Legal Skills Research Group Papers

Address at time of writing c/o the Secretary, Juliet Fussell, Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, Charles Clore House, 17 Russell Square, London WC1B 5DR. Ph 0171 637 1731. Fax 0171 580 9613

Historical Background

The Legal Skills Research Group (LSRG) was formed in 1989 as a collective enterprise by some of the country's leading researchers into the skills needed for the study and practice of the law. The Group intended that it should act as a resource for professional legal and judicial bodies, users of legal services and institutions providing legal education at all levels, by:

- doing original research on legal skills;
- monitoring and evaluating current and completed research in the field;
- developing and evaluating curricula for the teaching of legal skills and providing information and consultancy services.

The Group was housed at IALS from 1989-1997 and funded by the Higher Education Funding Council. It comprises teachers from law schools throughout the country. It has held annual symposia and regular lunchtime seminars, commencing in July 1990, on various subjects. Most symposia papers have been published in IALS working papers. Subjects have included teaching of ethics, incompetence at the Bar, teaching alternative dispute resolution and evaluation of the Bar Vocational Course.

The Group has also undertaken various special research projects, including a 5 year study commencing in 1989 to develop a general methodology for assessing legal skills. Later projects included developing methods for applying the theoretical findings of year 1 of the legal skills project and the development of training videos.

LSRG papers in the Records of Legal Education Archives

The records deposited in the Archives to date comprise the LSRG files of Professor Terence Daintith, convenor of the LSRG from 1989-1994, during which time he was also Director of IALS. In August 1995 he passed the papers to Juliet Fussell, the Group's secretary, who in turn passed them to the Records of Legal Education Archives in August 1996. Access to the papers has not yet been determined; requests for access should be referred to the Group's secretary for approval.

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LSRG ARCHIVES: CLASS LIST
quantity: 4 boxes

access: to be determined

Class ref Dates Description

A.LSRG 1 1989-1994 Agenda, minutes and papers of the Group

A.LSRG 2 1988-1994 Papers relating to funding

A.LSRG 3 1989-1993 Administrative records

A.LSRG 4 1988-1994 Convenor's correspondence, alphabetically arranged

A.LSRG 5 1980s-1994 Legal skills: documents and papers

LSRG ARCHIVES: HANDLIST OF RECORDS

A.LSRG 1: AGENDA, MINUTES AND PAPERS OF THE GROUP, 1989-1994
2 folders

The Group was chaired by a convenor, and met at regular intervals at IALS. The papers below are not the Group's official set of minutes, but Professor Daintith's own copies; they may therefore be incomplete.

Ref Dates Description

A.LSRG 1/1 1989-1990 Agenda, minutes and papers

A.LSRG 1/2 1991-1994 Agenda, minutes and papers

A.LSRG 2: PAPERS RELATING TO FUNDING, 1988-1994
2 folders

Although the Group was housed at IALS, it was not funded by the Institute, but applied for funding for its projects from the University Grants Committee (later the Higher Education Funding Committee), which provided grants for research into continuing education. Papers below include background papers, tenders, budget statements, proposals for particular projects and progress reports.

Ref Dates Description

A.LSRG 2/1 1988-1992 Funding proposals, submissions and reports

A.LSRG 2/2 1993-1994 Funding proposals, submissions and reports

A.LSRG 3: ADMINISTRATIVE PAPERS, 1989-1993
1 folder

This class primarily comprises Professor Daintith's copies of papers forwarded by the secretary relating to the administration of the Group, plus some correspondence and memoranda. Papers include the Group's mission statement, press releases, arrangements for meetings and symposia and outlines of papers and research proposals.

Ref Dates Description

A.LSRG 3 1989-1993 Administrative papers

A.LSRG 4: CONVENOR'S CORRESPONDENCE, ALPHABETICALLY ARRANGED, 1988-1994
2 folders

This class comprises the correspondence of Professor Daintith as Group convenor, alphabetically arranged by correspondent. The class has been weeded to remove duplicates and ephemeral material.

Ref Dates Description

A.LSRG 4/1 1988-1994 Convenor's correspondence, A-M

A.LSRG 4/2 1988-1994 Convenor's correspondence, N-Z

A.LSRG 5: LEGAL SKILLS: DOCUMENTS AND PAPERS, 1989-1994
3 BOXES

[TO BE ASSESSED]

You can search records for the Legal Skills Research Group Papers on the SHLs Archives Catalogue.

Access is by prior appointment. (Email: ials@sas.ac.uk or telephone 020 7862 5790)