Dr Samantha Fairclough

Contact details

Telephone: 0121 414 2234
Email: s.fairclough@bham.ac.uk

Address: Birmingham Law School
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Samantha joined Birmingham Law School as a lecturer in September 2017. Prior to this, she was here as an ESRC funded PhD student. During this time, she contributed to teaching on various LLB degrees at the Law School and held a position as a Teaching Fellow from 2016-17.

Her current research centres on the treatment of the vulnerable in Crown Court trials, specifically at the point at which they give evidence in court. More generally, her research and teaching interests lie in the fields of criminal evidence, law and justice and specifically on the way in which the defendant is treated versus other participants in criminal trials.

Staff details
Policy information

Qualifications

LLB (Hons) Law with Criminology (University of Manchester)
MRes Criminology and Socio-legal Studies (University of Manchester)
PhD (Birmingham)
Postgraduate Certificate in Research Methods and Skills

Biography

Samantha graduated from the University of Manchester with a first class honours degree in Law with Criminology and a Research Masters in Criminology and Socio-legal Studies. She came to the University of Birmingham in September 2013 to complete a fully funded PhD. She was supervised by Professor Richard Young and Dr Imogen Jones (Leeds). Her doctoral thesis explored the role of equality in the provision of special measures to vulnerable and/or intimidated court users in Crown Court trials. As part of this project, Samantha conducted interviews with a sample of solicitors and barristers practising in Crown Courts. From these interviews, Samantha has the only data providing an insight into the use of live link and screens by defendants in criminal trials.

Samantha won the ‘Michael K O.Rourke Best PhD Publication Prize’ at the University of Birmingham in June 2017 for her article on defendants and the live link.

Samantha was made Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in 2016.

Teaching

Criminal Law
Criminology
Law in Action
Criminal Evidence and Proof (LLM)
Legal Connections (LLB)
Criminal Law for Grads
Law in Action for Grads

Research

Samantha’s published work from her doctoral thesis has been cited by the Law Commission in their report on unfitness to plead, and in The Advocate’s Gateway toolkits on best practice for dealing with vulnerable participants in court. These toolkits have been endorsed by the Lord Chief Justice.

Samantha’s next project will look at the admissibility of bad character evidence in criminal trials for the prosecution and defence. This will draw on empirical data from interviews with members of the legal profession. She also plans to conduct further empirical research into the use of special measures in criminal trials and the attitudes of practitioners surrounding this.