Professor Adelyn Wilson

Head Of School

Law

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Personal statement

Professor Adelyn Wilson is the Head of Strathclyde Law School and a Professor of Law. Since joining Strathclyde in July 2023, she has led the strategic redirection of the School, including: realignment of the teaching model and embedding a new LLB curriculum; redevelopment of the postgraduate programme portfolio; enhancement of the research student training and support offering; refreshing of the research and knowledge exchange landscape; and a new global engagement strategy with industrial and educational partners. She is the Convener of the Committee of the Head of Scottish Law Schools, a member of both the Joint Standing Committee for Legal Education in Scotland, and an Executive Council Member of the Committee of the Heads of UK Law Schools.

She joined Strathclyde from the University of Aberdeen, where she was a Professor of Law and the Dean for International Stakeholder Engagement with a portfolio in international student recruitment on a pan-institutional basis. In that capacity, she led various initiatives, including: introducing a governance and approvals framework for decision-making on commission and discounting arrangements; revising approval processes for new and renewed international partnerships; revising governance structures for the anchor partnership in the University's International Study Centre; strategies for institutional student scholarships, student recruitment post-Brexit and the student-focused response to the wars in Ukraine and Afghanistan; the English language testing policy; changes to the academic year structure on the student recruitment side; and short and long-term student population growth modelling projects.

Her research interests span medical law, legal history, and private and public law. Her work has appeared in various leading publications, and she has presented her research in ten countries. She was formerly an Academic Fellow of the Scottish Parliament and advised the European Scrutiny Committee of the UK Parliament on Retained EU Law and parliamentary scrutiny during and after Brexit. She was also an editor of both the Edinburgh Law Review and Comparative Legal History, and a trustee or council member of five intellectual charities. She has appeared on the BBC Antiques Roadshow, STV Scotland Tonight, BBC Radio North East and Northsound One News, and has advised BBC News Reality Check. Her research and funded networks have been supported by Horizon 2020/Marie Curie, the British Council, the Bibliographical Society, and other organisations.

Adelyn has taught legal history, medical law, commercial law, across the breadth of private law and on interdisciplinary and skills-based courses. She has been an external examiner for three UK universities, an appeals assessor for a Norwegian university, and an external consultant to design a QA framework for ABA Accreditation for a US university. She has taught for partner institutions internationally in the USA, Norway, China, Qatar and India. She won Aberdeen’s Excellence Award for Best PGR Supervisor, and was nominated for Best UG Lecturer, Best UG Supervisor and Most Inspiring Lecturer.

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Research Interests

Adelyn began her academic career as a legal historian. She is a leading expert on Viscount Stair's Institutions of the Law of Scotland (2009, 2010, 2011, 2015). She expanded this interest into a wider set of studies on the transmission of text and on authorial method, including studies on the transmission of Stair’s Institutions (2015), Morison’s Dictionary (2023), Maitland’s decisions or practicks (2018, 2018), Spalding’s decisions and digest practicks (2016), and the decisions or practicks written during the interregnum (2012).

She has also written a series of works on the early-modern legal history of Aberdeen, including on the legal community, their networks and impact on the local courts and universities (2016, 2018, 2020, 2020) as well as the changing laws and politics of the election of the burgh council (2020).

Following the launch of a successful module in Scottish legal history, she also co-authored the discipline’s first textbook (2017) and has contributed to another textbook on the sources and nature of Scots law (2019); these student-focused works sit alongside her other work on pedagogy (2013).

She was also the co-editor of a collected volume with a substantial legal history focus (2016) and is co-editor of a forthcoming three-volume series on the development of Scots commercial law (2026-28). 

She has undertaken various public engagement projects in legal history, including to develop public databases (2014) and historic walking tour apps (2016, 2016), and has appeared on the BBC Antiques Roadshow (2020). She has also written various reviews and conference reports in the field of legal history.

In 2018, she developed a teaching-led research interest in abortion law, including the judicial review of the introduction of home abortion (2018, 2019) and the process of preservation of telemedical abortion (2022). She has examined the intersection of abortion law with public law concerns of parliamentary legislative processes, devolution and human rights (2019) and has a book chapter in press on global comparative trends in abortion law (2028). She has appeared on STV Scotland Tonight, BBC Radio North East and Northsound One in relation to abortion law issues.

It was through this work that she found a love for public law. She was seconded on a part-time basis to the Scottish Parliament during Brexit, co-authoring three briefing papers for MPs on the process of correcting Retained EU Law (2021), the impact on the devolved settlement (2021) and the challenges encountered in scrutiny (2021). She thereafter published on the subsequent scrutiny processes for correction of REUL (2023) and on the application of the REUL (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023 (2024). This latter publication drew on her advice to the House of Commons Scrutiny Committee during oral evidence sessions, in 2022 before the introduction of that Act and in 2023 during the early stages of its implementation.

Her other work on Brexit included her analysis of the early stages of the case of Wightman (2018, 2018, 2018), which was subsequently cited in the European Court of Justice when the case reached that court. She advised BBC News Reality Check on this case, Article 50 and its constitutional implications.

Her work in public law has maintained a strong focus on legislation. This includes delegated legislation, a theme and interest which she has also explored regarding immigration and student finance (2023) and in an ongoing project on the nature and use of delegated legislation. It also includes the legislative process, both in terms of pre-enactment review processes (2025) and in an ongoing project on the legislative challenges and powers relevant to the domestic incorporation of international law.

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Contact

Professor Adelyn Wilson
Head Of School
Law

Email: adelyn.wilson@strath.ac.uk
Tel: Unlisted