The Inner Temple Elects Academic Fellows

Four outstanding legal academics have been elected Academic Fellows of the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple.

Dr Andrew Francis (Keele University), James Lee (University of Birmingham), Dr Catherine MacKenzie (University of Cambridge) and Dr Iyiola Solanke (University of Leeds) are the first academics to hold this honorary three-year post.

The Academic Fellowship Scheme aims to recognise the outstanding contribution of legal teaching and research of early to mid-career academics to the Bar of England and Wales.  It also aims to support their research and to build stronger ties between barristers and legal academics.

The Chief Executive of the Inner Temple, Patrick Maddams, said:

"Since its foundation, a core function of the Inner Temple has been legal education.  Today, many of our leading academics are members of the Inn.  We are delighted to welcome these four 'academics to watch' to the Inner Temple community and look forward to working with them in the coming years.  They will be joining some of the top senior barristers, judges and international leaders today."

The Inn works closely with universities across the UK to provide information on the profession to aspiring entrants and those who teach them.  Last year, the Inner Temple reached over 1600 university students and hundreds of legal academics and tutors.

The Academic Fellows Scheme will be launched along with the 2011 Book Prize for outstanding legal authorship on 1 November 2010 at the Inner Temple.