Who got that job?

Marc McGee
University of Bristol
City Solicitor's Educational Trust
Lecturer in Contract & Tort

Job advertised in The Times Higher , February 6 2004

Marc McGee is living proof that cross-border relations can work - in academia at least.

The law graduate from Glasgow University has just been appointed lecturer in contract and tort law at Bristol University, a job funded by the City Solicitors' Educational Trust for three years.

McGee plans to complete his PhD at Bristol in June next year. His area of research is the relationship between law and the economy, particularly with regard to large companies.

Despite being educated in Scotland, which has a different legal system, he will be able to teach in England. But to practise law he would probably have to undergo a conversion course.

"Obviously, as a lecturer I am aware of any differences, and in fact this brings an added dimension to the teaching," he says.

He has taught undergraduates over the past three years to supplement his income, and he intends to carry on doing so.

But the real focus of McGee's next three years will be research. The fact that he has a starting salary of £26,000 as opposed to a grant from the university of about £9,000 is a welcome change. And he intends to stay in academia.

"When I began my PhD, I did think about being a company lawyer. But academic life suits me. I feel I am treated as an individual here rather than as a cog in a big machine.

"I am not attracted by the thought of a large salary - I have traded that for a better quality of job."

Claire Sanders