skills

Don't think it's the done thing to blog about my own session! See the slides via slideshare...

Janice Denoncourt - Using film to enhance business law education: The Social Network

Janice, from Nottingham Law School, provided us with lots of cinematic food for thought (though no popcorn unfortunately), with her session about the use of film within her business law teaching. Janice uses The Social Network to get the students thinking about contractual points of law, showing them clips to provoke discussion; was Mark Zuckerberg employed by the Zimmerman twins to work on their Harvard Connection website? Janice spoke of how students find it difficult to connect with all those 'archaic' cases in contract, commenting that bog-standard problem-style questions about made-up companies can also fail to hit home. She has found that the use of film has allowed her to illustrate legal concepts, inspire debate, as well as highlight the legal complexities present in business.

Other films Janice noted which might be of use to anyone considering weaving visual clips into their law teaching include The Corporation (2003) a Canadian documentary, the TV series Borgen (2010), The Spanish Prisoner (1997), The Last Station (2009), Erin Brockovich (2000) and Skin (2008).

Keynote - Professor Richard Susskind OBE - What are we training our young lawyers to be?

Training lawyers of which decade? Credit: stopherjones

Richard Susskind used part of his keynote to tackle head-on the issues around oversubscription of law courses at a time when training contracts and pupillages are ever elusive. Generally appreciative of the need for academic law as a subject, Susskind however criticises the lack of understanding of how legal roles are to change. Calling on law professors to make their students aware of the changing opportunities and give them the opportunity to learn about them if they wish (via elective modules). Future legal roles listed by Susskind include legal knowledge engineer, legal technologist, legal hybrid, legal process analyst, legal project manager, online dispute resolution practitioner, legal management consultant, legal risk manager...

He ridiculed the time talented legal trainees spend 'training'; leafing through papers in archives and basements rather than getting involved in the processes that will become their bread and butter early on. Susskind placed an emphasis on moving away from the solitary tasks in favour of creating a workforce of flexible, team-based lawyers who work in hybrid roles.

Susskind asks the question 'why are we training our students to be lawyers of the 1980's?' calling on the academic and professional sides of law to forge more explicit links and ensure that students are armed with knowledge about the development of legal services in the UK and opportunities that will become the norm in the coming years.

Jonathan Bainbridge, Paul Maharg, Rebecca Mitchell, Joel Mills, Freda Grierly, Rory O'Boyle - iLEGALL (iPads and Legal Learning) mobile legal learning

Funded by a BILETA grant, HEA Teaching Development grant and by Northumbria Law School, the iLEGALL project was something I was keen to hear more about...

After a rousing introduction from Paul Maharg around mobile learning and personalisation, we heard from Jonathan Bainbridge from Northumbria Law School. At Northumbria they've been trialling the iPad on their LPC, giving a device to each student. Bainbridge reported being surprised that students didn't feel confident with the device at all, needing significant support to get them up and running.

Credit: JaredEarle

Issues noted included the age-old University IT suspicion of Apple products and subsequent securing of a level of support, lack of knowledge about cloud computing from students and the sometimes odd formatting of documents on the iPad. The formatting was an issue as a big emphasis of the trial was on getting students drafting. Jonathan noted some problems around accessing legal databases via the device too.

Rebecca Mitchell took over to talk about the positives. No-brainers included portability, speed of turning on, and the iPad's ability to be 'useful for most things' (student quote). For teaching staff it proved excellent for getting the class collaborating and helping each other, as well as making it very easy to walk around and check work in progress.

Very little was dictated by Northumbria, emphasising the device is owned by the student. Students were simply required to download Dropbox and PDFExpert (allowing you to digitally sign a document).

The experience at The Law Society of Ireland was similar in that iPads were given to the student with the user free to use it as they wanted. The course was one that practitioners could sign up for and indeed 80% of those enrolling noted that their key driver to do so was because of the device. The aim was to run a paperless course, guiding practitioners in how to use the device as a professional tool and information manager. Like the students at Northumbria, much support was needed in the early weeks to understand the functions of the iPad; the Law Society offered workshops, forums and for some 1-2-1 tutorials. External speakers also came to pass on their expertise in using the device in practice. Impressions shared by participants included reduced wastage of paper, the ease at which they could record meetings and accessibility to such a wide range of resources at their fingertips.

Our new space

900+ shelves were emptied and transferred between buildings in this time. The Pool posed several challenges for a library collection, mainly on account of the presence of a rather large void underneath the floor. As a listed building the actual swimming pool remains under the flooring (minus the water of course), so shelving could only be accommodated round the edges. Further trickiness included the rather lovely swimming pool changing cubicles which remain on both sides of the room, these encompass bookshelves but are of varying widths making it a precise operation to work out what would fit.

The Collections held within The Pool are split; those on the ground floor and further materials held upstairs on the Gallery. The Gallery is not accessible to students, as there are weight restrictions - there are a lot of hefty materials stored up there. Requests for materials held in the Gallery should be made to the desk.

Remember that there are lots of other study space possibilities in addition to The Pool: the Library, Grays Inn Place library is open to you all, the Law Common Room, Myddleton Building top floor reserved for law students, and for GELLB and GDL students, the Library Graduate Centre. There are also various spaces dotted about the university, including the room on College Building walkway.

RIP Level 4

I hope you enjoy the new law space, you'll be seeing a number of new faces as the issue desk here will be manned by new starters Francesca and Billie for the majority of the week, with Amy and Chris on Thursdays. I'll still be very much around though (you'll find my office behind the spiral staircase in the Pool)!

I was sad to see Level 4 being stripped of its contents, particularly as I have spent almost 12 years of my working life there. Very sombre to say goodbye to my lovely office with its view of the square, but very much looking forward to our eventual new home in the City Innovation Centre, between Gloucester Building and the School of Social Sciences (January 2013).

Our Opening Hours in The Pool will be 8.30-9pm weekdays, with weekend opening hours to be confirmed shortly. The main library will be open 24 hours from 23rd April until Friday 1st June.

Susan Doe, City of London tour guide, will be writing a regular column for us all about buildings with links to the law: Law and Mortar. Hope you enjoy...

It may seem a bit odd to start a series of pieces about buildings relating to the law and the legal profession with a church. But Temple Church earns its place – not just by being the only building that is shared by the Inner and Middle Temples, but also by giving an insight into the ways buildings were used by lawyers in the days before formalised places of work.

Why even are the ‘temples’ here? Their location relates to Fleet Street – the major route between the two London cities – the City of London and Westminster. The street is recorded as early as 1002 and was named after the River Fleet which crossed the east end of it and still runs beneath. In the 14th century the Inns of Court were established here because it was convenient for the lawyers who had to constantly move between ‘the City’ and Westminster, the merchant City and centre of trade, and the seat of government.

The Middle and Inner Temples operate as two separate precincts (and yes, there was an Outer temple originally, but it is long gone) but the one building they both use – shared since 1608 - is Temple Church (and for our purposes here we will ignore its recent fame as one of the major sites of The Da Vinci Code!)

The name Temple came from the Knights Templar – military monks, a group of nobles established in Jerusalem to protect pilgrims travelling to the Holy Land. They gained great power and influence – and riches. Including land here in 1160. Their wealth and influence induced envy in both Popes and monarchs and they were suppressed in 1312, and their land given to a much less threatening group – the Order of St John – the Knights Hospitaller (the origins of the current day St Johns Ambulance, but that is another story). They didn’t need the land at Temple and in 1346 they leased it to law students. The Inns were developed as hostels to house the lawyers, and so it all began. By the 1440s the land was divided into the three Inns – Inner, Outer and Middle (defined by their proximity to the City of London).

The Knights Hospitaller – like any other religious order – did not escape Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries when he made himself head of the Church of England to escape the jurisdiction of the Pope. He claimed the property and gave the freehold in perpetuity to the ‘benchers’ in 1608.

The one real legacy of the royal connection is that Temple Church is one of the few ‘Royal Peculiars’ – it’s under the direct control of the monarch rather than the Bishop of London.

Being a lawyer was a fashionable pursuit in 16^th and 17^th century London, the sons of the nobility who weren’t the heirs usually went into the church or the law.

As it was before WWII bombs! Credit: Holly Hayes

So – the church. Officially the Temple Church of St Mary, it was founded in the 12^th century but there is evidence of a church on this site long before that. For architectural buffs, its interest lies in it being the finest example of what is known as the transitional period – between Norman and Gothic styles. It is one of only four round churches in the country. It survived the Great Fire of London but Sir Christopher Wren had a go at rebuilding it nonetheless, however, you won’t see much of his work today. It underwent huge restoration in the Victorian period and it was gutted by a bomb in 1941 during the Second World War. All the interior was destroyed.

The nave and the porch date from 1160-85, and the only Norman part remaining is the west doorway (not the door itself). The porch has been used in the past as a shop – Samuel Pepys mentions coming here in his diaries.

‘The Round’ was used by lawyers for meetings, especially in bad weather. People would come here to pay their rent and to negotiate contracts. Presumably stepping over the carvings of the 8 ‘knights recumbent’ that these days so interest the Da Vinci Code tourists. The shallow benches around the walls (check out the 64 gargoyles above) were used for resting weary limbs, but are apparently are also the origins of the phrase ‘the weak go to the wall’. You don’t have to imagine too hard about that if you were there negotiating a contract!

Today the Inner Temple use the south side of the aisle and the Middle Temple use the north side. Their crests are in the appropriate windows. Understandably, the church is a very popular place for barristers weddings and the christening of their offspring.

It is well worth looking at the sculpture outside created by Nicola Hicks – the grandly named ‘Monument for the Millennium’ shows two Knights Templar on the same horse (they supposedly did this to show their humility and vows of poverty) – it is now used to show the joint ownership of the church.

Susan Doe is Director of Information & Research for the European offices of Sidley Austin LLP, a US firm with headquarters in Chicago. Her remit is Library and Information services, know how and solicitor’s regulatory compliance.

A Law degree from the LSE and postgrad in Information Science has lead to 23 years in legal information, spanning 3 law firms.

Susan qualified as a City of London tour guide in 2008 and is about to inflict her knowledge of London on unsuspecting tourists during a stint as a ‘London Ambassador’ for the Olympics.

You can find out about her walks via Steps in the City.