2012
Spotlight on ILEX teaching staff
The ILEX courses at Southampton Solent University are taught by a number of lecturers, each specialising in a different area of law. But what makes ILEX unique is that many of these lecturers are also practicing lawyers who come in for an evening to pass their skills on to enthusiastic students.
April Stroud||, course leader for ILEX at Solent, describes the kind of lawyer she recruits. “Obviously we look for somebody with the subject knowledge and the ability to teach it, but also someone who relates to students and who can see the student’s perspective and understand where they are coming from.”
Julie Skinner is one of those associate lecturers. “I qualified as a Solicitor in 2004, but prior to that I did some ILEX study, so I have some experience of ILEX as well as a law degree. I’ve worked in various law firms, but my job at Hampshire County Council allowed me the time to do some extra teaching, something I had always wanted to do.”
Julie specialises in property development, and currently teaches on the Conveyancing unit, as well as the very practical Client Care Skills unit. “They’re not law based academic subjects, so I’m not talking to students about cases or people’s opinions. What I’m doing is talking to them about what they would do if they came across certain situations and problems.” For Julie, the practical experience she has in this area is crucial. “Unless you’ve done conveyancing in practice, I don’t think you can teach it.”
Julie is generally impressed with the ILEX way of qualifying. “It’s a fantastic route, especially at the moment because you are not incurring the heavy debts from doing a full time degree. In addition, Solent puts a great emphasis on getting experienced practitioners to teach on the courses so that students get to learn from people who are actually doing the job on a daily basis.”
April, who is responsible for the recruitment of staff on the ILEX courses, states “We have a very dedicated and close knit team of staff who have worked together for some time and who know each other very well.”
For more insights into what practicing lawyers can bring to the classroom, watch the video below featuring three of the current roster of associate lecturers.