About
Research interests: UK constitutional law; social media and the law; public/private interface; celebrity and the law; EU constitutional law; the law of the internal market; EU citizenship law; fundamental rights
Stephanie has been a Senior Lecturer at the School of Law and Social Justice since October 2017. Before this, she was a lecturer at the School from September 2013 and a Graduate Teaching Fellow from October 2010. She is a graduate of L'Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and the University of Liverpool, completing her PhD at the latter institution in March 2015. She is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and, currently, an online Research Fellow at the Information Society Law Centre, University of Milan. Stephanie sits on the steering committee of the Liverpool Public Law Unit and is a member of the organising committee for the 2025 Society of Legal Scholars Association conference. Prior to joining the School, Stephanie worked in policy and communications at the Merseyside Brussels Office (now part of the Liverpool City Region).
Stephanie's area of expertise falls primarily within UK and EU constitutional law. Her current projects concern 'Locations of Public Law' and query where constitutional law happens in the UK's contemporary political constitution. Stephanie is particularly interested in extra-parliamentary sources of constitutional activity within this framework, especially the constitutional impact of private actors like Marcus Rashford and Elon Musk, and the questions of accountability, representation and legitimacy that they introduce to this broader notion of the political constitution. Linked to this, Stephanie's work explores the capacity of social media to boost the constitutional effects of these players and the checks and balances that can feasibly be put in place in relation to new media as a 'fifth estate' of government. Stephanie currently runs a seminar series 'The Public/Private Interface in Public Law' to kick-start the debate on these pertinent questions.
Stephanie's past work, in which she retains an active interest, concerned EU constitutional law, the internal market, EU citizenship and fundamental rights. Her doctoral thesis analysed the European Court of Justice's approach to adjudicating tensions between the EU Treaty's free movement provisions and fundamental rights. It posited that a perceived judicial bias for free movement over fundamental rights was actually caused by historically embedded constitutional drivers that create a structural preference for free movement. The thesis then assessed rights balancing as an alternative adjudicative model, particularly in light of the Union's broader contemporary constitutional ambition.
As well as publishing articles across these areas in leading journals and edited collections, Stephanie has acted as National Expert to committees of the European Parliament on EU citizenship in the UK, drafting the report 'Obstacles to the Right of Free Movement and Residence for EU Citizens and their Family Members' in 2016. Prior to this, in 2014, she was National Co-rapporteur for the UK to the XXVI FIDE Congress on the topic of 'Union Citizenship: Development, Impact and Challenges'. Stephanie has also provided both written and oral evidence to UK parliamentary select committees on Brexit and the Northern Irish/Republic of Ireland border, EU citizens' rights in the UK, and on the potential impact of Brexit on human rights. Additionally, Stephanie submitted evidence to the UK Government's Balance of Competence Review that was cited in its final reports. More broadly, she has frequently engaged in both media and public engagement activities on Brexit and EU citizens' rights in the UK.
Stephanie enjoys teaching on a wide range of engaging subjects. She is module coordinator of Advanced Public Law and lectures on EU law. She has previously lectured on the School's Criminal Law, Law and Social Justice, and English Legal Systems modules, and has taught Tort Law. Stephanie welcomes applications from potential PhD students across her areas of expertise, but is particularly keen to hear from those interested in pursing projects on novel approaches to UK public law, social media and the law, EU internal market law, Union citizenship, and fundamental rights. She has previously supervised PhDs on judicial independence in the age of social media; Brexit and regionalised approaches to collective security; and the right to protest on privately-owned public spaces. Stephanie has also examined theses on human rights and on EU constitutional law.
Prizes or Honours
- 'Best Substantive Content' Early Career Research Poster Competition, Researching the Future: EU Law (University of Edinburgh , 2013)