His main area of expertise is constitutional theory. He has published extensively on the constitutional dimension of legal order at sub-state, state, supranational and international levels. He has also published at length on the relationship between security, legal order and political community. He maintains a more general interest in broader questions of legal theory as well as in various substantive dimensions of UK and EU public law.

 

Previously he taught public law at Edinburgh for ten years (1986-96), was Professor of Legal and Constitutional Theory at the University of Aberdeen (1996-2000), and, most recently, was Professor of European Law at the European University Institute in Florence (2000-8), where he was also the first Dean of Studies (2002-5).

 

He has also held various visiting appointments - including Visiting Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of Tilburg, Netherlands (2000); Visiting Professor of Law, University of Columbia, NY(2005); Eugene Einaudi Chair of European Studies, University of Cornell (2007); and Distinguished Visiting Professor of Law, University of Toronto (2007). More recently, he was Global Professor of Law at New York University in 2011, and the Sidley Austin-Robert D. MacLean Visiting Professor of Law at Yale Law School in 2014-15.

 

Professor Walker's inaugural lecture, entitled "Out of Place and Out of Time: Law's Fading Co-ordinates", was delivered on the 18th November 2008. You can listen to it from the Blogs and Podcasts section of the School website.

 

In December 2008 Professor Walker was asked by the Scottish Government to conduct an independent review of final appellate jurisdiction in the Scottish legal system. His final Report, submitted in January 2010, can be found at: