Overview
Professor Thomas Glyn Watkin studied Law at Pembroke College, Oxford, where he was Oades and Stafford Scholar (1971-1974). He was called to the bar by the Middle Temple in 1976 and is an ordained priest within the Church in Wales.
He taught at Cardiff Law School from 1975 until 2004, where he was responsible for introducing the LLB degree in Law and Welsh as well as other Law and Languages programmes at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. He was also Legal Assistant to the Governing Body of the Church in Wales from 1981 until 1998, with responsibility for drafting bilingual bills and amendments to the Church's constitution. He was then appointed foundation Professor of Law at Bangor University where he set up the School of Law.
In April 2007, he became First Welsh Legislative Counsel, the legal officer principally responsible for drafting the legislative programme of the Welsh Assembly Government under the new powers conferred upon the National Assembly of Wales by the Government of Wales Act 2006. He retired from this post in 2010 and is an Honorary Professor at Bangor University as well as Cardiff Law School.
Professor Watkin's principal research interests are in the history of law in England, Wales and Europe, including the history of Roman law. His book, The Legal History of Wales, published by the University of Wales Press in 2007, is the first comprehensive history of law in Wales from the Roman invasion to devolution. He is a member of the Council of the Selden Society, the Academy of Private Lawyers of Milan and Pavia, the Stair Society, the Irish Legal History Society and the American Society of Legal History. He is a founder member of the Welsh Legal History Society and is its secretary and treasurer.
Conferences
2003
Sir John Herbert and the Welsh Civilians - September
Legal Wales Conference, St. David's Spa, Cardiff
Iaith a Chyfraith - August
Cwrdd i Ffwrdd Swyddfa'r Cwnsler-Cyffredinol, Cynulliad Cenedlaethol Cymru, Cardiff City Hall