Dr Andrew Gilbert

Professional biography

Andrew has researched in the area of family law and policy. His thesis, entitled 'British Conservatism and the Legal Regulation of Intimate Adult Relationships, 1983-2013', was awarded by University College London in 2016. Andrew's supervisors were Professors Alison Diduck and Michael Freeman, and the thesis was examined by Professor Gillian Douglas and Dr Rob George. The examiners commented that Andrew's work is 'an important and original piece of scholarship... which forms a distinct and significant contribution to the knowledge of family law.' A book based on Andrew's thesis was published by Hart/Bloomsbury in August 2018, which went on to be nominated for two prestigious prizes in 2019 (the Hart-SLSA Book prize and the Socio-Legal Theory and History prize) and was runner-up in the Political Studies Association/Conservatism Studies Group Book Prize in 2020. The book has been reviewed in three leading academic journals: the Modern Law Review, the Child and Family Law Quarterly and the Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law. Professor Chris Barton's review in the MLR concludes by saying that the book is 'at its excellent best when using plain language to assess the fruits of the author's definitive surveys of what its prime subjects actually wrote and said.' In the CFLQ Dr Sharon Thompson wrote, ‘In short, for those seeking to support or oppose reform, or to simply glean a better understanding of how family law is made, British Conservatism and the Legal Regulation of Intimate Relationships is required reading.’ And in the JSWFL Professor Hilary Sommerlad concludes her review with the words, 'an absolutely fascinating, scholarly book.' Andrew recently wrote on the new divorce law for The Conversation.

Andrew’s research interests also cover aspects of legal education. His chapter entitled ‘Capitalising on Clinical Legal Education: Insights from Bourdieu’ features in a volume edited by Hugh McFaul and Omar Madhloom published by Routledge in 2021. Andrew led the law school's Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE) curriculum development work and he has blogged on why the SQE can't guarantee competent solicitors, law schools' responses to the SQE and ChatGPT passing SQE1 with flying colours. He has recently published with OU colleagues one of the first discussions about ChatGPT and the future of legal education and practice and is currently working on an edited volume entitled 'Creativity and Critique in Digital Learning and Teaching – Insights for Learning Design in Business and Law', due to be published later this year by Palgrave Macmillan. Andrew was the academic consultant on the justice episode of the OU/BBC production 'Darren McGarvey: The State We're In' which aired on BBC Two and BBC Scotland in February 2024. 

Andrew has over ten years’ experience of supervising PhD students, including supervising students to completion, examining, and chairing vivas. He is happy to be approached about PhD supervision in any of his areas of interest.

Prior to working at The Open University, Andrew led a range of undergraduate modules including Family Law, Child Law and Constitutional & Administrative Law. He led the production of W322 SQE: Property and Private Client Law, as well as writing for W111 Criminal Law and the Courts and W230 Family Law.