Dr Emily Finch
About
Biography
I have over 25 years of experience in higher education. My research combines empirical methods with policy relevance to explore issues such as jury decision-making, dishonesty, and the legal responses to psychological harm and relational abuse. I have supervised several doctoral students to completion and examined PhDs internationally.
I founded the Justice Café: a collaborative space bringing together students, practitioners and researchers to address pressing issues in law and learning through innovative empirical methods. My teaching innovations, including immersive assessment techniques and digital pedagogy, have consistently achieved exceptionally high student satisfaction ratings. I am also co-author of Legal Skills (OUP), a best-selling textbook now in its 10th edition and adopted by more than 50 universities worldwide.
My work has been supported by the British Academy, the Society of Legal Scholars, the ESRC and a range of industry partners. Beyond academia, I have contributed expert commentary to the BBC, The Times and Radio 4, and have advised organisations including the United Nations and the Social Research Foundation.
University roles and responsibilities
- OSCAR Panel Chair
My qualifications
Supervision
Postgraduate research supervision
I would be pleased to supervise PhD projects exploring how criminal law responds to psychological harm, coercive control and relational abuse, as well as juror decision-making and dishonesty. I also have an interest in the role of family mediation. I particularly welcome empirical and interdisciplinary approaches that challenge assumptions and seek to improve understanding and reform within the justice system.
Completed postgraduate research projects I have supervised
Filipa Tavares Moreira, ‘The Imbalance of Bargaining Powers in Divorce Mediation’ (2024)
Amel Ketani, ‘Improving the Practice of Family Mediation in England and Wales’ (2022)
Ros Setterfield, ‘The Regulation of Revenge Porn in England and Wales: Are Existing Legal Solutions Effective?’ ( 2019)
Amy Elkington, ‘A New Duress Defence and the Theory of Understandable Compliance’ (2018)
Joshua Kerr, ‘Deprivation of Citizenship and the Immigration Act 2014: the Problems with Making British Citizens Stateless’ (2018)
Teaching
Legal Systems (LAW1053)
Criminal Law (LAW1056)
Publications
Chapter 1 in Sotirios Santatzoglou, Martin Wasik, Anthony Wrigley (eds.) 'Dishonesty, Liability and the Law: Exploring the Moral Importance of Context' (Routledge, 2025)
Despite its serious consequences in criminal and professional contexts, the law provides little clear guidance on how dishonesty should be defined or determined. This chapter draws on empirical research into public perceptions of dishonesty to highlight the lack of a shared understanding and argues for a clearer, more accessible legal definition to support principled and consistent decision-making.
[2022] 5 Criminal Law Review 358-378
We live in a world in which we are urged to #bekind and where there has never been greater awareness of the impact of cruel behaviour on an individual's mental wellbeing. As such, it seems unfathomable that the criminal law only concerns itself with damage to a person's state of mind if it falls into a narrow, arbitrary and artificial clinically-defined category. This article argues that this restrictive interpretation of preceding authorities in Dhaliwal was wrong and a more expansive approach would strengthen the law and create much-needed parity between physical and non-physical harm.
[2021] 7 Criminal Law Review 513-531
Many words have been written in the debate about the correct stance on dishonesty in criminal law. The long-standing Ghosh test was much criticised but is the new approach formulated in Ivey an improvement or does it simply create a different problem? This article explores this question from the perspective of the practical workability of the tests in the courtroom by using data from a mock trial to assess the extent to which mock jurors were able to understand and apply four different approaches to dishonesty.