Gary Slapper was that rare breed of academic who touched the lives of people beyond the confines of his work. A leading voice in legal education and an authority on English law, he became known and loved through both his journalism and social media presence. These always reflected an insuppressible enthusiasm for life and learning, whether in the obscure reaches of academic law or in popular culture. He lived life at its highest register, as passionate about legal argument as he was about The Simpsons and as inclined to reference Cicero as Lady Gaga.
For the past five years Slapper was director of New York University’s London campus as well as NYU’s global law professor. He was known to a wider public through his writing for The Times and wry observations on Twitter.
Slapper was passionate about equality of opportunity and access to education — a fighter for the underdog. Before taking up the post at NYU he was professor of law at the Open University. There he founded the law school and led a joint venture with the College of Law, creating a part-time LLB course that attracted more than 3,000 students. Admission was open access — no prior qualifications such as A levels were required; the ethos was “legal education for the people”, consistent with his principles.
Gary Jay Slapper was born in September 1958, the eldest of three children of Ivor and Doreen Slapper, and was raised in Wembley, north London. Growing up in a bustling Jewish community shaped Slapper’s personality: he often spoke of coming home from school to stacks of cakes and sandwiches, and of the praise and adoration of a large, close family group. He went to Preston Manor, one of the first grammars to go comprehensive, where he was head boy.
He read law at University College London and did teacher training at the University of Manchester followed by a masters at UCL and his PhD at the London School of Economics. His thesis on corporate manslaughter led to his first book, Blood in the Bank, acclaimed by the philosopher Noam Chomsky as “pathbreaking”. Many other books followed, including Corporate Crime, co-written with Steve Tombs, and The English Legal System with David Kelly. The pair also wrote the encyclopaedic English Law, the first in the UK to use a companion internet site to update readers. He also co-founded and edited the Journal of Commonwealth Law and Legal Education.
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Teaching was a natural choice for Slapper: he began at Stanmore sixth form college. When it merged with Harrow College of Education he met Suzanne, a teacher of business studies. They married and had three girls: Hannah, who is now working as an editorial strategist; Emily, who is training to be a screenwriter; and Charlotte, who is studying for a masters degree.
Slapper began writing for The Times in 1992. He was best known for his weekly Weird Cases, which have been published as a series of books. His appointment in 1998 to the Open University was a significant break and he became professor in 2004. He was a consultant to several TV shows, including the Judge John Deed series starring Martin Shaw. He also became a door tenant at 36 Bedford Row chambers.
Outside the law Slapper had a passion for comedy and a great knowledge of popular culture. Hisdistinctive staccato laugh developed because his natural laugh was so long and loud that he found himself missing jokes.
He loved reading and had 10,000 books, saying that an investment in a book was never a waste; making tea (Yorkshire), brisk walks around Guilsborough, in Northamptonshire, where the family lived, and food and dining. A curry restaurant in Covent Garden was a regular haunt. He nicknamed the place Fawlty’s because it was always taken aback to see customers at lunchtime. He would text colleagues with illustrated comments on that theme with benign amusement.
Above all, Slapper gave freely of his time and his knowledge. One mature student recalls that when she was about to begin a criminology degree, Slapper sent her a package of his books to get her off to a good start. She never forgot his kindness.
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At NYU he enjoyed nothing more than, in the words of one colleague, engaging with students and colleagues on “matters across points of law, philosophy, football, the environment and all points between”. He leaves a considerable legacy through his teaching and writing but above all through an exceptional generosity of spirit.
Gary Slapper, professor of law, was born on September 25, 1958. He died after suffering a ruptured aortic dissection, on December 4, 2016, aged 58