For the attention of: news editors PR4746
Monday, September 22 2003
JUDGE JOHN DEED TEAM HELPS TO CELEBRATE OPEN UNIVERSITY
LAW GRADUATES’ SUCCESS
TV actors Jenny Seagrove and Caroline Langrishe joined top lawyers and Open University law graduates at an anniversary dinner.
The dinner on Thursday, September 18 was the first of the Open University’s Law Alumni Group. The university has so far seen 250 people graduate with their LLB (Hons) Bachelor of Laws degrees; another 3,300 people are currently studying law with the programme.
The dinner, which was sponsored by global law firm Clifford Chance, was held to celebrate the first anniversary of the graduation of the university’s first law graduates. The guest of honour was Cherie Booth QC, who has been a supporter of the OU law programme since its inception. In her speech Ms Booth noted the expansion of legal education over the last century and the improved legal awareness and development of expertise that this has brought. She said: “During the last century legal education underwent a profound transformation in both its scale and its style. In 1909 there were 109 university teachers of law in Great Britain, today there 190 at the OU alone, and over 2,500 at the other universities.”
In the popular BBC1 film series Judge John Deed Jenny Seagrove plays Jo Mills QC, the sometime lover of the eponymous judge, and Caroline Langrishe plays George Channing QC, his former wife. Gordon Newman, the writer and creator of the swashbuckling bewigged figure, was another distinguished guest at the dinner. The theme of the evening, Legal Fact and Fiction, was also reflected in Ms Booth’s speech. She noted that many legal dramas, such as the 1960s police series, Dixon of Dock Green, Rumpole of the Bailey, and BBC1’s Judge John Deed have healthily enlivened social debates about the law. m/f
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She said: “A public animated by legal drama on television, and a population enriched by good law graduates will want constantly to monitor its law and legal processes, and to democratically change them when, and if, necessary.”
The Open University’s Law Alumni Group, which hosted the dinner, was formed last year when the programme’s first 100 law students graduated. Many of those graduates are now entering the final stage of their vocational training to qualify as solicitors or barristers.
Professor Gary Slapper, Director of the Open University Law Programme, said the dinner at the Commonwealth Club, London, celebrated the huge effort and achievement of all of the university’s law students and graduates. He added: “We are now very proud that, six years after the launch of Law at the OU, in collaboration with the College of Law, we have law graduates in every region of the UK. Many are now entering legal practice and, with their great savoir-faire in so many other departments of life, they will play a significant part in the delivery of legal services of the future.”
“This project, though, is not just about conventional legal practice. The wider and more diverse the social experience of those going into law the better the outcome not just for law and lawyers but for society as a whole. It is also worthy of note that some of the greatest people of vision and reforming capability of the last millennium, such as Sir Thomas More, Ghandi, and Nelson Mandela, have been law graduates.”
EDITOR’S NOTES
The Open University and the College of Law work together to offer the Bachelor of Laws (LLB) programme. The programme – the largest taught undergraduate course in law in the UK – has 3,300 students, attracted from a wide range of fields, including teachers, doctors, nurses, police officers, personnel officers, magistrates, journalists and social workers. For more information about the programme, visit http://www.open.ac.uk/law
Clifford Chance Limited Liability Partnership is the first fully integrated global law firm, with 32 offices in 19 countries. The firm aims to provide seamless global services to the world’s leading financial institutions and multinational businesses. Unrivalled in its international resources, Clifford Chance has more than 3,400 legal advisers and is organised around six global practice areas: capital markets; corporate (including M&A); finance; litigation and dispute resolution; real estate; and tax, pensions and employment law. For more information see www.cliffordchance.com
MEDIA CONTACT
Neil Coaten Open University Media Relations 01908 652580