Professor Nigel Duncan

Overview

Nigel Duncan is Professor Emeritus of Legal Education at The City Law School, City University, London. Before retiring he was Course Director of the LLM in Professional Legal Skills and his main teaching was on the Bar Course where he also co-ordinated the FRU Employment Elective which involves students in representing real clients in the employment tribunals. He also taught an LLM in Criminal Litigation and supervised student dissertations. He was Academic Lead for Assessment for City University and a University Teaching and Learning Fellow. He was a member of the Bar Standards Board Education and Training Committee.

Earlier in his career he established the first Law Access course in the UK and taught on undergraduate courses. A particular interest there was designing interactive teaching methods to develop problem-solving and intellectual skills as well as critical understanding of the law in context. This led to developing clinical courses whereby students learn through real and realistic work with clients. To develop these interests and a focus for justice and human rights he collaborated in the development of new organisations: the Clinical Legal Education Organisation and the Global Alliance for Justice Education .

He was a Director of the International Association of Legal Ethics, and, with Professor Andy Boon, convenor of the Legal Ethics Forum of City Law School’s Centre for the Study of Legal Professional Practice. They hosted the 6th International Legal Ethics Conference in 2014.

His research has recently focused on the preparation of ethical professional lawyers. In particular he is concerned with effective ways of preparing lawyers to meet the challenge of corruption. He has also focused on the wellbeing of students making the transition to professional practice. His work in these fields has led to a number of conference presentations. He has introduced a website designed as an interactive resource and forum for those interested in the education and training of legal professionals – https://www.teachinglegalethics.org.

He is consultant editor of the refereed journal The Law Teacher, consultant editor of the recently relaunched European Journal of Legal Education, a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the Legal Education Review and of the International Advisory Panel of the International Journal of the Legal Profession. He was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship by the Higher Education Academy in 2004 and in 2015 became a Principal Fellow of the HEA. He is a Fellow of the Society of Advanced Legal Studies and has acted as Chair of the Association of Law Teachers, where he remains a Committee member. He has been advisory counsel to the Academic and Professional Development Committee of the International Bar Association. He was until its demise, a member of the Advisory Board and Strategy Committee of the UK Centre for Legal Education.

He is editor, with Chris Ashford and Jessica Guth, of Perspectives on Legal Education (Routledge, 2015), editor and main contributor to Employment Law in Practice (13th ed., OUP, 2018), co-editor of Opinion Writing and Case Preparation (7th ed., OUP, forthcoming 2022) and is, with Hugh Brayne and Richard Grimes, author of Clinical Legal Education: Active Learning in your Law School (Blackstone 1998). He is the author of many articles, predominantly in the field of legal education, professional development and ethics.

Qualifications: PGCE, LLM (LSE)

Qualifications

• LLM, London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom, 1978 - 1980

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