Dr Lee McConnell
LLB, PhD
Expertise
Lee primarily researches in the field of public international law, focusing on issues concerning personality, non-State actors and business & human rights. His wider interests include legal theory, animal & natural resource law.
Current positions
Senior Lecturer in Law
University of Bristol Law School
Contact
Press and media
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Biography
Lee joined the University of Bristol Law School in September 2017. He is currently a Senior Lecturer, specialising in public international law and legal theory.
Lee is the author of 'Extracting Accountability from Non-State Actors in International Law' (Routledge, 2016) and co-editor (with Professor Rhona Smith) of 'Research Methods in Human Rights' (Routledge 2018). Lee is a member of Bristol's Centre for International Law, which he co-founded and co-directed between 2020-23.
Previously, Lee has worked on research projects for national human rights institutions such as the Scottish Human Rights Commission (SHRC) and the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC). These initiatives sought to measure compliance with core human rights standards against a number of performance indicators.
Research interests
Lee primarily researches in the field of public international law, focusing on issues relating to legal personality, the regulation of non-State actors, and business and human rights. His wider interests include legal theory, environmental, animal and natural resource law.
Between 2022-25, Lee served as principal investigator of the 'Extractive Industries and Foreign Security' Network. This AHRC-funded project established an international, inter-disciplinary research network exploring the interactions between multinational corporations engaged in the extraction of natural resources, and the security forces of the foreign States in which they operate. Through a series of events hosted by Bristol and Durham University law schools, it explored the key social, economic, political and historical drivers to conflicts between these actors, mapped relevant national, regional and international legal/policy frameworks, and explored how they might be improved so as to strengthen the observance of fundamental human rights.
Projects and supervisions
Research projects
The Extractive Industry and Foreign Security Network
Principal Investigator
Description
This AHRC-funded research network will investigate the interactions between multinational corporations engaged in the extraction of natural resources, and the security forces of the foreign States in which they operate.…Managing organisational unit
University of Bristol Law SchoolDates
01/05/2022 to 16/01/2025
Thesis supervisions
Publications
Selected publications
01/12/2024Privacy Law and Commodification
Intellectual Property Quarterly
When is it right to speak of animal rights?
Canadian Journal of Law and Jurisprudence
Opportunity and Impasse
International Theory
Recent publications
01/01/2024Public Security for Private Gain
Business, Human Rights and Natural Resource Governance:
Privacy Law and Commodification
Intellectual Property Quarterly
When is it right to speak of animal rights?
Canadian Journal of Law and Jurisprudence
Business, Human Rights and Natural Resource Governance
Business, Human Rights and Natural Resource Governance
Opportunity and Impasse
International Theory
Teaching
Lee currently teaches General Principles of International Law at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. In the past and at previous institutions, he has also taught Jurisprudence, International Human Rights Law and Land Law.