Report on the 2020 Society of Legal Scholars’ Annual Conference

Members of the School of Law were out in force at the 2020 Society of Legal Scholars’ Annual Conference, which was hosted by the University of Exeter, and took place virtually in September. The work presented by our colleagues reflect the wide variety of impactful and important research that is being undertaken across the School.

Dr Charlotte Smith gave the key note speech for the Legal History subject section. Her paper was entitled ‘Legal Biography and Religion: Some Reflections’.

Professor Paul Almond presented a paper entitled ‘Smoked Kippers and Red Herrings: ‘Euromyths’ and the UK Regulatory Environment’.

Dr Rachel Horton presented her research on ‘Assisted Dying and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.’

Dr Ruvi Ziegler was the co-convenor for the Migration & Asylum subject section, and he gave a paper on the ‘Political rights of aliens’ in the Civil Liberties & Human Rights subject section.

Professor Gerard McMeel QC gave the keynote speech at the Contract, Commercial and Consumer Law subject section. His paper was entitled ‘An English Commercial Code’, and is based on his project to restate the key principles of English commercial law.

Finally, Dr Peter Coe, who is taking over the Convenorship of the Media & Communications Law subject section from this year, gave a paper in that stream entitled ‘The Internet, social media, citizen journalism and increased access to the public sphere: a new reality for free speech or just an illusion?

Dr Peter Coe’s book chapter – ‘A comparative analysis of the treatment of corporate reputation in Australia and the UK’

Dr Peter Coe has written a chapter entitled ‘A comparative analysis of the treatment of corporate reputation in Australia and the UK’ for Professor András Koltay’s and Dr Paul Wragg’s edited collection Comparative Privacy and Defamation which has been published by Edward Elgar Publishing. The chapter critically analyses the Australian restriction on companies pursuing defamation claims, compared to the UK position, in which companies have a stronger, albeit imperfect right. It argues that both jurisdictions undervalue the significance of corporate reputation and its importance in the global economy.

Dr Peter Coe appointed as an Advisor to the University of East London’s Online Harms and Cyber Crime Unit

Dr Peter Coe has been appointed as an Advisor to the University of East London’s Online Harms and Cyber Crime Unit. This Unit, which was established in 2019, is a centre of research excellence for the study of online harms, cybercrime, cyber law, cyber-criminology, cyber bullying/hate, and cyber security/terrorism.

COVID-19, Social Media and Misinformation

Dr Peter Coe recently joined Dr Tom Bennett and Dr Holly Powell-Jones (both from City, University of London) on The Media Law Podcast to discuss the use of social media to disseminate news during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In particular they discussed issues around social media’s role in spreading fake news and disinformation and how social media platforms and the government have responded to this. They also discussed how elements of the mainstream media have contributed to the spread of misleading information relating to the virus.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of Social Media during the Coronavirus pandemic – Peter Coe

Dr Peter Coe’s article on ‘The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of Social Media during the Coronavirus Pandemic’ is now available on The International Forum for Responsible Media. The article looks at the positive and negative use of social media during the outbreak COVID-19, including how social media platforms have been used by some mainstream news publishers to spread misleading information on the virus. It considers how social media companies are responding to their platforms being used to disseminate misinformation and the response from the UK government.

Dr Peter Coe to co-edit Landmark Cases in Privacy Law

Dr Peter Coe has been awarded a book contract with Dr Paul Wragg from the University of Leeds by Hart Publishing to co-edit Landmark Cases in Privacy Law. The collection will form part of Hart’s prestigious Landmark Cases series and will include contributions from leading commentators from the UK, the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Canada.