EXPERIENCE
Work History
As a former solicitor, and especially now as a professional historian, I have learned the art of reading quickly. I can process information of great complexity and am highly organised. I have learned to break down that information, sequence it, create an organisational framework for it, and synthesize it (find connections between disparate ideas and viewpoints). I can assess evidence for soundness and relevance, have long learned to be internationally, multi-culturally, and genre aware, and am always conscious of ethical and other constraints. I can compare multiple theories and assess each of them for robustness. I have many years' experience of public speaking. I can write excellent academic English but am very keen to engage effectively with those who may not have the same skill-set.
I am an elected early career member of the Royal Historical Society, a member of the Lincoln Record Society and a member of the Ecclesiastical History Society
FREELANCE CONTRACT
February 2021 to March 2021
I recently worked with The National Archives (TNA) on their E321 Court of Augmentations Cataloguing Project. Now completed, that project made all their sixteenth-century records about the work of that court searchable online, by academics and public alike, using the TNA Discovery Catalogue tool.
POSTGRADUATE RESEARCHER
October 2015 to July 2020
PhD Studies at the University of Nottingham, England. Whilst writing my thesis I taught first-year undergraduates on their "Introduction to the Medieval World" module, providing them with advice on research skills and the construction of written and oral argument. I also worked as a Research Affiliate for the Department of History's Centre for Hidden History Project on a database of all known archival material in Lincolnshire & Nottinghamshire regarding the return of WW1 veterans after the Armistice.
POSTGRADUATE RESEARCHER
September 2014 to October 2015
Having retired early from the law I undertook MA Medieval Studies at the University of Lincoln, England where my dissertation concerned the court of King Henry II.
SOLICITOR
October 1987 to December 2013
I qualified as a solicitor in 1987 and practised for many years in civil litigation, working mainly on personal injury and clinical negligence cases but also, towards the end of my legal career, in contentious probate (arguments over wills and estates).