On Monday 1 November, Professors Rachael Mulheron and Alan Dignam from the School of Law at Queen Mary University of London were formally sworn as Queen’s Counsel Honoris Causa by the Lord Chancellor at the Queen’s Counsel Appointment Ceremony at Westminster Hall.
Professor Alan Dignam (left) and Professor Rachael Mulheron (right) with Head of School Professor Penny Green at the ceremony.
Rachael Mulheron is a legal academic and Professor of Tort Law and Civil Justice at Queen Mary, and is currently, in a voluntary and pro bono capacity, monitoring the Disclosure Pilot in the Business and Property Courts.
From 2009 to 2018, Professor Mulheron was a member of the Civil Justice Council and helped to draft the Code of Conduct for Litigation Funders. She has chaired working groups and has led reports on diverse subjects including the regulation of third party litigation funders, the reform of damages-based agreements, the way forward for ‘before the event’ legal expenses insurance, the giving of expert evidence concurrently, and the implementation of class actions reform in England and Wales. Her work and reports have recommended many reforms in this area of law.
Alan Dignam is a legal academic and Professor of Law at Queen Mary University of London. He is one of the UK’s leading corporate law academics and was part of the original academic team that set up the Queen Mary Legal Advice Centre to provide pro-bono advice to the local community.
As Chair of the Queen Mary Legal Advice Centre, he has had an impact on many clients, students and lawyers. Over 3000 clients have been assisted by nearly 2000 students at the Centre since 2006 along with hundreds of lawyers. Professor Dignam also set up the Queen Mary School of Law Liaison Programme, which works with over 55 schools in the East of London to engage young students with the law.
Professor Dignam provides interactive university level lectures and workshops to schools and provides advice to teachers helping students from diverse backgrounds to apply to study law at university. His impact from his school liaison role has brought him to work with other important community engagement schemes such as the Judicial diversity and community programme, and the Home Office, London Mayor and Redbridge Council Future Leaders scheme, to provide year 12 students from diverse backgrounds and schools with access to university level law lectures and experiences to help them develop into future leaders.