Exploring the impact of the Government of Wales Act 2006 on legal education in the UK

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17 December 2007

University of Glamorgan ()

The Government of Wales Act 2006 has significant implications for those involved in legal education both in Wales and across the UK. This seminar, jointly organised by UKCLE and the University of Glamorgan, provided an outline of the main provisions of the Act and explored the ways in which those involved in legal education can work together with the Assembly to overcome some of the difficulties posed by the Act.

As we are all breaking new ground, seminars like this are vitally important. They provide an opportunity for those involved in the creation of Assembly measures to meet with the experts and practitioners who will be involved in their application and consult with them on the issues raised by the Act. This is an incredibly exciting time for the entire legal profession in Wales.

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Carwyn Jones AM, Counsel General and Leader of the House of the Welsh Assembly Government

The event brought together legal academics and practitioners, publishers, librarians and representatives of the voluntary sector to discuss the Act and identify possible responses. Issues considered included:

• how law schools can work effectively with the Welsh Assembly Government and the National Assembly
• given that laws affecting Wales are now passed in Brussels, Westminster and Cardiff Bay, is there a need for a Welsh statute book?
• can law schools in Wales assist in involving civic society in the work of the Assembly?
• is devolution adequately covered as a topic on law degrees?
• how certain types of legal work, particularly relating to public law, can be retained within Wales
• does the Act give rise to a need to train more bilingual lawyers?

Below Richard Owen (University of Glamorgan) summarises discussions from the final session of the conference.

Incorporating devolution law into the curriculum

It was felt that as Wales and England are one jurisdiction, if to a certain extent with differing laws, it was not possible to practise law in Wales or England without at least a basic knowledge of the constitutional principles of devolution law in Wales. Practitioners increasingly need to understand cross-border issues, and such knowledge will also equip students with the tools necessary to cope with the increasing Europeanisation and internationalisation of the law.

There are several examples of other EU member states with devolved systems of government, such as Belgium and Spain, and outside the EU many Commonwealth countries also have devolved systems.

Whilst the basic principles can be incorporated without too much difficulty into existing undergraduate public law modules, any extended examination of the constitutional law principles behind devolution is probably best done in a dedicated devolution law module. As devolution in the UK is asymmetrical, with different principles operating in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, such a module should look at all these systems together, with comparisons from overseas.

Other substantive areas of law can be embedded into the curriculum by using the differences in law and policy that have arisen from devolution as examples. A delegate from an English university reported that when lecturing on domestic violence she uses the Welsh model as an example, as it is widely regarded as best practice.

One of the challenges of incorporating devolution law into the curriculum is that it has had a greater impact in some areas of law than others. Where the law in Wales is only slightly different from the law of England, using examples drawn from devolution law will work. However, there are other areas, such as planning law, where the law in Wales and England is now substantially different – incorporating these areas into the curriculum is a bigger challenge.

Law schools in Wales recruit students not only from within Wales but also from England, elsewhere in the UK and internationally, and they will not wish to be overly focused on Welsh law, which students might find limiting. Welsh themed modules may not be commercially viable. On the other hand, if these specialist areas are not taught in Welsh law schools, where will they be taught?

There are further issues inhibiting the development of devolution law at the further education level. The WJEC (previously called the Welsh Joint Education Committee), which, inter alia, provides assessment at Entry Level, GCSE and AS/A Level, now exports its services to England, and, as a result, does not wish to concentrate too specifically on Wales.

The Mapping legal education in Wales project found a large overlap in the provision of modules by Welsh law schools, in particular on commercially related subjects. However, it is known from other research that there are advice deserts in Wales – and it can be hard to find a module on, for example, education law. It was suggested that a partnership between legal education providers, the National Assembly and the Welsh Assembly Government could identify gaps in provision and solutions to fill them.

The teaching of issues related to devolution law also needs to be supported by additional materials. The experience in Ireland is that such works are produced but take time to appear, with texts being produced by both practitioners and academics. However, an important difference between Ireland and Wales is that there is no Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) in Ireland. Some of the best textbooks that have been produced to date on devolution law in Wales have not been submitted for the RAE – this arrangement for funding research may well act as a disincentive to produce textbooks on Welsh law.

The University of Wales Press is actively looking to commission books on substantive areas of Welsh law, and it was suggested that a Welsh Academy be established to buy out the time of academics to produce guides on various topics of Welsh law. Producing or tailoring major reference books such as Archbold: Criminal Pleading, Evidence and Practice to meet Welsh needs would be a mammoth task.

Bilingual lawyers

Assembly Measures are produced in Welsh and English, with both versions of equal standing. There is a need to develop bilingual skills among lawyers to cope with the demands of the bilingual legislative and legal system.

Research studies have shown a shortage of tutors with the relevant linguistic skills. There are a number of Welsh speakers who currently lack sufficient confidence to teach in the Welsh language, but could be developed to do so, however supporting teaching activities through the medium of the Welsh language suffers from an even greater shortage of materials than in English. Here is another gap in legal education provision that could be plugged by all the relevant stakeholders working together, in this case together with the Welsh Medium Teaching Development Centre.

A Welsh statute book

There are currently 13 sources of Welsh law, and finding it can be difficult – Wales Legislation Online provides some legislation, but does not provide details of amendments. LexisNexis Butterworths was praised for making consolidated notes below the text on its database where primary legislation has been affected by legislative developments in Wales, however this is not as accessible as it could be.

There are problems inherent in producing a Welsh statute book. For example, where one provision of a primary Act of the UK Parliament has been varied by an Assembly Measure, do you reproduce the entire Act in a Welsh statute book, or just the provision varied by the Assembly Measure?

The difficulties in producing accessible versions of Welsh law are in some respects a reflection of the current stage of development of devolution law in Wales, however solutions are in the process of being devised. LexisNexis is reviewing the way it presents information on Assembly Measures, and the UK Statute Law Database is looking at methods of capturing information across Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland.

The voluntary sector

The Government of Wales Act 2006 adopts an inclusive approach to law making – there are partnership schemes with the voluntary sector, business and local government. It is also possible for ten people to petition the National Assembly, which is obliged to consider all admissible petitions on all matters within the Assembly’s jurisdiction.

This has created a legal educational need, and one delegate had already been asked to provide seminars to the voluntary sector on aspects of devolution law. However, as operations in Wales can sometimes be small and strapped for resources, it can be hard for the voluntary sector to keep up with developments and to participate in the Assembly’s law making processes.