Why a Jury Trial is More Like a Movie Than a Novel

This essay is concerned to note the way in which successful trial advocacy seems to stem from the ability to convert legal discourse into a story form. These stories need to be ones with which a jury is familiar. These increasingly come from visual media, particularly film. It looks in detail at one trial where this process of relating a defence to the jury employed the structure of a Mafia film. The essay concludes by examining the reasons why the nature of the novel differs significantly from that of the film and how in the novel-to-film adaptation process a certain simplification is bound to occur.     

Communications

David Schlosberg, 'Communicative Action in Practice', Political studies (1995) XLIII, 291–311     

Direct PCR Improves the Recovery of DNA from Various Substrates

This study reports on the comparison of a standard extraction process with the direct PCR approach of processing low-level DNA swabs typical in forensic investigations. Varying concentrations of control DNA were deposited onto three commonly encountered substrates, brass, plastic, and glass, left to dry, and swabbed using premoistened DNA-free nylon FLOQswabs^™. Swabs (n = 90) were either processed using the DNA IQ^™ kit or, for direct PCR, swab fibers (~2 mm²) were added directly to the PCR with no prior extraction. A significant increase in the height of the alleles (p < 0.005) was observed when using the direct PCR approach over the extraction methodology when controlling for surface type and mass of DNA deposited. The findings indicate the potential use of direct PCR for increasing the PCR product obtained from low-template DNA samples in addition to minimizing contamination and saving resources.     

Crowdfunding industry—History,development, policies,and potential issues

Crowdfunding has gained a great deal of attention from policy makers, researchers, and practitioners. This paper attempts to provide an overview of the history and development of the industry and discusses different types of crowdfunding and their public policies. It is identified that the operation of peer‐to‐peer lending and equity‐based crowdfunding is regulated by the Financial Authority; the reward‐based crowdfunding (RBC) and donation‐based crowdfunding (DBC) is yet to be regulated, neither in the United Kingdom or United States. The lack of rules and regulations in the latter two models highlights the burning issues such as potential fraud and malpractice. Therefore, we suggest that it is timely to consider regulating the two types of crowdfunding possibly by governance mechanism with reporting requirements to keep track of the fund and to provide timely information. Additionally, it is advisable that practitioners to work on an agreed framework to establish industry standard, so potential investors can compare and assess the quality of projects easily. Finally, the management of crowdfunding platforms especially the RBC and DBC platforms should be improved. The ease of launching campaigns has made it difficult for both initiators and investors to succeed in the crowdfunding process. Further research to develop some form of assessment framework would be useful to both parties.     

Copyright ownership in university students' academic works

Legal context. The impact of human rights on intellectual property(‘IP’), particularly in the light of the Human RightsAct 1998 and growing criticism of IP by civil society. Key points. There can be a greater legal, as well as political,role for human rights in the development of IP. The place ofhuman rights in IP litigation is established: see decisionsin Levi v Tesco, Ashdown v Telegraph and ITP v Coflexip. However,the impact of human rights has been limited to extreme peripheralcases, without challenging the central priority accorded tothe interests of IP owners. After considering practical applicationsin ‘non commercial’, ‘hybrid’, and ‘commercial’fields, this article argues for a more pervasive and centralrole for human rights, by greater reference to the Human RightsAct 1998, the EU Charter, international human rights instruments,TRIPS and decisions of other jurisdictions. This should enablea more balanced outcome to be reached in many, but not all,cases. Practical significance. IP owners, those challenging IP rights,and those advising them should all consider greater use of humanrights in IP litigation—not just in exceptional cases.Those resisting infringement may increase their prospect ofsuccess; those arguing for infringement will be better placedto counter arguments which may be raised. However, revisionof national, regional and international IP legislation wouldbe required to address all perceived social difficulties withIP.