Memorial plaque for Kent Law Clinic founding Director Adrian Taylor

A plaque honouring the memory of Kent Law Clinic founding Director Adrian Taylor has been unveiled in the Wigoder Law Building.

Adrian Taylor, a lecturer in law at Kent from 1967 to 1977, was the foremost pioneer of clinical legal education in the UK and became the founding Director of Kent Law Clinic (the first university-based law clinic in the UK) in November 1973. He later became a patron of the Kent Law Campaign (together with his wife Yvette Gibson), helping to champion the £5m campaign to raise funds for the Wigoder Law Building, the new home for Kent Law Clinic that was officially opened by the Rt Honourable the Baroness Hale of Richmond and principal benefactor The Honourable Charles Wigoder in October 2016.

After his retirement and two years before his death at the age of 79, Adrian returned to Kent Law School in 2012 to deliver a lecture on the history of clinical legal education to a rapt audience of Kent staff and students. The full text of this lecture was reproduced in a special memorial booklet for those who attended the unveiling of his memorial plaque within the new Law Clinic office on Saturday 19 November.

The memorial event was organised by Adrian’s former student Professor Richard de Friend, a former law lecturer at Kent Law School and former Pro-Vice-Chancellor in the University. More than 30 guests attended the unveiling ceremony including Adrian’s widow, Yvette, members of Adrian’s family, and many former students and colleagues who had worked with him in the Clinic.

Amongst the guests were also Lucy Scott-Moncrieff (the current Standards Commissioner for the House of Lords) and His Honour Judge Peter Thornton QC (former Chief Coroner of England and Wales).