The ILBF partnered with Africa House London and the UK Sierra Leone Pro Bono Network recently to bring judges and law librarians from Nigeria and Sierra Leone to London for a programme of visits and observations at key law libraries, a law firm and legal publishers. The programme of visits was designed to build on donations of legal textbooks from the ILBF to libraries in Nigeria and Sierra Leone with the purpose of sharing expertise and insights to further library development. Law libraries and law librarians are the backbone of legal training and judicial excellence and their contribution to the rule of law is fundamental.
The programme was supported by Advocates for International Development’s ROLE UK team and also benefitted from the time and expertise of an incredibly generous coalition of volunteers from across the legal community. I am very grateful for the partnership with Emmanuel Finndoro-Obasi from Africa House London and Richard Honey KC and Momo Turay from the UK Sierra Leone Pro Bono Network which was as always a pleasure to be part of.
The visitors arrived on 11th May 2025 and for the following week undertook a full programme that was second to none.
Here is a brief summary of the visit:
At Inner Temple library the visitors met with Rob Hodgson, Keeper of Manuscripts and Librarian at Inner Temple, for a very instructive and valuable session which helped to build on the training that Rob had delivered as part of the British and Irish Association of Law Librarians (BIALL) online programme delivered in 2024 and again in May this year. Rob’s presentation covered the history, functions, management and marketing of an authoritative law library whose role is to support barristers, judges and law students, and explored some of the management and budgetary challenges faced by a law library. The visit to Inner Temple also meant the chance to see the Temple Church, Inner Temple Garden and Inner Temple Hall where the visitors met with Lord Justice Dingemans, one of our patrons and a former trustee.
Stephanie Curran, Nicholas Stock, Sam Bryan, Philip Rowbottom, Rachel Gladstone, Emily McDowell, and the Judicial Office library management team at the Royal Courts of Justice provided an in-depth presentation covering all aspects of the RCJ Library, its history, functions, outreach and engagement, management and funding. The role of the library in supporting the judiciary and the collection of judgments for the National Archive were some of the key topics. There was also an opportunity to meet with Mrs Justice McGowan to hear about her work in the criminal justice system and her international work.
At Herbert Smith Freehills, Helen McQuillin and the library team provided a hugely insightful look behind the scenes of a global law firm’s information provision and how the team supports its lawyers all over the world. They were joined by Sarah Bracey from Reed Smith who was part of the BIALL online training programme team.
Scott Wiles and Dara Akinyosoye from LexisNexis delved into the complexities of AI, setting out a clear definition of AI and the challenges it brings. They demonstrated how LexisNexis is using its expert, curated legal content to drive AI applications that will revolutionise research, case tracking, document compilation and many other tasks through the Lexis+AI platform. The impact of AI on legal information provision was discussed in an interactive session – with particular focus on judges and practitioners and what AI may mean for them.
The visitors were special guests at the ILBF’s celebration of its 20th anniversary at Clifford Chance. The event was a wonderful opportunity for the visitors to meet the Rt. Hon. the Baroness Carr, the Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales, Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, Lord Carnwath of Notting Hill CVO, Paul Lowenstein KC, chairman of trustees, as well as many other trustees and patrons of the ILBF, and esteemed guests from across the legal community, to share experiences and insights gained from programme.
At Thomson Reuters, Judith Hudson from the editorial team and Jessica Brown, Director of Customer Training, hosted the visitors for a very informative session on content and the latest advances in Westlaw Edge UK. They learned how judges, lawyers and students are trained to use digital products and how the content is constantly refreshed and updated by the internal team of expert editors.
The feedback about the programme of visits was very positive and constructive. This quote from one of the visitors is indicative:
‘The engagement exceeded all my expectations. The content was well structured and we enjoyed great support on all fronts throughout the visit. I particularly appreciate the fact that the learning was mostly experiential. This gave us the opportunity to interact with experts first-hand, to see the deployment of specific resources and their functionalities in real time, and to freely cross-fertilize ideas as well as share insights and experiences with others. The visit was indeed a transformative one.’
The ILBF, Africa House London and the UK Sierra Leone Pro Bono Network are immensely grateful to the ROLE UK team and the 25 facilitators, participants and specialists from Clifford Chance, Herbert Smith Freehills, Inner Temple, LexisNexis, the Royal Courts of Justice and Thomson Reuters who shared their expertise and knowledge with the visitors over the course of the week.
The knowledge and insights gained will inform library development in Nigeria and Sierra Leone and we hope be an exemplar for future visits and exchanges.
View a photo diary of the visit here.
Katrina Crossley, Chief Executive
The programme received financial and technical support from Advocates for International Development’s ROLE UK Programme and UKAid.
