Mr Guillaume Bensussan, first recipient of the ISCL Best Masters Essay Prize, 2012, and Professor Brice Dickson, President of the ISCL 2009-2012.

The ISCL held its 4th annual conference at the Faculty of Law, University College Cork on Friday 2 and Saturday 3 March, 2012. Over 60 delegates attended and presented at the conference, with a healthy blend of established academics and PhD students. The parallel sessions gave the opportunity to all to discuss their ideas, to be challenged, and to challenge others. Various corners of comparative law were explored, such as family law, human rights, legal history and theory, finance and tax, language and law, international law, ECHR law, contract law, e-law, medical law, criminal law, judicial process. The conference was opened by Dr Simone Glanert, School of Law in Kent University, who sparked a heated debate on the topic of the translatability of law. It was closed by Professor Gíuseppe Ferrari, of Universita’ Bocconi in Milan, with an insightful journey, rich of a lifetime of constitutional law experience, in the use of foreign law by constitutional courts. This year also included the innovation of awarding a ‘Best paper prize’ to a masters student- it went to Mr Guillaume Bensussan, of Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense, for a brilliant paper and presentation on the patentability of medical diagnostic in the US and Europe. Throughout the day, the coffee breaks were the opportunity for the comparative scholars present to meet new acquaintances, and the dinner was attended by over half of the delegates. The conference was overall a great success, and most sincere thanks are extended to all who helped in organising it (Bénédicte Sage-Fuller, the ISCL executive committee, the UCC Law Faculty administrative staff, academic colleagues in UCC Law, BCL (Law and German) and (Law and French) students, PhD students Fiona Broughton and Dug Cubie, and last but not least maintenance staff who had the building looking shiny and smelling fresh!). Thank you also to all delegates for the interest that they showed for the ISCL, and to the development of comparative legal scholarship in Ireland. Finally, the ISCL has a new president and a new secretary, respectively Professor Steve Hedley, Faculty of Law in UCC, and Dr Niamh Connolly, School of Law in TCD. We wish them both very well in the continuous development of the activities of the ISCL, in concert with the VP and founder Seán Donlan, UL and treasurer Marie-Luce Paris, UCD.