Environmental lawyer to lead University’s new law school
Posted on 27 April 2007
Professor Stuart Bell, currently Professor of Environmental Law at Nottingham Law School, Nottingham Trent University, has combined an academic career in research with practice as an environmental lawyer, both at the Bar and for firms of solicitors.
I am confident that [Stuart Bell] will be an outstanding Head of the new school
Professor Brian Cantor
The new Law School will take its first postgraduate students this October, while undergraduate courses are due begin in October 2008. It is the second new department to be established at the University of York in the last year - the other was the Department of Film, Theatre and Television. They are significant elements in the university’s plans for substantial academic growth in the next decade.
Professor Bell has a strong research record, together with extensive teaching experience, notably in postgraduate and professional education. He has experience of working in a multi-disciplinary environment and brings a strong record of academic leadership to the newly-formed Law School.
The Vice-Chancellor of the University of York, Professor Brian Cantor, said: "We are fortunate to have attracted someone of Stuart’s calibre. He brings to the University an exceptional record both in terms of academic and professional experience which will be invaluable in helping us realise our ambitious plans. I am confident that he will be an outstanding Head of the new school."
Professor Bell said: "The unique opportunity to join a world class University and to create a Law School which combines research of international quality with an active desire to engage with the legal profession was too good to miss. My priorities are to build upon the existing strong foundations for legal research provided within cognate departments throughout the University and to develop innovative and distinctive undergraduate, postgraduate and professional programmes which combine the teaching of applied skills alongside an understanding of the social and theoretical contexts for law."
Stuart Bell has undertaken research projects on behalf of organisations such as the Australian Commonwealth Environmental Protection Agency, the European Commission, DEFRA and the Environment Agency. He has taught previously at the Universities of East Anglia, Bristol, Leeds and Manchester.
He is joint author of the text book Environmental Law, and has acted as editor for Halsbury’s Laws of England. He is also editor of the Environmental Law Reports and acts as consultant editor for the Encyclopaedia of Environmental Law and the Journal of Water Law. He sits on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Planning and Environmental Law.
Stuart Bell has combined the majority of his research and teaching career with a position in private practice as consultant to the regulatory team at the international law firm, Eversheds. He previously worked at the Bar, and in the environmental law departments of two national law firms. His clients have included major international companies across a broad spectrum from the utilities and waste companies to the manufacturing, industrial and retail sectors.
Professor Bell will take up his post on 1 June 2007.