Law Update: Books by bus

A book bus has just returned to London from a mission in Eastern Europe delivering English language law books to university law libraries. The trip, which was co-ordinated by Fiona Mackenzie, the international liaison officer at the Law Society, emcompassed Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Ms Mackenzie describes the experience as 'unexpected'. 'We were dealing with law faculties who for the main part had forgotten we were coming,' she says. 'So we turned things round by interesting the students there in what we were doing.'

The gift of books provoked 'an astonishing reaction', she says. Many students and lecturers, even those drafting legislation, had never had new books. 'They also had an insight into the workings of the law in England and Wales and our students had a real picture of being a student in Eastern Europe. There are so many things they don't have that we take for granted, for instance compulsory third party compensation insurance.'

The boEoks - three libraries worth pounds 3,000 each - were donated by THER write errorthe legal publishers Sweet & Maxwell and Butterworths. They included legal dictionaries, basic texts on EC and international law, textbooks on areas of English law and some philosophical works. The trip was funded by the Solicitors European Group and the Law Society, with a free baggage allowance offered by the airline SAS.