Nick’s research pursues a critical engagement with private law, particularly in the area of equity and trusts, succession and estate planning. He has published on trusts law, property law, legal history, and legal theory. Nick’s work on constructive trusts has been cited by the Supreme Court in Jones v Kernott [2011] UKSC 53.
Nick is currently completing a book on the fate of equity in modern law to be published with Hart Publishing. The project considers a number of equity’s contributions to the legal architecture of capitalism, including the transformations in the use and nature of trusts and equity’s governance structures such as fiduciary obligations.
In 2012 Nick co-founded (with Dr Rob Herian) the Equity & Trusts Research Network which brings scholars together who challenge the established and dominant modes of thought and analysis in equity and trusts, and encourages scholarship which emphasises the political, economic, cultural and ethical aspects of equity. The Network has hosted a number of events since its inception including a workshop on Equity and the Resources of Critique (resulting in two special issues of the journal Pólemos: Journal of Law, Literature and Culture guest edited by Nick) and a symposium on critical trusts law in honour of Professor Roger Cotterrell resulting in an edited collection co-edited by Nick entitled Critical Trusts Law: Reading Roger Cotterrell published in 2024.
