Teaching
John was appointed to his first academic post at Kingston Law School in August 2003 as a Lecturer in Law. He has subsequently been promoted to Senior Lecturer in Law (2004) and KPMG Lecturer in Restructuring (2007).
As a legal historian John is a keen admirer of the giants in his two main disciplines. In company law the works of, inter alia: Kahn-Freund, Berle, Means, Dodd, Wedderburn and Gower and in insolvency law the works of, inter alia: Bacon, Montagu, and Cork, all feature heavily. In his general approach John seeks to posit all of his teaching and research in its wider historical context. His general approach to both activities attempts to adhere to Maitland's famous dictum (citing Chalmers), not that to succeed as a lawyer you should live like a hermit and work like a horse, but rather that you cannot be truly counted as learned in the law without a thorough appreciation of the historical roots of any given subject.
John lectures company law on the LLB and LLM, equity and trusts on the LLB and insolvency law on the LLM at Kingston University. He also takes tutorials for company law, equity and trusts, and insolvency law.
John has also taught company law as a visiting lecturer at Beijing Normal University, Peoples' Republic of China, in November 2004 and in April 2006. He also taught insolvency law at undergraduate and postgraduate level as a guest teacher at the London School of Economics and Political Science, University of London, in the Lent term 2008 covering Professor Finch's sabbatical. John was short-listed (one of five candidates) for the Law Teacher of the Year Award 2008. John obtained a PGCE in 2004.
John is an external examiner at Anglia Ruskin University, Anglia Law School and a member of Kingston University's Faculty of Business and Law Research Committee and a co-opted member of the Faculty Quality Enhancement Committee (regarding Turnitin).