Assistant Professor; Academic Secretary of the Faculty of Law

Brian's research interests lie mainly in the fields of property law and family law (broadly conceived), covering jurisdictions including England & Wales, Australia, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore and Scotland.

Brian's first monograph, Informal Carers and Private Law, was published by Hart in December 2012. It concerned the use of private law remedies to support informal carers. The book was awarded one of the University of Cambridge's Yorke Prizes in 2014. Brian also publishes on the application of property law in the domestic sphere, the law of succession, the regulation of adult relationships, gender recognition, the law concerning capacity of adults and the law of adoption. His work on adoption was cited by the Supreme Court in In the matter of B (a child) [2013] UKSC 33 and the Scottish Law Commission in its discussion paper on cohabitation.

Outside the sphere of the law relating to "domestic" life, Brian has written on the law of charities, particularly the status of "private" schools. Brian's current research on charities concerns the relationship between charity law and disability.