Welcome to the autumn issue of Legal Information Management in which you will discover a healthy selection of articles covering a range of relevant topics. Indeed, the editor was reminded of the diversity and extent of interests that have been covered by the journal now, and over many years, when he was researching the history of LIM for the purposes of a paper which he gave at the BIALL Conference in June. The paper traced the development of LIM from the very beginning in 1970, when it was launched as the Law Librarian, through to the current product. The aim of the paper was also to raise the profile of the journal within the association; and there had never been a talk at the conference dedicated solely to the journal. During the talk some future themes for the forthcoming issues of LIM were highlighted which includes a selection of the papers delivered at the BIALL Conference 2013 (for publication in winter 2013), legal biography (spring 2014), German law and legal information (summer 2014) and, possibly technology and the law (autumn 2014).
LEGAL INFORMATION AND ASPECTS OF DEVOLUTION
The theme for autumn relates to various aspects of our devolving government and the effects on legal information, especially with the Scottish referendum on independence fast approaching in 2014. This selection of papers extends further than Scotland though. We begin with a piece focusing on Welsh devolution, written by Daniel Greenberg, and the complicated legislative landscape that now exists in the UK. In the second article, Candace Guite tackles the issues surrounding possible Scottish independence and the “shifting Scottish legal landscape”. Sue Westcott, from the Department of Communities and Local Government, approaches things from a different perspective with a piece on the changing public service landscape and implications of local decision making. Later in her article she also highlights the changing nature of libraries and information in the Civil Service. Alison Lorrimer reflects on the how sources of legal information have been affected by the changing politics in Northern Ireland and, finally, returning to the subject of Wales, Lillian Stevenson writes on the emergence of a post-devolution Welsh legal identity. The editor hopes that this eclectic set of articles may provoke discussion and interest in these very current issues.
CURRENT ISSUES
Three articles make up this section. Firstly Ruth Bird, who attended the Joint Study Institute in Melbourne earlier this year, reports on a panel discussion that was held at that meeting in connection with the differing requirements for legal education in the major common law jurisdictions. Daniel Bates, a member of the BIALL Web Committee, examines the nature of the skillset of the ‘Google Generation’ in relation to legal careers. He draws on his experiences in teaching legal research skills at the Faculty of Law at Cambridge. Finally in this section, Clare O'Dwyer looks at Library Schools and discusses whether they are adequately preparing their students for cataloguing with particular reference to Irish law libraries.
INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES
Raj Kumar Bhardwaj writes on the Indian judicial system and how ICT is beginning to improve the efficiency of the administration of the courts, which have suffered greatly from enormous backlogs of pending cases. His piece also briefly concerns the historical development of the legal system in Indian.
CONFERENCE REPORT
Celine Kelly who, like Ruth Bird, attended the Joint Study Institute in Melbourne earlier in the year reports, and reflects, on a paper delivered at that conference on the subject of the globalisation of the Australian legal profession.
As usual, the editor is enormously grateful to all of the contributors to this issue of LIM.
CURRENT AWARENESS
The Current Awareness section was, as always, compiled by Katherine Read and Laura Griffiths at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies.
