The City University London Library Executive team have been shortlisted for the prestigious Times Higher Education Leadership & Management Awards for 'Outstanding Library Team'.

The nomination focuses on the strategic work led by the team to "maximise the effective use of limited 'library' space within the University".

This year has seen them design the new Cass Financial Resources Zone and Bloomberg Dealing Room, The Financial Resources Suite at Northampton Square, the Graduate School Library Centre, and build a new Law Library.

The team is made up of the heads of Library Services across City University including Paul Banks head of City Law School Library services.

The complete shortlist of nominations can be found here.

A top flight City Law School academic has just been recognised for his excellence in a prestigious nomination.

The nomination for Knowledge Exchange/Transfer Initiative of the Year was in recognition on a case study about City Enterprise Services.

Carl Stychin, Dean of the Law School, cited David Collins, Deputy Director of GE LLB, for his role in securing the nomination, saying "This is a really fantastic achievement and it is a credit to David's initiative and vision".

The awards will be read out in an exclusive black tie ceremony in July.

The first magazine of the City University Law Society is now available - articles by our students are diverse, with topics ranging from marital coercion and squatting to the regulation of online social media.

Read it now!

Two members of staff at the top flight City Law School have won the prestigious Teaching with Technology Award. Law Librarian Emily Allbon and lecturer Sanmeet Kaur were both awarded the accolade by the Association of Law Teachers for creating Learnmore. Learnmore is the excellent multimedia law tutorial website that can be used by anyone. The website uses innovative visuals, videos and articles by City Law School Students.

They both said of the award, "We are really honoured to receive this award and particularly pleased that so many external institutions have recognised the value in using and recommending Learnmore to their students."

For more information have a look at learnmore here.

Top City Law School academic, Professor Stuart Sime has just written a major new guide, in collaboration with Derek French, on important new reform in civil litigation funding and costs.

The Civil Justice Reforms (the Jackson reforms) will come into effect on 1 April 2013. President of the Law Society Lucy Scott-Moncrieff has called the changes "'the most significant change to the civil justice system since the Woolf reforms in 1999". Amongst other things, the reforms intend to make costs more proportionate, and discourage unnecessary or unmeritorious cases. The reforms are likely to have a major effect on "No win, no fee" or CFAs.

Professor Sime's book will be a key text to help practitioners understand the major changes. The guide will include practical commentary on the reforms, providing readers with valuable guidance and detail on how the changes will operate in practice. It will be of interest to all people working in the legal sector or with an interest in it.

Top City academic Professor Adrian Keane has been nominated for an award in the prestigious Halsbury Legal Awards 2013. The nomination recognises his integral contribution to key reform of Chinese laws of evidence and procedure.

In 2011, Professor Keane was selected as the only non-Chinese scholar to participate in a project carried out at Renmin University, Beijing. The project related to coerced confessions and aimed to encourage a more uniform understanding of how the rules in these areas should be interpreted and implemented.

The NPC accepted some of its proposals as law, including: the adoption of fundamental rights like the privilege against self-incrimination and the right to an independent lawyer before interrogation; the right of the trial judge to compel all but the immediate family of the accused to give evidence.

The winners of The Halsbury Legal Awards 2013 will be announced at a glitzy ceremony on the 8th May. There are 15 categories marking the achievements of those whose expertise has made a contribution to the law and to the law's place in the wider community.

More information is available on the City Law School Website.

The City Law School has launched its Excellence Awards scheme for the forthcoming academic year. The series of School funded scholarships and prizes are designed to reward exceptional academic performance and support the legal profession's widening participation agenda.

The Future Lawyer, Master of Law and Legal Research Awards provide full and part fee scholarships across each of The City Law School's post graduate courses. There are a total of 17 full fee scholarships and 18 part fee scholarships available, along with more than £35,000 worth of cash prizes on offer. Every student accepted for a place on eligible courses can apply.

Current City students can also apply for further awards if they are accepted onto a second course at City. The City Lawyer Awards offer two full fee scholarships each for the City BPTC, LPC and LLM in International Commercial Law. Application is available to all City students and selection is based on academic performance.

The school also offers its current studies the City Lawyer Advancement Reward - a £1,500 reduction in their fees on registration. The Future Barrister BCAT Scholarship means that City students who stay on to take the BPTC in September 2013, will also have the cost of the new Aptitude Test (BCAT) covered for them by way of a further fee reduction.

Further details about the Scholarships and Prizes available to both prospective and current City students can be found here.

The thirteenth Commonwealth Moot will be held in Cape Town, South Africa, from 14th April to 18th April 2013, in conjunction with the 18th Commonwealth Law Conference. This splendid international moot is judged by senior lawyers and Chief Justices from across the Commonwealth, and takes place annually.

Two of our students on the Bar Professional Training Course, Matthew Sellwood and Daniele Selmi, will be there representing the UK, having qualified by winning the ESU national moot competition last year.

The University is providing financial support to these students. BPTC Moot Coordinator, Joanne Moss said:

"I am sure that I speak for all concerned in wishing our students all good luck in both their journey and in their competitive efforts. For those of you who want to follow their adventures, we hope that they will later be able to put together something to inspire other potential mooters, and keep us informed of how it goes."