Karen Nokes

I am a Lecturer in the Faculty of Laws at University College London. I am an interdisciplinary scholar using insights from psychology and business and management to explore the law and the legal system in context. My research interests focus on using interdisciplinary approaches and diverse methodologies to explore individual and collective action and behaviour in the professions and wider society (including the criminal and civil justice process and the mechanisms of how individuals and groups seek access to justice). I have particular interests in the psychological processes of judgment and decision making within organisations and institutions, and in how individuals navigate and interact with complex and dynamic organisational and institutional contexts. The focus of my PhD was the development of a socio-cognitive theory that seeks to explain why and how decision makers in the legal profession make more or less ethical choices in their daily practice. I am a qualified solicitor (non-practising) and spent my early career in legal practice (criminal law) before working in senior roles in legal regulation for nearly 20 years.

Education

• Alliance Manchester Business School - Doctor of Philosophy - PhD, Business and Management Sep 2020
• The Open University - Bachelor of Science (BSc), Psychology 2007 - 2012
• University of Wales, Cardiff - Bachelor of Laws (LLB), Law 1986 - 1989
• University of Warwick

Companies

• Lecturer, Faculty of Laws UCL (2021)
• Research Fellow Centre for Crime, Justice and Policing at the University of Birmingham (2020 — 2021)
• PhD in Business and Management Alliance Manchester Business School (2016 — 2020)
• Doctoral Researcher Warwick Business School (2013 — 2016)
• Regulatory Consultant Solicitors Regulation Authority (2011 — 2012)
• Director of Supervision Solicitors Regulation Authority (2010 — 2011)
• Head of Practice Standards Unit / OFR Design Team Solicitors Regulation Authority (2007 — 2010)
• Head of Investigation Casework Team The Law Society of England and Wales (1999 — 2007)
• Monitoring Compliance/Supervision The Law Society of England and Wales (1993 — 1999)