23 April 2009

Law working group to boost Dundee courses

A new working group involving lawyers and legal academics has been established to enable the University of Dundee’s School of Law to best meet the challenges of a fast changing legal landscape.

Representatives of local legal firms and Dundee City Council are to sit on the group alongside Mrs Betty Bott, Director of Legal and Professional Development within the School of Law.

'The School of Law aims to be a law school that truly reflects the developing needs of the profession in the 21st Century,' said Mrs Bott. 'The best way to achieve that and to ensure our students are getting the education they need to equip them for professional life is to work closely with the people who are doing the job every day.'

'The Law School has always enjoyed a good relationship with the local profession, and the Law School and Practitioners’ Joint Working Group seeks to build on and enhance this association by working with practitioners from Tayside and Fife in an increasingly effective partnership so as to meet the challenges of the fast changing legal landscape.'

Representation was initially sought from all firms and local councils and from all levels of experience.

A number of firms and councils responded, some wishing to be actively involved while others asked to be kept informed of the deliberations of the Group. The membership of the Group is:

Betty Bott, Director of Legal & Professional Development, University of Dundee, Ian Vaughan, (Caird Vaughan); Eileen Matthew, (Miller Hendry); Katrina Clark, (Paterson Bell); Eileen Sumpter (Stevenson & Marshall); Roger Mennie (Dundee City Council); Jim Laverty, (Muir Myles Laverty); Gregor Murray, (RSB MacDonald); Campbell Donaldson, (Lawson Coull & Duncan) Lydia Fotheringham, (Anderson Beaton Lamond); Tony Anderson, (Rollo Davidson McFarlane); Lynne Hopkins, (Thorntons).

The School of Law at Dundee already enjoys an excellent reputation - it ranked among the top 10 law schools in the United Kingdom in the 2009 Good University Guide, and was rated second highest in Scotland.

'The Practitioners we are working with in this new group will ensure that this academic expertise is tempered with years of sound and trusted operational experience,' said Mrs Bott, who up until the end of 2008 was working as Assistant Procurator Fiscal in Edinburgh. She has been a member of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service for 31 years and has worked in many different parts of Scotland - including Aberdeen, Inverness, Dundee, Perth, Kirkcaldy and Glasgow.

The working group will take a lead in the discussion of proposals for the development of the Diploma and Traineeship programmes as suggested by the Law Society in their consultation document 'The Way Forward'.

This will mean both elements of the Professional Education and Training Programme [PEAT 1 & 2] are more focussed and relevant to the students and the profession - in particular in relation to the needs of the profession outwith the central belt - looking at ideas of a part time diploma, an increased use of electives, voluntary and paid research placements and work-shadow arrangements, and other initiatives designed to infuse a real sense of professionalism in the learning process of all students.

The group will also be looking at training contracts including 'shared' and 'extended' traineeships, and at ways of collaborating in an evolving programme of continuing professional development for both the legal and non-legal professions.

For media enquiries contact:
Roddy Isles
Head, Press Office
University of Dundee
Nethergate Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384910
E-MAIL: r.isles@dundee.ac.uk