Marianne Barber offers some practical observations from a trial introduction of eTextbooks at the College of Law. Ebook versions of the textbooks produced by the College (and published commercially by College of Law Publishing) were made available for the first time in 2010 to its Legal Practice Course students. This paper was originally presented at the BIALL Conference in June 2011 and included an overview of the variety of licensing models/platforms available, an analysis of the then level of response from teaching staff and students and likely touch-points for mass adoption in the legal field.

The Committee on Relations with Information Vendors (CRIV) is one of thirty-seven committees organized under the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL). The purpose of CRIV is to facilitate communications between information vendors and the members of the Association by monitoring complaints and providing constructive suggestions to vendors of legal information. The Committee also serves to educate AALL member librarians on helpful ways to communicate with information vendors. This article by Rob Myers provides a brief history of CRIV, outlines the Committee's organisation and structure, discusses its activities in pursuit of its charge, and outlines its goals for the immediate future.

This article from the Chair of the Bar Standards Board, Baroness Ruth Deech, considers the impact of the Legal Services Act 2007 on the regulation of the Bar.

Mary Gaynor gives a brief outline of the historical context of the establishment and development of the Law Society of Ireland library service. She describes core services to solicitor members and trainee solicitors. The impact of the economic recession on the number of solicitors entering, and staying within the profession, is discussed in the context of how the library has adapted to meet the changing needs of its users.

This article, by Jennefer Aston, outlines the origins of The Law Library, focusing on its librarians and the services that were provided for members in the first 180 years.

Vicky Ling outlines the Government's proposals to reform the legal aid scheme for family law. They would remove legal aid funding from many potential clients and threaten access to justice.

This article by Shaunna Mireau contains a brief update on the activities of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries Vendor Liaison Committee and shares the unique features of the relationships between Canadian law librarians and the vendor community.

When faced with a U.S. legal research question, what options does the non-U.S. based researcher have, short of purchasing a subscription to one of the fee-based databases or visiting a major research library? This article will briefly discuss a number of no-cost and low-cost resources in the context of the process required to perform U.S. legal research and will also provide explanations of the different types of primary sources that a legal researcher might encounter.

Loyita Worley reports on the SLA Europe1 seminar held in March 2011 on the impact of outsourcing in law firms. The panel included the perspectives of the provider companies and experiences of law firm information professionals who have already adopted outsourcing and those who are about to.

John Furlong reviews the law firm sector in Ireland as it weathers the storms of recession and the winds of change. The article provides details on the size and scale of the sector as well as statistical information on solicitors and law firms.

Nick Davies delivered two lively sessions at the BIALL Conference 2011 concerning, “How to make your training engaging? Presenting so People Learn”. This article summaries those practical notions relating to effective delivery of training sessions and provides tips relating to the art of successful presenting.

Fiona Fogden gave a very practical talk at the BIALL Conference 2010 in Brighton on contract negotiation with online vendors and it has been held over to this issue of LIM as it fits so well with our vendor relations theme.

Mark Ross provides an overview of currently available ethical guidance from both the UK and US regulatory bodies for law firms engaged in legal process outsourcing.

Jas Breslin gives a brief overview of how email discussion forums can be used by information professionals and information providers to enrich and enhance relationships.

Lesley Dingle, founder of the Eminent Scholars Archive, provides a further contribution based on interviews with Emeritus Professor John Anthony “Tony” Jolowicz, one of the great legal scholars at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Trinity College since 1952.

Madelaine Dennison describes the work of the Oireachtas Library & Research Service (L&RS) and how it works for members of the Houses of the Oireachtas, the Irish parliament. The L&RS delivers a range of services to parliamentarians including a Legislative Analysis Service. Following a period of investment in the L&RS there is now a requirement to reduce costs while continuing to meet members' needs. A challenge for the L&RS is to become the research hub within parliament and the preferred information and research resource for members.

This article by Caroline Shenton, Clerk of the Records at the Parliamentary Archives, describes the rich legacy of records relating to the judicial function of the House of Lords from the sixteenth century to 2009, when the new Supreme Court was established.

Peter Clinch, retired Senior Subject Librarian for Law, Cardiff University and Steven Whittle, Information Systems Manager at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies describe the developments relating to the FLARE Index to Treaties.

This article takes the form of a short interview with George Woodman, Librarian at the Northern Ireland Assembly Library. The questions were posed by the LIM Editor. George was recently given Life Membership of BIALL and received the Wildy BIALL Law Librarian of the Year 2011 Award at the 2011 BIALL Annual Dinner in Newcastle. More significantly, George was awarded an MBE in HM The Queen's Birthday Honours 2010 in recognition of his services to the profession.

Clare Brown of Collyer Bristow revisits her earlier research on how the legal landscape is changing as a result of changes in regulation; the opening up of the profession to alternative business models and the effect of the internet on legal service provision.