Centre for Legal Education Launch. Speaker Biographies

Transcription

1 Centre for Legal Education Launch Speaker Biographies

2 Baroness Ruth Deech Baroness Deech lectured in law at Oxford University for many years before being elected Principal of St Anne's College She is now Gresham Professor of Law. She has extensive experience of regulatory bodies, having served as Chairman of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority ( ), a Governor of the BBC ( ) and as the first Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education ( ). She is an independent member of the House of Lords. Susan Silver F. Inst.L.Ex, President - The Chartered Institute of Legal Executives Susan Silver became the 48th President of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEx) on the 15 July She has been a Council member since 2004 and currently sits on The Regulatory Committee and the Equality and Diversity Working Party. She is also a member of the Review of Civil Litigation Costs working group. She previously sat on the Disciplinary Tribunal and has been a member of the Investigating Committee. Along with her partner, she runs a Legal Advisory Consultancy covering general commercial litigation, debt management, debt collection, land and property purchase/sale, and employment. The consultancy also has associations with a number of law firms in Cyprus and represents their interests in the UK. Susan left school at 17 training to be a beautician followed by a spell in the fashion industry where, at 21, she became the youngest manager in the Dorothy Perkins fashion chain. She also worked for a number of years with her then husband who owned and ran one of the top cabaret clubs in the UK. As a Mackenzie Friend, she undertook some legal help for a friend and developed a taste for legal work, subsequently studying to be a lawyer through CILEx, becoming a Member in 1999 and a Fellow in 2003.

3 She began her legal career in private practice with a mixed workload covering P.I. Crime, Housing, Welfare Benefits and general Private Client matters and ran a legal department for a group of companies before setting up her own company in Susan has also been Chair and Vice-Chair of the CILEx Greater Manchester Branch. David Urpeth David is a Partner and National Head of Workplace Injuries and National Head of Fast Track for Irwin Mitchell Solicitors. David joined Irwin Mitchell as a para legal in June 1988; Whilst employed by the firm, obtained his law degree by correspondence from London University in June 1994; Obtained his LPC from The University of Sheffield in 1995; Finished his one year training contract at IM and qualified as a solicitor in August 1996 ; Appointed Salaried Partner in 2000; Appointed Equity Partner in He has written and lectured widely on the subject of Personal Injury and Coronial law. He was a member of the Lord Chancellor s working party that designed and implemented the Personal Injury Pre Action Protocol. He is a former President of Sheffield and District Law Society. He is one of Her Majesty s Assistant Deputy Coroners for South Yorkshire (West) District. David has received recognition in The Legal 500 where it comments that he Goes the extra mile for clients. Membership Association of Trial Lawyers of America The Law Society s Personal Injury Panel Association of Personal Injury Lawyers Pan-European Organisation of Personal Injury Lawyers Fellow College of Personal Injury Law Publications The Corporate Manslaughter Act - Halsburys Statutes Annotated Coroners A guide to the new law Published by the Law Society

4 Gary Lee Walters Gary Lee Walters is a lecturer, tutor, author, event speaker and provider of one-to-one tuition. Gary was awarded an LL.B. 2:1 with Honours from the University of Glamorgan, and a Post-Graduate Certificate in Education (ML7) from Cardiff University (Distinction). He also holds a Diploma in Business and Finance. When not facilitating learning at FE or HE, Gary commentates on his specialisms -sexual & computer offences - at legal websites and peer-review magazines. His article Voluntarily Intoxicated Consent Rape or Regret? was published in The Barrister, issue no.50. He is currently working on other research areas, within his speciality. His work has been reviewed and cited by leading criminal barristers. As a successful Operations Manager, and more recently due to a career change as a Tutor and University Lecturer in Law, Gary maintains audience focus as an educator through delivering innovative, interactive learning in an informal legal educational setting, whilst sustaining high standards in terms of pass rates. Gary strongly believes in legal education for all, and to that end founded StretLaw, an online platform for legal distance learning and an informal setting to publish legal material. Still in its infancy, the site attracts thousands of visitors weekly, has guest articles of notable value by Solicitors, Barristers and law students. StretLaw is sponsored by Routledge Law (Taylor & Francis Group). He is a husband and a father to two wonderful children and lives in Cardiff, although his roots stem from Oxfordshire. In his spare time, he enjoys sketching, painting with oils and watercolours. He is an enthusiastic player of Squash and Tennis events. Once upon a time, he was known to grace the Oxfordshire hills, roads and swimming pools competing at club level as a Triathlete. He plays the guitar and is a competent lyricist having composed songs for local artists. His youngest daughter also enjoys composing songs and thus far, has two to her name, whilst his eldest daughter enjoys competitive swimming.

5 Rebecca Huxley-Binns Becky Huxley-Binns has been teaching law for 20 years, half of them at Nottingham Trent University. She now is Nottingham Law School's Learning and Teaching Coordinator. She is also Reader in Legal Education and widely published in Criminal Law, English Legal System and legal education. Becky teaches Critical Legal Thinking to final year LLB students and she is Module Leader for Criminal Law with Mooting, taught to second year LLB students. She jointly leads the NLS Centre for Legal Education. She convenes the National Student Law Forum and in that role is an Academic Associate of the HEA (2012). Very experienced at teaching all levels of legal education from GCSE to Doctorate level, Becky has also been a senior examiner for A level law, Principal Examiner for Criminal Law for ILEX and is an experienced external examiner to University Law Schools. Becky is the Honorary Secretary of the Association of Law Teachers. Becky was Law Teacher of the Year Nazmin Akthar After completing her A levels, Nazmin began working at a high street bank as a customer advisor so as to gain what her careers advisor called real life skills. After completing her law degree at the University of Durham in 2009, Nazmin went on to complete the BVC at Northumbria University in 2010 and LLM in Advanced Legal Practice in During her time at Northumbria University, as well as participating in legal extracurricular activities such as mooting and debating, she volunteered for Newcastle Law Centre as a Caseworker and became heavily involved with Northumbria Student Union as a Black & Minority Student Representative and was also elected as the Chair of the Elections Committee, the first non-sabbatical officer to have acquired such a position. Nazmin now works as a County Court Advocate and was recently appointed as a coopted Board Member for Muslim Women s Network UK and Editor and Correspondent for Cultural Affairs at StretLaw. Baishali Majumdar My name is Baishali Majumdar, (nickname Allie). I am a 31 year old Indian woman born and raised in the UK. My father was a Consultant Psychiatrist and my mother was a GP. They pushed me toward medicine; I rebelled, knowing I always wanted to do law (apart

6 from when I wanted to be She-Ra, aged 6). Look at me now, of all things a clinical negligence lawyer I guess the medicine worked its way into my head regardless! I did the classic law training route because I wanted to be a solicitor and that s the way it was done. A-levels, LLB Honours degree, LPC. I worked as a paralegal or the equivalent for several years firstly within a hospital Trust s legal department then at 2 different law firms, the second of whom I ve worked for since November 2008; since the start of the recession when people were firing not hiring. Thus I eventually started my Training Contract in September 2011 and will finally qualify as a solicitor in March 2013, at the ripe old age of 32. Embarrassing? Yes. Uncommon? These days, not so much I imagine. The overhaul of legal education is too late for me. I hung in there and got where I wanted to be. But I m excited to see what s in it for the law grads of the future. Here s hoping it s a less soul-destroying ride! John Cooper QC To follow