Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
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Leeds Law School grows its academic team
Leeds Law School at Leeds Beckett University has recently welcomed 11 new members to its academic team, with a total of 53 staff now working across the School.
With more students than ever before, the Law School has recruited highly esteemed members of the legal community to help nurture the best young talent in the country, and continue Leeds Law School’s drive to deliver an excellent student experience and the widest range of opportunities.
A warm welcome to the newly extended team, who you can read more about in this post.
Professor Maria Grahn-Farley
Our new Professor taught in the USA and Sweden before arriving at Leeds Law School this summer. She holds a Doctoral Degree (SJD) from Harvard Law School, USA, and a Masters of Law (LLM) from Gothenburg University, Sweden.
Maria is published in the areas of Critical Race Theory, Feminist Legal Theory, Postcolonial Theory, Child Rights, International Law and Critical Legal Theory, and has taught public international law, legal theory, US constitutional law, Swedish constitutional law, and child rights.
Her book on the Child Rights Convention won the academic book award of 2019. Currently, her research focus is two-fold; on climate justice and child rights, and on the role human rights play in democratic societies.
Dr Kaushik Paul
Kaushik joined Leeds Law School in August 2021, from the University of Durham where he was a Tutor in Law. He holds an LLB from the University of Wales, an LLM in Human Rights Law from University of Nottingham, and an LLM in Legal Practice from Liverpool John Moores University. Kaushik completed Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) from City, University of London and was called to the Bar by Middle Temple in 2013.
Kaushik completed his PhD from University of Durham in 2021. He is an Associate Fellow of Advance HE. Research interests primarily lie in the fields of international human rights law, religious liberties, and women’s rights.
Amy Richards
Amy joins after previous lecturing roles at Wakefield College and University Centre primarily teaching criminal law and criminological-based modules at undergraduate level. She spent many years in practice at a firm that is ranked as a leading specialist in immigration law by both The Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners.
Amy’s research interests include domestic abuse, the intersection of domestic abuse and immigration status, policing and more broadly, violence against women and girls. In particular, Amy is interested in the police and wider criminal justice response to victims of domestic abuse and issues surrounding attrition rates in domestic abuse related cases.
Find Amy on Twitter: @Amy_Richards_ and LinkedIn.
Dr Ali Bohm
Ali joins us from the University of Lincoln, where she was a Senior Lecturer for five years. She has also worked at the Universities of Sheffield and Birmingham. Ali completed her PhD in 2014 at the University of Sheffield, on the Responsibility to Protect as International Society's response to atrocity crimes.
In addition to public international law, much of Ali's teaching experience has been in tort law.
Peter Clayton
Peter joins following a 26-year career with international law firm, Pinsent Masons, in both the UK and Hong Kong. Peter began his career in the UK in 1992 working on a wide range of civil and criminal matters before qualifying as a solicitor and moving to Pinsent Masons in 1995.
During his career at Pinsent Masons, Peter advised a wide variety of public and private clients, predominantly in the infrastructure sector. These included companies, joint ventures, professional practices and governments both in the UK and Hong Kong. Peter's practice covered all forms of dispute resolution as well as acting on transactional matters. He was made a partner of Pinsent Masons in 2005 and in 2011, moved to Hong Kong where he studied to qualify as a Hong Kong solicitor in 2012.
Peter teaches Company Law and Business Law and Practice. Find him on LinkedIn.
Vicki Illingworth
Vicki joined Leeds Law School this year and most recently worked for the West Yorkshire Coroner, preparing files for inquest hearings. Prior to that, Vicki worked for 12 years in higher education, including academic quality, academic partnerships, and student support roles. Vicki has completed the Graduate Diploma in Law and the CILEx Diploma in Legal Practice. She is interested in Medical and Mental Health Law.
Judith Dahlgreen
Judith practised law in England and Scotland in private practice and industry before becoming an academic. Her areas of expertise are banking and financial services law, the regulation of financial services, company law, insolvency law and the UN Convention on Corruption. She has also been involved in community law clinics in Leeds, primarily in relation to personal insolvency and employment law.
Judith is currently researching the UN Convention on Corruption and the impact of law and regulation in the UK to curtail the use of UK authorised firms to facilitate corruption and money laundering. The research also covers the UK's relationship with financial services firms in the Cayman Islands.
Goldie Millan
Goldie has joined Leeds Law School having practised law as a solicitor for the past 25 years. As a high street practitioner, she has advised in all areas of law, but specialises in civil litigation, family and immigration. She has mentored law students from Leeds Beckett University during her time as a solicitor, and run a law clinic from her high street office, primarily advising in relation to immigration and human rights law.
Goldie is a former member of the Law Society Personal Injury panel and a former assessor of the Law Society Personal injury panel. She is currently conducting research for a PhD which ties in with her strong interest in solicitors’ professional ethics.
Ed Jones
Ed has joined us from practice teaching on a number of employment law modules and working as interim module leader for wills and administration of estates. He started his career as a teacher before qualifying as a solicitor, specialising in employment law. Prior to joining Leeds Beckett, Ed worked at the Leeds office of DWF, an international law firm, where he advised businesses on their compliance with employment law, conducted litigation and advised on employment law aspects of corporate acquisitions.
Ed is undertaking a PhD focussing on political speech in the workplace.
Dr Gerald Swaby
Dr Gerald Swaby has been involved with higher education for over 18 years and has joined Leeds Law School from the University of Huddersfield. His teaching covers a broad range of subjects including business, contract, commercial, consumer, employment and company law. Gerald is research active, focusing on commercial law issues and insurance fraud.
Dr Sarita Woolhouse
Sarita teaches competition law, commercial law and practical legal research. Sarita’s research interests include arbitration, international investment law and construction law. She also has interest in global political economy.
She spent several years in practice as a solicitor in London law firms, and independently as a barrister, covering a wide range of cross-border commercial disputes in diverse sectors. Arbitration (commercial and investment treaty), litigation and mediation were the focus of her practice.
After completing her PhD, she became a senior lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge. She has co-authored books, published articles, and presented papers at international conferences.
For profiles of the full academic team at Leeds Law School, visit the community pages of the Leeds Law School website.
Leeds Law School
Our Law School sits in the heart of the great city of Leeds, one of the UK's largest legal hubs. It is perfectly placed to ensure all our undergraduate and postgraduate students are able to mine the wealth of practical experience and employment opportunities available on our doorstep.
