DEPARTMENT OF LAW
N E W S L E T TE R
Issue 3
Welcome…
Welcome to all our new students and welcome back to the returning students.
We are very glad to have you all.
This is the third newsletter from the Department. The other two can be found
in the Department of Law section of the University website as can
photographs of some of the events detailed below.
Student News…
Students Shine in Mock Trial
Some of our students took part in a
mock trial at Chester Magistrates’
Court in May. This was organised
jointly with the College of Law and
was held in front of a lay magistrate
and a Qualified Legal Advisor (a
Magistrates’ Clerk in old money!).
The trial was watched by about 40
school students.
Victoria Jones won the advocate’s
prize and she and Claire FenlonBooth secured the acquittal of the
defendant. This was excellent,
particularly given that they were
first year undergraduate students
and their opponents were students
on the Legal Practice Course.
Heather Smith, the supervising
solicitor from the College of Law,
said in a local newspaper “We were
delighted to be working in
partnership with the University of
Chester to make the public more
aware of how the law works.”
Work Experience
Legal Skills Centre
Hill Dickinson is one of the largest
firms of solicitors in the North West
and has just merged with Hill
Taylor Dickinson to create a
national top fifty law firm. Over the
summer they have taken four of our
students on a first year work
experience scheme. They each
had a week under the wing of a
trainee solicitor and also had the
opportunity to shadow partners.
Work has been carried out over the
summer to transform Classroom 3
in the Allen Building. A small
courtroom has been installed, with
bookcases, and also seven
networked computers. This enables
mock trials and moots to be held in
a proper court and for online
exercises in seminars. The room is
dedicated to the Law Department
and cannot be used by anyone else
without the permission of the
Department.
The Crown Prosecution Service
has taken three students for work
experience.
Students have also had work
experience and shadowing at
Storrar Cowdry, and individually at
other firms, barristers’ chambers
and courts in and around Chester.
Students’ Law Society Dinner
The first annual dinner was held in
May in the Gladstone Conference
Centre in the University. As well as
students and lecturers, the dinner
was attended by His Honour Judge
Halbert, the Civil Judge for
Chester, and his wife, and Craig
Wright, a partner in Storrar Cowdry,
and his wife.
Middle Temple Dinner
Those students interested in
becoming barristers were invited to
a Middle Temple dinner in
Manchester in honour of Mr.
Justice Rose. About fifteen
students attended and whilst
enjoying themselves enhanced
their reputations and those of the
Department. Incidentally, the
barrister who invited them, Sarah
Singleton, very recently was
appointed Queen’s Counsel.
International Family Law
Conference
Professor Roger Kay and Dr.
Martha Sampson have bid
successfully to hold a European
Regional Conference of the
International Society of Family Law
at Chester next summer. The
conference will run from July 17th to
21st and several sponsors and
keynote speakers have been
secured, including Baroness Hale
of Richmond, the first female Law
Lord. It is hoped that there will be
up to 200 delegates. Volunteer
student helpers will be needed!
European Project On
Enforcement Of Family
Judgements
Professor Roger Kay and Dr.
Martha Sampson continue to work
on the above as national reporters
for England and Cyprus
respectively. The E.C. funded
project is co-ordinated by the Asser
Institute in The Hague and Roger
and Martha attended a meeting
there in May with the reporters from
the other member countries.
Working With Schools and Colleges…
Philip Hunter and Dr. Matthew Garrett have
been participating in the University’s widening
participation scheme and have put on law
skills sessions for a number of schools and
colleges, both at the University and at the
schools and colleges. Philip has also done a
number of visits outside the scheme. These
sessions are proving very popular and there
have been requests for further sessions.
CHULS EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Early in 2006 Professor Roger Kay was elected to the above, the organisation
of University Law Heads.
THE LORD CHIEF JUSTICE
Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers briefed local judges in a meeting on the
University campus. Professor Kay was invited to the meeting and was
photographed in the local press and the University Staff News with Lord
Phillips and His Honour Judge Elgan Edwards, the Hon Recorder of Chester.
Staff News…
A New Garrett
Any staff news must start by congratulating Matt
Garrett and wife, Vanita, on the birth of their son,
Benjamin Sachin, on July 28th. All three are doing
well!
New Staff … New Staff … New Staff … New Staff … New Staff…
The Department welcomes five new academic staff, two full-time and three
sharing a post. They enhance the quality, expertise and diversity of
experience in the Department. Space only permits a brief introduction….
Dr. Kathryn Dutton
Kathryn joins us full-time from the Criminal Justice Social Work Development
Centre for Scotland, the University of Edinburgh, where she worked on a
variety of research projects. She completed a PH.D at Coventry University on
male victims of domestic violence. She has co-authored a number of
research papers and reports and has lectured at Coventry University and for
the Open University.
Lana Toma
Lana also joins full-time, from Liverpool Hope University, where she set up
Law as a new discipline in combined honours programmes and was the
Award Director for the Law Pathway. As part of this she designed the learning
and teaching strategy and developed and taught a number of the modules
herself. She has an LL.M in International and European Business Law from
the University of Liverpool and is a Barrister at Law and has worked as a
professional lawyer.
Karen Atkinson
Karen is completing a Ph.D in Charities Law at the University of
Liverpool, where she has previously obtained an MSc in Applied Social
Research. She was already working at the University of Chester, in the
Learning Support Unit, after several years working in both academic
research and the charity sector. She is currently giving papers at two
conferences, the Society of Legal Scholars and the National Council for
Voluntary Organisations, where she is shortlisted for the Conference
prize for the best paper.
Paul Butt
Paul is just about to relinquish his post as an Associate Professor at the
College of Law, Christleton where he has taught Land Law and Conveyancing
for many years. He is the author of several books, including The Which?
Guide to Conveyancing. He is also currently a Monitor for Land Law with the
Open University. He is a qualified solicitor, who has practised and who is a
Consultant on property law with a firm of solicitors in Frodsham.
Wendy Steel
Wendy graduated with a degree in History and worked as a civil servant
before deciding to become a lawyer. Studying by distance learning and parttime, she achieved a commendation in the law conversion course and a
distinction in the Legal Practice Course. She also studied externally for an
LL.M with the University of London and achieved this with merit. She has lived
and worked in Argentina, Mexico and Brazil in the 1990s.