• LLB in Common and Civil Law with French (Queen’s University, Belfast)
• MJur (Durham)
• PhD (Durham)

Claire McIvor joined the Law School in June 2006, having previously taught at Durham University. She has an LLB in Common and Civil Law with French (Queen’s University, Belfast, 1998), a Masters of Jurisprudence ( Durham University, 2000) and a PhD (Durham University, 2003).

• Obligations B (Tort) - Module leader for LLB and GDLS

Claire McIvor will happily consider any PhD proposals in the field of tort law. She is particularly interested in the following areas: liability for the acts of others (both on a personal and vicarious basis); the negligence liability of public authorities; causation in tort law; the use of epidemiological evidence in tort law.

Current doctoral supervision

Dr McIvor is currently supervising 2 students undertaking research in the following areas:

• Legal Epidemiology - The use of epidemiology to resolve disputes about causation in tort litigation
• The legal and ethical responsibilities of veterinarians

Dr McIvor is also supervising an MJur on the Article 2 positive obligations of health authorities.

Claire McIvor has established herself as an expert on third party liability in tort. As a follow-on from her Hart monograph on non-vicarious liability in tort for the acts of others, she is currently completing a monograph on the tort doctrine of vicarious liability. This monograph is due to be published by Hart in 2013. She is also currently engaged in a collaborative and interdisciplinary project with Professor Maurice Zeegers from the University of Birmingham’s School of Public Health. Together they are looking at the potentials benefits of using epidemiological evidence in personal injury litigation.

Claire McIvor is a member of an academic working group on the reform of the civil costs system. Headed by Professor Ken Oliphant from Bristol University, the working group recently produced a lengthy report on Lord Justice Jackson’s contentious proposals for reform. The report has been submitted to the Ministry of Justice as part of its official consultation on the Jackson recommendations

Director of Exams for Birmingham Law School

Books:

• Third Party Liability in Tort ( Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2006)
• Vicarious Liability in Tort ( Oxford: Hart Publishing, forthcoming 2014)

Chapters in books:

• 'The doubles the risk test for causation and other related judicial myths about epidemiology', in E Chamberlain, J Neyers and S Pital (eds) Tort Law: Challenging Orthodoxy (Hart Publishing, forthcoming 2013).
• 'The use of epidemiological evidence in UK tort law' in S Loue (ed) Forensic Epidemiology in the Global Context (Springer, forthcoming 2013).
• 'Bursting the Autonomy Bubble: A Defence of the Court of Appeal Decision in R (On the application of Oliver Leslie Burke) v GMC', in R Deazley and S Smith (eds) The Legal, Medical and Cultural Regulation of the Body: Transformation and Transgression  (Ashgate, 2009).

Articles in peer-reviewed journals:

• 'Debunking some judicial myths about epidemiology and its relevance to UK tort law' (forthcoming in the Medical Law Review). 
• 'The Impact of the Jackson Reforms on Access to Justice in Personal Injury Litigation' (2011) 30 Civil Justice Quarterly 411-428
• 'Getting Defensive about Police Negligence: The Hill Principle, the Human Rights Act 1998 and the House of Lords’ (2010) 69 Cambridge Law Journal 133-150
• ‘The positive duty of the police to protect life’ (2008) 24 Professional Negligence  27-35
• ‘Liability for psychiatric harm’ (2007) 23 Professional Negligence  249-256
• ‘The Use and Abuse of the Doctrine of Vicarious Liability’ (2006) 35 Common Law World Review 268-296
• ‘The negligence liability of child welfare professionals and policy-based immunities: A critique of recent English developments’ (2006) 14 Torts Law Journal 205-218
• ‘The spectre of Stubbings v Webb lives on’ (2006) 22 Professional Negligence 119-126
• ‘The positive medical duty to provide life-prolonging treatment’ (2006) 22 Professional Negligence 59-64
• ‘Reinventing the doctrine of vicarious liability – again!’ (2005) 21 Professional Negligence 283-289
• ‘Police immunity and the legacy of Hill v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire’ (2005) 21 Professional Negligence 201-207
• ‘A stressful business’ (2005) 21 Professional Negligence 123-128
• ‘Withdrawal of life-prolonging medical treatment’ (2004) 20 Professional Negligence 280-284
• ‘Liability in Respect of the Intoxicated [2001] Cambridge Law Journal 109-127
• ‘Expelling the myth of the parental duty to rescue’ (2000) 12 Child and Family Law Quarterly 229-23