From courtrooms to competitions - Northumbria Law academic nominated for national blog award

Elaine Campbell, a Solicitor Tutor advising on company, commercial and intellectual property law through the Law School’s multi award winning Student Law office, has been nominated under the “Education” and “Odeon Best Storyteller” categories in the UK Blog Awards, just one year after launching her academic based blog, alawuntoherself.com.

Based around clinical legal education and academia, Elaine started her blog to pull the curtain back on business law clinics and academic writing, which she believed to be two hidden worlds. From writing about her hints and tips about getting articles in higher education published, to how to become involved in Academic Writing Month, alawuntoherself.com provides valuable insights into life in academia and law.

Elaine said: “Traditionally, law clinics have focussed on legal areas affecting the individual, such as housing and criminal law and there is a plethora of articles and books written about them yet business law clinics are much rarer, and are hardly mentioned.By blogging about how topics such as how to enhance your clinical teaching using TV shows and how learning through doing can engage our students in all manner of ways, I hope to shed light on an area which has had little attention before now.

I also try to provide a source of support for other academics, drawing on my own personal experiences of publishing articles and reassuring people that, although it’s hard work, you can achieve anything you set your mind too.”

Elaine currently supervises final year law students at the Northumbria Law School who advise members of the public on business set up, drafting and negotiating commercial contracts, intellectual property disputes, trade mark registrations, e-commerce, and data protection and privacy issues free of charge. Having worked at the Law School, which has a national and international reputation for excellence in legal education, for 6 years Elaine’s knowledge and experience within the industry is set to propel her blog to the next level.

“The next steps for alawuntoherself.com are really exciting and I’m thinking about adding more video content to the blog, to help connect even better with other writers,” Elaine said. “The best thing is the level of engagement that you have with academics and students across the world so to carry on with building a sense of real community would be great.”

The UK Blog Awards, which began in 2014, has been created to recognise the creative excellence of bloggers across a variety of 16 UK industries and gives those involved the change to be recognised as a true knowledge provider within the industry. Elaine will find out on 29^th January 2016 whether her blog has been shortlisted, under the ‘Education’ or Odeon Best Storyteller’ categories.

The Student Law Office has managed more than 3,000 enquiries, represented more than 1,000 clients and secured almost £1 million on their behalf since starting in 2008. To find out more about the range of courses the Law school offers, click here.