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Early Life and Education
Anu Arora was born on the 17th November 1954, in Chandigarh, India. Her mother was Rajinder Kaur. Her father was Mohinder Singh Arora, who came to the UK in 1961 to complete his Bar Finals. Anu, her sister, Joyti and their mother all travelled to England in early 1963, and the family settled in Wolverhampton, in the West Midlands.
One of Anu’s memories of life in India is that she did not like school or studying. She loved the day off from school when the then Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, visited Chandigarh and the school went to welcome the then Prime Minister of India – she waived the mini-Indian flag to her heart's content, celebrating the fact school was cancelled for the day. During the summer holidays, she and her sister, Jyoti, along with their mother, would travel to her grandmother’s house in Amritsar, where she, her sister and all the cousins would have a tutor each afternoon to keep schooling going. Anu was the one who would go missing when it came for time for the tutor to arrive (hiding in different wardrobes around the house or going to a different aunt each day and pretending she didn’t feel well).
However, all that seemed to change when she moved to Wolverhampton and started senior school, Highfields School. She was placed in the bottom group in the year. Having attended an English-speaking school in India, language was not a huge barrier and she worked her way through the school system to join the top sets in the year (except in Maths) and was allowed to take GCSE’s and A levels. When it came to careers advise given by the school, she was informed by the careers teacher that Indian girls don’t go to university and certainly don’t study Law – they become nurses or primary school teachers and she should consider these more realistic options. Anu’s father informed her that she didn’t need to attend any further careers sessions arranged by the school and he would act as her careers advisor.
University Studies
Having gained her LLB degree from Birmingham University, Anu went on to complete her Bar Finals in 1977. However, she decided not to do a pupillage and returned to undertake her postgraduate studies at Birmingham University. Both undergraduate and postgraduate studies were very different in the 1970s, with long hours spent in the law library and handwritten submissions. Anu remembers her thesis on Banking Law being typed on an electronic typewriter, which a professional typist had just purchased. Too many errors on a page meant the whole page had to be retyped. Whilst undertaking her research degree, Anu undertook some part-time teaching to support her studies. Her hourly paid teaching (just over £6 an hour) allowed her little perks, like being able to afford a bit of petrol in her first car – an orange mini.
On completion of her studies, Anu considered working in the City of London, but whilst looking for a suitable post, she applied for and obtained a one-year lecturing post in the Law School at the former Leicester Polytechnic in September 1980. She started work in the Faculty of Law at Liverpool University in 1981, teaching Company Law and Tax Law to final-year LLB degree students. Anu introduced Banking Law as an optional subject for final-year students: an innovative subject taught in very few law schools at the time. In 1983, Anu applied for and obtained a lecturing post in the Faculty of Law at Queen Mary College, London, where she taught Commercial Law, including Banking Law, and Equity and Trusts. Working and living in London was a wonderful experience but she missed being able to drive work! She was looking for a move out of London when the then Head of School suggested she come back to Liverpool, and she was sold on the move when he said, ‘Better the devil I know than the one I don’t.’ It probably would be allowed these days, but she was re-appointed and returned to Liverpool Law Faculty without an interview.
As Anu says, she fell into academic life accidentally, but decades later, she loves her job and student contact. Having worked full-time for many years, she now works part-time in the Law School at Liverpool University and, to date, has no plans to retire.
Anu has had an extremely rewarding and enjoyable career in Liverpool, having progressed from lecturer to senior lecturer and to a personal chair in 1996. She has made a full contribution to the teaching, administrative and research to the life of the Law Faculty, now the School of Law. She has been a lynch pin in the delivery of commercial law-based subjects to the now Law School, carrying a considerable teaching load even during her years as Dean of Law (2000-2009).
Anu also made an extensive contribution to University management, often joking that in one person the relevant committee was represented by a woman, a lawyer, and an ethnic minority. She served for three terms on the University Council and for a long period on the University Senate, as well as other committees.
As Dean of Law, Anu saw considerable changes to the now Law School, its staff, and programmes. The school expanded its student population and its academic and support staff. Whilst, expanding the size of the student population and placing an emphasis on skills, the Law Clinic was established, with the Clinic initially open two afternoons a week and only during term time. The funding for various projects, including staff research leave and the Law Clinic staff, was fragile. The Law School, therefore, looked for other sources of income through which the school would obtain an element of additional income from the University – the international student market was an opportunity to grow the diversity of the student population but also allow the School and income stream through which staff and students could expand their activity. The school developed the UK University Transfer Scheme in cooperation with colleges in Malaysia. These links have grown and proven to be extremely successful. To some extent, she treated the school as a business and the staff/student population as her children – hopefully supportive and helpful but firm when required. Being Dean of Law was a challenge, but the little successes made her job rewarding and enjoyable.
Publications
Anu Arora has published widely with her publications in major commercial law legal journals like the Company Law and the Journal of Business Law. Her main area of my research is Banking Law, and she has written extensively in this area. Her publications include a ground-breaking monograph on Electronic Banking & the Law; a co-authored book on Practical Banking and Building Society Law; and a sole-authored book on Banking Law.
Her published articles include: The Duty to Report under the Money Laundering Legislation within the UK; The Collapse of BCCI and Bank Regulation in the UK; Unfair Contract Terms in International Banking Contracts; EU Responses to the 2007-2009 Financial Crisis; A global Financial Crisis, A Global Financial Regulator, Journal of Business Law; Failings in Bank Governance.
She has also published in the field of Company law.
Life beyond the Law School
In 1985, Anu married David Gallacher, then a lecturer in Physiology and the Dental School, at the University of Liverpool. Whilst careers progression became a friendly competition, their joint passion was raising their young family. They had two daughters, Amy and Nicola, who are now both dentists. Amy is a consultant Orthodontist with Nicola, a trainee paediatric consultant. Both girls followed in their dad’s footsteps, and both decided to move away from the Law. Their mother couldn’t be prouder of them and her whole family. Anu owes her success to her daughters, who have kept her grounded during some challenging times, both professionally and personally.
Anu loves to travel, having travelled the world for holidays, to see family and for work. She now travels with her children and her sister and brother-in-law, often meeting them in different parts of the world. She enjoys good food and loves shopping.
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