Carolyn has been a constant source of legal knowledge, support, and advice of the highest calibre, for the higher education sector. She returned to her university of study, Birmingham, and established and grew the University's in-house legal team. Carolyn was instrumental in establishing the first university training school, an overseas campus in Dubai, and a range of enduring projects which have positively contributed to the sector. In 2016, she received an OBE for services to legal services and higher education. She has been an incredible mentor to so many lawyers, and was a founding member of AULP with Brian Harvey at the University of Birmingham. Its purpose was to establish a forum for collaboration, mutual support, and sharing ideas and expertise in the sector. It is from this prize, in Carolyn's name, that we are able to celebrate someone every year who has contributed to collaboration in the sector in a transformative way, and to continue those values that Carolyn shared with so many of us.
Rosemary’s 41 year career is underpinned by integrity, team work, and ground-breaking legal analysis before the paths had been trodden over a huge variety of work, interactions, and communication registers. Done from a Cambridgeshire base, first with the County Council and then for 22 years with the University of Cambridge, Rosemary has been alert to, and addressed, new areas of legal need, pioneering knowledge transfer to colleagues, the broader legal community, and clients in plain, brief, useable templates and formats, encouraging her colleagues to do the same and to critique and improve her work. Her goal is to enable clients to risk assess, take their decisions and avoid unpleasant surprises.
Rosemary has published academic and newspaper articles and worked at a national level when this directly benefits the immediate client business needs. She has given talks internally and externally, adapting her delivery to the allocated time and the audience - whether lawyers, administrators or senior scientific professors. Rosemary has always been keen to share material within AULP in order to leverage our strength as a sector through developing shared approaches, negotiating stances and compliance methods, particularly national security compliance where we stand or fall together.
The impact of Rosemary’s exceptional work ethic and her commitment to positioning the role of in-house lawyer as that of critical friend and enabler to their business colleagues has extended well beyond the teams in which she has worked. She is an exemplar of a truly collaborative approach to knowledge-sharing and iterative drafting which strives for continual improvement, not only for the benefit of her home institution but for the advantage of higher education as a whole. Her prodigious accomplishments show what cooperative engagement, whether at local, sector or national level, can achieve. She is richly deserving of recognition.
Molly joined the University’s team in the summer of 2023. Despite this being her first job after graduating the LPC (and indeed her first ever office job) she hit the ground running with thorough research and practical advice. Molly is also showing signs of being a fantastic litigator. In early 2024 a Tribunal Judge quipped that she was “the most useful person in the case”. In front of that same judge, she made her first appearance as advocate delivering the University’s submissions on jurisdiction. Molly has accepted all of the challenges of HE litigation and advisory work with good grace and a pragmatic attitude. She has exceeded expectations and is a future lawyer to watch for sure.
Legal Teams, University of Plymouth and University of Bath
The University of Plymouth and the University of Bath scoped and developed an innovative solution to address a shortage of pharmacists within the Southwest by joining forces to enable Bath’s highly successful Master of Pharmacy programme to be delivered at Plymouth, with crucial support and funding provided by NHS England. The respective legal teams of each institution worked well together in a solutions focused way, to prepare an agreement for this innovative collaboration, which has the potential to make a tremendously positive difference to the health and wellbeing of people in the Southwest and beyond.
BBC News, 1 January 2024; “Universities team up to tackle lack of pharmacists” https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cq51zqw82q4o
Legal Services Team, University of Nottingham
The University’s Legal Services Team work in a high pressured and demanding environment on a daily basis. Despite this their positive and caring individuals have taken time out of their busy days to provide support to nurture potential future lawyers and to provide hot meals to those who really appreciate and need those home comforts. There is a desire to replicate this warmth, kindness and community spirit in more activities planned by the Legal Services Team for this year and future years, demonstrating a real interest and drive to contribute to the community in which the University is situated.
Sinéad Hesp, General Counsel, Director of Legal Affairs and Board Secretariat, University of Manchester
Sinéad is an exceptional leader who embodies the values of integrity, excellence and compassion. An outstanding lawyer – technically brilliant but strategic, practical and committed to ensuring that institutional values, and ethical considerations, guide key decisions. Sinéad brings an air of calm and is a reassuring voice of reason, maintaining good humour and a positive outlook, even in the most challenging situations. Sinéad has an unwavering commitment to the development and well-being of our team, creating an environment where colleagues can flourish and, vitally, always feel supported, a culture she embeds across the University including through mentoring and as an EDI lead.
"Sinéad is a truly outstanding leader of our University’s legal team. The breadth of her portfolio is extensive, yet she manages to have a deep understanding on a wide range of legal issues on which her advice is sought. Impressively, she combines this with a profound sense of what is right and in so doing she makes a huge contribution to the life of our University and all those she engages with.” Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor, University of Manchester
Legal Office, University of Huddersfield
Entrepreneurial leadership is defined as making the best use of the resources available to you to achieve your goals in the best possible way, and this is what the Legal Office at Huddersfield University aspires to. By supporting its team, and maximising its use of the IT infrastructure available to it, the Legal Office has created a customer centric dynamic which ensures that legal matters are dealt with swiftly, appropriately and our clients are empowered to understand and engage with the legal advice provided to them.
“It is refreshing to see the university legal team also think about the business requirements and work with the business units collaboratively.” University of Huddersfield staff member
