Avrom Sherr

University of London, Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, Faculty Member

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Qualifications:Professor Sherr graduated in Law from the London School of Economics in 1971 and qualified as a solicitor in commercial litigation with the then firm of Coward (now Clifford) Chance. From 1974 to 1990 he taught at Warwick University where he was a pioneer of clinical legal education. His PhD from Warwick University was on "The Value of Experience in Legal Competence". From 1988 to 2013 he was also Director of Training at Macfarlanes.In 1990 he became the first Alsop Wilkinson Professor of Law at the University of Liverpool and subsequently Director of the Centre for Business and Professional Law. In 1995 he moved to the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies to become the founding Woolf Professor of Legal Education, a research chair at the Institute. From 2004 to 2014 he was Director of the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, and is now Emeritus Professor there. Additional Professional Information:Professor Sherr acts as Consultant to the Legal Aid Agency, part of the Ministry of Justice, controlling the quality of legal aid lawyers through the system of Independent Peer Review
Address: The Institute of Advanced Legal Studies University of London

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Editorial Issue 1 2023

International Journal of The Legal Profession, Jan 2, 2023

Advising clients with HIV and AIDS

"The HIV/AIDS client. Discrimination. Duties and responsibilities of social services provide... more

War, epidemic, commercial uncertainty – how will the legal profession react to deglobalisation?

International Journal of The Legal Profession, Sep 2, 2022

The English Model

Social Science Research Network, 1995

ABSTRACT This paper introduces the English system of legal education, comparing it with other sys... more ABSTRACT This paper introduces the English system of legal education, comparing it with other systems in the European civil law family. The apprenticeship model is compared with the educational model and the use of both within the English approach is explained. The article goes onto explain that legal professional practise is not monolithic and that a wide range of types of work and types of lawyer and client are involved. The importance of the skills movement and the clinical movement in legal education are then discussed and research is called for on a continuing understanding of the realities of work within a changing legal profession. One writer has suggested that everything should be referred to as “problem solving” and approached as such. But sets of higher relationships and a much more complex context needs to be discovered also and taught.

Legal Education for Specialisation in England and Wales

Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, Dec 14, 2006

The Legal Profession in England and Wales is divided classically between solicitors (who have dir... more

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Of Super Heroes and Slaves: Images and Work of the Legal Professional

Current Legal Problems, 1995

Reducing poverty-related health inequalities: an evaluation of a welfare rights advice intervention in general practice

The Other Side of the Mountain: An Assessment Visit by a Team Organised Under the Auspices of the Danish Centre for Human Rights to the Overberg Justice Project 9th to 15th December 2001

Social Science Research Network, 2002

An assessment visit by a team organised under the auspices of the Danish Centre for Human Rights ... more An assessment visit by a team organised under the auspices of the Danish Centre for Human Rights to the Overberg Justice Project 9 th to 15 th December 2001 "You can't eat human rights" Wilfred Palmer, paralegal, Development and Advice Centre. "We the willing, led by the unknowing, are doing the impossible for the ungrateful." Walter Wessels, paralegal, Lawyers for Human Rights, Stellenbosch "Each one teach one" Muriel Kroulson, Educator, Riviersonderend DAC Introduction In the proud, new South Africa, quietly shedding its past, transformation of access to justice is taking place. Efficient allocation of resources through newly emerging "Justice Centres" is opening up legal access to more people in the rainbow nation. Early concentration on criminal defence is broadening to other issues of social welfare (labour law, eviction, family and consumer) justice. Links between Advice Offices out in the community in rural areas and the new Justice Centres provide essential avenues to legal access for the rural poor; farm workers and their families. This report on the Overberg Justice Centre ("OJC") is based on the findings of a team visit taking place between 9 th and 15 th December 2001. The methodology of the review, the composition of the team and the objectives of the assessment are set out below. A review of the academic literature then places this assessment in the context of developments internationally and the South African scene. Earlier phases of the project are explained in order to recount the progression leading to the present stage. The Overberg Justice centre is then reviewed some four months after opening and suggestions are made for the future success of this project and the integration of advice ethos and paralegal services into access to justice. Methodology The assessment review of the Overberg Project was organised through the commission of a review team operating on a consultancy basis for the Danish Committee for Human Rights. The team was assisted by two officers of the Danish Committee and also by two existing members of staff of the Overberg Project and the immediate past Coordinator of that project. The team members and assistants were, as follows:

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Does God Believe in Human Rights

Social Science Research Network, 2005

There are some strong similarities between certain types of religious obligation and human rights... more There are some strong similarities between certain types of religious obligation and human rights. Religions comprise sets of beliefs (parts of which may be reduced to writing in the form of regulation) based on cultural, national, spiritual, moral and emotional sources. Human Rights comprise sets of ideals (often reduced to writing in the form of regulation) based on moral, rational, cultural, national, spiritual (humanist) and emotional sources. Both religious duties and human rights are (at least when brought to book and the subject of decisions) constantly developing, interpreted by representative bodies and reactive to contexts. The similarity of the compositions and sources of religious beliefs and human rights often make them competitors in beliefs and corresponding regulatory systems. If so, are there any developing themes or rules to help us know which, of religion or human rights, trumps the other and when? In beginning to ask and answer this question in this paper, I intend to reflect as example material on some issues which are considered to be important within the Jewish Religion and also to reflect briefly on whether there appears to be a Jewish Religious approach to Human Rights. The provenance of human rights-e.g. Jewish religious obligation Deutscher's concept of "The Non-Jewish Jew" included a comment about the wheels of revolutions often being oiled by Jewish blood. He noted the over representation of people from culturally or nationally Jewish backgrounds in the lists of those who had brought about changes associated with developments in human rights. (Isaac Deutscher, The Non-Jewish Jew and other essays, ed. Tamara Deutscher, OUP, London 1968.) If this is true, then is there any provenance for this approach to be found within the religious beliefs and duties set out within the Jewish religion which might have brought about this over representation? A preliminary point. The Jewish religion itself promotes concepts of duty rather than "right" in its modern positive form. Duties (as between people, actions against the

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Are judges good decision makers? Are judges essential for justice?

Oñati socio-legal series, Mar 3, 2017

This paper questions the assertion that judges are essential for justice and that not having enou... more This paper questions the assertion that judges are essential for justice and that not having enough judges available to carry out judicial duties therefore diminishes the availability of, or access to, justice. Playing "devil's advocate" the larger part of the paper questions the cost and value of judicial law, whether judges do the job we imagine them to be doing, fulfill their role in ensuring justice, are always independent and fair, and are always capable of coming to fair conclusions . Although some examples used tend to arise out of UK law, the psychological research which is referred to is international and is carried out in a number of countries. The article ends by showing how other societal elements and institutions are beginning to take over the role of deciding justice, including "robot justice", justice by the media and how the movements away from trial and towards mediation and arbitration are also undermining and supplanting the judicial role.

The Hamlyn Trust

Cambridge University Press eBooks, Nov 5, 2015

Shrinking Legal Aid, Unrepresented Litigants and Judicial Independence

Brill | Nijhoff eBooks, 2012

This chapter considers how the role of the judiciary changes when the judge enters the arena in o... more This chapter considers how the role of the judiciary changes when the judge enters the arena in order to balance the position between conflicting parties. It investigates how judicial independence may suffer when one litigant is unrepresented. As a result of reductions in public funding the number of unrepresented litigants is likely to increase further. The chapter considers in some detail how the role and independence of the judge may be affected in such circumstances of inequality of arms. Judicial independence is under attack from within the system and judges have little training and ability to carry out the different roles simultaneously or even sequentially. Knowing and acknowledging the effects on judicial independence are an important first step in maintaining judicial approach and status. Keywords: judicial independence; judiciary changes; litigant

Legal Education and Training Review research phase literature review

Chapter 2: Legal education, professional standards and regulation 5. This chapter is an overview ... more Chapter 2: Legal education, professional standards and regulation 5. This chapter is an overview of developments to date, using the key reports on legal education and training, among them Ormrod (1971), Benson (1979), Marre (1988), the ACLEC Reports (1996), the Training Framework Review Reports (2003), and the Wood Report (2008)) to provide a chronological framework for understanding developments in the relationship between legal education, professional standards and regulation. It analyzes the reports' substantive content, and identifies educational and regulatory issues that were left unaddressed by them.

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Legal Education: Past, Present and Future

Other side of the mountain

Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, Dec 14, 2006

Client Interviewing for Lawyers: An Analysis and Guide

Client Care for Lawyers: An Analysis and Guide

Introduction. The lawyer-client interview. Listening. Questioning. Advising. Specific interview p... more

Editorial : globalisation and legal education

Too many lawyers?: the future of the legal profession

The public defence solicitors office: An independant evaluation

The Public Defence Solicitors&#x27; Office (PDSO) was established in Edinburgh on 1 October 1... more

Editorial Issue 1 2023

International Journal of The Legal Profession, Jan 2, 2023

Advising clients with HIV and AIDS

"The HIV/AIDS client. Discrimination. Duties and responsibilities of social services provide... more

War, epidemic, commercial uncertainty – how will the legal profession react to deglobalisation?

International Journal of The Legal Profession, Sep 2, 2022

The English Model

Social Science Research Network, 1995

Legal Education for Specialisation in England and Wales

Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, Dec 14, 2006

The Legal Profession in England and Wales is divided classically between solicitors (who have dir... more

Download

Of Super Heroes and Slaves: Images and Work of the Legal Professional

Current Legal Problems, 1995

Reducing poverty-related health inequalities: an evaluation of a welfare rights advice intervention in general practice

The Other Side of the Mountain: An Assessment Visit by a Team Organised Under the Auspices of the Danish Centre for Human Rights to the Overberg Justice Project 9th to 15th December 2001

Social Science Research Network, 2002

Download

Does God Believe in Human Rights

Social Science Research Network, 2005

Download

Are judges good decision makers? Are judges essential for justice?

Oñati socio-legal series, Mar 3, 2017

The Hamlyn Trust

Cambridge University Press eBooks, Nov 5, 2015

Shrinking Legal Aid, Unrepresented Litigants and Judicial Independence

Brill | Nijhoff eBooks, 2012

Legal Education and Training Review research phase literature review

Download

Legal Education: Past, Present and Future

Other side of the mountain

Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, Dec 14, 2006

Client Interviewing for Lawyers: An Analysis and Guide

Client Care for Lawyers: An Analysis and Guide

Introduction. The lawyer-client interview. Listening. Questioning. Advising. Specific interview p... more

Editorial : globalisation and legal education

Too many lawyers?: the future of the legal profession

The public defence solicitors office: An independant evaluation

The Public Defence Solicitors&#x27; Office (PDSO) was established in Edinburgh on 1 October 1... more

Practicing Lawyers and Professional Legal Competence - An Articulation Episode

by Marc Mason and Avrom Sherr

The 'Clients' of the Publicly Funded Lawyer

by Marc Mason and Avrom Sherr

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Special Issue of International Journal of the Legal Profession on W. Wesley Pue, Lawyers’ Empire. Legal Professions and Cultural Authority, 1780–1950 (UBC Press, Vancouver, 2016). Editors: David Sugarman & Avrom Sherr

by Avrom Sherr and David Sugarman

International Journal of the Legal Profession., 2017

International Journal of the Legal Profession Volume 24 Number 1 March 2017 Special Issue On: W. ... more International Journal of the Legal Profession
Volume 24 Number 1 March 2017
Special Issue On: W. Wesley Pue, Lawyers’ Empire: Legal Professions and Cultural Authority, 1780–1950 (UBC Press, 2016)
Guest Editors: David Sugarman and Avrom Sherr

1 Editorial
David Sugarman

3 Prologue
Avrom Sherr

7 Listening to “long-dead lawyers”
Eve Darian-Smith

13 The commonwealth of lawyers?
Harry Arthurs

19 Cultural politics and liberal legal education in the British Midlands and the Canadian West
Daniel R. Ernst

25 Lawyers’ Empire in the (African) colonial margins
Sara Dezalay

33 Lawyers’ Empire: Legal Professions and Cultural Authority, 1780–1950: a review
Philip Girard

39 S.G.W. Archibald and liberal constitutionalism in Nova Scotia, 1820–1840
Lyndsay M. Campbell

47 Lawyers, legal education and nation building: lessons from Lawyers’ Empire
Hilary Sommerlad

55 Contesting the legal culture of professionalism
Constance Backhouse

61 Wes Pue’s lawyers
Wilfrid Prest

65 Lawyers’ Empire and The Great Transformation
Douglas C. Harris

Does God Believe in Human Rights?

by Professor Nazila Ghanea and Avrom Sherr

Where can religions find sources of legitimacy for human rights? How do, and how should, religiou... more Where can religions find sources of legitimacy for human rights? How do, and how should, religious leaders and communities respond to human rights as defined in modern International Law? When religious precepts contradict human rights standards - for example in relation to freedom of expression or in relation to punishments - which should trump the other, and why? Can human rights and religious teachings be interpreted in a manner which brings reconciliation closer? Do the modern concept and system of human rights undermine the very vision of society that religions aim to impart? Is a reference to God in the discussion of human rights misplaced? Do human fallibilities with respect to interpretation, judicial reasoning and the understanding of human oneness and dignity provide the key to the undeniable and sometimes devastating conflicts that have arisen between religions and the human rights movement? In this volume, academics and lawyers tackle these most difficult questions head-on, with candour and creativity, and the collection is rendered unique by the further contributions of a remarkable range of other professionals, including senior religious leaders and representatives, journalists, diplomats and civil servants, both national and international. Most notably, the contributors do not shy away from the boldest question of all - summed up in the book's title. The thoroughly edited and revised papers which make up this collection were originally prepared for a ground-breaking conference organised by the Clemens Nathan Research Centre, the University of London Institute of Commonwealth Studies and Martinus Nijhoff/Brill Academic Publishers in London in February 2005.

Setting Standards: The Future of Legal Services Education and Training in England and Wales ('LETR Report')

by Julian Webb, Paul Maharg, and Avrom Sherr

Avrom Sherr

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