STUDENT REVIEWS

By Phillip Taylor

CRIMINOLOGY

THE LAW STUDENT'S HANDBOOK

FIRST LAW BOOKS FOR NEW STUDENTS

PUBLISHED BY OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

www.oup.com

March 2008


It is often difficult to work out which books to advise a student new to law to read. The OUP have come up with some useful works which I would strongly advise those studying law at ‘A’ level or as an undergraduate to refer to in order to see whether they actually like the subject or not! Of course, there are many others which I will review elsewhere, but these works are the basic tools for the aspiring lawyer just starting out.

“The Essential Legal Skills Set” for £30 (ISBN: 978-0-19-923955-9) gives one of the best groundings in the subject for beginners at either ‘A’ level or undergraduate level. It combines a useful OUP Law dictionary with Dr Strong’s book “How to Write Law Essays and Exams” featuring the well-known CLEO system. Also included is “The Law Student’s Handbook” by Wilson & Kenny which will give the new student all the fiddly bits of information in one source from law tests to the ‘gobbledygook test’ and useful website information.

One other book from the OUP stable which is a must for the new law student is “Learning Legal Rules” (6th edition) by Holland & Webb (ISBN: 978-0-19-928250-0) at £19.99 which is a guide to legal method and reasoning much favoured by many first year degree courses these days.

There are eleven chapters in Holland & Webb which cover the sort of main principles which Lord Templeman has dealt with as a Law Lord, and which he describes so well in the Foreword to the first edition in 1991 when he wrote:
“This book answers all the questions which a student of the law ought to ask and propounds answers to questions which every lawyer and every judge should ask himself from time to time”. His concluding remarks are equally telling when he says “the book should enable all its readers to guard against asking a silly question and thus provoking a silly answer” (which we have all done as students and practitioners). It is also about technique, whilst we are going through a period of substantial legal reform which is where the examiners like to place much of heir questioning.

To go with the dictionary is another more detailed and advanced work called “The Oxford Dictionary of Law Enforcement” which I found of great use when teaching learners with some knowledge which needs to be covered in greater detail amid the never-ending reforms we seem to be having at the moment. I am sure that all students will find these works of great benefit as they begin their studies with the Distance Learning Partnership.

 

CLARITY FOR LAWYERS: Effective Legal Writing (Second Edition)

By Mark Adler  THE LAW SOCIETY  ISBN 978-1-85328-985-9

Price: £29.95 224 pages


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A BETTER LIFE WITH PLAIN ENGLISH

All lawyers need this book...if only to give our clients confidence in us and the legal profession generally! Apart from well-known pompous judges (we have their names) and even more pompous civil servants employed in the court service (when they are not on strike), lawyers have a reputation for bad writing when traditional legal writing becomes a bad habit and requires simple modernisation.

I suggest you read 'Adler on Clarity', starting at the beginning when Mr Adler writes that "this book is intended to give lawyers a better life". It does just that! The book succeeds in doing so brilliantly, and in a friendly manner. Adler has drawn from highly authoritative sources to make his point, including comments from the late Professor John Adams, acknowledging a list of distinguished personal contributors, and Lord Bingham's acute observation that "you cannot write clearly unless you know clearly what it is you want to say".

Contents of the Book

There are five sections to the book:

- What's wrong with legal writing?
- Alternative ways to communicate
- How to make legal writing more effective
- The common law rules of interpretation
- A plain language workshop

Each section builds up to provide a detailed guide to effective legal writing with a robust indictment of traditional legal language. The key is plain language which provides successful communication with clients, colleagues and the world in general. It is plain language and not pomposity which prevents ambiguity and mistakes to save your firm time and money as well as expressing a message effectively and in an approachable manner.

I was particularly interested in the sections on emails and websites which no doubt will expand with the third edition as these new methods of communication transform our lives. I see 'Clarity for Lawyers' as a publication to be recommended in publications such as "Which" magazine, and its organisation, the Consumers’ Association, plus all the consumer groups trying to establish modern rules of writing "fit for purpose" (an unfortunate phrase) in the twenty-first century.

Probably the greatest benefit to lawyers are the working examples throughout showing how legalese can be rewritten into plain English. The examples are taken from Adler's extensive experience in practice, and in teaching (and clearly gained from his Cert Ed training which is an 'eye opener' to many) linked with the activities given in the plain language workshop, and the conclusion with the exercises and precedents. From what I have seen of this book, and it needs to be read over with care, it is highly suitable for the Bar course as well and has relevance to a much wider audience for its reader-friendly style. All interviewees should read it, too.

I was re-reading 'The Adventure of English' by Melvyn Bragg which examines the position of English today as a truly global language, and I realised how the English language has moved on as changes in communication approaches take place. Just reading the old law reports illustrate such changes and Adler’s attack on ‘inflated’ language is well placed here. I liked the conclusion in his preface when he refers to the ‘robust attitude from the trial bench’ (we have all suffered that) which he hopes will ‘soon force the offenders to abandon their affectations’. The point is rightly asserted that clients will take their work elsewhere is their solicitor refuses to write plainly.

Some of the most successful professional writers are copywriters, and this book is also directly relevant to them as the ‘Crystal Mark’ has now become the accepted benchmark for plain writing. If the reader does not look at any other chapter, please read chapter 20 on ‘choosing words’. It is always the dream of examiners, with their itchy red pens, to delete, prune or ‘trim’ what isn’t necessary when marking a paper- Adler shows us what to do to erase the gobbledegook, and he gets full marks for it. Thank you for an excellent contribution to the study of twenty-first century English language, and let’s make this work a set book for all students in the future.

OXFORD DICTIONARY OF LAW ENFORCEMENT

First Edition Oxford Paperback Reference

By Graham Gooch & Michael Williams

Oxford University Press www.oup.com

ISBN 978-0-19-280702-1  Paperback £10.99

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A GREAT DICTIONARY TO DIP INTO

This new publication is an adaptation of what many lawyers will remember as ‘A Dictionary of Law’ some years ago. OUP have excelled with this practical, succinct pocket dictionary which is an essential reference resource to dip into involving all matters criminal.

The Oxford Paperback Reference series remain the world’s most trusted reference books. This new title on law enforcement fits in nicely with current trends in the criminal justice process at whatever level of involvement. The reader encounters words they may be unfamiliar with regularly as law enforcement becomes increasingly a multi-agency activity

Graham Gooch and Michael Williams have, between them, over sixty years’ experience of the investigation and prosecution of serious crimes which meets the new needs of our law enforcement community. The original law dictionary has now been expanded to meet the needs of those enforcing the law. Gooch and Williams succeed with their aim in providing a clear definition of the terms which are new and specific to law enforcement. There are also more detailed explanations where necessary with key cases and statutory provisions cited where appropriate.

This dictionary has a very wide application because so many potential readers will find it of use as law enforcement becomes a major significant area of applied criminology. Years ago when I wrote a number of textbooks on Criminology and lectured the subject at University I was in need of a pocket book of this size and detail to assist myself as well as the students whenever I needed to find a definition of worth. Gooch and Williams have come up with a work of worth which blends the difficulties of terms with an ease of understanding which clients and all associated with criminal justice management would welcome.

The scope of the book is also wide, providing a key reference source for students in further and higher education, with those studying for professional or vocational qualifications and the wider public. I was particularly taken with the clarity of explanation of what I term the ‘scientific solutions’ where I can be confronted with trying to explain in very simple English what DNA is, or what, say, ‘fingertip bruising’ is.

The work put into this dictionary should not be underestimated. It caters for the professional and the novice and it shows the way forward for a modern reference manual covering the framework we now have for law enforcement in all its new guises as regular bouts of criminal justice legislation are passed and alternative methods sought to deal with the perennial problems affecting criminal justice which tend to repeat themselves throughout the ages.

This is a book for the twenty-first century and has excellent supplementary material including abbreviations and acronyms, recordable offences, disclosure code and disclosure guidelines. For instance, just take a quick flick through it and go to ‘diving licence’ which gives the reader exactly what he or she may be looking for regarding factual content when the memory can sometimes play tricks during a pressured conference, and you get the countries where our valid licences apply- not a piece of information I would normally have at my fingertips.

The new direction in which this and, I hope, other OUP dictionaries will go in the future offering the one stop shop for criminal justice definitions is to be welcomed. The unique team of a policeman and an intelligence officer compiling such a work is to be commended as the work of the two agencies tend to become ever closer because of the shrinking of the old ‘splendid isolation’ of our international bodies tasked with law enforcement towards a new age of threat which is far more legal than military in its makeup and needs good legal resources for assistance.

It is to be hoped that the dictionary will be regularly revised with new legislation and it becomes popular as an e-book which readers can view by visiting this website: www.askoxford.com/shoponline/ebooks.

Thank you, Messrs Gooch and Williams for setting a modern precedent with your endeavours- Dr Johnson would be very proud of you!

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REVENUE LAW –
PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE (25th edition)

By Natalie Lee and twenty one other contributing authors

ISBN: 978-1-84592-464-5

Price: £68

TOTTEL PUBLISHING

www.tottelpublishing.com


THE BEST EXPERT GUIDE TO REVENUE LAW



The new twenty-fifth edition of this practical, comprehensive, concise and well-priced ‘Revenue Law’ will, as usual, be a title to strike fear into the hearts of revising undergraduates because of the complexities and unfair assumptions of the boring nature of the subject. Try teaching it!

Professor Natalie Lee has produced another refreshing edition of this hugely popular tome which is, I am told, still a great read for both practitioners and students of taxation law even though the subject has disappeared from many LL.B syllabuses.

Like many, I always had an aversion to this subject but Natalie Lee and her army of legal number crunchers have retained the pre-eminent position with this manual in an accessible format using non-technical language and a straightforward approach. It gives what it has always set out to give – a ready understanding of basic principles allowing the practitioner the very latest knowledge and know-how with its clear and detailed explanation of revenue law and a wealth of practical examples as activities.

The 25th edition is fully revised and updated and incorporates both the Finance Act 2007 and the Income Tax Act 2007. What makes this book stand out so much is its outstanding collection of contributors assembled by publishers Tottel, who are to be congratulated on achieving and maintaining a book of such worth which I know we can rely on when the client with the awkward questions arrives.

The twenty-fifth edition is a financial winner for us as the legal implications of new fiscal policies bend to new agendas currently being set with a General Election far off: we would all be at a loss without it as it is a true ‘must have’ book this year.

HUMAN RIGHTS ACT TOOLKIT (Second Edition)


By Jenny Watson and Mitchell Woolf


LEGAL ACTION GROUP

www.lag.org.uk

ISBN: 978-1-903307-61-8

£30

January 2008



GET ON THE RIGHTS TRACK WITH THIS ADVICE TOOLKIT

A book review by Phillip Taylor MBE LL.B (Hons) Barrister-at-Law, Abbey and Richmond Chambers


The ‘Toolkit’ books which LAG have published are stunning works for those with a passing interest in reforming laws introduced by this government which may be difficult to understand for the lay person and his or her advisers. It is always a difficult task for writers to produce a book covering legal matters for managers and front-line staff who have no legal knowledge but who need to understand what the law and what it means for them and their colleagues: the toolkit does this admirably.

Jenny Watson and Mitchell Woolf are to be congratulated in providing a clear and concise introduction to basic human rights principles without resorting to the gobbledegook which so many unreadable law books contain these days. This is an eminently readable book on human rights with clear, worked-through examples which will be invaluable for students as well as those lawyers and professionals who think they know about human rights (but don’t really!).

Watson & Woolf also introduce the Human Rights Act 1998 to those people who may not have had much prior knowledge of these laws and know that ignorance of them is no excuse. The authors demonstrate how human rights principles play a part in everyday decisions in the workplace over procedures, policies and service delivery under demanding work ethics.

THE CONTENTS

In her Foreword, Helena Kennedy rightly describes the law as ‘too important to be left to lawyers’ and she does tend to say this quite often, especially in the House of Lords. However, she is in her element here with this legislation which has probably promoted the core values of mutual respect and the dignity of the individual which it set out to achieve. However, I would not go so far as to say (as she does) that the Act is a “positive expression of a mature society” yet as there is still a long way to go and I would like to see a charter of fundamental rights in the next few years which gets away a bit from the knee-jerk reactions of post 1945 Europe.

The Watson & Woolf Toolkit is highly practical as almost a virtual seminar on human rights, with its eleven chapters and a copy of the Act at the end. The contents start with a bold introduction, and then we have Part I which is entitled ‘The Checklist’ covering ‘mini checklists’ for the important areas such as the right to a fair trial, discrimination and case examples to give it office credibility. Part II talks about the law in a non-boring way looking at the significance of the Act, a breakdown of the articles, a classification of the rights and principles, and how the legislation actually works.

The greatest asset of the toolkit is, as the name implies, a piece of kit which gives the reader the tools of individual rights and obligations which go to make up this controversial Act, and how they can be made to work in practice. The question and answer structure using a checklist system gives a human face to the subject which is much needed with this revised and improved second edition.

I have always found the continuing debate over the obligations of public bodies under the Act to be confusing (as have many other practitioners). It is good to know that Watson & Woolf have dispelled some of the prejudices, misunderstandings and myths surrounding what we, as the workforce, think the Human Rights Act is about. Many practitioners and students have guarded responses to this legislation but the HRA Toolkit is an excellent, all-round statement of the current principles (before they change) written in a non-nonsense style to prepare you for the impact of equality and diversity issues which continue to arise in this new area of law.

Of the many books I have reviewed on human rights since that fateful morning of 2nd October 2000, this toolkit gets the balance right between the concepts of current human rights philosophy in the early twenty-first century, and the measure of its limited successes to date. It explains how the system works in simple terms and there are some great case illustrations which many seminars on human rights could do to follow.

The HRA Toolkit is good for students, too, as many often confuse the ideals of human rights with what we actually have in practice- Watson & Woolf give us the practice without the frills of human rights theory which can be seen as such a damaging political label in some quarters. This toolkit is a great addition to the working library of the professional and the layman alike as we prepare for new principles of fundamental rights later this century now the basics have been largely attained.