Goldsmiths Law is very excited to welcome several new colleagues to our department this September.
Dr Sheri Labenski joins us from the LSE, where she has worked as a Research Officer in the Centre for Women, Peace, and Security, as part of the ERC funded project Gendered Peace. Sheri’s research cuts across the areas of gender, armed conflict, peace and international law, and is a wonderful addition to the expertise that will inform the development of LLM programmes at Goldsmiths Law. In the LLB programme, Sheri will be leading on the English Legal System in a Global Context module (and looks forward to injecting a feminist approach to the international law perspective that is central to teaching in it). She will be also making a substantial contribution to Contract Law and will be convening final year dissertations across our three programmes among other things.
Dr Miranda Bevan also joins us from the LSE. Miranda spent two years at the Law Commission as lawyer with responsibility for the Unfitness to Plead Report published in 2016, and, more recently, 12 months as a Policy Associate at the Howard League for Penal Reform, where her work focussed on reducing the imprisonment of women. She had previously practiced as a criminal barrister at 2 Hare Court (2000-2012). Miranda’s teaching focus at the LLB will include Criminal Evidence, 21st Century Legal Skills and Criminal Law, and she will also assume responsibility for coordinating activity in the LLB Law with Criminal Justice and Human Rights as director of the programme. Her expertise in criminal law and criminal evidence is a great fit with Goldsmiths Law’s strengths in this area.
Dr Aysem Diker Vanberg joins us from the University of Greenwich, where she was a Senior Lecturer specialising in EU Competition Law and IT Law. Aysem has previously worked at Anglia Ruskin University and Essex. She holds a PhD from the University of Essex, an LLM from the University of Bremen and an LLB (Hons) from the University of Ankara (Turkey). She is a recognised authority on competition law, digital markets and online platforms and data protection law. Her work has been cited by academic and legal practitioners in the UK and internationally. Before moving to the UK, Aysem had qualified as a lawyer in Turkey and worked as a lead in-house counsel for multinational companies including MAN Nutzfahrzeuge AG and Cimpor Cimentos de Portugal. Aysem will assume the responsibility to design and deliver the first elements in our commercial/corporate law offering as a programme, convening ‘Commercial Law and International Trade Agreements’ as well as Company Law while looking after other commercial/corporate law relevant aspects (at LLB and LLM level).
Finally, we’re also very excited to welcome to Goldsmiths our first Lecturer in Legal Practice, Law Clinics and the SQE, Dr Sally Adams. Sally joins us from the University of Law, where she was teaching academic writing, foundations of law and foundations of social science. In 2019, Sally completed her PhD in immigration law at King’s, where she was also a visiting tutor. Previously Sally practised immigration law for over 10 years, most recently as a partner at the law firm Kingsley Napley LLP. Sally will be convening the SQE2 module, and the Placement module in Year 3 of the programme and will be assisting us with embedding elements of professional legal practice and the SQE exam across our modules and enriching our professional networks and provision of pro bono legal services.