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Elizabeth Conaghan is an Associate Professor and Director of Mooting and Advocacy at the School of Law. She is a former practising barrister and was a tenant at chambers in Gray’s Inn Square. She was a scholar of The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple and a previous winner of The Times Law Award, in conjunction with 1 Essex Court. During her second year of tenancy, she was seconded to the Supreme Court for a year to work as a judicial assistant. She later worked as a lawyer in central government dealing with public law and human rights litigation.

Prior to undertaking legal training, Elizabeth did an undergraduate degree in Physiology and Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford. 

Elizabeth is a founding member of Law TALEs (Theatre and Art in Legal Education), a national network of academics who share similar pedagogic interests.

In 2019, she initiated and produced a staff-student production of The Disappearance of Miss Bebb, a play written by Alex Giles about the campaign for women to be allowed to practise law. The play was inspired by an article written by Emerita Professor Rosemary Auchmuty about the life of Gwyneth Bebb. The play formed part of the ‘100 Years of Women’s Voices Programme’ which Elizabeth devised and led. 

In 2022, Elizabeth began working on GLITCH, a play about the Post Office Horizon Scandal. She raised £20,000 through various funding schemes and commissioned a playwright, Zannah Kearns, to write the script. The resulting play was a research-led drama based on court transcripts and the playwright's interviews with local subpostmistress Pam Stubbs, who was a key witness in Bates  v Post Office. 

Students who were part of the play’s development said it helped them to gain ‘a more personal view’ of the case. 

, the award winning professional theatre company, collaborated with the University on the play’s staging in July 2024.  All performances were sold out, and it garnered excellent reviews in the local and national press, and from postmasters who kindly supported it. A student-led production followed later that year. 

Elizabeth oversees the provision of co-curricular activities at the School of Law with Dr Stuart Lakin. Since 2023, advocacy activities have been run at a School level in collaboration with students, and external partners. Diversity and inclusion are defining features, both in the recruitment of students and in the types of sessions we run. All students are welcome. Students are able to develop key employability skills and deepen their understanding of the core curriculum through the presentation of legal argument in ‘real world’ situations. The School of Law has partnered with 狼友社区 Magistrates Court, 狼友社区 Crown Court, and 狼友社区 Borough Council’s Legal Team to create authentic advocacy opportunities. The School of Law’s collaboration with the Magistrates Court featured on this  by HMCTS.

Elizabeth and Dr Benjamin Thorne have also worked with students to develop an innovative form of advocacy called ‘The Café Moot’, which aims to create a more informal setting and break down some of the traditional barriers to law school advocacy.