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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of serendipity in legal information seeking behavior of family law advocates, whom act in a challenging information environment that lacks published court rulings.

A quantitative research using a web-based structured questionnaire, among Israeli family law advocates. Single stage systematic sampling, with random starting point and no recurring pattern of each sixth family law advocate on the Israel Bar Advocates List, was applied. Data from 135 Israeli family law advocates were used for analysis.

Electronic information sources were found as most serendipitous; family law advocates were identified as super encounterers; four types of professional background concerns and seven legal professional contributions of the unexpected encounters with court rulings, were identified. Furthermore, findings support several frameworks presented on earlier information encounter literature.

Data absence on demographic and professional variables distributions of Israeli family law advocates was a limiting factor, compensated by the systematic sampling method used, thus can be regarded to reflect the views of the entire study population. Surveys’ reliance on self-reporting recalls of serendipitous events is also a limiting factor, though predicted and acceptable in this matter since chance encounters occur unexpectedly and are complex to capture.

Chance encounters may expose lawyers to meaningful information it is unlikely they were able to find because its limited publication, and assist them keep up with current law for better serves their clients.

The study augments the current empirically based knowledge on serendipity and provides insights into legal information chance encounters among a little-studied group of knowledge workers: family law advocates.

This study aims to use institutional and upper echelons theories to comprehensively investigate the intricate interplay between TMT legal expertise and firms' adaptive strategies in legal contexts, notably within emerging economies. It explores how upper echelons experiences shape opportunistic compliance strategies, impacting value and risk perceptions. Drawing on upper echelons theory, the research probes how TMT legal expertise molds firms’ involvement in significant lawsuits, accounting for influential roles. It scrutinizes TMT’s impact on legal strategies, positing that managerial discretion emerges from environmental factors, organizational attributes and executive traits. The study underscores TMT’s internal incentives and external factors’ interplay, molding strategic legal engagement.

To validate this framework, statistical analysis is performed on data from 2,584 Chinese-listed firms. The data set spans 2010–2015, with 5,713 material lawsuits. Chosen due to reliable institutional-level incentives data from the China Market Index Database, years 2016–2019 are excluded for methodological disparities. Moreover, 2007–2009 is omitted to mitigate the potential financial crisis impact. This study’s 11,272 observations ensure robust empirical exploration, offering insights into the interplay of TMT legal expertise, institutional factors and firms’ legal strategies.

The study reveals that firms led by executives with legal expertise are more prone to engage in significant lawsuits, indicating strategic use of legal skills. TMT age moderates this, with older teams less likely to engage. TMT tenure’s effect remains unclear due to tenure-risk preference complexity. Institutional factors matter; less legally mature regions reduce managers’ legal risk intention. Results confirm hypotheses and highlight executive human capital’s impact on firms’ legal strategies.

This study acknowledges contributions while highlighting limitations, including the need for detailed distinctions in lawsuit roles and exploration of heterogeneous TMT power dynamics. Further research is proposed for nuanced power dynamics and comprehensive TMT legal background data. The study advances upper echelons theory by introducing TMT legal expertise as a factor influencing strategic lawsuit behavior. It challenges institutional theory by showing the adaptable legal context, beyond fixed constraints. Moderating factors – group risk attitude and external knowledge – deepen understanding of upper echelons’ impact. Enhanced data collection is encouraged to address limitations and refine findings.

This study’s implications extend to managerial practices. Firms should acknowledge the dynamic legal system, using TMT legal expertise for strategic legal challenges. Executives should pragmatically approach regulations. While legal professionals enhance compliance, caution is needed in selecting TMT members with legal expertise due to the risk of misusing it for unnecessary litigation, potentially misaligned with financial performance goals.

This study combines institutional and upper echelons theories to explore TMT legal expertise’s impact on firms’ adaptive strategies in emerging economies. It challenges the idea of a universally constraining legal environment and highlights how TMT legal expertise enhances firms’ management of complex legal risks. The research introduces TMT legal expertise as an influencing factor in strategic lawsuits, revealing nuanced relationships between legal contexts and strategic decisions. The findings enrich upper echelons theory, challenge conventional institutional views and identify moderating factors that deepen the understanding of upper echelons’ influence in legal landscapes.

This research is very important to conduct to review government policy on Indonesian contract law that still uses contract law inherited from Dutch product (BW) and review which regulations are to be adapted to current development of contract law. This research’s novelty is that new rules will be found in Indonesian contract law.

This research used normative and empirical methods. Normative research is dogmatic research or one that analyzes legislation using secondary data consisting of primary, secondary and tertiary legal materials. Besides the normative method, the research was also conducted using empirical method through direct interview and observation in some government agencies, such as the Directorate General of Legislation, Ministry of Law and Human Rights (HAM) and Chairman of Legal Product Formation Division, House of People’s Representatives of the Republic of Indonesia and the Civil Law Teaching Association (APHK).

This research found that new Indonesian contract law is very important to give legal certainty and justice to the people, and the contract law must regulate important matters related to the sources of contract besides agreement and law, related to termination, unjust enrichment, negotiation, good faith, public contract and private contract and related to legal act and validity of electronic contract.

The novelty of this research is that new rules will be found in Indonesian contract law. This research is different from previous researches conducted by Sigit Irianto (2013) and Deviana Yuanitasari (2020), that discuss only on contract law development related only to the good faith principle.

Drafting contract law is a relatively heavy duty due to the factor of law pluralism that contains contract aspect in Indonesia such as customary law aspect, Islamic law aspect, regional aspect, international aspect and other aspects. In fact, meanwhile, there is rapid development in the community with regard to business transactions that are also followed with contract law development. Therefore, amendment is needed for the Indonesian contract law to adapt to the people’s need for law, and this change agenda is also addressed to updating the contract law.

Civil law reform, especially contract law, is deemed very important for Indonesia, because based on field fact, people do their business contract by applying contract law that is not yet regulated in the contract law in KUHPerdata; thus, new contract law is needed that regulates important matters related to sources other than agreement and law.

It is very important to conduct this research to review government policy in Indonesian contract law that still uses the contract law inherited from Dutch product (BW) and review what regulations should have been adjusted to current development of contract law. The novelty of this research is that new rules will be found in Indonesian contract law. This research is different from previous researches conducted by Sigit Irianto (2013) and Deviana Yuanitasari (2020), that discuss only on contract law development related only to the good faith principle.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a professional self-efficacy scale for counsellors and psychologists encompassing identified competencies within professional standards from national and related international frameworks for psychologists and counsellors.

An initial opportune sample of postgraduate psychology and counselling students (n=199) completed a ten-minute self-report survey. A subsequent independent sample (n=213) was recruited for cross-validation.

A series of exploratory analyses, consolidated through confirmatory factor analyses and Rasch analysis, identified a well-functioning scale composed of 31 items and five factors (research, ethics, legal matters, assessment and measurement, intervention).

The Psychologist and Counsellor Self-Efficacy Scale (PCES) appears a promising measure, with potential applications for reflective learning and practice, clinical supervision and professional development, and research studies involving psychologists’ and counsellors’ self-perceived competencies. It is unique in being ecologically grounded in national competency frameworks, and extending previous work on self-efficacy for particular competencies to the set of specified attributes outlined in Australian national competency documents. The PCES has potential utility in a variety of applications, including research about training efficacy and clinical supervision, and could be used as one component of a multi-method approach to formative and summative competence assessment for psychologists and counsellors. The scale may be used to assess students’ perceived competencies relative to actual competency growth against national standards, and to identify trainees’ and practitioners’ self-perceived knowledge deficits and target areas for additional training.

Unfamiliar with the Chinese culture and ways of doing business, foreign architects/engineers/contractors (AEC) firms will encounter differences with the local parties. With reference to the characteristics of Chinese culture on disputes, this paper studies the problem areas of dispute and of resolving disputes in international construction projects in China. The objectives are to: examine the fundamentals of Chinese culture and ways of doing business; examine the characteristics of international projects and investigate any differences in the dispute problems arising from China International Projects; identify the most popular dispute resolution mechanism(s) for international projects in China; and recommend possible ways to reduce and resolve disputes of these projects.

After literature review, a questionnaire was designed for face‐to‐face interviews with 40 practitioners to collect their opinions.

The results show that the problem areas giving rise to disputes are mainly related to contractual matters. To reflect the characteristics of international projects in China, cultural and legal matters are also found to be the sources of problem. Arbitration is the most popular method, after negotiation, for resolving disputes in international construction projects in China.

The number of interviewees in this study could be improved and further study could include experts in Mainland China.

There is not much literature on dispute resolution management for international construction projects in China, with particular reference to cultural differences. This paper offers an invaluable reference for those foreign AEC firms interested in joining international projects in China.

This paper aims to examine the socio-economic effect of money laundering in Trinidad and Tobago. It assesses the efficacy of the administration of justice in addressing money laundering and the confiscation of the proceeds of crime. It identifies deficiencies within the existing anti-money laundering system and provides recommendations to ensure a robust anti-money laundering framework in keeping with international standards.

The paper embraces a pluralist approach. It uses qualitative and quantitative methods and uses a case study approach with contextual qualitative analysis. Empirical data are used and causal connections are linked to the analysis.

The paper highlights a fragmented and inefficient system in addressing money laundering and the confiscation of the proceeds of crime. It concludes that a robust money laundering framework, which meets international standards, requires strong legislative and institutional alignments that promote timeliness, collaboration and efficiency across many agencies.

Findings are limited to Trinidad and Tobago and to the period ending December 2018. Accordingly, these findings lack generalisability.

Trinidad and Tobago needs to revisit its silo approach to anti-money laundering (AML). New policies which embrace harmonisation, collaboration and timeliness in adjudicating upon ML matters are critical.

The negative socio-economic effects of money-laundering are considered in this paper. A disruption of money laundering and the confiscation of the proceeds of crime, benefits society economically and socially.

Trinidad and Tobago has been listed as a country with strategic AML deficiencies by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). This study provides assistance in guiding much needed reform in the anti-money laundering area and has not before been undertaken.

Starting with an explanation of the language of law, the article outlines the characteristics of legal literature and the expectations of computer‐based systems. There follows a brief evaluative survey of the development of major legal text retrieval systems throughout the world with an indication of the areas of research in progress. The final section deals with systems in the United Kingdom and the problems associated with research funding and the general organization of legal information in the country. 8 refs.

Asks the question: how can we enhance corporate governance practices in East Asia? To address this question, reviews recent research findings that have greatly enhanced our understanding of corporate governance practices in East Asian jurisdictions. Concludes by examining three areas of reform. First, investor protection may require radical changes to law and the enforcement of such laws. Second, market‐based changes, which do not require legal reform per se. Finally, observes that corporate governance may be enhanced through the use of mid‐1990s techniques of strategic management in national planning for capital market development.

This paper aims to explore the availability of new legal models for social enterprise development in Australia, asking the question: what does a distinctive focus on legal form add to the scholarly exploration of social enterprise? The paper has a dual purpose: firstly, to present a general empirical review of the fact, possible causes and implications of the absence of new legal models for social enterprise in Australia; and secondly, to make a polemical argument highlighting some of the advantages of developing a distinctive legal structure for social entrepreneurs in Australia.

The paper reconciles two contending accounts. One would stress the absence of new legal models (the “gap” analysis). The other would acknowledge the absence of new legal models, while stressing the relevance of existing legal models for pursuing social enterprise goals. Both accounts are descriptively true, but the tension between them relates in part to the level of analysis (legal-political, collective voluntary action or bottom-up individual actors) and, in part, to longstanding tensions in the conceptualisation of social enterprise.

The paper provides evidence of the rising salience of existing cooperative legal forms, rising diversity in the legal model choices of individual social enterprises and the emergence of two significant bottom-up developments in voluntary model rules. The legal-political bottleneck that remains is related to the constitutional structure of federal and state power, key macro-political policy trends in the late 1990s and the distinctive nature of the Australian “wage-earners” welfare state settlement.

The paper highlights that what may appear as a “gap” in the legal landscape of Australian social enterprise is more nuanced. Despite the striking absence of any distinct new legislated legal models, the overall situation is a complex landscape providing multiple threads for weaving together diverse forms of social enterprise. Although legal frameworks may not be as salient as governance design choices, they generate three important second-order effects: signalling, legitimation and professional networks. Taken together, these may support a case for the distinctive value of a specific hybrid legal model for social enterprise.

This paper reports the results of a survey of information needs and information seeking behaviour of a national sample of the UK population. The project was funded by the BLR&IC and comprised a survey by questionnaire covering all regions of the United Kingdom. 1,294 responses were received giving a valid and demographically representative response rate of 45.7 per cent. Major findings include: that the majority of respondents had sought information in the past (59.4 per cent) and that an even greater number predicted a future need for information (78.4 per cent). Over three quarters of respondents said that they would use public libraries and between half and three quarters would approach CABx, post offices, government departments or family and friends. Face to face communications and reading a book were the most popular means of accessing information but a wide variety of other preferred options were cited. Only a small proportion expressed a preference for using a computer to seek information and there was a clear emphasis on public libraries as an appropriate location for accessing computerised information. A highly significant majority (79.2 per cent) believed that access to information was very important for exercising their rights as citizens. Many significant variables, in terms of age, gender, status and region were found. In particular it was felt significant that young people were less sure of the importance of being able to access information.