Committee of Heads of University Law Schools Archive

Address at time of writing c/o Professor R W Painter, Secretary/Treasurer, CHULS, Staffordshire University Law School, Leek Road, Stoke-on-Trent St4 2DF. Ph 01782 294599. Fax 01782 294315. Email r.w.painter@staffs.ac.uk

The Committee of Heads of University Law Schools (CHULS) sees its role as representing law schools and their management to the funding councils and other established committees in the legal sector, promoting mutual respect and active co-operation between law schools regionally, nationally and internationally, considering and advising relevant bodies on the structure, development and resourcing of legal education, disseminating information and good practice concerning legal education, assisting in the promotion of good management practice in law schools and liaising with the ALT, SPTL and other bodies on matters of mutual interest.

History of the Committee

CHULS began its active life as an SPTL committee concerned with specific issues relating to law schools and law teaching in universities. Its first meeting was held under SPTL auspices at IALS on 27th September 1974, when the President of SPTL, Professor C F Parker, was appointed to the Chairmanship of CHULS. At its fourth meeting on 28th November 1975, it was agreed that CHULS should cease to be a committee of SPTL but should be constituted instead as an autonomous body, though close links with SPTL were still to be maintained. CHULS developed initially as a committee whose members represented all law schools in universities financed by the University Grants Committee which taught a law degree. Representatives of polytechnics, the Inns of Court School of Law and the College of Law were thus excluded.

In September 1984 the Committee agreed on the desirability of holding joint meetings with the Heads of Polytechnic Law Schools, who had formed their own Committee to represent institutions offering CNAA degrees carrying exemption from the academic stage of professional education. On February 11 1992 a meeting was held to discuss a merger of the two Committees. The merger finally took place on 30 November 1992, with the creation of a newly constituted CHULS consisting of an Executive Committee with powers to appoint sub-committees as required. Membership was open to all institutions currently in membership of the two earlier committees, and other institutions of higher education which were in receipt of funding from a higher education funding council and which offered their own law degrees recognised by the professional bodies as giving exemption from the academic stage of legal education were made eligible to apply.

Officers of the reconstituted Committee consisted of a Chairman, Vice-chairman, Secretary and Treasurer. In 1996 the two latter offices were amalgamated.

CHULS' activities have included gathering information on staff recruitment and student admission procedures, monitoring the impact of Law Society and CLE regulations and of new teaching courses, reporting on funding for legal research and law libraries, examination of copyright on legal materials and provision of advice to bodies such as the Lord Chancellor's Advisory Committees on Legal Education. Some of its findings have been published.

Records of the Committee

The material listed below comprises the following:

i) Agenda, minutes and papers, 1989-1992, deposited by Professor P Jackson, CHULS Secretary;
ii) Agenda, minutes and papers, 1992- 2000, deposited by Professor R W Painter, current Secretary/Treasurer;
iii) Papers deposited by Professor W L Twining, Chairman of the CHULS Working Party on Four Year Degrees, 1978-1980 and Convenor of the Working Party on Implications for Law as a Discipline of the Leverhulme Report and the Circular Letter from the Chairman of the UGC No 16/88, 1983-1984;
iv) Further correspondence and papers, 1988- 2000, deposited by Professor Painter.
v) Correspondence and papers, 1988-1990, of Professor G Zellick dating from his time as Chairman.

Revised 26/5/99

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CHULS ARCHIVES: SERIES LIST
Extent and form: 7 boxes

Access: Series A.CHULS 1 - A.CHULS 4 open. A.CHULS 5: access to unpublished papers in file open 30 years after last date on file, in accordance with the Law Society's access regulations.

Arrangement: The records are arranged in the following series:-

Class Reference No	Dates	Class Description
A.CHULS 1:	1974-2000	Agenda, minutes and papers of Committee
A.CHULS 2:	1978-1980	CHULS working party on four year degrees - papers of the Chairman and Secretary
A.CHULS 3:	1983-1984	CHULS working party on implications for law as a discipline of the Leverhulme Report and the Circular letter from the Chairman of the UGC No 16/83 - papers of the Convenor
A.CHULS 4:	1988-1990	General Correspondence file
A.CHULS 5	1990	File on CHULS' participation in the Law Society's Academic Consultative Committee

Revised 26/5/99; 1/8/00

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CHULS ARCHIVES: FILE LIST OF RECORDS

A.CHULS 1: AGENDA, MINUTES AND PAPERS OF COMMITTEE, 1974-1999

Extent and Form: 3 boxes

Access: Open

Administrative history: Full sets of minutes and related papers were kept from the establishment of the Committee in 1974. The papers were usually kept by the Secretary (later Secretary/Treasurer).

Custodial history, scope and content: The bulk of the material listed below was transferred to the Records of Legal Education Archives in 1997 by Professor P Jackson, the Secretary from 1989-1992, and by Professor R W Painter, the current Secretary/Treasurer. There is a gap in the official holdings from 1993-1994. This gap has been partially filled by Professor Painter's depositing his copies of material sent to him in 1993/94 as a member of the Executive Committee. From 1994 minutes of Executive Committee meetings are included with minutes of the whole Committee. Since 1997 minutes and papers have been transferred to the Records of Legal Education Archives on a regular basis.

Arrangement: Chronological.

Contents list:

Reference	Dates	Description
A.CHULS 1/1	1974-1975	Agenda, minutes and papers
A.CHULS 1/2	1976-1979	Agenda, minutes and papers
A.CHULS 1/3	1980-1983	Agenda, minutes and papers
A.CHULS 1/4	1984	Agenda, minutes and papers
A.CHULS 1/5	1985	Agenda, minutes and papers
A.CHULS 1/6	1986-1987	Agenda, minutes and papers
A.CHULS 1/7	1988	Agenda, minutes and papers
A.CHULS 1/8	1989	Agenda, minutes and papers
A.CHULS 1/9	1990	Agenda, minutes and papers
A.CHULS 1/10	1991	Agenda, minutes and papers
A.CHULS 1/11	1992	Agenda, minutes and papers
A.CHULS 1/12	1993	Minutes of Executive Committee, 9 December
A.CHULS 1/13	1994	Agenda, minutes and papers
A.CHULS 1/14	1995	Agenda, minutes and papers
A.CHULS 1/15	1996	Agenda, minutes and papers
A.CHULS 1/16	1997	Agenda, minutes and papers
A.CHULS 1/17	1998	Agenda, minutes and papers
A.CHULS 1/18	1999	Agenda, minutes and papers
A.CHULS 1/19	2000	Agenda, minutes and papers

A.CHULS 2: CHULS WORKING PARTY ON FOUR YEAR DEGREES - PAPERS OF THE CHAIRMAN AND SECRETARY, 1978-1980

Extent and Form: 4 folders

Access: Open

Administrative history: In November 1978 the Heads of University Law Schools set up a working party to consider the implications of introducing Four Year Degrees in Law under the chairmanship of William Twining, then Professor of Law at the University of Warwick and an active CHULS member. The working party's objective was to gather information about the present situation in the UK and abroad and to make a practical case for the four-year degree.

Custodial history: The material listed below was transferred by Professor Twining to the Records of Legal Education Archives in 1996.

Contents list:

Reference	Dates	Description
A.CHULS 2/1	1978	Proposal by Professor Twining suggesting that CHULS should publicly press for four year degrees
A.CHULS 2/2	1978-1979	Correspondence and papers of the Chairman and Secretary of the working party, including minutes of meetings and background information collected by the Secretary
A.CHULS 2/3	1979-1980	" "
A.CHULS 2/4	1980	Draft report of the working party [a final report was not produced]

A.CHULS 3: CHULS WORKING PARTY ON IMPLICATIONS FOR LAW AS A DISCIPLINE OF THE LEVERHULME REPORT AND THE CIRCULAR LETTER FROM THE CHAIRMAN OF THE UGC NO 16/88 - PAPERS OF THE CONVENOR, 1983-1984

Extent and Form: 4 folders

Access: Open

Administrative history: On November 25 1983 CHULS set up another working party to prepare a paper on the implications for law as a discipline of the Leverhulme Report and the Circular letter from the Chairman of the University Grants Committee No 16/83, Sir Peter Swinnerton-Dyer, on a strategy for higher education in the 1990's. Professor Twining, then Professor of Jurisprudence at University College London, was appointed Convenor. The working party acted in close collaboration with a parallel working group of the Heads of Polytechnic Law Schools under the chairmanship of Mr Penry Oliver, although the two groups produced separate reports. The CHULS report was published in 1984 under the title Law as an Academic Discipline: a response to the Leverhulme Report and the UGC letter on a strategy for Higher Education into the 1990's. Professor Twining was also engaged in preparing a similar response on behalf of the Board of Studies in Laws (University of London), and some papers relating to that report will be found mixed in with the CHULS papers.

Custodial history: The material listed below was transferred by Professor Twining to the Records of Legal Education Archives in 1996.

Contents list:

Reference	Dates	Description
A.CHULS 3/1	1983	Background papers to the establishment of the working party, including a copy of the Swinnerton-Dyer letter, press clippings and articles
A.CHULS 3/2	1983-1984	Chairman's papers relating to CHULS and Board of Studies in Laws working parties, with checklist of documents
A.CHULS 3/3	1983-1984	Correspondence concerning the setting up of the working party, circulation of the draft report and comments from university law schools. Includes the draft report of the Board of Studies in Laws working party
A.CHULS 3/4	1984	Draft CHULS report and associated papers
A.CHULS 3/5	1984	Final report: manuscript [note: this ms differs from the final report printed in the SPTL Newsletter and elsewhere in that it has appendices, tables and a summary conclusion, none of which were included in the printed report]

A.CHULS 4: CORRESPONDENCE AND PAPERS OF PROFESSOR G ZELLICK, CHULS CHAIRMAN, 1988-1990

Extent and Form: 3 boxes

Access: Open

Biographical note: Professor Graham John Zellick (b. 1948), Vice-Chancellor of the University of London since 1997, was Chairman of CHULS from 1988-1990. In this capacity he also served as a member of the Lord Chancellor's Advisory Committee of Legal Education and the Council of Legal Education.

Custodial history: The first item on the list below was deposited in the Archives by Professor Painter in May 1999. The remaining items were passed to the Archives by Professor Zellick in June of the same year. In August 2000 the were appraised, weeded to remove duplicates and ephemera, and added to the CHULS archive.

Scope, content and arrangement: The items listed below were arranged in no particular order and without file titles. The comprise files of action taken by Professor Zellick on particular issues noted in CHULS committee minutes, and comprise correspondence, background papers, members' responses, press cuttings and reports. Some earlier correspondence of the previous Chairman, Professor S M Cretney, is also included in some files.

Contents list:

Reference	Dates	Description
A.CHULS 4/1	1988-1990	Chairman's general file, chronologically arranged
A.CHULS 4/2	1988-1990	Correspondence and press cuttings concerning UGC selectivity exercise
A.CHULS 4/3	1998-1989	CHULS response to the Law Society's review of legal education: correspondence and papers
A.CHULS 4/4	1988-1989	CHULS comments on the recommendations of the Committee on the Future of the Legal Profession (Marre Report): correspondence and papers, including material from the Lord Chancellor's Advisory Committee on Legal Education
A.CHULS 4/5	1988-1990	Qualifying law degrees working party, Jan 1989: correspondence and papers
A.CHULS 4/6	1988-1990	File of correspondence and background papers giving responses to letters sent out by Professor Zellick asking for responses and advice as to the requirement for core subjects in law teaching and on UFC (Universities Funding Council) funding for law schools
A.CHULS 4/7	1988-1990	UFC funding of law courses: Lord Chancellor's Advisory Committee on legal education papers
A.CHULS 4/8	1989	UFC funding of law courses: correspondence, press clippings and returns
A.CHULS 4/9	1989	CHULS comments on Department of Education and Science consultation paper "Shifting the balance of public funding of higher education to fees": correspondence and papers
A.CHULS 4/10	1989	Government green paper on the work and organisation of the legal profession: correspondence, press clippings, returns, CHULS response
A.CHULS 4/11	1989	Correspondence with the CLE on the work and organisation of the legal profession
A.CHULS 4/12	1989-1990	Academic staff recruitment and retention: correspondence, press clippings, returns and report
A.CHULS 4/13	1989-1990	Continuing legal education: correspondence and data on full-time law teachers without professional qualifications/law teachers joining the Bar
A.CHULS 4/14	1989-1990	File on legal research performance indicators

A.CHULS 5: FILE ON CHULS' PARTICIPATION IN THE LAW SOCIETY'S JOINT ACADEMIC CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE, 1989-1990

Extent and Form: 2 folders

Access: Printed papers open. The remainder of the file contains primarily confidential minutes and papers of the joint committee and the Law Society and is therefore closed until 30 years after the last date on file in accordance with the Law Society's access regulations.

Administrative history: The Academic Consultative Committee was established by the Law Society's Training Committee in 1989. It was a joint committee comprising members of the Law Society, CHULS and other law teaching institutions, law teachers, providers of continuing education and trainees. Its terms of reference were to act as a forum for consideration of matters concerning the role of teaching institutions and training providers in relation to the academic, vocational and continuing stages of education and training.

Custodial history: The files was deposited in the Archives by Professor Painter in 1999.

Contents list:

Reference	Dates	Description
A.CHULS 5/1 (Parts 1-2)	1990	Chairman's file containing minutes and papers of the Committee, with Law Society papers and correspondence.

You can search records for the Committee of Heads of University Law Schools Archive on the SHLs Archives Catalogue.

Access is by prior appointment. (Email: ials@sas.ac.uk or telephone 020 7862 5790)