Annika Newnham

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+44 (0) 118 378 7515
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Associate Professor
Module convenor for LLB Family Law
Areas of interest
- Child law
- Autopoietic theory
- The common intention constructive trust
Annika Newnham's research has focused on the different conditions for post-separation parenting in the two jurisdictions. It employs both autopoietic theory and a feminist perspective to consider how concepts like family, equality and parenthood are understood in the two countries, and examines law's over-reliance on rigid definitions and abstract presumptions as well as its inability to recognise the true value of care.
She has recently completed research into how courts decide contact and residence disputes with Dr Maebh Harding at the University of Warwick. Funded by the Nuffield Foundation, the project looks particularly at shared parenting, but also at the interaction between private and public child law, and aims to contribute to policy debate and law reform.
Engaging with the practitioner and policy communities has involved speaking at the Hampshire Family Court Forum and the Westminster Legal Policy Keynote Seminars on Family Justice. She is Joint Stream Convenor of Family Law for the Socio-Legal Studies Association's Annual Conferences.
Another current research interest is the common intention constructive trust and its use to reallocate ex-cohabitants' interests in family homes. She has argued for a greater recognition of the value of care in this context, too, and for a move away from outdated property-law based interpretations of intention.
Background
Annika Newnham joined the School of Law in 2014, having previously worked at the University of Portsmouth and Sussex University. She is originally from Sweden, but moved to England in 1988.
Academic qualifications
DPhil, LLM, LLB, Fellow of the Higher Education AcademySelected publications
- Harding, M & Newnham, A, "Initial Research Findings: The Typical Levels of Parental Involvement where Post-Separation Parenting is Resolved by Court Order" (2014) Family Law 672–675.
- Newnham, A, "Common Intention Constructive Trusts: A Way Forward" (2013) Family Law 718–721.
- Newnham, A, "Shared Residence: Lessons from Sweden" (2011) Child and Family Law Quarterly 251–267.
- "Law's Gendered Understandings of Parents' Responsibilities in Relation to Shared Residence" in J Bridgeman, H Keating and C Lind (eds), Regulating Family Responsibilities (Ashgate 2011) 137–151.
Publications
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Millmore, A.
ORCID: 0000-0002-8626-0713 and Newnham, A. (2024) Embedding employability and authenticity into assessment by running a mock case. In: Millmore, A. , (eds.) How to Include Employability in the Law School. Edward Elgar
- Millmore, A. , Newnham, A. , Bennett, M. , Chew, T. , Davies, J. , Fuller, T. (2020) Reflections on a student-staff partnership: collaborative design of module assessments. Teaching and Learning Together in Higher Education , 1 (31). ISSN: 2381-4268
- Newnham, A. (2018) Private child law. In: Lamont, R. , (eds.) Family Law. Oxford University Press ISBN: 9780198749653
- Harding, M. and Newnham, A. (2017) Section 8 orders on the public-private law divide. Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law , 39 (1). pp. 83-101. ISSN: 1469-9621 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09649069.2016.1177256
- Newnham, A. and Harding, M. (2016) Sharing as caring? Contact and residence disputes between parents. Child and Family Law Quarterly , 28 (2). pp. 175-196. ISSN: 1358-8184
- Newnham, A. (2015) Shared parenting, law and policy: considering power within the framework of autopoietic theory. International Journal of Law in Context , 11 (4). pp. 426-443. ISSN: 1744-5531 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1744552315000282
- Harding, M. and Newnham, A. (2014) How do County Courts share care of children between parents? . University of Warwick , Warwick. pp 142.