Linden Thomas

Linden Thomas

Birmingham Law School
Reader in Clinical Legal Education and Pro Bono
Solicitor, Head of Education and Interim Head of CEPLER

Contact details

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

Linden is a Reader in Clinical Legal Education and Pro Bono and a supervising solicitor for Birmingham Law School’s Pro Bono Group. She has a particular interest in pro bono, clinical legal education and public legal education and her teaching and scholarship focus on those areas.

Qualifications

  •  Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
  • Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice, University of Birmingham
  • Solicitor of the Senior Courts of England & Wales
  • LLB, College of Law
  • Diploma in Legal Practice, College of Law
  • Graduate Diploma in Law, College of Law
  • BA(Hons) French and History, University of Nottingham

Biography

Linden qualified as a solicitor specialising in employment law with Martineau in 2011 and advised on all aspects of employment law, including unfair dismissal, discrimination, breach of contract and whistleblowing, acting in both contentious and non-contentious matters.  During her first 15 months with the University, Linden divided her time between working as the University’s employment solicitor in the in-house legal team and her role as solicitor in the Law School.  She joined the Law School full time in November 2014.

Linden has a particular interest in clinical legal education and public legal education and carries out research and scholarship on those topics. She regularly delivers training and offers peer support to legal educators around the world, most recently in Uganda and Hong Kong. Until October 2019 Linden was a trustee and Chair of the Board of Citizens Advice Birmingham. She is currently a trustee and Co-Chair of the Clinical Legal Education Organisation.

Linden was President of Birmingham Law Society from April 2019 to July 2020, which is one of the largest local law societies in the country. Prior to that, she served as Vice President and Deputy Vice President of the Society, sat on the Board of Directors for four years and chaired the Society’s Pro Bono Committee for five years.

Teaching

  • Employment Law in Practice
  • Contract Law
  • Legal Solutions

Research

Linden’s scholarship focusses on pro bono, clinical legal education and public legal education.  She is particularly interested in barriers to the provision of pro bono legal advice and the regulatory framework governing pro bono work.  Her research also explores the relationship between pro bono and clinical legal education undertaken by universities and its role in enhancing the employability of law students looking to enter the legal profession.

Other activities

  • Co-Chair of the Clinical Legal Education Organisation
  • Steering Group Member of the annual UK and Ireland Streetlaw Best Practices Conference
  • Birmingham Law Society Council Member
  • Birmingham Law Society Board Member (ex-officio)
  • Past President of Birmingham Law Society (2019-20)

Publications

Recent publications

Book

Ridout, F & Thomas, L 2023, Street Law: Theory and Practice. 1st edn, Bloomsbury Publishing, Great Britain. <https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/street-law-9781509967131/>

Thomas, L & Johnson, N (eds) 2020, The Clinical Legal Education Handbook. University of London Press.

Lynch, T, Thomas, L, Vaughan, S & Malkani, B (eds) 2018, Reimagining Clinical Legal Education. Hart Publishing.

Article

Thomas, L 2017, 'Law Clinics in England and Wales: A Regulatory Black Hole', The Law Teacher. https://doi.org/10.1080/03069400.2017.1322858

Vaughan, S, Thomas, L & Young, A 2015, 'Symbolism over Substance? Large Law Firms and Corporate Social Responsibility', Legal Ethics, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 138-163. https://doi.org/10.1080/1460728x.2015.1119530

Working paper

Vaughan, S, Thomas, L & Young, A 2015 'Symbolism over Substance? Large Law Firms and Corporate Social Responsibility' CEPLER Working Papers, University of Birmingham. <http://epapers.bham.ac.uk/2104/>

View all publications in research portal

Expertise

Clinical legal education; pro bono; access to justice; corporate social responsibility in the legal profession.

Expertise

Clinical legal education

Pro bono and corporate social responsibility in law firms

Regulation of pro bono

Regulation of University law clinics

Streetlaw and public legal education