I am a Professor of Legal Philosophy in the Faculty of Law, University of Oxford, and Fellow and Tutor in Law, Somerville College, Oxford. After completing an undergraduate LLB law degree, and the Diploma in Legal Practice (thought I was going to become a lawyer; the Diploma in Legal Practice, and the law firms' application forms convinced me I would be terrible at it) at the University of Glasgow in my native Scotland, I came to Oxford to do a D. Phil in Philosophy of Law at Balliol College, Oxford, supervised by Professor Joseph Raz. I then held lectureships at the University of Leicester and at University College London before returning to Oxford.

I was the first in my family to go to university and arguably I over-did it, as I am still in university 37 years later. I was incredibly fortunate to be the recipient of a free education in state schools, and then fully funded from state funds at both undergraduate and postgraduate level at University. I would not have been able to follow the path that I did otherwise. It is a great sadness that my students today face so many financial challenges that I did not have to face.

I work mainly in general jurisprudence or philosophy of law, and especially on methodological issues such as the criteria of success of theories of law, and the role of evaluation in legal philosophy. My publications on this topic include my books, J Dickson, Evaluation and Legal Theory (2001)   Evaluation and Legal Theory: : Legal Theory Today Julie Dickson Hart Publishing - Bloomsbury and J Dickson, Elucidating Law (2022) Elucidating Law - Julie Dickson - Oxford University Press .  Elucidating Law won the 2024 Alice Tay Book Prize for excellence in legal theory awarded by the International Association for the Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy (IVR).
 
I am also interested in theoretical aspects of transnational law, especially European Union Law, including the theory of legal systems in the EU context. Together with Professor Pavlos Eleftheriadis, I co-edited and contributed to J Dickson and P Elefheriadis (eds.) Philosophical Foundations of European Union Law (2012)  Philosophical Foundations of European Union Law | Oxford Academic

I have taught Jurisprudence/Legal Philosophy and European Union Law at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels at the University of Oxford., and have been  the recipient of a University of Oxford teaching excellence award and nominated for an "Outstanding Tutor" award in the student-led Oxford Students Union teaching awards. I value teaching enormously, and still enjoy it hugely. I serve on the editorial board of several journals, including Legal Theory, Law and Philosophy, Transnational Legal Theory, the Oxford Journal of Legal Studies and Problema.

I am a keen birder, amateur photographer, and video gamer. Some bird photos can be found on this site on the Projects page, at  Julie Dickson - Some of my bird and nature photos