Andy Todd | University of Chester

Andy qualified as a solicitor in 2003. She is Associate Professor of Active Citizenship, Director of Pro Bono and Community Engagement for the Law School, and supervising solicitor for our Legal Advice Clinic. Andy specialises in Employment Law, Company Law and Commercial Law, and runs the Law in Action module focussing on how students’ pro bono work enhances employability skills.

Andy practised Employment Law in an international commercial law firm prior to moving into legal education.

She spent seven years at BPP Manchester as supervising solicitor for BPP’s pro bono clinic, Programme Leader for the Legal Practice Course and Principal Lecturer in Employment Law and Business Law & Practice.

Andy then fulfilled several academic management roles at the Open University (as Regional Manager) and INTO Manchester (as Academic Director) before joining the University of Chester in 2017.

Andy is module leader for:

Employment Law
Company Law
Commercial Law
Law in Action

Andy’s areas of research interest are:

Student voice and closing the loop on student feedback;
The lived experiences of student-parents, and how HEIs can better support their student-parents;
Students as co-creators of curriculum;
Clinical Legal Education;
Qualifying Work Experience and the Solicitors’ Qualifying Exam.

Selected Conference Presentations

Todd, A. (2018) Listening, But Not Hearing? Closing the Loop on Student Feedback
Poster presentation, Advance HE Surveys & Insights Conference, 2018.

Todd, A. (2019) Student voice: The results of - and lessons to learn from - a pilot approach to closing the loop on student feedback. Oral presentation, Advance HE Surveys and Insights Conference 2019. Conference slides via Advance HE Knowledge Hub. Advance HE blogpost produced at the request of Advance HE.

Todd, A. (2020) A new framework for enhancing academic team buy-in to student voice mechanisms. Oral presentation, Advance HE Surveys & Insights Conference 2020.

Todd, A. (2020) Making Module Evaluation Meaningful. Poster presentation, Advance HE Teaching & Learning Conference 2020.

Todd, A. (2020) Making Commercial Law Students think Commercially: and how this aids Employability. Oral presentation, Advance HE Teaching & Learning Conference 2020.

Todd, A. (2022) ‘Why are we not talking more about student parents?’ Student parents' experiences of the COVID year and what we can take from the crisis. Oral presentation, Advance HE Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Conference, April 2022.

Todd, A., & Blackburn, L. (2022) Qualifying Work Experience in England & Wales: Help or Hindrance for Clinic Innovation? Oral presentation, Association of Canadian Clinical Legal Education Conference, June 2022.
Abstract: From September 2021, the time students spend advising in law clinics can be claimed as QWE. This paper will examine the reaction of the Clinical Legal Education (CLE) community in England and Wales to the implementation of QWE and whether QWE offers opportunities or threats when it comes to radical critique by law students.

Todd, A. (2022) Mum’s the word: How lessons learned from the COVID year can enhance our academic. Poster presentation, Advance HE Teaching & Learning Conference, July 2022.

Todd, A. (2022) Citizen Students in Lockdown: Employability enhancement opportunities presented . Oral presentation, Advance HE Teaching & Learning Conference, July 2022.

Todd, A. (2022) Choose Your Own Adventure. Oral presentation, Clinical Legal Education Organisation Conference, September 2022.
Abstract: This session will share the experiences of the presenter and her students in co-creating the learning outcomes, module coverage and assessment techniques for a new clinical module for the coming academic year. The session will explore students' views on what constitutes an authentic learning experience, what makes an assessment 'useful', and how students view the link between clinic work and their future working lives.

MacDowell, E, Odinakaonye, L., Terzian, N., Todd, A., Warner, B. (2022) Challenging Hierarchy and Encouraging Collaboration in Teaching, Learning and Practice: What Does it Look Like and How Can We Achieve it? Oral Presentation, GAJE-IJCLE-SAULCA Worldwide Conference: Justice Education: Building Resilience and Strong Connections in Times of Global Challenges, December 2022.

Invited Presentations:

Todd, A. (2020) Meaningful Module Evaluation: closing the loop on feedback from students
Presentation to PGCertHE cohort at Ravensbourne University London.

Todd, A. (2022) Identifying and supporting student-parents: the Supporting Student-Parents Toolkit. Presentation to Connecting Legal Education (CLE) Community of Practice.

Todd, A. (2023) Closing the Feedback Loop: how to design and implement a system that gives students confidence that their views are valued and acted upon. Presentation to members of the Unitu student voice platform.

Reports, Guidance and Toolkits

Todd, A. (2019) Staff Guide to Student Voice. Published 2019 via Advance HE Connect collaboration platform.

Todd, A (2019) Student Guide to Feeding Back to Us. Published 2019 via Advance HE Connect collaboration platform.

Todd, A. (2019) Student Voice Timeline. Published 2019 via Advance HE Connect collaboration platform.

Todd, A. & Blackburn, L. (2022) Recording, Confirming and Registering QWE from University Law Clinics: A Ten Top Tips Toolkit for Student Volunteers, and Guidance on Completing the SRA QWE Template for Clinic Work. Published September 2022 via Clinical Legal Education Organisation.

Todd, A. (2023) A Practical Toolkit: eight steps to identifying, supporting and celebrating student-parents. Published January 2023 via the Journal of Widening Participation and Lifelong Learning.

Books and Book Chapters

Todd, A., & Conaghan, E. (2023). A Practical Guide to Embedding Commercial Awareness into your Curriculum. In Millmore, A. (Ed.), How to Include Employability in the Law School. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2023. (forthcoming).

Journal Articles

Todd, A. (2021). Democracy in action: students as design partners, Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education, (22).

Todd, A. & Blackburn, L. (2023) Qualifying Work Experience in England & Wales: the opportunities and risks presented to university law clinics, Asian Journal of Legal Education, volume 1, Issue 10, January 2023.

Todd, A., (2023) Let’s get visible: evidence-based interventions aimed at supporting, empowering, and celebrating student-parents in higher education, Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education, Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Special Issue.

Todd, A. (2023) ‘What Is? What If? What Next?’ Why institutions must urgently identify, support and celebrate their student-parents – and imagining a world in which they do, Journal of Widening Participation and Lifelong Learning.

MA Quality Enhancement in Higher Education Learning and Teaching (Distinction): University of Chester 2017-2018
LLB (Hons): Law with European Legal Studies, University of Durham and University of Rouen, France: 1995-1999
Legal Practice Course (Distinction): College of Law, Chester: 2000-2001
Qualified Solicitor: 2003 to date

Professional memberships

Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
Co-Chair and Trustee, Clinical Legal Education Organisation (CLEO)
Member, the Law Society
Member, Employment Lawyers’ Association
Member, Society of Legal Scholars
Member, Association of Law Teachers
Member, European Network of Clinical Legal Education
Member, Global Alliance for Justice Education