Professor Michael Doherty, has contributed a chapter to a newly published collection, 'Legal Research Methods: Principles and Practicalities'.
Edited by Laura Cahillane and Jennifer Schweppe of the University of Limerick, the collection is tailored to the needs of researchers by examining varying methodological approaches to legal research from a practical perspective. In addition to the principal approaches now commonly used in legal research (the doctrinal method; the socio-legal method; the historical method and the comparative method) issues such as participatory and community-based research, as well as empirical methods will also be examined by leading experts in their fields in a critical but clear manner. The authors draw on their own experiences and expertise and examine the benefits and pitfalls involved in each method.
Professor Doherty’s chapter argues that the failure by higher education institutes, including, but not limited to, failings on the part of law schools, to develop a more significant research capacity in empirical legal research could have very negative impacts on the next generation of legal scholars. It sets out some (very) personal reflections of the author and illustrates the argument by using practical examples of empirical legal research. As a result, it seeks to be both a ‘call to arms’ and a practical guide for those interested in pursuing empirical legal research.
Professor Doherty is Head of Maynooth University Department of Law where he lectures in modules on Employment Law and in Work and Employment in Europe on the LLB programme.
