October 2018 U.S. Supreme Court Term Opens

The Brett Kavanaugh nomination to fill the seat of departing Justice Kennedy on the Supreme Court is still pending, so the Court has begun its new year (or term) with only 8 justices. Nina Totenberg of NPR has this report about the first cases on the new docket. 3 min 58 sec, transcript available. The recording talks about a case involving the protection of an endangered species, the dusky gopher frog, but Totenberg’s article accompaning the recording also presents upcoming cases involving the death penalty, the rule of precedent, the power of administrative agencies and immigration.

BP Grossly Negligent for Oil Spill

NPR's All Things Considered has the story of a ruling by a federal judge in New Orleans that British Petroleum was grossly negligent in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion and oil spill, leaving BP open to billions of dollars in fines. 4 min 2 sec, transcript available.

Environmental Justice

In a London School of Economics event recorded March 13, a panel of international legal and industry experts discuss environmental justice and human rights, specifically concerning extractive industries, and explain why it should be of concern to us all. Audio and video documents are available. 2 hours, no transcript. Audio and video documents are available. 2 hours, no transcript.

English Common Law: Structure and Principles

This six week online course offered by the University of London International Programme began June 24th. You can sign up for the course and download the videos until Sept. 1 (it's really the last minute!) or sign in to be advised when the course will be offered again.
The course is offered by Coursera, a provider of what are known as MOOCs (massive open online courses).  Several other courses on legal topics are starting soon. For instance, Introduction to International Criminal Law begins on Sept 1 and Introduction to Environmental Law and Policy will begin on Sept. 16.

BBC Radio 4 programmes you won't want to miss.

Jeopardising Justice -

Part one of a four part series examining the victims' rights movement and its unexpected consequences. Programmes will be available for only one week - episode one will disappear Monday Sept. 7, replaced by episode two.

Also coming up this week :

Top Dogs: Britain's New Supreme Court - next Tuesday 8 Sept. 40 min.

The Last Chance Court - next Wednesday 9 Sept. 30 min.

The UK's first family, drug and alcohol court, a groundbreaking experiment designed to keep children of addicts from going into care.

other programmes still available online :

The Chambers

Two programmes that present the barristers, clerks and staff of one of London's leading law chambers (Outer Temple Chambers). 30 min. BBC iPlayer, no script

Unreliable Evidence

programmes from May 2009 - 45 min. BBC iPlayer, no script

• The Law and Climate Change
• The Law and Protest
• The Law and Death
• The Law and the Unborn

Other Unreliable Evidence programmes from 2009 are available here - but they won't stay available forever, so listen now!

The Exxon Valdez lawsuit Students of maritime law, or those concerned with environmental issues, will be interested in the Exxon Valdez oil spill case argued this week before the U.S. Supreme Court. Nina Totenberg's presentation of the case on NPR's Morning Edition just before the argument, with short clips of the lawyers, can be found here. If you start here, you can find a very complete written presentation, almost a transcript. (RealAudio, 8:38 min). PBS's Newshour, Feb. 27, has a report after the arguments by Marcia Coyle here. (RealAudio, video or .mp3, 9 min, transcript) Slate's Dahlia Lithwick's report, after the arguments, on NPR's Day to Day, Feb. 27 is here. (RealAudio, 4:28, no transcript) A background story, also from Day to Day (Feb. 18) of the impact of the oil spill and the subsequent litigation on an Alaskan village can be found here. (RealAudio, 5min, no transcript)