Mrs Margaret Roberts

• BA (Hons) Law
• Solicitor
• PGCTHE

I qualified as a solicitor in 1983 and joined the large commercial law firm Shoosmiths, where I specialised in banking, commercial and chancery litigation.  I became a partner in 1989 and enjoyed being involved in the training of trainee solicitors.  I left Shoosmiths in 1997 to take the opportunity to work more flexibly in diverse areas.  I was appointed as a tribunal judge in 1998 and began lecturing part-time at the University of Northampton. I did some work for the education and training department of the Law Society from 2000 to 2006, and in 2003 I was asked to chair an independent inquiry into the disappearance of a child missing from care.  For some time I was the independent chair of the Standards Committee of Northampton Borough Council.  In 2005 I was appointed as an appeals panel chairman with the Postgraduate Medical Education and Training Board and am now an appeals panel chairman with the General Medical Council.  I now lecture full-time at the University of Northampton but continue to work in professional practice as a tribunal judge and an appeals panel chairman.

I am course leader for the LLB and alongside this role promote the teaching and studying of legal skills.  I support students entering the national Client Interviewing and Negotiation Competitions.  I also encourage and support students who are involved in law-related volunteering activities within the community and work closely with the University's Centre for Community Volunteering.  I have links with local professionals and build upon these links for the benefit of Law students.  I work with the University's Careers and Employability Service to offer careers guidance to Law students.

Undergraduate:

• Professional Legal Skills 2
• Equity and Trusts
• English Legal System

• The delivery of justice within the tribunals system
• The teaching of legal skills