Faculty of Law general media

On Friday 18 September 2026 Cambridge Women in Law held this panel event as part of the Cambridge Alumni Festival.

AI is shaping all walks of life. This is particularly true in respect of the law. Litigants rely on ChatGPT to submit their complaints and lawyers have access to databases of precedents, search tools and the capacity for AI to manage vast numbers of documents, often better than humans. This raises the question whether there is still a need for lawyers and, for the Faculty of Law at Cambridge, what this means for the law degree.

In this session leading Cambridge academics and practitioners debate the challenges and opportunities for legal education posed by the ever-increasing availability and capacity of AI tools.

Speakers:

• Professor Louise Merrett
• Professor Louise Gullifer
• Professor Catherine Barnard
• Professor Felix Steffek
• Jonathan Chamberlain
• Anneliese Day KC

For more information and to sign up to the CWIL mailing list to receive information about future news and events, see https://www.law.cam.ac.uk/alumni-developmentalumni-events/cambridge-women-law-cwil

Speaker: Dr Maitena Arakistain Arriola (Assistant Professor in Civil Law, University of the Basque Country; Visiting Fellow CFL; Bye Fellow, Robinson College)

Can the pro-contact culture that prevails in the justice system in child arrangement cases be changed through legislative reform? This is exactly what the Spanish legislator tried to do in 2021 when he amended the Civil Code to introduce a no-contact rule in cases of gendered-based violence. Now the presumption is that there will be no contact unless proven to be in the child’s best interests. Has it worked? The number of cases where unsafe contact is still awarded by the courts suggests that it has not, or, at least, not yet. In this seminar we will look at the position under Spanish Law and we will examine some of the arguments used to avoid the new no-contact rule.

For more information about the Faculty Family Law Centre (CFL), see:

https://www.family.law.cam.ac.uk/

In this lecture, delivered at the 51st iteration of the Exploring Law Conference (ELC) at Cambridge, Lord Lloyd-Jones provides an expert overview of the United Kingdom's highest appellate bodies: the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

Key themes from the address include:

• Constitutional Evolution: The 2005 transition from the "Law Lords" in the House of Lords to an independent Supreme Court, emphasising the separation of powers and increased transparency.
• The Supreme Court's Mandate: The court acts as a final arbiter for "points of law of general public importance," deciding cases that shape the development of the law across the UK.
• The Value of Dissent: A rigorous defence of the right to issue dissenting judgments, which Lord Lloyd-Jones argues enhances intellectual rigour and signals that the law is a living debate.
• The Global Reach of the Privy Council: An exploration of its role as the final court of appeal for 29 overseas jurisdictions, highlighting its unique ability to apply local laws - from common law to the Napoleonic Code.
• Constitutional Boundaries: A comparison between the UK’s principle of parliamentary sovereignty - where courts cannot strike down primary legislation - and other jurisdictions where the Privy Council may invalidate unconstitutional laws.

Lord Lloyd-Jones concludes by encouraging the next generation of "high fliers" to pursue careers in the law, promising a rewarding and intellectually stimulating path.

For more information about the Conference, see:

https://www.law.cam.ac.uk/access-outreach/exploring-law-conference

A panel discussion on the Employment Rights Bill held at the Faculty of Law on 4 December 2025.

Lord (John) Hendy KC and Councillor Nick Denys from the Law Society shared their insights on the parliamentary process, the merits (and weaknesses) of the ERB, and its (practical) future once it is voted into law.

The development of this rather complex piece of legislation has been complicated and the interaction between the Lords and the Commons intense.

Professor Catherine Barnard chaired the session, with an additional contribution from Dr Fotis Vergis.

Is modern left-wing progressive politics to blame for the current rise of the far-right?

This event was held by the Cambridge University Human Rights Law Society (CUHRLS) and Clare Politics Society, who hosted renowned human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, best known for his decades-long work with LGBTQ+ and other global social justice movements which has shaped contemporary activism. Peter discussed the rising tide of the far right and why progressive politics has struggled to stem this tide and safeguard human rights in response.

Peter Tatchell is one of the UK’s best-known human rights campaigners, with more than fifty years of work across LGBTQ+ rights, anti-racism, democracy, and social justice. Throughout his career he has taken on governments and institutions around the world, often using bold direct action to highlight abuses and push for reform: he helped found ‘OutRage!' in the 1990s and most recently leads the Peter Tatchell Foundation.

For more on Clare Politics Society see their Instgram page. For CUHRLS see their Instagram page.

On Wednesday 12 November 2025 Professor Dame Sarah Worthington DBE, KC (Hon), FBA, FRSA delivered the second of three 2025 Hamlyn Lectures at the Faculty.

The Hamlyn Lectures are normally delivered in the autumn and the annual Hamlyn Seminar, which marks the publication of the lecture, is usually held in London in the following spring.

The lecture was on the title: 'The Paradoxes of Property: What do we Own and What can we Own?'

For more about the Hamlyn Lectures see: https://law.exeter.ac.uk/about/thehamlyntrust/lectures/

On 26 September 2025 Cambridge Women in Law (CWIL) hosted the Right Honourable Lady Arden of Heswall DBE as she chaired a compelling discussion with four exceptional legal minds shaping the future of human rights law, Nicola Greaney KC, Irena Sabic KC, Katherine Apps KC and Dr Kirsty Hughes, Associate Professor of Human Rights Law. The event took place as part of the Cambridge Alumni Festival, and was generously hosted by Murray Edwards College, Cambridge.

CWIL is an exciting social network of alumnae at the Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge, which features a diverse range of women from all sectors.

In this session, you’ll hear personal reflections on how each panellist carved out a path in human rights practice, and gain insights into:

• The current intersection of human rights, legislation and common law in the UK’s Constitutional framework
• New frontiers for Human Rights litigation including private law and international human rights in a post Brexit UK
• Human Rights and Geopolitics

For more information and to sign up to the CWIL mailing list to receive information about future news and events, see https://www.law.cam.ac.uk/alumni-developmentalumni-events/cambridge-women-law-cwil

On Tuesday 17th November the Rt. Hon. Professor Shirley Williams delivered the 2009 Alcuin lecture at the Law Faculty, discussing the future of the European Union after the Lisbon Treaty.

Shirley Williams, Baroness Williams of Crosby, was one of the 'Gang of Four' moderate Labour politicians who in 1981 founded the Social Democratic Party (SDP), which merged with the Liberal Party in 1988 to form the Liberal Democrats.

Baroness Williams was first elected as an MP in the 1964 General Election to represent the Labour Party in the constituency of Hitchin, Hertfordshire. She rapidly rose to a junior ministerial position and subsequently served as Shadow Home Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection, Secretary of State for Education, and Paymaster General until she lost her seat in the general election of 1979.

In 1981 she resigned from the Labour Party to form the SDP, along with Roy Jenkins, David Owen and Bill Rodgers. Later that year she won the by-election for Crosby in Merseyside to become the first elected SDP MP. After losing her seat in 1983 she became a familiar face as a broadcaster on In conversation with Shirley Williams and has appeared on the BBC's Question Time more than any other panellist.

n 1988, Williams moved to the USA as Professor of Elective Politics at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government until 2001. She helped draft constitutions in Russia, Ukraine and South Africa, served as a UN Special Representative to the former Yugoslavia, and has been President of Chatham House, the Royal Institute for International Affairs. With Amartya Sen, she is a director of the US-based Nuclear Threat Initiative, which seeks to reduce the risk of use of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons; and in 2007 was appointed by the Prime Minister as an independent advisor on nuclear proliferation.

The Alcuin lectures are named after the 8th century scholar Alcuin of York, who was a key advisor to the Emperor Charlemagne and a central figure in the Carolingian Renaissance. The lectures were established in 1999 with a benefaction from Lord Brittan, himself a former European Commissioner. The theme for the lecture must be some aspect of the relationship between Britain and the European Institutions. Previous speakers have included Lord Patten, Lord Hannay and Dr Carl Bildt.

The British Association of Comparative Law (BACL) held a discussion of Dr Irini Katsirea’s book, 'Press Freedom and Regulation in a Digital Era: A Comparative Study' (2024) on 29th April 2025.

This book examines the challenges for press freedom in the nascent digital news ecosystem. Drawing upon decisions of the European Court of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the European Union, as well as from German, UK and US case law, this comparative work explores the regulation of the press in the digital era and the impact of the proliferating media laws, policies, and jurisprudence on press freedom.

Professor Jacob Rowbottom (University of Oxford) chaired the discussion between Dr Irini Katsirea (University of Sheffield), Dr Peter Coe, (University of Birmingham), Emeritus Professor Thomas Gibbons (University of Manchester), and Emeritus Professor Bernd Holznagel (University of Münster).

Speaker: Professor Victor Kattan (University of Nottingham)

Chair: Professor Antony Anghie (Goodhart Professor, National University of Singapore and the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law)

Abstract: In this presentation I will provide an account of the statehood of Palestine. After outlining the basic principles relating to statehood in international law, I will argue that recognition plays an important role in such assessments. My talk will focus on four key moments extending from the time of the League of Nations to the United Nations period. In presenting this account, I will address my own experience as a legal adviser to the State of Palestine in the negotiations on the adoption of General Assembly Resolution 67/19 in 2012 when the State of Palestine was conferred observer state status at the UN.

Biography: Victor Kattan is Assistant Professor of Public International Law at the School of Law at the University of Nottingham. His publications include The Palestine Question in International Law (British Institute of International and Comparative Law, 2008). From Coexistence to Conquest: International Law and the Origins of the Arab-Israeli Conflict 1891-1949 (Pluto Press, 2009). The Breakup of India and Palestine: The Causes and Legacies of Partition (Manchester University Press, 2023, with Amit Ranjan), and Making Endless War: The Vietnam and Arab-Israeli Conflicts in the History of International Law (Michigan University Press, 2023, with Brian Cuddy).

• Professor Anghie: 01:22
• Professor Kattan: 12:23

For more information about CULWOB see:

https://www.cambridgesu.co.uk/organisation/culwob/