Staff Profile
E42 Magazine |
Issue 09
EDGE HILL UNIVERSITY
actions; it was a very humbling experience.
Leanne O’Leary Senior Lecturer – Law
I worked as a solicitor in New Zealand before coming to the UK. I’m originally from Auckland and when I finished my law degree and arts degree in Japanese, there was the expectation that I would go travelling. The ‘overseas experience’ is part of NZ culture, and with the ancestral links and longer working holiday visas, a lot of young New Zealanders come to the UK. I stayed working as a solicitor in NZ for a couple of years before hopping on the plane to London. My friends and family thought I would be home within six months but they were wrong. Thirteen years later, I am still here. I came up north to watch a rugby match. When I arrived I spent a month in London but finding a job was difficult. I had a distant relative living near Huddersfield who invited me up one weekend to watch a rugby league match at Old Trafford. I had a great weekend and ended up staying longer than I had planned. Eventually I found a job in Manchester. My first job was working on the Shipman Inquiry. My NZ legal qualifications were not immediately recognised when I came to the UK so I couldn’t practise as a solicitor. However, legal skills are transferable and I obtained work as a paralegal on the Shipman Inquiry in Manchester. The Shipman Inquiry was a public inquiry which looked into the activities of Harold Shipman, a former doctor in Hyde. Working on the Shipman Inquiry provided an interesting contrast to my former job. In New Zealand I had worked in commercial law. The Inquiry with its criminal law focus provided an interesting legal contrast and was also a great introduction to the legal profession in this country. Part of my role was to investigate the deaths of Shipman’s patients. I was provided with a death certificate and required to investigate whether Shipman had killed the patient. I met a lot of people who had been affected by Shipman’s
I re-qualified as a solicitor and moved into employment law. After the Inquiry, I worked for a number of law firms, including Eversheds LLP. I also decided to do a PhD. I had always been interested in sport and it intrigued me that employment law did not appear to apply to professional sport in the way it applied to other industries. My thesis considered the regulation of Super League. After completing it, I decided that the academic world provided an excellent opportunity to combine an interest in sport with my legal skills and knowledge. Edge Hill enables me to develop teaching skills and a research path. I teach Legal Methods and