Professor Susan Blake

Overview

Following Call to the Bar of England and Wales, and a few years of practice at the Bar, I began lecturing at the Inns of Court School of Law in Gray's Inn, teaching students seeking to quality as barristers. My work has always focused on the development of high quality legal professional training, playing a major role in the design, development and implementation of the Bar Vocational Course of which I was Course Director from 1990 -1998. As Director of Studies I then played a role in developing a solicitor training Legal Practice Course that also combined high quality academic learning with practical skills. When the Inns of Court School of Law became part of City University, London in 2002, I became an Associate Dean of The City Law School, and in that capacity I have continued to play a significant role in developing and delivering programmes with forward-looking content and pedagogy, including an LLM in Civil Litigation and Dispute Resolution, an LLM (Master of Laws) programme with innovative hybrid delivery, and most recently an LLM Technology, AI and Legal Services. 

The main focus of my scholarship, writing and teaching is litigation and alternative dispute resolution, developing and promoting understanding of how the options for resolving disputes are evolving and are best used effectively. This includes national and international court and ADR contexts, relevant skills such as advocacy, negotiation and opinion writing, and the impact of technology and most recently generative AI. I currently particularly enjoy working with students on a range of Modules looking at the impact of AI on Courts, Dispute Resolution and Justice. 

Within The City Law School and on various central bodies at City St George's I am active in developing strategic approaches to the use of generative AI in learning and in legal practice, and in using hybrid forms of delivery to support effective student engagement. These areas are particularly important when the delivery of legal services is developing so rapidly.

I was one of the earliest authors in this jurisdiction to focus on legal skills along side academic knowledge, with a book that became A Practical Approach to Effective Litigation published by Oxford University Press (8th edition 2015). I am a co-author (with two colleagues from The City Law School) of A Practical Approach to Alternative Dispute Resolution (5th edition 2018) and also of The Jackson ADR Handbook (4th edition 2025) both published by Oxford University Press

Qualifications

• Barrister, Inner Temple, England, 1976
• LLM, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, 1974 - January 1975
• LLB, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, 1971 - 1974

Employment

• Associate Dean, City, University of London, England, September 2002 - present
• Director of Studies, Inns of Court School of Law, United Kingdom, 1998 - 2003
• Programme Director, Bar Vocational Course, Inns of Court School of Law, United Kingdom, 1990 - 1998

Administrative role

• Associate Dean (Digital Learning), The City Law School, September 2022 - present

Fellowships

• Principal Fellow, Higher Education Academy, 2022 - present
• Reviewer Quality Assurance Agency, September 2003 - September 2020
• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, July 2003 - present
• Call to the Bar of England and Wales, July 1976 - present
• Member of the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, 1975 - present

Memberships of professional organisations

• International Future of Law Association, 2021 - present
• Society for Computers and Law, 2020 - present
• Association of Law Teachers, 1997 - present
• Society of Legal Scholars

Teaching

LLM Civil Litigation and Dispute Resolution

Programme Director
Module 2 Dispute Resolution Options
Module 3 Mediation and Negotiation

Bar Professional Training Course

Civil Procedure, Advocacy, Alternative Dispute Resolution, Opinion Writing, Drafting

PhD supervision

Susan welcome approaches for supervision from prospective PhD students in the areas of:
- legal professional skills
- civil litigation - rules, practice, evidence, procedure etc
- alternative dispute resolution
- mediation
- arbitration

Publications by category