Dr Rosie Fox

Profile

Teaching is my passion – my time at Leeds has been full of fantastic opportunities to do what I love and develop my skills. I am particularly interested in blended teaching approaches and the integration of audio-visual methods in legal pedagogy. My work centres on continually improving the experiences of our wonderful students through diverse teaching and assessment methods.

Presently I teach on the modules for Criminal Law, Foundations of Law, Land Law and the final year Dissertation on the LLB course. I am also the module leader for Introduction to Criminal Law on the BA Criminal Justice and Criminology course. I mentor and support new Module Assistants to develop their teaching style and think critically about their pedagogy. 

I studied my LLB (Hons.) with Criminology undergraduate degree at the University of Derby, followed by a Masters in International and Comparative Law, for which I was awarded a Distinction. Prior to joining the University of Leeds, I worked in Student Wellbeing at the University of Derby and as a Teaching Assistant for the School of Law.

Responsibilities

• Module Assistant Mentor

Research interests

In June 2020 I was awarded my PhD – my thesis examined the relationship between informal socio-cultural norms and formal legal rules in Japan, with a particular focus on lay participation in the criminal justice system. The thesis challenged the discipline of legal taxonomy in comparative legal studies, contending that legal culture is vastly undervalued and is crucial to understanding the social and cultural contexts in which legal systems operate. This is particularly problematic for Japan, as social and cultural values retain a considerable normative influence on everyday life – and these values are often inconsistent with the processes of formal law.

The thesis explored fundamental normative elements of Japanese social custom, including giri, tatemae and honne, for their role and significance in Japanese law and society. Furthermore, it critically examined the historical influences that have shaped Japanese law and social norms and conducted an investigation in to the role and influence of Japanese legal culture with a case study on lay participation in the criminal justice system (saiban-in seido).

My other research interests lie in the intersection of law and dress, legal education – with a focus on diversifying assessment methods, audio-visual teaching approaches, and the identity and wellbeing of doctoral students – and the aesthetics of law and legal experience.

Qualifications

• PhD
• LLM (International and Comparative Law)
• LLB (Hons.) with Criminology

Professional memberships

• Committee Member, Association of Law Teachers
• Member, Graphic Justice Research Alliance
• Member, Socio-legal Studies Association
• Member, Law and Society Association

Student education

I teach on a variety of modules on the LLB undergraduate course, and work within the Centre for Innovation and Research in Legal Education. I am primarily involved in teaching seminars, and am continually developing the learning and teaching experience for students in small-group teaching spaces. In particular I employ a range of interactive methods, visual aids and encourage students to take an active part in developing their own learning materials.

Research groups and institutes

• Centre for Innovation and Research in Legal Education
• Centre for Law and Social Justice