The Study Support Event 2022, an online event for Undergraduate Law students provides an overview of key module topics, learning activities and an understanding of how to plan their studies over the academic year, and will be marking its fourth year with a mix of new and returning tutors.

Amanda Taylor

Amanda Taylor is a University of London Teaching Fellow and was a senior lecturer and deputy LLB course leader at University of Westminster for 16 years. She now freelances for many other universities teaching Equity and Trusts at undergraduate and postgraduate level. Apart from teaching Equity Amanda is a panel member for a tribunal and chairs a Board of Directors.

What to expect from my session

At the event I will give you an insight into three topics: The Three Certainties, Formalities and Beneficiary Principle. We will then discuss the questions set in your tutorial overviews.

A quick fact

I dabble in photography and in one studio session was bitten by a praying mantis – not recommended!

Dr Laura Lammasniemi

Hello, I am Dr Laura Lammasniemi, an Associate Professor at Warwick School of Law. I specialise in criminal law and have previously taught at various University of London colleges. My principal research interests lie in the areas of crime, gender, and class from a historical perspective. I am currently working on a project on the history of sexual consent in criminal courts, 1870-1950, and in 2021, I was chosen to deliver the 2021 British Social Sciences Award Lecture on this topic. I have spoken at the House of Commons on the issue of human trafficking and have participated in BBC TV and radio shows as a legal history expert. Having developed resources for Criminal law and Dissertation modules offered at Undergraduate Laws, I continue to deliver several Lecture Plus sessions for Criminal law.

What to expect from my session

During the study support day, we will focus on the foundations of criminal law through three interactive, friendly tutorials. Firstly, we will tackle complex topics such as mens rea and causation. In the final session of the day, we will focus a problem question on theft – the cornerstone of property offences – and consider how theft works in practice. Throughout the day, we will also spend some time thinking about how to study and learn criminal law, and you will have many opportunities to talk to your fellow students in a small and big group setting. We will focus on a range of questions, including past exam questions, made available to you ahead of the day, and so please remember that the better prepared you are, the more you get out of the sessions!

Ioannis Glinavos

I came to the UK for study from Greece in 1996 and never really left. I have worked at a number of universities and I am currently contributing to teaching Contract and Business Law at the University of London, Westminster and the Open University. Watch a short welcome message here.

What to expect from my session

I look forward to helping students through the Contract law content with a series of pre-recorded lectures, a list of reading material and via live tutorials in the study sessions. Contract, as well as Business Law are essential knowledge content in becoming a solicitor through the new Solicitors Qualifying Exam (SQE) assessment.

A quick fact

I have a passion for cooking and subsequently am an online chef, if you want to pick up a few Greek recipes alongside your Contract law studies just visit ‘cooking with ioannis’.

Adam Gearey

I am a professor of law at Birkbeck College, University of London. I’ve been teaching and researching legal theory for a fair few years- both for Undergraduate Laws, for Hong Kong University (SPACE) and other institutions that support the law degree. Done properly, legal theory is a very exciting subject- a chance to step back and grasp the bigger picture- in particular the value conflicts that animate the law. For me, jurisprudence and legal theory pose difficult and fundamental questions: how can law protect human beings and help to create diverse, decent and dignified cultures. These themes are often submerged in the details of jurisprudential debate- but- they are there; and if you can see them, the subject comes alive. It may even be that both theory and jurisprudence are really about a very ancient question: how do we live well together? 

What to expect from my session

Our work at the study support event will trace some key themes throughout the subject. The key is to understand certain central questions raised by different schools of jurisprudence; once one has gained these insights what would otherwise appear as a mass of detail comes alive as integral to ongoing debates about questions of law, politics and value. More specifically, we will look at positivism and its transformations from Hobbes to Hart (with some reference to Kelsen); the natural law tradition and Dworkin’s interpretive jurisprudence. Our concern with debates within jurisprudence will take us to ideas drawn from Marx’s work and feminism that offer radical perspectives on legal thought and practice. 

A quick thought

So, perhaps the late, great Joseph Raz was right: jurisprudence is about living well. Even if I cannot convince you of the truth of this insight, I hope that you will be able to grow in confidence as a thinker- and writer of jurisprudence- through our work together. 

David Thomas

I worked for many years as a solicitor, practicing in the fields of housing and property law, public law and human rights, and specialising in legal aid work. I stopped practicing in 2013 to study at Birkbeck College, University of London, where I am currently finishing a PhD. It is a story about the origins of human rights in the seventeenth century. I have taught a number of subjects for the School of Law in Birkbeck, including Land law, Equity and Trusts, and the Foundations of Property. I have been working at the University of London, Undergraduate Laws as a Teaching Fellow since May 2022. I really enjoy teaching and giving people the tools and information they need to learn.

What to expect from my session

I shall be teaching Property Law at the Study Support Event 2022. We will be looking at four topics from the syllabus, Basic Concepts in Property Law, Easements, Proprietary Estoppel, and Leases. I am recording lectures in all these subjects which you will need to have watched before you come to the tutorial sessions. Please also read the cases and reading materials posted. On that day, we’ll get the chance to explore the topics, using the questions and cases posted as a framework. As always, this is about your learning, not about listening to me talk; if you have done the work in advance, we’ll be able to have really productive discussions about the law in the tutorials, and you will be able to ask all the questions that you may have.

Eloise Ellis

I am a Senior Lecturer at the University of East Anglia where I teach Public Law and European Union Law.  I’m also a Visiting Professor at the University of Salzburg, the Université Catholique de Lille and at the Institute of Law, Jersey. I’m the co-convenor of the Society of Legal Scholars (SLS) Public Law section and on the Academic Panel of the Francis Taylor Building Chambers.  Prior to my academic career, I spent several years working as a political adviser and policy manager before spending time in a Government Department, where my roles included working for a Minister.  I’m a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and have a Master’s degree in Higher Education Practice.  I’ve been involved with the University of London, Undergraduate Laws programme in various ways for over ten years developing resources for Public law.

What to expect from my session

During the Public law session we will will look at the constitutional structure of the United Kingdom and, in the live tutorial session, our focus will be on the question of codification. We will also look at the constitutional principle of the Rule of Law in the context of the United Kingdom’s constitution. Lastly, we’ll explore the parliamentary accountability mechanisms within the Westminster model.

A quick thought

This is a valuable opportunity to engage in interactive discussions with me and other students and to receive tips and techniques on studying and revising for your assessment in this module. Use this opportunity to prepare and ask questions.

Carol Brennan

I have been teaching Tort Law for over thirty years, both in UK universities and also in distance learning programmes. I have obtained my LLB from the University of London (LSE) many years ago and I am very pleased to have travelled full circle and to be teaching here, at this later stage in my career. I am the author of two current textbooks on the Tort law. Among my fields of research is state responses and inquiries into institutional child abuse. I enjoy contributing to the UG Laws Blog, and giving my perspective on contemporary issues in Tort law.

What to expect from my session

I am very keen that Tort students will have a good grounding in the fundamentals of the subject from the very beginning. My sessions will focus on three key aspects of the tort of negligence: pure economic loss, psychiatric injury and occupiers’ liability. It is highly recommended that you take full advantage of this opportunity to develop a firm foundation for your study of Tort.

A quick fact

In my spare time I enjoy deciphering ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs.