The Futures of Legal Education and Practice

Emma Curryer

Emma is a senior lecturer in law and teaches subjects including Criminal Law, Evidence and the SQE. Emma also leads the Criminal Justice Clinic (CJC) that is part of the award-winning, Open Justice Centre. The CJC was shortlisted for a LawWorks and Attorney General Student Pro Bono award in 2023. Her research interests are based on her love of Crime, Criminal Justice, Egyptology, Literature, and mental well-being. She has received funding to research how students, and the legal profession, can benefit from vicarious trauma training. In relation to scholarship, Emma has completed a scholarship project on employability skills gained from clinical legal education, designing digital law clinics for student success and whether video feedback assists students with their studies.  She has published and presented at conferences about her scholarship and research.

Dr Andrew Gilbert

Andrew is a Senior Lecturer in Law and Associate Dean for Curriculum and Partnerships in the Faculty of Business and Law. Having started his career in legal practice, he has worked in higher education for over twenty years and has gained all-round experience as a tutor, researcher and academic leader. Andrew’s recent work has explored how clinical legal education can develop students’ social and cultural capital, law school responses to the Solicitors Qualifying Examination, and the impact of generative AI on legal education. He is a Deputy Editor of The Law Teacher: The International Journal of Legal Education, a leading peer-reviewed journal exploring policy and pedagogy in legal education internationally. Andrew has recently co-edited an open access book with Palgrave entitled 'Creativity and Critique in Digital Learning and Teaching: Insights for Learning Design in Business and Law'.

Dr Jessica Giles

Lecturer in Law. Jessica has undertaken action research and published in the field of the scholarship of teaching and learning. Her specific interests are related to using online classrooms to enhance student learning and enhancing students' skills training. In 2016 she led her module team to win the Association of Law Teachers Stan Marsh Best Paper Prize for a co-authored paper on enhancing student performance through collaborative team working. This led to a successful application for Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy via OpenPAD in Autumn 2016. Jessica is Scholarship Lead and Employability Lead for the Law School. She is an APPLAUD mentor. 

Dr Neil Graffin

Senior Lecturer in Law. Neil’s research interests concern wellbeing in the law school and legal profession, including the impact of legal practitioners and processes where trauma is present. Neil is currently working on a project with the UK charity, LawCare, to develop online resources promoting psychologically healthy practices within the legal profession.

Mel Holmes

Mel previously worked as an inhouse solicitor, and joined The Open University in 2000, as an Associate Lecturer on Access and Level 1 Law modules. She is currently an Assistant Head of Academic Student Experience and Lecturer, a regional academic leadership role, which includes bringing the student perspective to developing module/programme teaching and learning design.  As the first person in her family to attend university, she is particularly interested in how universities can best support all students to achieve their study goals. Mel is currently researching the development of legal skills, and on collaborating effectively with students. 

Liz Hardie

Liz is a Senior Lecturer and Director of SCiLAB, the Faculty of Business and Law's Scholarship Centre. She is also a member of the Open Justice Centre, and it's Family Law Clinic, as well as coordinating the UK's Policy Clinic Network. Liz’s research interests include technology and online learning, including online clinical legal education, belonging in an online environment, and the impact of Generative AI on education and access to justice. She is the Principal Investigator on an Assessment Innovation Funded project looking at generative AI and assessment, and co-investigator on a UKRI Responsible AI skills project: AI Law and Legal Training.

Kara Johnson

Kara is Deputy Teaching Director and Lecturer at The Open University Law School. Her research cuts across the disciplines of Education and Law focusing on how concepts of liminality and transformative education can provide educator-researchers with a better insight into the experiences of part time, adult learners. Future research directions will be to consider how digital pedagogies can be further utilised in the development of professional legal skills as well as further exploring professional identity and belonging amongst online law students. Kara’s work utilises online research methods to support empirical qualitative enquiry. She is Senior Fellow of Advance HE and a member of the Law Society’s Digital Education Taskforce.

Katy King

Katie is a Lecturer in Law and Student Experience Manager. She is actively involved in scholarship of teaching and learning with an aim to improve student outcomes and experience. Her scholarship generally relates to specific groups such as joint honours students and neurodiverse staff and students. She is particularly interested in how processes, systems and curriculum design can be improved to meet the needs of those groups. She can often pilots new approaches on law modules with a keen focus on embedding core legal skills, tutorial development and enhancing community. 

Fiona MacDonald

Fiona is a lecturer in law and, since 2024, the current Teaching Director for the Law School. Her interest in the futures of legal education spans many areas; however, as she is dyslexic and her own education journey is less than traditional, she is passionate about education being open to all who want to pursue it. She is interested in how inclusive education practices not only have positive impacts on the targeted groups but also frequently improve outcomes for all learners.  

Kate Richie 

Kate is a lecturer in law at The Open University Law School. She has many years’ experience teaching OU students and is aware of the additional demands and challenges which can impact on online distance learning students and undermine their sense of belonging. She has been involved in leading a peer mentoring project which aims to enhance the student experience and facilitate the development of online learning communities to reduce isolation and provide support. She is also currently exploring the scope of game-based learning to support student outcomes and build online communities. As a member of the Open Justice Centre, she has an interest in clinical legal education and its intersection with social justice, reflected in her involvement in prison workshops and projects, and the business law and employment clinic. She is a fellow of Advance HE.

Dr Francine Ryan

Francine Ryan is a Senior Lecturer in Law at The Open University Law School and Director of the Open Justice Centre. The Open Justice Centre has pioneered the use of experiential learning in distance legal education and leveraged the expertise of the OU to support the free advice sector. Her research explores graduate attributes and the intersection between law and technology. Francine is leading on an innovative virtual reality courtroom project, as well as being the PI on a UKRI Responsible AI skills project: AI Law and Legal Training. 

Ben Trupia-Melluish

Ben is the Head of Student Experience in the Law School. He joined the University in July 2017 as a Lecturer and Student Experience Manager in the Business School, later progressing to Senior Lecturer in Business and Management. He is a Senior Fellow of the HEA, holds an MBA, PGCE and BA (Hons) International Business Management. Ben is also a Chartered Manager Fellow recognised by the CMI and is recognised by the CABS as a Certified Management and Business Educator. His research interests lie at the intersection of pedagogy and student motivation, with a particular focus on how Law and Business students engage with their studies. He explores the impact of module design and interactive learning on student progression and satisfaction. Ben is currently undertaking a Professional Doctorate in Education, investigating student motivation through the lens of the future of education.