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Education
Following attendance at King David Primary School and High School in Liverpool, Debra Morris read for her law degree at the University of Liverpool. She graduated with an LLB in 1987. She was the recipient of both a Faculty of Law Undergraduate University Scholarship and the Gibson Sinclair University Undergraduate Scholarship in both 1985 and 1986. Upon graduation, she was one of four (all female) students in her year to be awarded a First Class Honours degree. Then, with the support of both a University of Liverpool Research Studentship and a British Academy Scholarship, she continued her studies at the University of Liverpool for an LLM by Research on the subject of Charities and Taxation. This was the start of her research interest in the area of charity law, which she maintained throughout her career. As part of her Research Studentship, whilst studying for her LLM, she taught English Legal System to first-year undergraduate students. She graduated with her LLM in 1988.
Academic Career
Upon graduation from her LLM in 1988, she was immediately employed by the Faculty of Law, University of Liverpool, on a one-year temporary lectureship. During that year, as well as starting to teach Equity & Trusts and continuing to teach English Legal System, she also taught Public International Law. That was the last time that she taught that subject. In 1989, she was appointed to a permanent lectureship. She continued to teach Equity & Trusts, Land Law and also Employment Law (initially called Labour Law) over many years. From October 1997 to February 1998, she took a period of unpaid leave and worked as a Visiting Lecturer in Israel at the Israeli Centre for Academic Studies, which at that point offered a law degree validated by the University of Manchester. Following her return to Liverpool, she was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 1999. In 2001, Debra Morris took up a position at the University-affiliated institution in the Cayman Islands, the Cayman Islands Law School. In 2006, she was appointed as Assistant Director of Legal Studies at Cayman Islands Law School. In 2010, she returned to Liverpool Law School, University of Liverpool, as a Reader in Charity Law and Policy. In 2013, she was promoted to Personal Chair. She was appointed Dean of the School of Law and Social Justice in 2014, and after seven years in the role, she stepped down in 2021. During this time, she oversaw the building of the new home for the School of Law & Social Justice. Upon her retirement in 2023, she was given the title of Professor Emerita by the University of Liverpool and was also appointed as an Honorary Professor, maintaining close links with the Charity Law & Policy Unit.
Academic Leadership at Liverpool
Before her appointment as Dean, Debra Morris gained significant experience in University life and took on many important roles. Earlier roles included: Tutor for International Students; Faculty of Law Senior Tutor; and Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Lead (Admissions, Recruitment and Widening Participation). She always maintained an interest in international student recruitment, and made many international recruitment trips to countries including Israel, Malaysia, Singapore and India.
Research
Debra Morris’ research has focused on diverse aspects of charity law and regulation, ranging from the ‘public benefit’ test through to the impact of equality law on charities. She has written widely in the area of charity law and policy and has been invited to present at conferences and seminars around the world.
A key feature of her work has been to benefit charities on the ground. The work has always, therefore, been of high impact to the charity sector. A number of her important outputs were research reports following on from externally funded empirical projects. These tended to identify and analyse areas of conflict in a particular area and to provide novel and workable solutions, which were then adopted by the charity sector, its regulators and policy-makers. For example, her work on charity mergers led directly to legislative change, which has facilitated the process.
Charity Law & Policy Unit
In 1994, Debra Morris was a founding member of the Charity Law Unit (latterly the Charity Law & Policy Unit). She was Director from 1996-2001 and then 2010 until her retirement in 2023. The Unit (the only one in England and Wales) is recognised, both within the UK and abroad, as having an excellent reputation for research and publication in the field of Charity Law. Under her leadership, the Unit held many events, including seminars, workshops, international symposia and online sessions. These were attended by academics, legal practitioners, charity personnel and members of the judiciary.
Competitive Research Funding
As well as receiving significant funding from Atlantic Philanthropies to support the broad expansion of charity law research at University of Liverpool (through the Charity Law Unit), Debra Morris was the recipient of external funding to support various specific research projects in charity law. Highlights include: funding from the Esmée Fairbairn Charitable Trust to examine the legal implications for charities entering into the contract culture by reference to their practical experience; Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funding to examine both Legal Issues in Charity Mergers and Disputes in the Charitable Sector; and funding from the Leverhulme Trust to investigate charities’ experience of the impact of the Equality Act 2010 on their work.
Written Work
Debra Morris published numerous peer-reviewed journal articles in law journals, almost always as sole author. These have been published in both specialist (e.g. Conveyancer and Property Lawyer, Voluntary Sector Review) and generalist journals (e.g. Legal Studies, Current Legal Problems). Journals such as these have low acceptance rates and submissions are subject to highly rigorous and competitive peer review processes. Her work has been widely cited around the world, including in leading books and journal articles.
Her monograph, Schools: An Education in Charity Law (Dartmouth Publishing) was published in 1996 and provided the first analysis of the complex implications (both social and specifically legal) of charitable status for schools. The book was well reviewed and received. She then went on to be a contributing author to two of the main charity law texts in England and Wales, both of which have significant international reach. She was assistant editor of Tudor on Charities (Sweet and Maxwell) 8th edition plus first supplement and 9th edition. First published in 1854, Tudor on Charities is a leading work and a well-respected text on Charity Law, now in its 11th edition. It provides a thorough analysis of the law relating to charities and their administration, including taxation, accounting and fundraising. It is cited by judges in a wide range of higher courts in both the UK and overseas. Debra Morris also assisted Hubert Picarda QC in the writing of the most recent edition of his book on The Law and Practice relating to Charities (Bloomsbury Press) 4th edition. This is also a leading text in the field. The new edition has 58 chapters and 1,451 pages, and she was responsible for updating roughly one-third of it. This included the writing of a number of new chapters for the book. The new edition was welcomed by Christopher McCall QC (a leading charity law silk who was previously Junior Counsel to the Attorney-General in charity matters) as “obviously of great significance to all charity lawyers. We have all been waiting for this new edition with baited breath!”
There have been a number of important edited collections for charity law academics and practitioners and Debra Morris contributed book chapters to many as a sole author. Examples include M McGregor-Lowndes and K O'Halloran (eds), Modernising Charity Law: Recent Developments and Future Directions (2010) Edward Elgar; S Phillips and S Rathgeb Smith (eds), Governance and Regulation in the Third Sector. International Perspectives (2011) Routledge; M Harding, A O’Connell and M Stewart (eds), Not for Profit Law: Theoretical and Comparative Perspectives (2014) Cambridge University Press; and M Harding (ed), Research Handbook on Not-For-Profit Law (2018) Edward Elgar. They are all in leading collections edited by scholars of high standard and published by prestigious law publishers.
Debra Morris was Editor of the Charity Law and Practice Review 2010-2020 and was previously (since 1992) its Case Notes Editor.
Outside the University
Debra Morris has many hobbies, including singing, dancing and art appreciation. She is also an avid theatre goer.
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