Professor Michael Stockdale

Head Of Department

Department: Northumbria Law School

Michael has taught at Newcastle Polytechnic/Northumbria University since graduating with an LL.B in 1983. In 1983 he enrolled as a PhD student, obtaining a major state studentship awarded on a competitive basis by the British Academy, whilst commencing lecturing duties on a part time basis. On obtaining a full time lecturing post in 1986 he transferred his PhD to a part time registration and was awarded a PhD in 1991, being promoted to senior lecturer in the same year. He was promoted to Principal Lecturer in 2008 and Professor in 2017, and Has been Head of Law since 2016, initially on an acting basis with a permanent appointment in 2017. He is also Director of the University’s Centre for Evidence and Criminal Justice Studies, which has a wide range of domestic and international members, both academics and practitioners from various areas of the domestic and international criminal justice system. He has published extensively on criminal and civil evidence in a variety of journals.

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Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

Michael’s research encompasses criminal and civil evidence. He has published extensively on those subjects in a variety of journals and was, for a number of years, contributing editor of Archbold Magistrates’ Courts Criminal Practice. In recent years, particular areas of interest have included expert evidence and legal professional privilege.

In relation to expert evidence, he was Principal Investigator responsible for a major research project relating to fingerprint evidence which was funded by the European Commission and a co-investigator under a European Commission funded project relating to DNA evidence. He co-edited a major edited collection on the reliability expert evidence in criminal proceedings. He was invited to give an Old Bailey Lecture on the subject to the Criminal Bar Association. He has worked with the Forensic Science Regulator to support her activities to enhance the quality of expert evidence in criminal proceedings. He engaged with the Law Commission to support its consultation activities in this area.

He is currently engaged with Rebecca Mitchell, an Associate Professor in the Law School, in ongoing research concerning the operation of legal professional privilege in a wide range of contexts, such as corporations, robots and Deferred Prosecution Agreements. This has already resulted in several published outputs with others due to be published/submitted and will form the subject of a significant planned funding bid in the relatively near future.

Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
A Privileged and Conventional Relationship: Legal Professional Privilege and the Law Officers' Convention, Mitchell, R., Stockdale, M. 1 Jan 2024, In: Modern Law Review
Criminal Justice and Technology, Mitchell, R., Stockdale, M. 13 Apr 2024, In: The Journal of Criminal Law
The Search and Seizure of Digital Materials Under Warrant and Protecting Privilege: Comparative Analysis and Recommendations for Best Practice, Mitchell, R., Stockdale, M., Gilligan, F. 1 Apr 2024, In: The Journal of Criminal Law
Legal Advice Privilege: The legacy of Three Rivers (No. 5) and the challenge of providing consistent protection to all client types, Stockdale, M., Mitchell, R. 1 Apr 2022, In: The International Journal of Evidence & Proof
Deferred prosecution agreements and legal professional privilege/attorney-client privilege: English and US experience compared, Mitchell, R., Imwinkelried, E., Stockdale, M. 11 Jun 2021, In: Journal of International and Comparative Law
Comment: R v KH [2020] EWCA Crim 1363, Wortley, N., Stockdale, M. 2 Dec 2020, In: Criminal Law Week
Commentary on Hak. Evaluation of the Forensic Science Regulator's recommendations regarding image comparison evidence, Tully, G., Stockdale, M. 1 Jan 2019, In: Forensic Science International: Synergy
Legal Advice Privilege and Artificial Legal Intelligence: Can Robots Give Privileged Legal Advice?, Stockdale, M., Mitchell, R. 1 Oct 2019, In: The International Journal of Evidence & Proof
Forensic Science Evidence and Expert Witness Testimony: Reliability through Reform?, Roberts, P., Stockdale, M. 1 Jan 2018
Introduction: forensic science, evidential reliability and institutional reform, Roberts, P., Stockdale, M. 1 Jan 2018, Forensic Science Evidence and Expert Witness Testimony, Edward Elgar

Professional Activity

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Oral presentation: Legal Professional Privilege and the Law Officers' Convention 2022
Oral presentation: Legal Professional Privilege and the Investigation of Corporate Crime 2018
Oral presentation: Legal Professional Privilege and the Robot Lawyer 2018
Oral presentation: Expert Evidence in Criminal Proceedings: Current Challenges. 2016

PGR Supervision

Brian Brewis "Sexual Behaviour Evidence": A Critical Examination of Section 41 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 Start Date: 01/11/2010 End Date: 14/12/2017
Sophie Carr Expert evidence in criminal proceedings: what steps should be taken to enhance the transparency of forensic science evidence and thus facilitate a more rigorous and effective assessment of its reliability? Start Date: 01/03/2016 End Date: 23/04/2020
Sophie Carr Expert evidence in criminal proceedings: what steps should be taken to enhance the transparency of forensic science evidence and thus facilitate a more rigorous and effective assessment of its reliability? Start Date: 01/03/2016 End Date: 23/04/2020

Qualifications

Law PhD August 31 1991
Law LLB (Hons) August 31 1983

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