Dr David Sixsmith

I am an Assistant Professor in Law at Northumbria University, where I also studied for both my undergraduate and LL.M. degrees. I qualified as a solicitor at Evans and Co Solicitors in County Durham in 2011, subsequently becoming a partner in the practice. I moved into academia in 2016, joining the University of Sunderland where I was senior lecturer in law and Legal Practice Course programme leader, before moving to Northumbria in February 2023. My teaching specialisms include Wills and Administration of Estates, Trusts, and Dispute Resolution.

My research interests and publications are primarily in the area of civil dispute resolution, civil justice reform and online dispute resolution, and I was awarded my PhD, which put forward recommendations to enhance the proposed online dispute resolution model for low value civil claims in England and Wales, in February 2023. I am currently working on an edited collection concerning the role and function of mediation within the modern civil justice system with colleagues at the University of Leicester, to which I am also contributing a chapter.

My research interests also encompass legal education, particularly solicitor legal training and the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE). I am currently working in collaboration with colleagues on a project assessing the impact of the SQE on undergraduate law provision. I am also the joint series editor of a series of revision guides designed to assist candidates with revising for their SQE1 assessments, Revise SQE. I authored the revision guide on Dispute Resolution from that series.