Female lawyer holding a pencil, making notes

Well-being, legal education and the legal profession research

Explore our research into legal education and roles as part of our law research

Our legal education research investigates new ways of engaging students in the learning journey, including the use of LegalTech, in order to promote student success. It also contributes to the wider literature on sustainable graduate employability, including the development of self-confidence using the Brand Me concept.

We are researching the implications for the local community and our students of our new interdisciplinary collaboration that builds upon our free legal advice clinic. In this new venture our new collaboration seeks to measure the impact of clinical legal education on students, academic staff and the local community.

At a time when there are growing pressures on students and academics, there is a need to understand how to cope with stress. Our research on perceptions of well-being helps to expose the problem, critically addresses social and economic contexts and argues for change. This research extends to the management of stress within the legal profession, including gender issues, and seeks to positively influence the links between well-being and ethics. 

Our work examines the implications of developments in the regulation of legal education including the introduction of multiple choice examinations as part of the route to qualification as a solicitor and the introduction of the new QAA Law Subject Benchmark Statement.  

Professor Caroline Strevens is a co-founder of the Advancing Wellness in Law network and Deputy Chair of the QAA’s Law subject benchmark statement advisory board. She is also part of an international team that is investigating perceptions of wellbeing in senior managers to inform the development of international guidelines to support staff and students in Law Schools.

Our work is frequently published in leading academic journals within the field, such as The Law Teacher, the International Journal for Clinical Legal Education, and the Journal of Commonwealth Law and Legal Education.

 

 

Our research looks at the following topics

  • Well-being among law students and academics
  • The future of the legal profession
  • Clinical legal education
  • Legal Education

Funders

Recent research has been funded by organisations such the Legal Education Research Network and the Society of Legal Scholars.

Recent publications include:

  • Meyer, Denise ; Strevens, Caroline. / Is using the term wellbeing with students a mistake? Evaluating a wellbeing intervention in a UK Law School - suggestions for repositioning strategies to address the impact of deficit-discourse. In: The Law Teacher. 2022 ; Vol. 56, No. 1. pp. 54-66.

  • Walsh, Emily ; Buck, Cheryl. / A new assessment strategy for Law: improving formative feedback and incorporating multiple choice questions. Assessment and Feedback in Law: Case Studies from the Sector. editor / Patrick Baughan. Advance HE, 2021. pp. 63-68.

  • Hand, James. / The Attorney-General, politics and logistics - a fork in the road?. In: Legal Studies. 2022 ; Vol. 42, No. 3. pp. 425-445. 

Our members

Caroline Strevens Portrait

Professor Caroline Strevens

Professor of Legal Education

caroline.strevens@port.ac.uk

School of Law

Faculty of Business and Law

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James Anthony Hand Portrait

Dr James Hand

Reader in Law

Associate Head (Research & Innovation)

James.Hand@port.ac.uk

ºÚÁϳԹÏLaw School

Faculty of Business and Law

PhD Supervisor

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Emily Claire Walsh Portrait

Dr Emily Walsh

Associate Professor in Landlord and Tenant Law and Legal Education

Emily.Walsh@port.ac.uk

ºÚÁϳԹÏLaw School

Faculty of Business and Law

PhD Supervisor

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Discover our areas of expertise

 Well-being, legal education and the legal profession is 1 of 3 areas of expertise within our Law research area. Explore the others below.

Accountability, risk and rights

Research in this area covers topics including employment protection, data protection, the regulation and governance of companies, and how the law affects people throughout their lives.

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Interested in a PhD in Law?

Browse our postgraduate research degrees – including PhDs and MPhils – at our Law postgraduate research degrees page.