Professor Tom Mullen
- Professor of Law (School of Law)
telephone:
01413304179
email:
Tom.Mullen@glasgow.ac.uk
pronouns:
He/him/his
R1/23, Law, Stair Building, Glasgow G12 8QQ
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4731-5432Biography
Tom Mullen studied law at the University of Glasgow (LLB, 1980) then at Harvard Law School (LLM, 1981). He has been successively lecturer in public law (1983-1992), senior lecturer in law (1992-2003) and professor of law (2003-) at the University of Glasgow. He was for several years convener of the board of the Legal Services Agency, a community-controlled law centre, and has acted as expert adviser to the House of Commons Select Committee on Scottish Affairs (1996-1997).
Research interests
- Constitutional law
- Administrative law and Administrative Justice
- Housing law
Constitutional Law
Over the last few years I have been working on the Scottish constitutional question researching issues relating to independence and devolution. I am a founder member of the Scottish Constitutional Futures Forum. Currently, I am also researching the implications of Brexit for the UK constitution and have been jointly awarded with Professor David Heald an Impact Acceleration Award, ‘Communicating Brexit's Impact on the Law, Governance and Public Finances of the UK, Devolved Nations and the Republic of Ireland.’
Administrative law and Administrative Justice
I have done extensive research on issues of administrative justice including the roles of complaints, ombudsmen, tribunals and courts in achieving justice for citizens in their dealings with government. I was a member of the Administrative Justice Steering Group (2008-2009) which published the report, 'Administrative Justice in Scotland – The Way Forward' (2009) and was until recently a member of the Scottish Tribunals and Administrative Justice Advisory Committee (appointed by the Scottish Government). I am a member of the core team of the UK Administrative Justice Institute project on building capacity in administrative justice. I am currently writing a book, 'Administrative Justice in the UK'.
Housing law
I have carried out research into many aspects of housing law including landlord and tenant law in both the social rented sector and private sector and the law of homelessness. I recently contributed three chapters to the leading work on landlord and tenant law, Rennie et al, 'Leases' (W. Green: Edinburgh, 2015).
Grants
Professor Mullen has been awarded the following grants:
2015
£2,000 awarded by The Scottish Housing Regulator to Professor Tom Mullen for delivering training on homelessness law.
2011
Prof Tom Mullen secured funding of £2,000 from The Clark Foundation for Legal Education to host two Workshops on Scotland's Constitutional Future: the legal issues, in collaboration with Prof Stephen Tierney of Edinburgh University.
2002
Scottish Executive “Human Rights in Scottish Courts Research” awarded to Prof Jim Murdoch and Prof Tom Mullen, University of Glasgow and Prof Alan Miller, University of Strathclyde. Conducting research into the use of new human rights remedies which became available in Scotland following devolution under the Scotland Act 1998 and the implementation of the Human Rights Act 1998.
Supervision
I offer PhD and research masters supervision in constitutional law (including the Scottish independence debates), administrative law (including judicial review and administrative justice) and housing law. Past and current research students have undertaken research into the impact of citizens’ remedies on public administration, ombudsmen, the territorial dimension of the UK constitution, immigration control and the European convention on human rights, homelessness, unrepresented litigants in the Scottish Courts, the constitutional impact of Brexit and administrative law in Saudi Arabia.
Research Students under supervision
Budur Alnefaie - 'The role of the ombudsman in protection human rights in the UK compared with the legal situation in Saudi Arabia'
Denis Brady - 'Constitutionally, what now for Northern Ireland and Scotland following the EU Referendum of 23 June 2016?' (LLM by Research)
Rai Ahmad Khan - 'The role of domestic and EU courts in assessing margin of appreciation available to member states in Article 8 of the ECHR perspective'
Additional information
Professor Tom Mullen appeared on the University of Glasgow's Spotlight podcast in February 2023 to discuss Section 35 of the Scotland Act and its recent use by the UK Government to prevent the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill. You can listen to his interview on the School of Law's YouTube channel.
