Dr Alan Brown
- Senior Lecturer (School of Law)
telephone:
01413305236
email:
Alan.Brown.2@glasgow.ac.uk
Biography
Alan Brown joined the School of Law as a Lecturer in Private Law in 2018, having previously been a Lecturer in Law at Abertay University (2017-18), and was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2022. He holds an LLB (University of Strathclyde, 2008) and PhD (University of Strathclyde, 2016).
His research interests are primarily in the field of family law, focusing on the construction of the family and parenthood within the law, particularly in the context of assisted reproduction, surrogacy and non-traditional families.
His monograph, ‘What is the Family of Law? – The Influence of the Nuclear Family’, which involves a discursive and theoretical analysis of the definition and construction of ‘family’ within the law, is available from Hart Publishing.
He has presented his work at various academic conferences, both nationally and internationally, and is a member of various academic organisations and networks.
Research interests
His research explores how the law understands and defines the family and familial relationships (particularly that between parent and child).
His research is currently focussed on the legal regulation of parenthood in the context of assisted reproductive technologies. This involves considering the legislative and judicial response to those factual situations (such as surrogacy and ‘home based’ insemination involving known sperm donors) which do not fit easily into the pre-existing and orthodox legal understanding of parenthood.
In that way, as well as family law, his research also touches on aspects of medical law, bioethics and critical legal theory.
Supervision
Dr Brown would be happy to consider inquiries from students in all areas of family law, for either a doctrinal, socio-legal or theoretical perspective.
Research students under supervision
- Zheng, Congwei
Study on the phenomenon of surrogacy among gay men in China
Teaching
- Family Law (Level 1)
- Property Law (Level 2)
- Issues of Family Law (Level 4)
- Business Law (Level 1)
Additional information
Book Review Editor of Juridical Review, the Law Journal of the Scottish Universities
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
Member of the International Society of Family Law, Socio Legal Studies Association and Society of Legal Scholars
Research Assistant on the 7th edition of Professor Joe Thomson’s Textbook, ‘Family Law in Scotland’ (2014)
Regular 'host' of the University of Glasgow's School of Law podcast: https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/law/podcast/
Interview with Professor Jane Mair on the subject of his monograph 'What is the Family of Law?' on the School of Law podcast: https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/law/podcast/alanbrown/