Benchmarks: Two Common Law Judicial Systems Divided by History
5:00pm - 6:30pm /
Tuesday 15th July 2025
/ Venue: SLSJ Events Space (ground floor) School of Law & Social Justice
Type: Seminar /
Category: Department
- SLSJ Marketing, Recruitment and Events Team
- Admission: Free Admission
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Presenters:
Judge Wendy Beetlestone (Chancellor of the University of Liverpool and Judge of the United States District Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania)
Judge Mark Cawson KC (Specialist Circuit Judge sitting in the High Court, Business and Property Court in Manchester)
Moderator:
Professor Fiona Beveridge (University of Liverpool)
Moderated by Professor Fiona Beveridge, Judge Wendy Beetlestone and Judge Mark Cawson, both Liverpool graduates and past sabbatical officers of the Guild of Undergraduates, will discuss the commonalities and differences around their respective roles as judges sitting in the US and the UK.
They will discuss the Rule of Law, the foundational principle underpinning both countries’ jurisprudence, and, with the benefit of their experiences, discuss issues such as judicial appointment and independence, differences in civil and criminal procedure, judicial manner, access to justice and diversity of the judiciary, as well as reflecting on the contrast between life on the Bench and practice as lawyers.
Bio's
THE HONORABLE WENDY BEETLESTONE
Wendy Beetlestone, the Chancellor of and honorary degree recipient from the University of Liverpool, is a Judge of the United States District Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. She is also a proud philosophy graduate of the University of Liverpool. While at Liverpool she served as one of the sabbatical officers of the Guild of Undergraduates and as the Editor in Chief of the student newspaper, the Guild and City Gazette.
Judge Beetlestone is an adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School where she has taught a seminar on Public Education Law and teaches a seminar on Remedies and Strategic Litigation. She chairs the Third Circuit Model Jury Instructions Committee. She has been a member of the American Law Institute since 2019 and serves as an advisor on Restatement of the Law Third Torts: Defamation and Privacy as well as Restatement of the Law of Constitutional Torts.
HIS HONOUR JUDGE (MARK) CAWSON KC
Mark Cawson graduated in Law from Liverpool University in 1980, and, following graduation, served as a sabbatical officer in the Guild of Undergraduates.
He was called to the Bar in 1982, and practiced as a barrister from Chambers in Manchester and London until 2020, specialising in company, insolvency, professional negligence, commercial property and commercial contract disputes. He became a QC (now KC) in 2001, and is a former Chair of the Northern Circuit Commercial Bar Association and the Northern Chancery Bar Association.
Having sat part time as a Recorder and Deputy High Court Judge for a number of years, Judge Cawson was appointed as a full time Specialist Circuit Judge, sitting in the Business and Property Courts, in November 2020. In this capacity, he sits on a wide range of business and property related cases in the High Court in Manchester, and also in London. He also sits on public law work in the Administrative Court.
PROFESSOR FIONA BEVERIDGE
Fiona is Executive Pro-Vice-Chancellor for the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Liverpool. Fiona is a Professor of Law, specialising in international and EU law, in particular foreign investment law and gender equality law and policy.
She has a particular expertise in gender mainstreaming (that is, the idea that gender concerns should be addressed systematically in all areas and by all actors) and how this is implemented in international institutions, the EU, and in individual states. In the UK this approach is best exemplified by the Public Sector Equality Duty, now contained in the Equality Act 2010.
She has completed two studies for the European Parliament FEMM Committee, ‘A New Strategy for Gender Equality Post 2015’ and ‘The EU Budget for Gender Equality’.
Fiona is Chair of the Board of the University of Liverpool Press."
Judge Wendy Beetlestone (Chancellor of the University of Liverpool and Judge of the United States District Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania)
Judge Mark Cawson KC (Specialist Circuit Judge sitting in the High Court, Business and Property Court in Manchester)
Moderator:
Professor Fiona Beveridge (University of Liverpool)
Moderated by Professor Fiona Beveridge, Judge Wendy Beetlestone and Judge Mark Cawson, both Liverpool graduates and past sabbatical officers of the Guild of Undergraduates, will discuss the commonalities and differences around their respective roles as judges sitting in the US and the UK.
They will discuss the Rule of Law, the foundational principle underpinning both countries’ jurisprudence, and, with the benefit of their experiences, discuss issues such as judicial appointment and independence, differences in civil and criminal procedure, judicial manner, access to justice and diversity of the judiciary, as well as reflecting on the contrast between life on the Bench and practice as lawyers.
Bio's
THE HONORABLE WENDY BEETLESTONE
Wendy Beetlestone, the Chancellor of and honorary degree recipient from the University of Liverpool, is a Judge of the United States District Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. She is also a proud philosophy graduate of the University of Liverpool. While at Liverpool she served as one of the sabbatical officers of the Guild of Undergraduates and as the Editor in Chief of the student newspaper, the Guild and City Gazette.
Judge Beetlestone is an adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School where she has taught a seminar on Public Education Law and teaches a seminar on Remedies and Strategic Litigation. She chairs the Third Circuit Model Jury Instructions Committee. She has been a member of the American Law Institute since 2019 and serves as an advisor on Restatement of the Law Third Torts: Defamation and Privacy as well as Restatement of the Law of Constitutional Torts.
HIS HONOUR JUDGE (MARK) CAWSON KC
Mark Cawson graduated in Law from Liverpool University in 1980, and, following graduation, served as a sabbatical officer in the Guild of Undergraduates.
He was called to the Bar in 1982, and practiced as a barrister from Chambers in Manchester and London until 2020, specialising in company, insolvency, professional negligence, commercial property and commercial contract disputes. He became a QC (now KC) in 2001, and is a former Chair of the Northern Circuit Commercial Bar Association and the Northern Chancery Bar Association.
Having sat part time as a Recorder and Deputy High Court Judge for a number of years, Judge Cawson was appointed as a full time Specialist Circuit Judge, sitting in the Business and Property Courts, in November 2020. In this capacity, he sits on a wide range of business and property related cases in the High Court in Manchester, and also in London. He also sits on public law work in the Administrative Court.
PROFESSOR FIONA BEVERIDGE
Fiona is Executive Pro-Vice-Chancellor for the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Liverpool. Fiona is a Professor of Law, specialising in international and EU law, in particular foreign investment law and gender equality law and policy.
She has a particular expertise in gender mainstreaming (that is, the idea that gender concerns should be addressed systematically in all areas and by all actors) and how this is implemented in international institutions, the EU, and in individual states. In the UK this approach is best exemplified by the Public Sector Equality Duty, now contained in the Equality Act 2010.
She has completed two studies for the European Parliament FEMM Committee, ‘A New Strategy for Gender Equality Post 2015’ and ‘The EU Budget for Gender Equality’.
Fiona is Chair of the Board of the University of Liverpool Press."