Dr Elaine Gregersen is a National Teaching Fellow and Associate Professor of Law at Northumbria Law School.
I’m a practising solicitor with over 10 years experience, specialising in company, commercial & intellectual property law. I teach exclusively in the Student Law Office, a multi-award winning pro bono law clinic which is fully integrated into our Masters level undergraduate degree programme. I supervise students who provide free legal advice to businesses, entrepreneurs, charities and social enterprises.
Teaching is huge part of my life and something which I’m incredibly passionate about. In December 2016, I was fortunate to be awarded a National Teaching Fellowship by the Higher Education Academy. Earlier in the year, I won Law Teacher of the Year at the Northern Law Awards and was a shortlisted finalist for Best Education Blog at the UK Blog Awards, (with my colleague Victoria Roper) Routledge/ALT Teaching Law with Technology Prize, and Best Supervisor at the Student Led Teaching Awards.
Perhaps unsurprisingly my research interests lie in clinical legal education. That can encompass a whole host of pedagogic issues. Some which spring to mind are: feedback, assessment, group work, and engaging students as partners. I’ve spoken and published on all of these areas, and I’m a leading author on UK business law clinics. I’m also intrigued by the process of academic writing.
In 2019, I was awarded a Professional Doctorate in Law. My thesis explores my role as a clinical supervisor, using the contemporary research method autoethnography. I write about my PhD journey here. My most recent autoethnographic article, “Reconstructing my identity: an autoethnographic exploration of depression and anxiety in academia”, published in Journal of Organizational Ethnography was selected by the editorial team as Highly Commended in the 2019 Emerald Literati Awards.
