Chris Simmonds

Assistant Professor

School: Northumbria School of Law

Chris graduated from Northumbria University in 2005 and qualified as a solicitor in 2008. His practice has been primarily in the area of Housing Law. Chris was a legal aid practitioner with a large North-East law firm for a number of years, before moving to Durham City and then Durham County Councils where he continued to act in-house as a housing lawyer, and also in Planning Law.

Chris joined Northumbria Law School in 2011, initially as a Solicitor Tutor working in the Student Law Office, Northumbria University's multi-award winning free legal advice and representation clinic. Chris is now an Assistant Professor, teaching in the Student Law Office but also teaching a module on Housing Law.

Chris is also Joint Programme Leader for the Solicitor Higher Apprenticeship at Northumbria University.

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Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

Chris's research interests focus on the use of problem-based learning pedagogies in legal education, and in particular the responsible use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) as both a tool to develop our approach to teaching, but also as a tool that students are able to engage with in order to improve their understanding of the subject.

Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
The Solicitor Apprenticeship, Hood, C., Simmonds, C. 3 Jul 2022, In: The Law Teacher

PGR Supervision

Sylvia Crow From Click to Commitment: Addressing Vulnarability and Complexity in Online Agreements with AI or Simplifying the Labyrinth: Leveraging AI to Support users in Understanding and Navigating Online Contracts Start Date: 03/08/2026 End Date: 21/08/2026

Qualifications