Monthly Archives: December 2018

War crimes lawyer given Alumni Award

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Dr Rosalynd Roberts, who completed her PhD at the School of Law at the University of Reading in 2011, was recognised at the 2018 Winter Graduations for her role in prosecuting war crimes from the conflict in the former Yugoslavia – including the conviction of Ratko Mladić of crimes including genocide. Read more here.

The School of Law welcomes collaboration with Stowe Family Law in Reading

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The School of Law is delighted to announce support from the newly opened Reading branch of Stowe Family Law. Stowe Family Law is an established firm of specialist family law and divorce solicitors, with offices across the UK. The opening of the office in Reading provides a fantastic opportunity for collaboration with our law students who will supplement their academic knowledge of the law with practical insight from practitioners. Stowe Family Law will take over sponsorship of the Family Law Prize for the best performance in the final exam from 2019. The lucky prize winner will receive one week’s work experience with the firm which will provide hands-on experience and support the winner in developing their legal career.
 
Dr Thérèse Callus, module convenor for Family Law said “We are extremely pleased to embark upon an exciting collaboration with Stowe Family Law, Reading. We strongly believe that cooperation between academia and practice brings great benefits to our students. As well as the advantage of the prize, we are also looking forward to working with the team at Stowe to provide insight for our students of life in private practice. The School of Law is proud of the relationships it has built with local practitioners and pleased to welcome Stowe Family Law to the region, and to the University.”
 
As the School prepares to celebrate 100 years of access to the legal profession for women in 2019, it is particularly relevant that Stowe is a market leader in terms of female representation at the highest level. 45 of the firm’s 64 fee earners are female – that’s 70% at Partner level.
 
The firm’s Managing Partner Naheed Taj said “It’s very exciting to be collaborating with the University of Reading.  The subject of Women in Law is very fitting for a firm like Stowe to be getting involved in as it has more female lawyers than male. We have some very interesting client work, strong ties to the local community and other businesses within it, the University being one of them.  We are particularly keen on engaging with students as one of the most important things that new professionals can miss, is trying their hand at different areas of practice before starting a traineeship.  Family Law is a very different beast to Criminal or Commercial Law for example.  The skills and personal attributes required to succeed in each, greatly differ.  We are trying to encourage students all over the country to try as many areas of law as possible before committing to one.”

Advocate of the Year Competition

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Sam Carson, Manon Williams, Amanda Baiarda-Harris & Ro Goodger

On  November 24, a team of four Part 2 students – Sam Carson, Manon Williams, Amanda Baiarda-Harris & Ro Goodger  competed in the BPP Advocate of the Year competition in London. They conducted a criminal trial and a civil trial all taking part in making a speech/application or client interviewing and either examination in chief or cross-examination.

Out of 96 participants across the country, Sam Carson was placed in the top 12 and is progressing to the Grand Final in March 2019. Ro Goodger came close and has been asked to be a reserve.

The team has worked incredibly hard preparing for these trials, and have come on in leaps and bounds in their advocacy skills. This is a really tough competition and they have acquitted themselves admirably.