School of Law

Kirsty Moreton is a non-practicing Barrister and joined Keele Law School as a Lecturer in Ethics in September 2015, having previously taught at the University of Birmingham between 2012-2015. Her research focuses on the Feminist Ethics of Care and its applicability to healthcare decision-making involving children.

Kirsty graduated from the University of Wales- Aberystwyth with an LLB (Hons) degree in 1995 and was awarded the Calcott Pryce prizes for her academic performance in the subjects of Evidence and Civil Liberties & Human Rights. She subsequently completed her Bar Vocational Course at the Inns of Court School of Law and was called to the Bar by Gray’s Inn in 1996. Since 1999, she has been a Senior Partner in a Birmingham Marketing and Design Firm. In 2012 she completed an LLM in Criminal Law and Criminal Justice at the University of Birmingham, receiving the highest mark in the cohort and graduating with Distinction. She was also runner-up in the University's Postgraduate Cup Mooting Competition for 2012. Her Masters Dissertation on Personality-Disordered Offenders in the Criminal Justice System was shortlisted for the Howard League on Penal Reform's National John Sunley Prize in 2013. She became an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in 2013.

• LLB (Hons) – University of Wales, Aberystwyth- 1995
• Bar Vocational Couse – Inns of Court School of Law- 1996
• Barrister at Law – Gray’s Inn- Call November 1996
• LLM Criminal Law and Criminal Justice (Distinction) - University of Birmingham – 2012.
• AFHEA - Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy - 2013.

Kirsty’s research interests are broad and encompass the fields of Criminal Law, Family Law, Mental Health, Ethics, and Human Rights. Her Masters’ research focused on Anti-Social Personality Disorder and how it is addressed within the Criminal Justice System. Her Doctoral research explores the feminist ethics of care and its validity as a workable ethical approach in addressing medical decision-making for and by children in the middle years of childhood. She has also researched and published on palliative care and the Liverpool Care Pathway, court - ordered caesarean sections, the interplay between ethics and law, and child decision-making in the context of abortion.

Papers and Presentations:

• 'Caring in the Middle: Reviving the Best Interests Test for Healthcare Decision-Making in Mid-Childhood' - Care and Relationality Workshop, University of Birmingham - June 2014.
• 'The Boundaries of Best Interests in Mid-Childhood' - PGR Conference University of Birmingham - 'Transcending the Boundaries in the Law' - June 2014.
• 'How to talk about your research' - PGR Workshop, College of Arts and Law, University of Birmingham- April 2014.
• 'Vulnerability in Death: The Liverpool Care Pathway Controversy and the Feminist Ethics of Care' - PECANS Workshop - 'Encounters with Vulnerability' - University of Newcastle - November 2013.
• 'The History and Legal Implications of the Feminist Ethics of Care' - PhD Forum University of Birmingham - June 2013.
• LLM Dissertation : 'Mad, Bad or Dangerous? Tracing the Journey of a Personality-Disordered Offnder through the Criminal Justice System in a Modern Risk-Society'. Shortlisted for the National John Sunley prize - Howard League for Penal Reform - May 2013.