News In Focus
8 March 2010
Mackinnon returns from New Zealand to head Robert Gordon's law
Professor Ken Mackinnon has been appointed Head of Law at Robert Gordon University's Aberdeen Business School, the university announced today.
Glasgow-born Mackinnon left in 1990 for New Zealand, where he was latterly Head of Law at the University of Waikato. He first taught at the University of Aberdeen, where his research focus was on the legal ideas of Scottish Enlightenment figures such as David Hume and Adam Smith.
He became a member of the social security appeal tribunal in Aberdeen in the 1980s, forming an enduring interest in access to justice and in alternatives to the court system. At Robert Gordon's he hopes to further his research into professionalism, develop the department's extensive range of programmes and further his interest in alternative dispute resolution. He is also keen to expand the use of online teaching and distance learning.
Professor Mackinnon said: "The university's focus on professionalism is aimed at ensuring that teaching is directed towards graduates' career opportunities as well as being delivered to a high standard. Our undergraduate LLB is likely to be the first degree to be re-accredited by the Law Society of Scotland because it meets revised expectations of 21st century legal education.
"With a growing demand for graduates to have a firm grasp of legal ethics and alternative dispute resolution, practical skills are increasingly important to the field. We are beginning to realise as a society that going to court is not always the best way to solve a dispute and it is important that current students learn to be adaptable in a changing employment environment. The wide-ranging expertise brought into the department by staff provides a unique opportunity to respond to this."
His own current area of research relates to accident compensation. His expertise as reviewer on the New Zealand no-fault system has led to his being appointed to a Scottish Government working group on compensation for medical injuries.