Michael Connolly

Michael Connolly is an Associate Professor in Law at the University of Portsmouth, part of the School of Law within the Faculty of Business & Law. He specializes in equality and discrimination law, contract law, and commercial law. His research focuses on comparative discrimination law across jurisdictions including the UK, EU, US, South Africa, Canada, and Australasia. He is an active member of professional committees such as the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee of the Society of Legal Scholars and the Commonwealth Legal Education Association.

Education: He holds an MA, LLM from the University of Warwick (2001), an LLB from the University of West London (1990), and a Ph.D. from University College London.

Research Interests: His work addresses discrimination law, employment discrimination, judicial interpretation of equality statutes, and comparative legal frameworks. He has authored several books, including Equality, Discrimination, and the Law (2022) and The English Judiciary, Discrimination Law and Statutory Interpretation: Easy Cases making Bad Law (2018).

Recent Articles: His 2024 publications include analyses of migrant worker rights and unemployment law critiques, while his 2023 work examines deficiencies in disability discrimination legislation. His 2022 book provides a foundational overview of equality law.

Awards: He won the Bus and Law Faculty (joint) Best Paper award in 2019 for his contribution to legal scholarship.

Advising/Grants: He supervises PhD students in equality law, contract law, and consumer law. No specific grants are listed, but his research is supported by institutional affiliations.

Labs/Teams: Not explicitly mentioned, but his work is collaborative through professional networks and editorial roles.