Pracademia in Law Schools: An International Community of Practice

Jill Dickinson, Professor of Law and Professional Development, Leeds Law School, Leeds Beckett University

Judith Marychurch, Assistant Dean (Teaching and Learning), Melbourne Law School, The University of Melbourne

Keywords: career development; professional development; network; collaboration; belonging

There is clearly increasing interest in the career transitions and professional development of those with dual experience as practitioners and academics, or pracademics. Following publication of a multidisciplinary collection on Professional Development for Practitioners in Academia: Pracademia, the book has been accessed over 9,250 times with feedback including: ‘When I agreed to review this book, I did not expect that my whole professional self-identity would be transformed as a result’. The collection has also featured in media debates with citations in the Washington Post and Wonkhe.

International Community of Practice

Whilst there has been significant research undertaken around pracademia in other disciplines including education and business and management, there has been comparatively little research within the field of law. As HE Law School curricula have become more applied, there seems to be a critical need for exploring the challenges that pracademics in Law Schools may face. Against this backdrop, it seems a pivotal time to develop an international community of practice around the theme of pracademia in law.

Following an award of funding from the SLSA’s International Collaboration Funding Scheme in 2025, and working with Jeevesh Augnoo and Tasneem Khedarun of Rushmore Business School, we have co-created the Pracademia in Law Schools International Community of Practice (CoP). The CoP seeks to provide a network for those interested in supporting legal professionals with dual experience as practitioners and academics as they navigate their career transitions and further career development. It aims to drive forward discussions and debate around how we can support and champion the potential contributions that law school pracademics can make as part of a diverse faculty.

Programme

In April 2025, the team co-hosted a ‘sand-pit’ event to kick-start the CoP, where early members shared their own experiences of pracademia and what they would like to achieve through joining the CoP. The team then set up a LinkedIn group and JISCmail list to help facilitate continuing communications and enable interested colleagues to elect to receive notifications of upcoming events. The CoP programme has featured a number of initiatives so far as outlined below.

Associate Professor Judith Marychurch gave a presentation at the Australasian Law Academics Association (ALAA) annual conference in July 2025 at the University of Queensland, Australia, which increased the membership of the CoP in the southern hemisphere.

Within the UK, Professor Jill Dickinson and Amy Richards from Leeds Law School co-led an in-person event that provided opportunities for both post graduate and early career researchers from universities to take part in activities including:

• an interactive workshop to support the development of delegates’ research profiles;

• a three-minute thesis competition;

• a poster competition (that was also sponsored by Routledge); and

• a networking lunch.

The event was attended by delegates from across nine institutions. Feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with participants particularly valuing ‘the welcoming and comfortable atmosphere’ and ‘opportunities to meet and collaborate with others’.

One of the co-leads of this event, Amy Richards, noted:

As both a Senior Lecturer in the Law School and a current PhD student, it was a genuinely enjoyable and energising experience to be part of the PGR and ECR Professional Development Workshop and Poster Competition. The welcoming atmosphere, high-quality posters and 3 Minute Thesis presentations, and the chance to connect with colleagues from across the UK all left me feeling proud of our research community and recharged in my own PhD journey.

Lekha Bodhe commented:

I thoroughly enjoyed the event and was impressed by the creativity, clarity, and depth of knowledge reflected in the posters and presentations. It was inspiring to see the passion each researcher brought to their work. The judging certainly wasn’t easy, which speaks volumes about the high standard of entries!

Dr Rhys Turner-Moore reflected:

I really enjoyed the event. I was impressed with the clarity and conciseness of the 3MT talks and the creativity of the presentation slides and posters. The students were inspiring to listen to and knowledgeable to talk to over the poster presentations and coffee breaks. The judging task wasn't easy! There was a great supportive atmosphere at the event; it was lovely to see the students taking group photos together and applauding each other’s talks and awards.

Thank you to everyone involved for their contributions to this PGR and ECR event that really helped to create a warm and welcoming atmosphere from start to finish.

To further support professional and career development, members of this international CoP also have the opportunity to access executive coaching offered by Professor Jill Dickinson, who is a Level 7 qualified coach and enjoys working with clients from the UK and internationally. Example topics for coaching sessions include: change management, imposter syndrome and navigating career transitions.

As part of the CoP, we have also developed an informal, virtual coffee catch-up to provide an easy way for members to connect and share with other law pracademics around the globe, which we plan to continue in 2026.

Feedback from members of the community of practice includes:

After many years bridging academic and vocational legal education with a legal practice background, I was delighted to find the ‘Pracademia in Law Schools’ Community of Practice. It provides a vital space both to celebrate the value of practice-informed perspectives in legal education and to share ongoing challenges that many pracademics face trying to fit into (and thrive within) traditional academic structures. I’ve enjoyed participating in discussions with fellow pracademics both in the UK and internationally. (Danon Pritchard, City St George’s, University of London, UK)

As a (now retired) Australian pracademic the informal collaboration and support of the pracademics I have worked with was enriching and invaluable. There is an opportunity through this project for others to have the same experience and support. I hope to see you online. (Deborah Ankor, Flinders University, Australia)

The CoP kicked off 2026 with an interactive online event, hosted by Associate Professor Judith Marychurch, and featuring Dr Michele Leering, a  visiting scholar from Queen’s University, Canada, who shared insights from her work on reflective practice as they apply to the pracademic. Michele’s doctoral research focused on the importance of cultivating integrative reflective practice as an essential competency for legal professionals. In this session led by Michele, we explored reflective practice, including what it means for the pracademic in their own work, and considered how pracademics can use reflective practice in their teaching and research, now and for future initiatives.

To find out more about the community of practice, sign up to this jiscmail address: PRACADEMIA-IN-LAW-SCHOOLS@JISCMAIL.AC.UK. You can find and subscribe to the list here. We are also on LinkedIn, and you can join our group here.

Events will be advertised via jiscmail and LinkedIn - we look forward to seeing you!