Meet the Open Justice team

Francine Ryan, Open Justice Centre Director and Senior Lecturer in Law

Francine is a qualified solicitor, Senior Lecturer in Law and Director of the Open Justice Centre at The Open University. Francine has worked to develop a range of innovative and technology-enhanced opportunities for OU law students including the Open Justice Online Law Clinic. Francine’s research areas are in technology and the law.

Jon-Paul Knight, Open Justice Centre Manager

Jon-Paul is the manager of the Open Justice Centre and most recently worked as a Qualification Manager in Law and Business. He is responsible for coordinating the work of Open Justice, and supports the work of the Law Clinic and the Public Understanding of Law activities.

Liz Hardie, Senior Lecturer in Law and Law Teaching Director

Liz is a lecturer and Teaching Director of the Law School. She also tutors on W360. Liz originally qualified as a solicitor and specialised in family and employment claims. She now works for the Open University and is particularly interested in online learning and reflective practice. As a member of the Open Justice team Liz is one of the supervising solicitors in the law clinic and leads the policy clinic and mediation projects.

Emma Curryer, Lecturer in Law 

Emma is a lecturer and qualified solicitor specialising in crime and evidence.  She now works for the Open University and manages the Criminal Justice Clinic within the Open Justice Centre.  She is also the lead for the mediation project on W360 and tutors on W101 (Introduction to Law)  and W203 (Public Law and Criminal Law).  Emma is particularly interested in teaching practice including tutoring online.  Her research interests include crime and evidence and the concept of justice including the provision of legal advice to the vulnerable and youth justice. Emma is keen to expand opportunities for students to work on criminal law cases and is currently developing some new exciting projects.

Andrew Maxfield, Associate Lecturer and Student Experience Manager

Andrew tutors on W360 and is also the Student Experience Manager for the module.

Kate Ritchie

Kate is a lecturer in the law school and has also tutored, over the years, on a number of OU law modules. Before moving into legal education, she qualified as a solicitor, specialising in corporate and commercial law. Kate has a particular interest in legal education within prison communities. Prior to the covid pandemic, Kate mentored groups of OU students for the purpose of delivering workshops within prisons. She is currently involved in supporting the work of the business law clinic and an extra curricular street law project. Her research interests include the rights of migrants within prison populations.

Paul Troop

Paul is a lecturer in law and manages the International Project for the Open Justice Centre. Paul is interested in the intersection between law, morality, and science. He has postgraduate degrees in philosophy and applied ethics and cognitive and decision sciences. His interdisciplinary doctoral studies examine legal and moral decision making and are jointly supervised by the faculties of Brain Sciences and Laws at UCL.

Paul is a qualified barrister who has practised at the International Criminal Court and the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. He is a member of Garden Court Chambers in London.

Siobhan Cullen

Siobhan joined the Open University in 2022 as a lecturer in the Central Academic Team and is involved in various modules including Family Law, Justice in Action and SQE modules Legal System, Public Law & Criminal Litigation and Property & Private Client Law. Siobhan is involved in the Mediation and Street Law projects for the Open Justice Centre.

Siobhan’s research interests include equality and the role of universities in driving the equality agenda as well as public legal education and the impact of experiential learning on learners.