School of Law

Profile

Dr Roger Welch LL.B, LL.M, M.Phil, PHD

Born and bred in Portsmouth, Roger gained his LL.B. as an external student of University College London. He gained his LL.M. and M.Phil. as a part-time student at University College London. For many years he lectured in law at what is now Anglia Ruskin University in Chelmsford and returned to Portsmouth to lecture in law in September 1997.

Roger obtained his PhD from the University of Portsmouth for a programme of research entitled The Indispensability of Collective Bargaining and the Case for Positive Trade Union Rights.

Roger is now a visiting research fellow in the School of Law and his research interests are in all areas of employment law but with a particular focus on collective labour law and employment law issues, such as the future of the transfer system, in the world of professional sport.  In collaboration with Caroline Strevens he is also engaged in ongoing research concerning the development of elearning and the use of simulations for law students.  As well as his research publications listed below, Roger is a co-author of the student text, Sports Law, which is edited by Simon Gardiner and published by Routledge.  This is regarded as one of the leading texts in the area and the fourth edition is expected to be published in November 2011.

Teaching and Research Interests

Roger teaches Law and Business undergraduates in all areas of employment law - both individual and collective. He also teaches areas of Discrimination  and Human Rights Law and Sports Law which relate to the world of employ ment.

Roger's research interests focus on the above and on the development of elearning for law students. As well as his research publications listed below, Roger is a co-author of the student text, Sports Law, which is edited by Simon Gardiner and published by Routledge Cavendish.

Roger would welcome Ph.D. proposals in the fields of Employment Law, Labour Law, Discrimination Law and Sporting Employment Contracts.

Publications

• Strevens, C., Welch, C. and Welch, R. (2011) 'On-Line Legal Services and the Changing Legal Market: Preparing Law Undergraduates for the Future', The Law Teacher Vol. 45, No. 3, pp 278-297.
• Gardiner, S., and Welch, R. (2011) 'Bosman - There and Back Again: the Legitimacy of Playing Quotas under European Union Sports Policy' European Law Journal Vol. 17, No. 6, pp. 828-849.
• Gardiner, S., and Welch, R. (2011) 'Nationality and protectionism in football: why are FIFA's '6+5 rule' and UEFA's 'home-grown player rule' on the agenda?' Soccer & Society Vol.12, No 6, pp774-787.
• Carney, D. & Welch, R., 'Protecting Religious and Sexual Identities: Discrimination Law or Human Rights Law?' Contemporary Issues in Law (forthcoming, 2012).
• Gardiner, S. & Welch, R., 'Football, Racism and the Limits of 'Colour Blind' Law: Revisited', pp 222-236 in Burdsey D. (ed.) Race, Ethnicity and Football (2011), Abingdon: Routledge.
• The Contractual Dynamics of Team Stability Versus Player Mobility: Who Rules 'The Beautiful Game? (2007) Entertainment and Sports Law Journal - July 2007 (with Simon Gardiner).
• Judicial Mystification of the Law: Rookes v Barnard and the Return to Judicial Intervention in the Right to Strike: From the Trade Disputes Act 1906 to a Trade Union Freedom Bill 2006 - research monograph edited by Keith Ewing and published by the Institute of Employment Rights, 2007, Ch.9.
• Player Mobility, The FIFA Transfer Rules and Freedom of Movement (2006) International Sports Law Review 83.
• The Information & Consultation Regulations - Whither Statutory Works Councils? - published by the Institute of Employment Rights, June 2006.
• The Information & Consultation Regulations - Much Ado About Nothing? (2005) Cambrian Law Review, 29 (with Steve Williams).
• Complying with the new employment relations laws? A survey of Employers. (2004) Human Resources and Employment Law Review, 91 (with Steve Williams).
• Collective Labour Law Under New Labour: The Potential Impact of Recent Change (2001) Employee Relations Review, 15.
• Sport Racism and the Limits of Colour Blind Law in Carrington and McDonald (Eds). Race, Sport and British Society (London: Routledge 2001) pp.133-49 (S.Gardiner).
• A Snort and a Puff: Recreational Drugs and Discipline in Professional Sport in O'Leary (Ed.) Drugs and Doping in Sport (London: Cavendish 2001) pp.75-90.
• Show Me the Money: Regulation of the Migration of Professional Sportsmen in Post-Bosman Europe in Caiger & Gardiner (Eds). Professional Sport in the EU: Regulation and Re-regulation (Asser Press: The Hague 2000) pp.107-26 (with Steve Gardiner).
• Into the Twenty-First Century - The Continuing Indispensability of Collective Bargaining as a Regulator of the Employment Relation in Collins, Davies & Rideout (eds.) The Legal Regulation of the Employment Relation (London: Kluwer 2000) pp. 615-34.
• Trade Union Rights in South Africa: The Labour Relations Act 1995 (London: Institute of Employment Rights (2000).
• "Swamping" the British Game? Foreign Football Players and the New Work Permit Regulations (2000) 3(2) Sports Law Bulletin.
• The Employment Rights Act 1999 and International Law (2000) 32 Socialist Lawyer 26.
• Rights to Strike in UK and South African Law: a Comparison (2000) 7(1) International Trade Union Rights 26.
• The Winds of Change in Professional Football: The Impact of the Bosman Ruling (1998) Contemporary Issues in Law 289 (with Steve Gardiner).
• Rights to Collective Bargaining or to Information and Consultation or to Individual Representation - Which Way Forward into the 21st Century? (1998) Employee Relations Review 17.
• The Potential Impact of the Inclusion of Anti-Racist Clauses in Footballers' Contracts (1998) 1(4) Sports Law Bulletin.
• Individualising Employee Relations: the Myth of the Personal Contract (1996) 25 Personnel Review 37-50 (with P. Leighton).
• Social Europe and the United Kingdom: Whither European Works Councils? in Caiger & Floudas (Eds), 1996 Onwards: Lowering the Barriers Further (Wiley: Chichester) 1996 pp.209-29.
• Re-establishing Trade Union Rights: For Positive Rights to Strike in McColgan, (ed.), The Future of Labour Law (Cassell: London 1996) pp.119-44.
• Collectivism versus Individualism in Employee Relations: For Human Rights in the Workplace (1996) 17 Industrial Law Journal (South Africa) 1041.
• Judges and the Law in British Industrial Relations: Towards A European Right to Strike (1995) 4 Social & Legal Studies 175.
• European Works Councils and their Implications: The Potential Impact on Employer Practices and Trade Unions, (1994) 16 Employee Relations 48.
• Collectivism or Individualism in Employment Contracts: Evidence from a Second East Anglian Survey (Chelmsford: Anglia Employment Relations R&D Centre) 1994 (with Patricia Leighton & Nicola Watley).
• The Behavioural Impact on Trade Unionists of the Trade Union Legislation of the 1980's (1993) 24 Industrial Relations Jurnal 236.
• Employee Involvement: The East Anglian Experience (Chelmsford: Anglia Employment Relations R&D Centre) 1992. (with Patricia Leighton).
• The Legal Mystification of Industrial Relations (1991) 13 Employee Relations 9.
• The Right to Strike: A Trade Union View (London: Institute of Employment Rights 1991).

Conference Papers

• Videos, Podcasts and the Learning of the Law - paper given at the Association of Law Teachers Annual Conference, Oxford, March 2008 (with Caroline Strevens).
• Corporate Governance and Workplace Democracy: Some Paradigms and Paradoxes - paper given at the 4th International Conference on Corporate Governance 'Global Developments in Corporate Goverenance' at the University of Birmingham on 3rd July 2006 (with Ahmed Al-Hawamdeh).
• Rookes v Barnard and the Re-Emergence of Judicial Intervention in Industrial Disputes - paper given at a conference organised by the Institute of Employment Rights: 1906-2006 - From the Trade Disputes Act to a Trade Union Freedom Bill, May 2006.
• Can the Use of WebCT/ICT Encourage a Deep Approach to Learning? - paper given at the 2006 Annual Conference of Association of Law Teachers (with Caroline Strevens).
• The Implications of the Changing Legal Regulation of Employment Relations for Employee Representation and Trade Union Organisation in the UK -  paper given at the BUIRA Annual Conference, University of Leeds, July 2003, (with S. Williams).
• National Identity in Sport: Legal Issues Surrounding the Mobility of Sports Athletes presented to The Nation and Sport Conference - Anthropological, Historical, Philosophical & Sociological Perspectives, Brunel University, 2001 (with S. Gardiner).
• Collective Bargaining as an Indispensable Method for the Effective Regulation of the Employment Relation, W.G. Hart Legal Workshop, 1999.
• HRM and Empowerment at the Workplace: The Individual Versus the Collective presented to a Conference on Transformative Labour and Employment Law: Democratic Perspectives in a Changing World, University of Kent, 1996.
• Trade Union Rights in South Africa: Does Europe provide a Paradigm? presented to Globalisation and the Quest for Justice - paper given at the International Conference on Law and Society, University of Strathclyde, 1996.
• The Law and Trade Union Rights presented to Law and Democracy in the 21st Century - paper given at the Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers Conference, London, 1996.
• Individualism Versus Collectivism in Employee Relations: The Myth of the Personal Contract presented to a Conference on the Strategic direction of Human Resource Management, Nottingham Trent University, 1995.
• For an End to Splendid Isolation: The Need for a Euro-wide Trade Union Strategy given at the Cardiff Business School Employment Research Unit Annual Conference, 1993. Abstract in 1993 Management Research News Vol.16, No.5/6.
• Home Grown Players – A Peculiarly European Case of Xenophobia (with Simon Gardiner), Fourth Annual Conference of the Association for the Study of Sport and the European Union, University of Sterling, June 2009.
• Sport, Racism and the Limits of ‘Colour Blind’ Law: Revisited (with Simon Gardiner), conference on Race Ethnicity and British Football, University of Brighton, May 2009.
• Constructing and Using On-Line Transactional Assessments (with Caroline Strevens), ALT Annual Conference, March 2009 (refereed paper).
• Judicial Language and Restricting the Right to Strike: An Historical Perspective, SLSA conference on Law & the Humanities, November 2008 (refereed paper).
• Post-Bosman Europe and the Juridification of Employment Relationships in Professional Sport - an Assessment of the Impact of Legal Scholarship on Models of Regulation and Re-regulation in the EU (with Simon Gardiner), SLS Annual Conference, September 2008 (refereed paper).

Papers Given at Annual Conferences of the Social and Legal Studies Association

• Marginal Workers and Collective Rights, University of Stirling, March 2006.
• New Labour, New Unionism and Overcoming the Dichotomy Between the Individual and the Collective, Nottingham Trent University, April 2003.
• Recreational Drugs and Discipline in Professional Sport, Manchester Metropolitan University, April 1998.
• Football in the Dock: Players' Injuries and Video Tapes (Joint paper with other colleagues from the Anglia Law School), University of Leeds, 1995.
• British Trade Unions: Bygone Relics of Harbingers of an Alternative Future?, University of Nottingham, 1994.
• Employer Practices in East Anglia: Forms of Employee Involvement or New management Techniques?, University of Exeter, 1993.

Memberships

Member of the Institute of the Higher Education Academy
Member of the Industrial Law Society
Member of the Socio-Legal Studies Association
Member of the Association of Law Teachers
Member of the Society of Legal Scholars
Member of the British Universities Industrial Relations Association