Led by Campus Dean Amanda Hedayati, our tutors and professors are dedicated to bringing their real-life experience in practice into the classroom, providing our students with genuine insight into the subject matter. Each of our students are assigned a personal tutor and have regular one-to-one meetings where they can get advice on the course and career aspirations. As regular tutors are based in our campuses they operate an ‘open door’ policy, so students can talk to them whenever they need to.
Amanda is the Dean at the Liverpool campus and held positions as Senior Lecturer and Programme Lead for LLB/GDL before her appointment. She has vast experience in employment law with particular expertise in discrimination and diversity. Previously Employment Law Head for BPP’s Professional Development faculty, she designed and presented a range of professional training courses, and now brings that knowledge to ULaw’s aspiring legal professionals.
Nicola is the Campus Manager for both the Liverpool and Chester campuses. Nicola graduated with a degree in English and later converted to Law, studying the GDL and the LPC at the University of Law’s Chester campus. She qualified as a solicitor in 2006 and then went on to practice as a Commercial Property solicitor. Before joining Ulaw, Nicola worked in Education, teaching Law as well as being a Course Leader and Head of student progression.
Mark joined the University of Law in October 2017 and is the LPC and SQE Programme & Student Lead at the Manchester Campus. Previously Mark worked in private practice for almost 10 years, specialising in Civil Litigation, in particular Landlord and Tenant matters. In his role as Senior Tutor, Mark has taught on the LPC, LLB, GDL and MA Law programmes, with a particular focus on Real Estate and Land Law.
Nigel Booth was called to the Bar in 1994 by Gray’s Inn. After his first six months’ pupillage at Furnival Chambers in London under the supervision of Francis Sheridan (now the Honorary Recorder of Aylesbury), Nigel's second six was with the Crown Prosecution Service in Manchester where he stayed until January 2000, having become a Senior Crown Prosecutor. Since then, Nigel spent twenty years practising at the criminal Bar from Chambers in Manchester, first at St John’s Buildings and then with the criminal team at 9 St John Street, where he is still a member. When the Bar Practice Course started at the Manchester campus, Nigel joined as the tutor in criminal skills and criminal litigation evidence and sentencing and he is now the Programme Student Experience Lead. Away from the campus, Nigel is a School Governor. He has previously self-published three self-help legal books on defending yourself, road traffic offences and licence reviews. In August 2022 Routledge Law will be publishing Nigel's new book for law students 'Life as a Junior Barrister: In the Words of the Independent Bar'.
Niall Mac Donald is Programme and Student Lead for the postgraduate academic law courses at the Manchester, Liverpool, and Chester campuses of the University of law. These courses include the GDL, PgDL, MA (Law), MA (SQE) and MA (Conversion) courses, as well as the academic AMIL/LLM courses. He teaches Ethics and Professional Legal Practice, The Law of Torts, Medical Law and Ethics, and supervises postgraduate students’ and faculty members’ dissertation work. He is a member of the Ethics Committee (reviewing research proposals from the Law and Business Schools) and the Teaching and Learning Committee. He is also the Director of a small private company which invests in real estate and global equities.
Mike worked for a number of “top 100 law firms” during his career before joining The University of Law in Manchester in August 2009. He is now an Associate Professor and teaches Land Law on the GDL and the LLB, Business Law, Real Estate and Advanced Real Estate on the LPC. He also delivers a number of Professional Skills Courses and is a Fellow of the HEA. Mike is a Chief Examiner for CILEx and also the author of a number of publications.
Raury qualified as a solicitor in 2005, having studied the LPC at The University of Law’s Chester Campus. He was a Commercial and Property Litigation specialist, handling complex disputes in the First Tier Tribunal Property Chamber, County Court, High Court and Court of Appeal. Before joining ULaw, Raury was Head of Debt Recovery at a large law firm in Manchester. Raury joined ULaw in 2017 and teaches business law subjects on the LLB, GDL and LPC.
Richard joined the University of Law in May 2020. Previously, Richard studied Law at the University of Leeds, before completing the Legal Practice Course and qualifying as a solicitor in 2011. Richard worked in private practice for 12 years, specialising in Civil Litigation and developing a keen interest in mediation and other forms of alternative dispute resolution. In Richard’s later years in practice, he progressed to the position of Legal Director, managing trainee solicitor and paralegal staff, and becoming integral to his firm’s recruitment, financial planning, and marketing strategies. Richard is a Fellow of The Higher Education Academy and is the campus Subject Lead for Dispute Resolution on the LPC. He also delivers litigious modules on the SQE and has experience teaching our academic undergraduate and postgraduate courses, with a focus on Contract and Tort law.
Rachel joined the University in October 2019. She studied Law at the University of Leicester, before completing the LPC at the College of Law in Birmingham. Prior to joining the University, Rachel worked in private practice for around 15 years, specialising in Private Client work, including Wills, tax planning, Lasting Powers of Attorney, administering estates, setting up and administering trusts, advice relating to care fees and a small amount of Court of Protection work. Rachel has specialised in advising high net worth clients, small business owners and has been involved in a number of cross-border estate matters. Rachel successfully completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Trusts and Estates in July 2019.
Lauren qualified as a solicitor in 2012 after training at Covington & Burling LLP, including a secondment to a pharmaceutical company in Switzerland. She practised at Bristows LLP as a Life Sciences solicitor, including a secondment to a major artificial intelligence company in London. Her career highlight is successfully representing a French pharmaceutical company before the Court of Justice of the European Union. With a degree in Cell Biology, Lauren converted to law with ULaw before gaining the LPC. She has also completed a post-graduate Diploma in EU Law, a PGCHE, and is a Fellow of The Higher Education Academy. Lauren has authored legal texts published by Oxford University Press, Practical Law, Lexis Nexis, and Criminal Law Week. Lauren joined ULaw in 2019 and teaches EU Law, Contract Law, Law and Business, Intellectual Property, and Introduction to Professional Practice, as well as teaching on the SQE Plus.
Mark graduated in History from Edinburgh University, before completing the GDL and LPC at The University of Law in Chester. Mark qualified as a solicitor in 2006 and worked in Commercial Real Estate at leading firms in London and Liverpool for 11 years, specialising in retail sector work. He requalified as a teacher in 2018 and spent 2 years teaching History at a secondary school in Liverpool before joining The University of Law in Manchester in 2020. Mark teaches across all courses, with a particular focus on Land Law and Real Estate.
Douglas is a barrister and tutor on the Bar Practice Course (BPC). He also teaches on other undergraduate and postgraduate Law courses, inc. GDL, LPC and LLM. His main expertise is in Crime and Regulatory Law, International Law, and Human Rights. Called to the Bar in 2008, Douglas draws upon over a decade of experience at the Bar, where he has prosecuted and defended cases attracting national media coverage. He began his career at leading chambers in London, which included secondments to the CPS and NMC, and also worked in-house for one of the country’s leading Professional Regulatory firms, before joining St John’s Buildings, in Manchester. He has previously undertaken human rights work in Africa and India, and has also lived in South Korea, Turkey and Russia.
Anya Swift (Horwood) was called to the Bar in 1991 by Inner Temple. In September 1991 Anya joined a Common Law set in Liverpool, 2nd Floor Peel House, which then became 25-27 Castle Street where she specialised in Crime. In 2009 she joined the Crown Prosecution Service as a Senior Crown Advocate and was trial counsel in many of the most serious cases in Liverpool and Cheshire. In 2018 Anya returned to the independent Bar and remains a door tenant at Exchange Chambers. Anya will be teaching criminal skills, criminal litigation, evidence and sentencing on the Bar Practice Course in Liverpool, and criminal modules on other University of Law courses. Away from campus Anya is a Trustee of a Liverpool based charity.
Alexandra studied Law at Lancaster University before completing her LPC at the University of Law in its first year in Manchester in 2009/2010. Alexandra trained at BLM before moving to Clyde & Co to specialise in defendant occupational disease, predominantly handling asbestos litigation. She joined the Manchester campus as a Tutor in September 2021, teaching tort on the LLB.
Aisling studied Law at the University of Central Lancashire, where she also completed her LPC. She began her legal career with a small high street firm which covered several areas of general practice before undertaking her training contract with a PI firm in Liverpool. She qualified as a solicitor in 2012, specialising in clinical negligence claims on behalf of claimants. She worked at Slater and Gordon Lawyers for 7 years, progressing to Senior Associate and securing Clinical Negligence Specialist Accreditation with the Law Society. Aisling joined our Manchester campus in 2021 and teaches on both undergraduate and postgraduate courses.
Mark joined the University of Law in October 2021 and has been teaching on a variety of programmes including the LPC and GDL. Mark started work in a cross border (England/Wales) High Street practice in 1993 and qualified as a Solicitor in 1995. During his 28 years with the practice he dealt with a variety of property transactions and private client matters and held a management role as from 2002 until 2021. Mark represents the views of Solicitors at a national level and is the elected Law Society Council Member for the constituency of Cheshire & North Wales. He was first elected in 2015 and re-elected in 2019 for a further term of four years. Mark has a keen interest in the growing divergence as between the laws of England and Wales and has sat on the Law Society Wales Committee since 2014 and chaired the Committee from 2017 to 2021. He also sat on Law Society Board from 2018 to 2020.
Katherine was called to the Bar in 2006. She practised in family law as a member of Coram Chambers where she remains a door tenant. She has also worked in-house at a national children's charity. She joined the University in 2022.
Helen joined the University Manchester Campus in 2022, having previously taught as a Visiting Lecturer at Liverpool. Prior to joining the University, she worked in private practice in property, having qualified as a Solicitor in 2009. She studied her degree at the University of Liverpool and started working in private practice in 2006 whilst studying the LPC. In 2015 she completed her LLM. Helen teaches on the LPC Real Estate and Advanced Real Estate.