Adrian Keane, Nigel Duncan, Susan Blake, Baroness Hale, Andrew Boon and Rob McPeake.

City’s new Centre for the Study of Professional Legal Practice was officially opened by Baroness Hale of Richmond, the most senior female judge in British legal history. City Law School alumni, students, academics and members of the profession gathered together at the Gray’sInn Place branch of the law school.

The Centre will build on the City Law School’s existing expertise in designing and delivering training for barristers and solicitors. Members will generate high quality academic work to support and inform the development of legal professional practice and training in the future.

At a time of substantial evolution in practice, structures and funding, the Centre will seek to ensure that change is properly informed by research and analysis. Professor Carl Stychin, Dean of the City Law School said that Lady Hale was the obvious choice to speak at the opening of the Centre:

“Lady Hale’s career, which has included professional practice, academic research and judicial appointment, epitomises the diversity of experience that the City Law School strives to encompass. Her most recent appointment to Deputy President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom is further evidence of her esteemed position within the legal profession.”

Associate Dean of the City Law School, Susan Blake, the Convenor of the Centre, says that its formation is a natural progression given the School’s established role in legal education:

“The purpose is to enable academic researchers, professionally focused authors, legal practitioners and others to share expertise, and to be able to do so in London, one of the most important legal centres in the world. We believe that enabling practitioners and legal academics to work more closely together can provide substantial benefits, especially at a time of great change and development in legal practice.”

You can find out more about the work of this new Centre via their website, and see photos from the event via the Lawbore Flickr photostream.