Vinny Kennedy

Assistant Professor

School: Northumbria School of Law

Vinny joined Northumbria's Law School in 2018. She qualified as a solicitor in 2006 specialising in Private Client (wills, estates, trusts, mental capacity). Vinny believes that her practice background positively impacts on her approach to teaching and research. Students have the benefit of real-life examples of the theoretical law that they are learning. This helps them to better place such theories into context, assisting the development of their understanding of the law.

Vinny teaches on a number of undergraduate and postgraduate modules, which are predominantly aligned to her practice background. Such modules include Equity & Trusts, Wills & Estate Administration as well as supervision of students in the Student Law Office. Vinny also has experience as a programme leader, making her familiar with Departmental and University policies and strategies.

Campus Address

Campus East 1

Email Vinny

Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

As a solicitor Vinny is aware of the importance of balancing theory and practice. As such Vinny has published and presented on clinical legal education and the impact of such on students and the profession.

Having focused on Private Client for so many years Vinny's research interests focuses on the provision of adult social care. Currently Vinny is working on understanding the implementation of the well-being principle under the Care Act 2014 within existing constraints. Research being undertaken centres around the voice of the individual within local authority decision making, and ways in which this could be developed to reduce epistemic injustice. Vinny adopts a thematic analysis methodlogoy to analyse data, using theories such as epistemic injustice, capabilities approach and relational autonomy to make sense of the findings in a socio-legal context.

Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Attracting, recruiting, and retaining registered nurses and care workers in care homes: the REACH Realist Review, Devi, R., Haunch, K., Dalkin, S., Bate, A., King, N., Wright, J., Jones, L., Goodman, C., Winterburn, K., Feenan, E., Kennedy, V., Spilsbury, K. 1 Jun 2026, In: Health and Social Care Delivery Research
Undue pressure or moral obligation: religious gifting and undue influence, Kennedy, V. 23 Jun 2021, In: The Journal of Adult Protection
Clinical Legal Education as Solicitor Qualifying Work Experience, Roper, V., Dunn, R., Kennedy, V. 12 Jun 2020, The Clinical Legal Education Handbook, London, Institute of Advanced Legal Studies
Not the beginning of the end: The tension between pure testamentary freedom and self-imposed moral restrictions, a case for formalising limitations, Kennedy, V. 12 Nov 2020, In: The Conveyancer and Property Lawyer
Pro Bono Legal Work: The disconnect between saying you’ll do it and doing it, Kennedy, V. 25 Jul 2019, In: International Journal of Clinical Legal Education
Clinical Legal Education as Qualifying Work Experience, Dunn, R., Roper, V., Kennedy, V. 25 Jun 2018, The Legal Education and Training Review - Five Years On
Clinical Legal Education as Qualifying Work Experience for Solicitors, Dunn, R., Roper, V., Kennedy, V. Oct 2018, In: Law Teacher