Biography

My academic career so far...

I am an Associate Professor in the LSE Law School at the London School of Economics where I undertake research primarily in the areas of Intellectual Property Law & Constitutional Law. Prior to taking up this posiiton in 2020 I was a Senior Lecturer at The City Law School at City, University of London (2015-2020) and before that I was a Lecturer in the Law School at Cardiff University from 2013-2015. I was a post-doctoral LSE Fellow at the London School of Economics from 2011-2013.

I hold a PhD from Queen Mary, University of London (2011), an LL.M from the London School of Economics (LSE) (2006-7) and a B.C.L. degree from NUI, Galway (2002-05). I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA). I have been invited to present my work at a range of prestigious institutions around the world, including at University of Oxford; Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa; National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM); Complutense University of Madrid; Keio University, Tokyo; University of Hong Kong (HKU); Tongji University, Shanghai; and University of La Habana, Cuba. I have also held a range of visiting scholar positions at institutions abroad. During 2014-15 and 2023-24 I was appointed a Visiting Scholar at Waseda University Law School, Tokyo, Japan. During 2016-17 I visited Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa, Italy, as part of Erasmus+, giving three lectures. For 2017-18 I was a Visiting Lecturer at Keio University Law School, Tokyo, and a Visiting Scholar at Waseda University Law School, Tokyo. During 2017-18 I also visited the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, as part of Erasmus+, giving two lectures. For 2018-19 I was a Visiting Fellow at Toyo University, Tokyo. During 2019-20 I was a Visiting Lecturer at the Shanghai International College of Intellectual Property at Tongji University, teaching on the WIPO Master’s Degree Programme.

My research

My IP law research primarily involves using empirical and theoretical insights to shed light on interesting (and sometimes controversial) aspects of intellectual property, such as the interplay between property owners and users in free-sharing creative environments (such as those of theatre, open-source software and traditional music). My PhD research focused on the empirical analysis of the relationship between Irish traditional music and copyright using interviews and survey data gathered from traditional musicians.

I am  the author of the monograph European Patent Litigation in the Shadow of the Unified Patent Court (Edward Elgar, 2016) and the co-author (along with Prof. Stavroula Karapapa of the University of Reading) of the text book Intellectual Property Law (OUP, 2019). My most recent monograph is Performing Copyright: Law, Theatre and Authorship (Hart, 2021).

I have published widely in respected journals including The Modern Law Review, The Cambridge Law Journal, the Journal of Law and Society, the International Journal of Cultural Property, and Civil Justice Quarterly. I have been awarded grant funding for a range of successful law projects, including substantial grants from the ESRC, EU Horizon2020, the UK Global Challenges Research Fund, the UK Intellectual Property Office, The Modern Law Review and the UK Constitutional Law Association.

Most of my publications are availably freely through links on this website. These include: a 2014 article in The Modern Law Review investigating copyright in the world of theatre, whereby I interviewed playwrights, directors and actors about the relationship between their theatrical practices and the norms of copyright’ a 2015 article - on trade marks, brands and anthropological marketing in the Journal of Law and Society; and the first chapters of my monographs.

From 2018-2020 I was part of a group of researchers awarded funding by the EU as part of Horizon2020 to examine the area of interactive robots in society (INBOTS - http://inbots.eu/). This includes the consequences of new robotic technologies and artificial intelligence for Intellectual Property Law. I have also been involved in conducting quantitative and qualitative empirical research in the area of patent litigation. This research includes projects funded by the UK Intellectual Property Office and CREATe.

In addition to IP law, I conduct research on Dominion constitutionalism in the post-British Empire period, including projects conducted with Dr Mara Malagodi & Professor Thomas Poole supported by funding from The Modern Law Review and the UK Constitutional Law Association. During 2019 the International Journal of Constitutional Law (I-CON) published a symposium issue based on our research (details the in the peer-reviewed articles section of this website).

Awards

I am the winner of the 2023 Lalive and Merryman Fellowship, awarded by the International Cultural Property Society and the Art-Law Centre of the University of Geneva. The Fellowship is awarded to a scholar for the best article published in the International Journal of Cultural Property in the preceding calendar year. The award is for the article, 'Exploring “ownership” of Irish traditional dance music: Heritage or property?' published in 2022. The Pierre Lalive & John Henry Merryman Fellow in Art and Cultural Heritage Law undertakes a 2-4 week residency fellowship hosted by the Art-Law Centre of the University of Geneva. My article is open access and can be accessed here. Further details on the Lalive & Merryman Fellowship are available here.

In 2021-22 I won the LSE Excellence in Education award for my teaching at LSE Law School.

Teaching

In terms of my teaching, I currently teach Intellectual Property Law and Cultural Heritage Law at LSE.

In addition to IP law, I previously Sports Law & Constitutional Law at City, University of London (2015-2020). From 2013-2015 I taught IP Law and EU Law on the LL.B and LL.M at Cardiff University. During 2011-2013 I taught IP Law and Public Law at LSE and from 2007-2011 I taught Public Law, Administrative Law and EU Law at Queen Mary.