Research interests

Comparative access to justice, socio-legal studies, professional ethics and responsibility, legal education

Professional memberships

Kim was a member of the Council of Australian Law Deans (2012-17) and served on its Executive Committee as Chair of the Council's Standing Committee on Standards and Accreditation (2012-14). He was a foundation member of the Australian Law Schools Standards Committee (ALSSC), established by the Council in 2011.
Editorial advisory posts include: Legal Ethics, (2008-); International Journal of the Legal Profession (1993-); Butterworth’s Law in Context Series (1995-2004); Amicus Curiae (1997-); Law & Society Review (2004-06); International Journal of Law in Context (2005-12); Revista de Direito do UniFOA (2007-); Australasian Law Teachers Association Law Research Series (ALRS) (2010-).
Kim is a member of the following bodies:
• Society for Advanced Legal Studies (SALS)
• Socio-Legal Studies Association (SLSA)
• Society of Legal Scholars (SLS)
• Law & Society Association (LSA)
• International Sociological Association Research Committee on Sociology of Law (ISA/RCSL)
• Working Group on the Comparative Study of Legal Professions
• National Rural Law and Justice Alliance (NRLJA)
• Australian Network for Japanese Law (ANJeL)
• Australasian Law Teachers Association (ALTA)
• Law and Society Association of Australia and New Zealand (LSAANZ)
• International Association of Legal Ethics (IAOLE).

Industry affiliations

Fellow of the Canon Foundation (1997-); Fellow of the Society for Advanced Legal Studies (1998-); Associate Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, London (2001-02) and Fellow of the Higher Education Authority (2009-). Kim has held visiting posts at universities in Japan (Chuo University, Tokyo, 1997), New Zealand (Chapman Tripp Visiting Fellow, University of Victoria, Wellington, 2002), Australia (Visiting Professor, Flinders Law School, Adelaide 2005; Distinguished Visiting Mentor and John Fleming Visiting Fellow ANU College of Law, Canberra 2008; Faculty Distinguished Visitor, School of Law, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, 2009; Adjunct Professor of Law, Flinders, 2019); Adjunct Research Fellow, Law Futures Centre, Griffith University, 2019; and Cyprus (Visiting Professor, Law Department, University of Cyprus, 2019).

Key responsibilities
Kim co-directed the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)-funded Access to Justice in Rural Britain Project (1983-1987). Founding Secretary (1990-92) and Vice Chair (1992-93) Socio-Legal Studies Association (SLSA). From 1993-95 he was seconded as Education Secretary to the Lord Chancellor's Advisory Committee on Legal Education & Conduct (ACLEC). He was Founding General Editor of the international journal Legal Ethics (1998-2008) and in 2004 hosted the first International Legal Ethics Conference (ILEC) at Exeter, a series that now meets biennially.
He served as President of the International Association of Legal Ethics (IAOLE) (2014-16) and has been active in hosting the Australia and New Zealand Legal Ethics Colloquium (ANZLEC) in Dunedin (2012) and Adelaide (2013). He was Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Hamlyn Trust (2004-09) and Series Editor, The Hamlyn Lectures (2005-10). He was a member of the Law Society (England & Wales) Education & Training Committee (2003-06) and has advised the Society on skills and ethical training. In 2006 he was appointed Specialist Adviser to the UK Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Draft Legal Services Bill, now the Legal Services Act 2007, and in 2009 advised Lord Hunt's Legal Regulation Review.