Abstract:

The lecture addresses the recent emergence of legal research as a distinct tradition within the international built environment research community. It explains the role of legal research within the wider field and seeks to explain the epistemological, methodological and cultural characteristics which distinguish it from other forms of research undertaken by built environment scholars. The lecture introduces recent developments within the legal research community and provides examples of legal research currently being undertaken in the built environment worldwide.

Biography:

Paul Chynoweth is the coordinator of CIB Working Commission W113 on Law & Dispute Resolution and the editor of the International Journal of Law in the Built Environment. He is senior lecturer in law and the built environment at the University of Salford, UK where he leads the University's new professional doctorate programme in the built environment. He is a solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales, a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and an accredited commercial mediator. His many publications include The Party Wall Casebook and a number of award-winning peer-reviewed journal articles on the future of expert witness testimony in rights to light litigation. He is currently working on a standard law textbook for built environment students which will be published during 2010.