New director

Dr Catrin Fflur Huws has been appointed Director of the Centre for Welsh Legal Affairs (CWLA) at Aberystwyth University. Dr Huws succeeds Ann Sherlock, whose work has been so important in establishing this important and innovative body, the only one of its kind.
Dr Huws is a lecturer and co-ordinator for Welsh-medium teaching at the Department of Law and Criminology. Her research focuses on the Welsh dimension to the law, including the effectiveness of legislation in promoting minority languages, the use of the Welsh language in the courts and the effects of unaffordable housing in rural Wales. Her current research considers the interrelationship of law and language in Welsh and English literature.

The Centre for Welsh Legal Affairs acts as a focus for discussion of matters concerning law and its administration within Wales and as a stimulus for research and commentary.

Devolution with its many implications, including the possibility of primary legislation in the future and its requirement of linguistic equality between English and Welsh as legal languages of its productions, together with changes in the structure of the Court Service mean that the legal system in Wales faces many new challenges and opportunities.
“We see CWLA as having an important role to play in the process”, said Dr Huws, “not only as commentating on the debates in this area, but also as contributing to them. The Centre's research focuses very strongly on the law's Welsh dimension, in terms of devolution, Welsh legal history, access to justice, and the bilingual dimension to law and legal education in Wales. We also think it is important to forge links between the university and the wider legal community of practitioners, academics and Government.”