This session situates the field of Gender, Sexuality and Law within its historical, theoretical, and institutional context, using it as a lens through which to reflect on the changing priorities, pressures, and possibilities facing legal education today.
Gender Sexuality and Law emerged in the UK Legal Academy initially in the 1990s, gaining traction in the early part of the twenty-first century and was strongly associated with the socio-legal movement in the UK, USA, Canada, and New Zealand. In 2026, it's a discipline increasingly matured - with the first English textbook on the subject being published in 2024 (edited by Ashford and Maine) - and now firmly established at the heart of socio-legal studies and with doctrinal contributions also emerging. Theory has been a strong component both with feminist theory interventions and more recently, notable queer provocations, for example the queer legal judgments project. Yet it is a discipline also increasingly now at the forefront of key questions of academic freedom, censorship, contemporary HEI regulation, and identity politics. In the midst of an economic crisis for many UK HEIs, is Gender Sexuality and Law pedagogy simply too controversial, or is it needed now more than ever? What does this one area of research and teaching tell us about the Law School in 2026?
About the Centre
The Centre for Legal Education and the Legal Profession (CLELP) is one of the UK’s leading hubs for research and innovation in legal education and the legal profession. We study how the profession and legal services market are changing, and how legal education in law schools is evolving through rigorous empirical, doctrinal and socio-legal research.
Our members research, teach and collaborate across themes that shape modern legal education and practice, including LegalTech and Generative AI, Clinical Legal Education, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging in the Legal Sector, Legal Ethics and Professional Regulation, Access to the Profession and Widening Participation, Student Employability and Careers, Curriculum and Assessment Design, and Communities of Practice in Legal Education.
CLELP sits within Westminster Law School, one of the largest and most diverse law schools in the UK. Our members teach across a wide range of subjects and bring current research into the curriculum. We play a central role in the student experience equipping our students with the knowledge, confidence and professional skills to thrive in their future careers. Through our Legal Careers, Employability and Professional Development Hub, led by CLELP’s Student Fellows, students can take part in activities that connect legal education with practice, explore routes into the profession, and build the skills and attributes most valued by employers.
About the speaker
Professor Chris Ashford
Professor Chris Ashford is Associate Pro-Vice Chancellor (Research and Knowledge Exchange) and Professor of Law and Society at Northumbria University. He is also the University Senior Sponsor for LGBTQ+ Equality and is a member of the University Senior Management Group. Chris has published widely on the area of law and sexuality and legal education. A queer theorist; his research has focused upon challenging normative assumptions about sexuality. He was General Editor of The Law Teacher: The International Journal of Legal Education (published by Routledge) between 2014 and 2024, and now serves as Joint Consultant Editor. He is a former Chair of the Association of Law Teachers and former Vice Chair of the Socio-Legal Studies Association. He served as Chair of the 2023 QAA Law Subject Benchmark Statement review. Following this review, he worked with the USAID Justice for All project in Ukraine to better connect legal education practitioners, regulators and Government across the two jurisdictions. He is a member of the REF2029 Sub-Panel for Law, for the assessment phase, having undertaken the same role for REF2021.
