Bangladesh Law Digest, Seminar Participants
On January 5, 2017, BDLD hosted its first Seminar on ‘Legal Writings and Legal Research’ at the Department of Law of University of Dhaka. Law students from more than 20 universities of Bangladesh attended the seminar. Dr. Borhan Uddin Khan, Professor and Chairman, Department of Law, University of Dhaka was present as the Chief Guest in the seminar while Ms. Shirin Sultana, Lecturer, Department of Law, University of Dhaka was present as the Special Guest. The Keynote Speaker was Mr. Mohammad Golam Sarwar, Lecturer, Department of Law, University of Dhaka.
The seminar started with an introduction to the works of BDLD by one of its founding members. Following that, Dr. Borhan Uddin Khan delivered his speech as the Chief Guest of the seminar. He emphasized the importance of legal research for law students and lauded the efforts of BDLD for taking the initiative to organize the seminar since such an important topic was excluded from the curriculum of most of the law schools in Bangladesh. The Special Guest,Ms. Shirin Sultana urged BDLD to continue such efforts and stated that the concerted efforts of the law students and teachers would go a long way into paving the path for better legal research works in Bangladesh.
Mr. Mohammad Golam Sarwar then delivered the keynote speech of the seminar. He gave an overview of legal research, its importance, types of legal research and research methodologies. He remarked that originality of work was vital for legal research. He also noted that inter-disciplinary approach always enhanced the quality of a research.
Mr. Sarwar further commented that law students should keep an open mind while praising and criticizing any issue and that there should always be a balance of these two in a research work. On the issue of legal writing, he said that it was the task of the writer to ensure that even a layman could understand the ideas put forward by him. He advised to avoid jargons and be concise and lucid with words. Urging everyone to avoid plagiarism and other forms of copying, Mr. Sarwar emphasized that due credit must be given to past research works in reference, which will consequently boost, not diminish the quality of work of any researcher.
By the end of the session, the participants had gathered significant knowledge on conducting legal research and technical know-hows of legal writings. The seminar concluded with a memento being presented to the Keynote Speaker as a token of appreciation by the members of BDLD and a group photo session with all the participants, organizers and the Keynote Speaker of the seminar.
