English Legal System

This book offers a modern, contemporary and innovative approach to the core curriculum, offering clear explanations to clarify the material without oversimplification. Using carefully developed learning tools to help students not only to build their knowledge of the legal system of England and Wales but also providing all needed in one place for mastery of the topics to be studied by students early on in their legal education.

The English Legal System will also help students to translate knowledge successfully to an assessment situation (whether examination, tutorial preparation or coursework) through the acquisition and development of key skills such as problem solving and application, critical reasoning and evaluation and research and referencing. The text has been written with the changes to legal education envisaged by the Solicitors Regulation Authority and Bar Standards Board in mind.

The focus throughout will be on recent and key case law and contemporary real-life examples, bringing the subject alive and helping students to understand the foundations on which the law in England and Wales is based. The key pedagogic features seek to embed those legal skills within the context of the content on the legal system.

The associated website provides a comprehensive learning environment that will provide further illumination of the text and graphics and that caters for a number of different learning styles with additional video and audio content.

Dr Ryan Murphy is an Associate Professor in Legal Education and Director of Learning & Teaching at the Hillary Rodham Clinton School of Law in Swansea University. He is a former Dean of Law who has a national profile in legal education and in teaching excellence. Ryan is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and has been directly involved in shaping the SQE reforms developed by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. He has convened modules on Legal Skills and the Legal System of England and Wales.

Dr Frances Burton is a Senior Lecturer in Law at Buckingham University, a former Chancery barrister who has for many years taught a wide range of subjects including both much of the knowledge and skills which are the subject of this book, and both on academic and vocational courses at a variety of British and international institutions. As a retired judge she has also had many years’ experience of the operation of the rule of law in the UK from the judicial perspective as well as from those of the practitioner and academic.