Opening of the Academic Year Alumni Lecture 2024

Join Edinburgh Law School staff, current students, and alumni to hear from distinguished University of Edinburgh alumna The Rt Hon Dame Eleanor Laing (LLB, 1982).

In conversation with Edinburgh alumnus John Sturrock KC (with whom she was a sabbatical student office bearer in 1980-81), Dame Eleanor Laing will reflect on her life after graduating from Edinburgh Law School, from legal practitioner to becoming Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons, and being one of the longest-serving female MPs in British history.

This event will be held in the Playfair Library and followed by a reception.

About The Rt Hon Dame Eleanor Laing

Dame Eleanor Laing graduated from Edinburgh Law School in 1982, having served as Union President in 1980-81. After being a solicitor in Edinburgh and London, Dame Eleanor became the Member of Parliament (MP) for Epping Forest in 1997, representing the constituency for 27 years. Dame Eleanor was elected to be the Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons in 2013, appointed a Privy Counsellor in 2017, and became the first ever woman to be elected to the position of Chairman of Ways and Means in 2020. Eleanor was awarded her Damehood in Her Majesty The Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2018 and was nominated for a peerage in the Dissolution Peerages of 2024.

About John Sturrock KC

John Sturrock KC (LLB Hons, 1980) is founder and senior mediator at Core Solutions[external site]. For over twenty years, John has been a pioneer of mediation in the UK, with an international reputation, and his work extends to the commercial, professional, sports, public sector, policy and political fields. John was Senior President of the Students Association in 1980-81 and practised at the Scottish Bar from 1986 – 2002, being appointed a Queen’s (now King’s) Counsel in 1999. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the International Academy of Mediators and has been a Visiting Professor at the University.

Host or Publisher Edinburgh Law School, University of Edinburgh