Rate My Professor Rachel Avery

Rachel Avery is an Associate Professor (Education) in Durham Law School at the University of Durham, serving as Deputy Dean (Education) and Director of Education. She leads educational initiatives within the Law faculty and is module leader for the Commercial Law module. Rachel graduated with a Double First Class Honours degree in Law (MA) from Trinity College, Cambridge (1998-2001), followed by an LLM from the University of California, Berkeley (2001-2002), and completed the Bar Vocational Course at the Inns of Court School of Law (2002-2003). During her Berkeley studies, she interned at the San Francisco office of the State Public Defender, assisting with habeas corpus appeals for death row inmates. Awarded a Mansfield Scholarship by Lincoln's Inn in 2003, she was called to the Bar that year, undertook pupillage at Devereux Chambers in London, and became a tenant in 2004. From 2005 to 2006, she worked as a Judicial Assistant to the Law Lords, assigned to Lady Hale. Rachel continues her barrister practice in Employment and Commercial Law while holding academic appointments at Durham since 2010 as a part-time lecturer, progressing to Associate Professor (Teaching) in 2019 and Honorary Fellow since 2015. Between 2022 and September 2024, she was the Law School lead on outreach, emphasizing school programmes.