Alan East is a passionate advocate for equality, diversity and inclusion within legal education, supporting students in higher education entering the legal profession. He is committed to enhancing student experience to engage and inspire students.
An award-winning lecturer, he has developed an international profile within clinical legal education. He has pioneered innovative pedagogies and has been a leading figure supporting the development of the Solicitors Qualifying Examination at the Law Society of England and Wales to promote a diverse legal profession and inclusivity within higher legal education. A disruptor in teaching, learning and assessment, his innovative flare has seen him embed problem-based learning and authentic assessment within the curriculum, develop cross-disciplinary immersive learning and create Partnerships in Clinical Legal Education, an award-winning pro-bono advice service in Coventry and Warwickshire. To promote diversity within the legal profession and encourage students to aspire to enter the legal profession and compete within it, he created an aspirational employability enterprise called Raising the Bar.
This enterprise partners with a range of local stakeholders to support and mentor students, provide work experience and opportunities and enhance their network. Students take a transformative journey from level four to graduate and acquire a range of graduate attributes to support them in their future career. Alan is an innovator, and his research focuses on innovative pedagogies to enhance student experience. Alan has worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company to examine how this participatory art-related pedagogy could support teaching and learning of essential disciplinary course concepts.
Alan was one of the first legal academics in the UK to pioneer mobile remote presence (robots) in clinical legal education in collaboration with international partners. Alan qualified as a solicitor in 2003 and set up his own law firm in 2004. He later worked as a Senior Crown Prosecutor and District Crown Prosecutor at the Crown Prosecution Service. He joined Coventry University in 2011. He is a Senior Fellow of Advance HE. In 2018 Alan was awarded Coventry University’s Excellence award for his innovation supporting the local community with Partnerships in Clinical Legal Education.