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Donna Brown

Senior Lecturer

Leeds Law School

Donna is a Senior Lecturer at Leeds Law School and a solicitor within the Complex Litigation Team of Optima Legal Services Ltd based in Leeds, where she gets the opportunity to help high profile clients with a range of disputes including professional negligence and fraud cases.

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About

Donna Brown is a Senior Lecturer at Leeds Beckett University, bringing over 26 years of legal practice experience to her teaching. She supports students in developing practical legal skills and a strong understanding of the law.

Before joining academia, Donna worked as a solicitor in complex litigation, advising on professional negligence, fraud, and a broad range of commercial disputes. She spent ten years at a Irwin Mitchell LLP, focusing on contractual and shareholder disputes, defamation, and insolvency matters. Donna also gained experience in regulatory defence at a mid-sized regional firm, and handled niche property litigation involving equity and trusts law at a specialist commercial practice.

Donna’s teaching philosophy centres on bridging the gap between academic study and legal practice. She aims to create an engaging and supportive learning environment that encourages curiosity, critical thinking, and confidence. By drawing on real-world experience, she helps students understand the practical application of legal principles and prepares them for the realities of working in the legal profession and beyond.

Research interests

Her research interests focus on legal education and metacognitive knowledge—particularly how law students develop awareness of their own thinking and learning processes. Donna explores how metacognitive strategies can enhance students’ ability to plan, monitor, and evaluate their learning, and how these skills contribute to deeper understanding, improved academic performance, and greater preparedness for professional practice. Her work aims to inform curriculum design and teaching methods that foster reflective, self-directed learners in legal education.

Donna is also exploring how the integration of growing spaces—such as gardens and green areas—within university environments can support student mental health and wellbeing. Her research investigates the therapeutic and cognitive benefits of nature-based interventions in higher education, with a particular focus on how these spaces can foster reflection, reduce stress, and enhance students’ sense of belonging. This work aims to inform inclusive and holistic approaches to student support, bridging wellbeing and pedagogy.

Current teaching

Donna currently teaches Property Law and Practice and Solicitors’ Accounts on the Legal Practice Course (LPC), as well as Equity and Trusts Law at undergraduate level. Her teaching draws on extensive practical experience and aims to equip students with both technical knowledge and applied legal skills.

Previously, she has taught a range of subjects across undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, including Property Law, Criminal Law, and Civil Litigation at undergraduate level, and Civil Litigation on the LPC. She has also delivered Equity and Trusts and Property Law on the Postgraduate Diploma in Law (PGDL).