Morris, C; Murphy, C --- "Getting a PhD in Law" [2012] LegEdDig 48; (2012) 20(3) Legal Education Digest 52

• Getting a PhD in Law

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BOOK REVIEW

Getting a PhD in Law

Caroline Morris and Cian Murphy

Hart Publishing, 2011, 148 pp

Until fairly recently the idea of studying for a doctorate in law was the exception rather the rule – even with respect to law academics there was a paucity of doctoral qualifications. In fact Professor Twining in his book, Blackstone’s Tower, published in 1994, drew attention to the fact that at that time 11.8 per cent of academics in law schools had doctorates compared with 58.4 for the rest of the university. Much rarer was a non-law academic undertaking doctoral law studies. For those who did pursue postgraduate law studies at this level it was very much an individual undertaking with little or no faculty support and largely a matter of good fortune in obtaining a supervisor who had knowledge of the particular subject of the thesis, who was willing to act as research degree supervisor and who had the experience of being one. In the actual process of researching for and writing the thesis it was again fortuitous as to the availability of any advice and in the absence of this it was extremely rare to be able to locate a text which provided information on research or thesis writing techniques.

However, fast forward to the present time and you will discover that there is ample advice available, even for the writing of a thesis application. After an application has been accepted most law schools will expect the candidate to attend a variety of courses and seminars on gaining research experience whether in the location of material, using specific forms of citation or in the development of a research methodology. There is now also a wide variety of texts with advice on gaining a proficiency in all that is needed for assistance in graduating with a doctoral qualification.

A recent addition to this self-help library for potential doctoral graduates is this book by Morris and Murphy, which on first glance is a deceptively slim and simplistic volume. However it will be discovered that this is in fact one of the better texts offering assistance in covering all aspects of doctoral research and thesis writing. Even the opening words of the Introduction are encouraging in demystifying the doctoral process:

This book seeks to provide a readable and informative guide to the research process. The doctoral degree can still be treated as something of oddity among lawyers. If you’re that clever, doctoral researchers are often asked, why aren’t you in practice?

Certainly an opening phrase like this is calculated to put any research candidate at their ease and encourage them to read on. If they do they will discover that the book covers most of the requirements for any PhD candidate, from making an application to submitting a thesis for examination.

Whilst Chapter 1 is concerned with the philosophical reasons as to why a person might be undertaking a PhD degree, Chapter 2 is concerned with all the fundamental problems such as that of selecting a thesis topic, the types of PhD programmes, the choice of an institution and supervisor and then the submitting of the application which can lead to the consideration of whether or not funding should be applied to support an application.

In my view it is Chapter 3 which offers the most invaluable of all the information contained in this text. This chapter is concerned with the selection of a methodology or methodologies, a topic which until quite recently was alien to those undertaking a research degree in law. If a law research student was conscious of using any methodology it would be the conventional black letter or doctrinal analysis method. However currently selecting the most appropriate methodology has become a complex issue for most legal researchers and it is to the credit of the authors of this text that they have attempted to demystify this problematical area for PhD candidates.

The issues covered in Chapter 4 lead on from that choice of the most appropriate methodology for the candidates’ thesis. Again it is encouraging to the reader that as the authors state:

Researching an original thesis is an evolutionary process – the thesis you submit at the end of three or four years may be very different from the one you thought you would write. That’s to be expected of course: if you knew exactly what to write on day one, there would be very little point in conducting the research!

So it is in this chapter that the process of producing the thesis is considered and this incorporates such topics as: the research and writing process, developing an original contribution to knowledge, ethical issues in legal research, and the use of research aids such as legal research databases, analysis tools, a research diary and, as the text explains, the most obvious resource – ‘your peers, supervisor and other colleagues inside and outside of your department – the human resources’.

Chapters 5 and 6 deal with some of the problems which can arise during the doctrinal study process. Chapter 5 is concerned with the researcher’s relationship with their supervisor whilst Chapter 6 covers the multitude of problems which might arise and which will seem familiar to many who have gone through the doctoral process. These include such situations as when a candidate discovers some else is also researching their topic, boredom, writer’s block, motivational issues, and the ever recurring problems of funding one’s studies. Again these are dealt with in the book in a common sense way and are illustrated by some helpful case studies which can only encourage the candidate that most of them can be solved without too much heart searching or calls on one’s emotional resources.

Chapter 7 on writing-up the thesis is a helpful aide memoire which the PhD student could repeatedly refer to whilst engaged in this, the most important part of the thesis process. As the chapter states: ‘There will be days when you feel like the finish line is within touching distance and days when you feel like it’s never been further away.` This is a phrase which resonates with anyone who is a doctoral graduate!

In Chapter 8 Australian candidates will note differences which they will experience in the examination process as compared to candidates from the United Kingdom. With regard to the latter all PhD candidates and many MPhil candidates have to undergo a viva examination conducted by their external examiners whilst this is not part of the examination mode adopted in Australia. Nevertheless the remainder of the chapter is relevant to all doctoral candidates from whatever jurisdiction as the nomination of examiners is extremely important, although the process of their selection does differ from institution to institution. Of particular relevance are those paragraphs which give advice as to how one should respond should part of a thesis be referred, and how one needs to deal with such questions as have been raised by the external examiners.

The last two chapters 9 and 10 are concerned with more esoteric matters such as ‘Publishing Your Work.’ – Chapter 9, and ‘Building A Career’ – Chapter 10. This is not to overlook the advice contained in these chapters both with regard to publishing the thesis and subsequently presenting the work at conferences.

As was pointed out at the beginning of this review, Getting a PhD in Law, is an extremely helpful text which any candidate could refer to with confidence throughout their whole doctoral process. This reviewer has a strong expectation that it will become a major text for future doctoral law candidates.

Emeritus Professor David Barker AM

Editor