51cg

Dr Ilona Cairns

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Dr Ilona Cairns
Dr Ilona Cairns
Dr Ilona Cairns

Senior Lecturer

51cg
Email Address
ilona.cairns@abdn.ac.uk
School/Department
School of Law

Biography

Ilona studied Law at the University of Edinburgh before completing an LLM in Law and Society at the University of Victoria, Canada. Ilona joined the School of Law as an AHRC-funded PhD student in 2011 before being appointed as lecturer in 2014. She was promoted to senior lecturer in 2021.

Ilona has expertise in criminal law, evidence, family law and gender and the law and has experience teaching in these areas at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. Her research focuses mainly on the regulation and reform of the law relating to sexual offences and domestic abuse. She is particularly interested in these issues from an evidential standpoint and several of her publications relate to the Scottish corroboration rule, sexual offences and domestic abuse. Ilona has recently published on the application of the Moorov doctrine in the context of proving the new Scottish offence of domestic abuse and (with Dr Isla Callander) on how this offence applies to children. Her current research project examines how evidential and financial constraints contribute to the minimisation of domestic abuse in Scottish child contact cases.  

Ilona would be open to requests to supervise students with an interest in any aspect of criminal law & justice; the law of evidence; family law and gender & the law (including feminist approaches to law).

Internal Memberships

 

  • Student Progress Convenor (Law)
  • Research Committee
  • Learning & Teaching Committee
  • UG Policy Committee
  • Personal tutor

Latest Publications

  • Integrating a child-centred coercive control framework into family law and justice: the Scottish example

    Cairns, I., Callander, I.
    International Journal of Law, Policy and The Family, vol. 40, no. 1, ebag023
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
  • Consultation Response: Scottish Law Commission Discussion Paper on Civil Remedies for Domestic Abuse

    Cairns, I., Callander, I.
    51cg: School of Law.
    Other Contributions: Other Contributions
  • Surrogacy and Criminal Law

    Cairns, I., O'Donoghue, M.
    Research Handbook on Surrogacy and the Law. Shakargy, S., Achmad, C., Trimmings, K. (eds.). 1 edition. Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd., pp. 240-262, 23 pages
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters (Peer-Reviewed)
  • Katy Macfarlane, Thomson's Family Law in Scotland

    Cairns, I.
    Edinburgh Law Review, vol. 28, no. 1, pp. 139-141
    Contributions to Journals: Reviews of Books, Films and Articles
  • ‘Gold Standard' Legislation for Adults Only: Reconceptualising Children as ‘Adjoined Victims' Under the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018

    Cairns, I., Callander, I.
    Social and Legal Studies, vol. 31, no. 6, pp. 914–940
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

View My Publications

Teaching

Teaching Responsibilities

Ilona has taught on the following courses at the School of Law:

  • Family Law (Ordinary)
  • Evidence (Ordinary)
  • Criminal Law (Ordinary)
  • Gender, Law and Society (Honours)
  • Criminal Law (LLM)
  • Criminal Evidence & Proof (LLM)

 

Publications

Page 1 of 2 Results 1 to 10 of 16

  • Integrating a child-centred coercive control framework into family law and justice: the Scottish example

    Cairns, I., Callander, I.
    International Journal of Law, Policy and The Family, vol. 40, no. 1, ebag023
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
  • Consultation Response: Scottish Law Commission Discussion Paper on Civil Remedies for Domestic Abuse

    Cairns, I., Callander, I.
    51cg: School of Law.
    Other Contributions: Other Contributions
  • Surrogacy and Criminal Law

    Cairns, I., O'Donoghue, M.
    Research Handbook on Surrogacy and the Law. Shakargy, S., Achmad, C., Trimmings, K. (eds.). 1 edition. Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd., pp. 240-262, 23 pages
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters (Peer-Reviewed)
  • Katy Macfarlane, Thomson's Family Law in Scotland

    Cairns, I.
    Edinburgh Law Review, vol. 28, no. 1, pp. 139-141
    Contributions to Journals: Reviews of Books, Films and Articles
  • ‘Gold Standard' Legislation for Adults Only: Reconceptualising Children as ‘Adjoined Victims' Under the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018

    Cairns, I., Callander, I.
    Social and Legal Studies, vol. 31, no. 6, pp. 914–940
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
  • Book review of Chris Ashford and Alexander Maine (eds), Research Handbook on Gender, Sexuality and the Law

    Cairns, I.
    Edinburgh Law Review, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 137-139
    Contributions to Journals: Reviews of Books, Films and Articles
  • The Moorov Doctrine and Coercive Control: Proving a ‘course of behaviour’ under s. 1 of the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018

    Cairns, I.
    International Journal of Evidence and Proof, vol. 24, no. 4, pp. 396-417
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
  • Response to Scottish Law Commission Discussion Paper on Aspects of Family Law: Cohabitation (DP No 170)

    Cairns, I., Green, T., Macpherson, A., Ross, M., Stokeld, S., West, E.
    51cg: School of Law.
    Other Contributions: Other Contributions
  • Smith v Lees 1997 SCCR 139: Judgment

    Cairns, I., Callander, I.
    Scottish Feminist Judgments: (Re)Creating Law from the Outside In. Cowan, S., Kennedy, C., Munro, V. (eds.). Hart Publishing, pp. 39-53, 15 pages
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters
  • 'Access to Justice' for complainers? The pitfalls of the Scottish Government's case to abolish corroboration

    Cairns, I.
    Scottish Criminal Evidence Law: Current Developments and Future Trends. Duff, P., Ferguson, P. R. (eds.). Edinburgh University Press, pp. 41-66, 26 pages
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters
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