Professor Susan Blake

Overview

Professor Blake first became a member of The City Law School staff (formerly the Inns of Court School of Law) in 1978, following a few years in civil and family practice at the Bar of England and Wales. She has always focused on the development of high quality legal professional training, being the Course Director for the Bar Vocational Course from 1990 -1998, and then Director of Studies, with responsibilities for developing curriculum and learning for all law professional programmes. Susan has been an Associate Dean at The City Law School since 2002 and she is currently focussing on developing strategy in relation to the use of educational technology to deliver blended learning and the incorporation of an understanding of legal technology into the legal curriculum.

Having played a major role in the design and development of the Bar Vocational Course (now the Bar Professional Training Programme) Susan assisted in the development of a legal skills focused Legal Practice Course. More recently she designed and became Programme Director of an LLM in Civil Litigation and Dispute Resolution which is now part of the LLM Master of Laws programme at City Law School. The main focus of Professor Blake's research, scholarship and teaching is litigation and alternative dispute resolution, and she seeks to develop understanding of how ADR options can be developed and used effectively. In addition to teaching alternative dispute resolution on the LLM Master of Laws and the LLM International Business Law, she also teaches alternative dispute resolution, civil litigation, civil advocacy, opinion writing and legal research on the Bar Vocational Studies Course.

Professor Blake is the author of A Practical Approach to Effective Litigation published by Oxford University Press (8th edition 2015). She is a co-author of A Practical Approach to Alternative Dispute Resolution published by Oxford University Press (5th edition 2018). She is also a co-author of The Jackson ADR Handbook published by Oxford University Press (3rd edition 2021).

Susan is a founder member of the Centre for the Study of Legal Professional Practice at The City Law School, and a Convener of the Forum for Alternative Dispute Resolution. She attends and speaks at a range of conferences in relation to many aspects of legal professional skills training.

Qualifications

1. Barrister, Inner Temple, England, 1976
2. LLM, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, Jan 1974 – Jan 1975
3. LLB, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, 1971 – 1974

Employment

1. Associate Dean, City, University of London, Sep 2002 – present
2. Director of Studies, Inns of Court School of Law, 1998 – 2003
3. Programme Director, Bar Vocational Course, Inns of Court School of Law, 1990 – 1998

Fellowships

1. Reviewer Quality Assurance Agency, Sep 2003 – present
2. Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, Jul 2003 – present
3. Call to the Bar of England and Wales, Jul 1976 – present
4. Member of the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, 1975 – present

Memberships of professional organisations

1. Association of Law Teachers, 1997 – present
2. Society of Legal Scholars

Teaching

LLM Civil Litigation and Dispute Resolution

Programme Director
Module 2 Dispute Resolution Options
Module 3 Mediation and Negotiation

Bar Professional Training Course

Civil Procedure, Advocacy, Alternative Dispute Resolution, Opinion Writing, Drafting

PhD supervision

Susan welcome approaches for supervision from prospective PhD students in the areas of:
- legal professional skills
- civil litigation - rules, practice, evidence, procedure etc
- alternative dispute resolution
- mediation
- arbitration

Publications by category