News
Monday 29 January 2007
Nottingham Law School appoints Lovells Senior Litigation Partner Keith Gaines as new Dean
Nottingham Trent University’s Nottingham Law School announced today the appointment of its new Dean: Keith Gaines, currently Senior Litigation Partner at international law firm Lovells, will step into this prestigious post in May 2007. The role of Dean encompasses the leadership of the undergraduate programme and the LPC and postgraduate programmes as well as enhancing the School’s burgeoning research profile.
Gaines has been at Lovells for 26 years and a partner for 21 of those. As a world-class, high-profile litigator he has been instrumental, in particular, in building the Lovells leading insolvency litigation and civil fraud practice. During his time as partner he has also played an important role in the firm’s overall development. He will be bringing his distinguished management and business development skill-set to bear in his new role as Dean.
In addition, Gaines will bring a global perspective to the role. Unsurprisingly, given his long and successful career at one of the world’s leading business law firms, Gaines has a strong international pedigree: he is admitted to practise in Hong Kong as well as in London; has previously worked in Lovells New York office; and is a member of the International Bar Association.
On his appointment, Gaines inherits an impressive legacy: Nottingham Law School remains unique among law schools in its breadth of offering – from a foundation degree and undergraduate programme, to the LPC, BVC and the suite of practice Masters programmes; also in its depth of offering – it has a leading reputation for innovation and a track-record of designing courses that others follow; and it continues to enjoy an unrivalled reputation for scholarship excellence – its LPC is still the only one on the market consistently graded ‘excellent’ and its Bar Vocational Course is anecdotally recognised as the best in the profession. Further, the Law School shook up the market in 2006, announcing an innovative joint venture with global education services leader Kaplan Inc, to bring the top-rated Nottingham Law School LPC to the London market.
Nottingham Law School also has a significant research profile especially in the areas of civil and criminal justice (particularly international criminal justice), sports law, health law, environmental law, and corporate law, with particular reference to insolvency and corporate restructuring.
With the current backdrop of the Legal Services Bill, and the abandonment of the Training Framework Review still only very recent history, these are interesting times indeed for the legal education community. Commenting on his appointment today, Gaines said:
“I am excited to be taking on this superb role of Nottingham Law School Dean at a time when the legal profession in the UK is undergoing such significant and wholesale change - and when eyes are on the Law School to continue its lead on the key debates surrounding legal education. I am looking forward to being in the driving seat, shaping the educational response to this market change.
“However, it is my strong belief that the challenges facing legal education providers are broader still. Given our role is to offer first class education and employment opportunities, we must remember the large proportion of law graduates today who have found careers outside the world of private practise – and that tomorrow this proportion will only be more as market changes strip away classic career paths. However, a legal education equips graduates with characteristics highly prized in the world of commerce and industry. Here Nottingham Law School has a key role to play in incubating talent – good hard-working graduates with strong business analysis skills, legal skills, a strong sense of integrity and team working expertise – for the wider commercial world.
“This will be one of the key themes of my tenure - indeed one of the reasons I was so attracted to Nottingham Law School is because, under the NTU umbrella, it is ideally placed in this regard, given the emphasis on cross-functional and cross-disciplinary working with other Schools in the broader University, providing students with precisely this heightened business perspective. We’ll then look to work with these graduates, their professional and business organisations to keep them at the cutting edge via the Law School’s postgraduate offerings.
“I’m fascinated by the way in which, as a university law school, NLS boasts an applied research profile which so evidently informs its undergraduate and postgraduate offerings.”
NTU spokesperson Senior Pro Vice-Chancellor Peter Jones said of Gaines’ appointment:
“We are delighted that Keith has accepted this key role at the Law School. He has the perfect pedigree and international class vision that the Law School now needs to meet the challenges of the global market in which we are operating. I very much look forward to working with him.”
Lovells Managing Partner David Harris said:
"This is a great role for Keith. This appointment reflects his skills and experience as a highly regarded City litigator and the significant contribution he has made to the growth and development of the firm throughout his time here. Whilst we will miss him, we are delighted that his talents and track record will continue to be put to such good use at a time when the educational needs of our profession are changing dramatically."
Gaines added on a personal note: “After more than 28 years as a law practitioner, happy to have had such a long, successful and interesting career at such a great law firm, this is an opportunity for me to ‘give something back’ to the profession, at a time of great market change. I am very much looking forward to this next challenge of my career.”
Ends
Notes to Editors
* Sample leading cases: Gaines played a key role in the BCCI litigation (acting for the liquidators) and was closely involved in the ING-Barings collapse; he also acted for the claimants in the leading case of Derby v Weldon which established the precedent for pre-judgment worldwide freezing orders.
**Nottingham Trent University’s Strategic Plan 2004-2010 states a key objective to strengthen the University’s organic growth by collaboration (across different University Schools) and partnership (e.g. the two joint ventures with Kaplan Inc).
