Sharon McAvoy

Sharon McAvoy is a Senior Lecturer in Law at Edge Hill University, with module leadership responsibilities for Public Law, Family Law, Criminal Law in Practice and Public Law in Practice. Prior to entering academia, Sharon worked within the public and legal sectors, managing projects supporting the UK Armed Forces, police services and civil responders before moving into civil litigation.
Sharon's research interests span public law, constitutional law, socio-legal studies and family law. Her current research examines how complex constitutional principles are communicated and understood within democratic discourse. Drawing on socio-legal theory, linguistics and political communication, her work develops the concept of Communicative Reconstruction to explain how constitutional ideas move from specialist legal doctrine into public debate. Her doctoral research explores the relationship between constitutional language, democratic engagement and public understanding of constitutional principles, with a particular focus on parliamentary sovereignty and constitutional communication.
Sharon has published in the fields of constitutional law and family law. Her constitutional law research focuses on the nature and operation of the UK constitution, constitutional principles, democratic legitimacy and constitutional reform. Her broader research interests include legal consciousness, democratic engagement, sentencing theory, punishment, and child and family law. She is particularly interested in interdisciplinary approaches that connect legal doctrine with social, political and linguistic perspectives on law.