Clare Seymour is a registered social worker and qualified teacher at post-16 level. From 1998 until retiring in September 2009 she was senior lecturer in social work at Anglia Ruskin University, where she taught social work law, professional accountability and communication and interviewing skills to social work students at undergraduate and master’s level. Since leaving Anglia Ruskin University, she continues to work as a practice educator for social work degree students and as external examiner for the social work degree at Reading University. Her social work experience includes 16 years of local authority social work, latterly in a child care team where she had a wide experience of court work, and bereavement support within a general practice.