Reviews

• Academics critically evaluate the operation of laws and legal institutions through writing law reviews.
• As well as examining both settled legal principles and new principles stated by judges these reviews often criticise judgments in situations where a legal principle has been misunderstood or misapplied.
• Law reviews are helpful for judges as they inform them about the wider social and economic context of the disputes at hand.
• It is important to note that legal academics sometimes reach unpopular conclusions about the way a law has been applied because they act as independent commentators. They generally have a more sceptical (doubting) and critical opinion of the law than legal practitioners do.
   

Opinion Pieces

• At times academics act as research assistants for judges and the wider legal profession who lack the time to analyse legal problems in depth.
• The nature of the academic’s work allows for reflection on the law and legal processes that is not often available in legal practice due to constant time pressures.
• As informed critics of laws and legal institutions legal academics often explore all the alternatives or take contrary views to the accepted norm in their opinion pieces.
• This can open up room for challenging debates where difficult questions about the law as it is and as it should be can be thoroughly discussed.

Teaching

• A large role of legal academics is to teach law students.
• In educating a new generation of lawyers and barristers for the future academics strive to seek innovative ways to prepare students for the profession.
• The work of academics also includes authoring and co-authoring of legal textbooks.
• Academics will also spend a large amount of time marking students’ work and providing consultations with students about how to improve.
• Academics also deal with academic misconduct which includes plagiarism or dishonesty in connection with academic work.