Nickolas James

I am the Executive Dean of the Faculty of Law at Bond University, and a  former commercial lawyer. I have been an academic since 1996. My areas of teaching expertise include business and commercial law, law in society and legal theory, company law, the law of succession and property law.

My current research is characterised by four overlapping themes:
1. The development of legal reasoning and critical thinking skills by law students: In my doctoral thesis I applied Foucauldian theory to explore and explain the inconsistency and marginalisation of critique within Australian legal education. Since then I have continued to conduct research in an effort to resolve these inconsistencies and construct a practical and relevant pedagogy for the teaching and assessment of legal reasoning and critical legal thinking.

2. The critical analysis and evaluation of law teaching programs, projects and problems: I have published papers and engaged in projects about law program objectives, law student mentoring programs, 100% final exams and other assessment for law students, law student wellbeing, and perceptions by LLB students regarding the quality of their learning experience at law school.

3. The application of Foucauldian theoretical frameworks and methodologies to law and legal issues: I have published papers focussing upon Foucauldian analyses of legal education, cybercrime regulation, and corporate crime. I have in recent years focussed upon a Foucauldian analysis of academic resistance to teaching reform.

4. Foundational law textbooks: I have written three editions of a business law textbook, Business Law, published by Wiley and I am presently working on the 4th edition for publication in 2016. I have also written one edition of The New Lawyer, a first year law textbook co-authored with Rachael Field and by Wiley in 2013.

There are three areas in which I would be very interested in supervising a HDR project:

1. The development of legal reasoning and critical thinking skills by law students
2. The critical analysis and evaluation of law teaching programs, projects and problems
3. The application of Foucauldian theoretical frameworks and methodologies to law and legal issues