Law journal editor and Northumbria professor celebrates win of the Legal Journals Award 2015

The Legal Journals Award was established in 2001 with the aim to reward the publishing profession for quality products and outstanding contributions in the field of legal serial titles whether online or in print. 

Chris Ashford, Professor of Law and Society at Northumbria University, Newcastle, and Editor of the journal remarked on this recent success:  "This is a tremendous achievement for the journal and we're particularly pleased that this award should come in the fiftieth year of the Association of Law Teachers.  The journal itself turns fifty next year."

The Law Teacher is a fully-refereed journal concerned with the teaching of law and issues affecting legal education at all academic levels. Whilst it is the journal of the UK-based Association of Law Teachers, both the Association and the journal are international in outlook and contributions from any jurisdiction are welcome in any section of the journal.

The award was presented by Marianne Barber, President of the British and Irish Association of Law Librarians. Marianne commented: “This year’s Legal Journals Award was a very keen contest, with the judging panel adjudicating on a range of titles spanning the legal publishing spectrum. From this process, one title emerged as the pre-eminent publication. The winning title was commended for providing an important, foundational service to the teaching of the law as discipline, successfully mixing theory and practice. Judges praised the accessibility of its content, encouraging readers to spend time with the articles. Notably, as teachers of information literacy ourselves, the potential of the title to add significant value to the work of the individual legal information professional was remarked upon by the panel, making this title well-worthy of recognition by a first Legal Journals Award.”

Since taking over as Editor in April 2014, the journal has expanded and refreshed its Editorial Board, moved to an online submission and review system, launched Annual Special Issue and Annual Seminar Grant Scheme calls, and embarked on a programme with publisher Routledge to ensure that the journal responds to the changing demands of greater online accessing of material.

"The innovations we've introduced over the last year have enabled us to build upon the solid foundations established by previous Editors and the Editorial Board over previous decades.  There's a tremendous team behind the Law Teacher and we're all thrilled by this award.  It's a team effort” Professor Ashford added.