Karen Nokes

Lecturer in Law, UCL
Dr Karen Nokes is an interdisciplinary scholar whose research uses insights from psychology and business and management to explore the law and the legal system in context.
Karen’s research interests focus on using interdisciplinary approaches/methodologies to explore individual, group and collective action and decision making within the legal system.
One particular area of interest is the psychological processes of judgment and decision making, including ethical decision making within complex and dynamic environmental contexts. Karen undertakes empirical legal research and is a member of the Centre for Empirical Legal Studies.
Karen is currently working with Professor Richard Moorhead (Exeter), Professor Rebecca Helm (Exeter) and Dr Sally Day (Exeter) on a three year ESRC funded project 'Professional Pathologies, Causal Pathways and the Post Office Miscarriages of Justice.'
Dr Nokes joined UCL Faculty of Laws as a Lecturer in 2021. She holds a PhD in Business and Management from the University of Manchester, an LLB from the University of Cardiff and a BSc in psychology from the Open University.
She was admitted as Solicitor of the Senior Courts of England & Wales in 1992. Prior to joining UCL, Karen was a Research Fellow in the Centre for Crime, Justice, and Policing at the University of Birmingham. Prior to postgraduate study, Karen was a solicitor in private practice after which she spent nearly 20 years working for the Law Society/Solicitors Regulation Authority where she held a number of senior posts, including Head of Practice Standards and Director of Supervision. She has extensive experience of legal regulation and of practitioner engagement.Karen received a scholarship from the Economic and Social Research Council for her doctoral studies and has presented at a number of national and international conferences including the Academy of Management Annual Meeting (2015, 2016 and 2018), British Academy of Management Annual Conference (2017) and the Society of Legal Scholars Annual Conference (2022).