Leducate’s ⚖ June News Blast ⚖
For those of you who have not yet subscribed, here is a copy of our June 2020 quarterly newsletter.
Dear Friends of Leducate,
While the wider world may have ground to a halt in the extraordinary times we find ourselves in, Leducate has been working harder than ever on all our programmes. We are working flat-out to produce brand new, innovative and interactive teaching materials for the next academic year ahead. We’ve done our very best to support our schools in lockdown for what remains of this year, delivering our session on Chancery Law and Democracy from barrister Donald Lily online rather than in person. Our team of dedicated volunteers have used all the extra time on their hands to help kick-start our Leducate Explains series in which we break down the flurry of legal goings on in the world into bite-size explainers you can find on our website. Check out our piece on the furlough scheme here. We all hope that you and your loved ones are staying safe and healthy and look forward to seeing you all again in person soon. In the meantime, rest assured that Leducate is doing everything we can in partnership with our schools, our Leducators and our wonderful volunteers to make great leaps forward in what remains of this school year.
Adam Kayani, Director
⚖ Legal News ⚖
⚖ In Legal news over the past few months, we’ve been reading all about US President Donald Trump’s Executive Order on social media companies and the liability protections associated with Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, just as here in the UK social media giants were recalled to Parliament to answer MP’s questions on misinformation and online harms. Also on this side of the pond, it was interesting to see that 50 years on from the signing of the Equal Pay Act in 1970, gender pay gap reporting tumbled this year as the Government relaxed reporting rules due to Covid-19. Lastly, we’d be lying if we said we weren’t fascinated to see the next chapter of the Tiger King saga unfold as an Oklahoma judge handed ownership of Joseph ‘Joe Exotic’ Maldonado-Passage’s zoo to arch-nemesis Carol Baskin.
📚Looking for your next read?📚
Here at Leducate, Kieran has been reading Enemies of the People?: How Judges Shape Society by Joshua Rozenberg. The book explores how judges make law and asks whether they can maintain public confidence while balancing conflicting interests. Here’s what Kieran has to say about it:
"This book is by no means a light read, but it is certainly a worthy read. Whilst it tackles some complex legal issues, it does so in a surprisingly accessible way, making it suitable for anyone with an interest in the area, not just legal professionals. It would certainly make for excellent university prep for those looking to study law. The book evaluates key cases in the last century where the judiciary has arguably created new law. Rozenberg invites the reader to reflect on the case and how they would decide the matter given all the pertinent facts. He takes a complex legal question; ‘what is the role of judges in making law’ and walks the reader through the case law to make their own decision."
✍️ Justice Diaries ✍️
If that has piqued your interest, we were thrilled to speak to the book’s author, Joshua Rozenberg QC, for our newly launched Justice Diaries. Joshua is one of Britain's best-known legal commentators and the only full-time journalist to have been appointed as Queen's Counsel honoris causa. Having spent 15 years as the BBC Legal Affairs Correspondent and further 8 years editing the Daily Telegraph's legal coverage, Joshua now presents the Radio 4 series Law in Action. We asked him about the relationship between the media and the law, the impact of Covid-19 on the legal sector, and, of course, about what he’s been up to in lockdown. Check out his Justice Diary here.
🙌 Volunteers 🙌
Earlier this month, we gave a shout out to our fantastic volunteers as part of Volunteers Week 2020. Our volunteers help us to deliver public legal education to young people around the country, and we couldn’t do it without them! We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again - thank you!
On that note, our volunteer champion this month is Brittany Buckell. A former University of Nottingham Student, Britt is starting a criminal pupillage in October 2021. In the past few months, Britt has been invaluable helping Leducate with research tasks, sourcing funding, and curriculum improvements. She has also been working to help us build better relationships with other legal education partners to build an engaging curriculum for our Leducatees.
📖 Our Newest Content 📖
I As Adam mentioned, we've been hard at work delivering content even if it can't be in person. Check out Donald Lilly's fantastic e-talk, and to find all our resources in one convenient location, head over to our new resources page!
🧡 Together we are stronger 🧡
Lastly, as the world reacts to the events taking place in the USA and the resulting protests here in the UK, Leducate reiterates its belief that injustice has no place in society. We believe that an education in what equality truly means, at school level, is fundamental. We think it is vital that students can understand what direct and indirect discrimination are and how those legal protections apply to real interactions between people. We’re still working away at getting our curriculum up and running for the next academic year and hope to include more teaching on this subject as we develop our curriculum further. In the meantime, you can read our Leducate Explains piece on protesting here.
Love the Leducate Team x