Rate My Professor Gemma Davies

Gemma Davies is Associate Professor of Criminal Law in Durham Law School at the University of Durham, where she serves as Director of the Centre for Criminal Law and Criminal Justice. She holds the position of President of the European Criminal Law Association (UK). Internationally recognised for her research on transnational and European criminal law, her work reshapes state cooperation in investigating and prosecuting cross-border crime, advancing a model of transnational criminal justice that bridges theory, policy, and practice. Operating at the intersection of criminal law and public international law, her current research focuses on extradition, mutual legal assistance, criminal jurisdiction, and the operation of Part Three of the UK–EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement. A former practising barrister, she combines rigorous legal analysis with empirical research and collaboration with policymakers and practitioners. Her scholarship has informed legislative and institutional reform in the UK and Ireland, shaped government policy, and bolstered international criminal justice cooperation while safeguarding accountability and fundamental rights.

Davies has authored more than twenty-five peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and policy papers across ten funded projects, promoting transnational criminal law as shared governance balancing security and rights. Key publications include the co-edited volume UK-EU Police and Judicial Cooperation Post-Brexit: Implementing the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (Hart Publishing, 2025, with Helena Farrand Carrapico); chapters within it on UK participation history, Brexit impacts, and TCA negotiation outcomes; 'The promise and pitfalls of the Second Protocol to the Budapest Convention: Assessing its impact on EU and UK cross-border criminal investigations' (New Journal of European Criminal Law, 2026); 'The extradition of Mike Lynch - should the forum bar be amended?' (Criminal Law Review, 2024, with Paul Arnell); and UK-EU Law Enforcement and Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters Under Part Three of the TCA: The Impact on Scotland (Scottish Parliament, 2024, with Helena Farrand Carrapico). She led the International Cooperation and Extradition Scoping Review (Criminal Law Reform Now Network, 2025), received the Scottish Parliament Information Centre Fellowship (2023–24), founded the AHRC-funded UK–Irish Criminal Justice Cooperation Network (2018–2021), and advised the Independent Commission on UK-EU Relations. She serves on the Advisory Board of Transnational Criminal Law Review and as National Lead External Examiner for Advocacy (Bar Standards Board). Davies joined Durham Law School in September 2022.