Students at Macquarie Law School have the opportunity to learn from dedicated teachers who are also research leaders in their fields. Academic staff are actively engaged in publishing their research in books and leading international journals, and in communicating their research through conferences, public seminars and the media. They are recipients of highly competitive research grants, such as those awarded by the Australian Research Council, and they undertake research consultancies with industry and government. Their contributions have been acknowledged through research collaborations with other organisations, both nationally and internationally.

Macquarie Law School is also home to the Centre for Legal Governance, which is co-directed by Professor David Weisbrot AM, Professor Brian Opeskin and Professor Denise Meyerson. Both Professors Weisbrot and Opeskin have a long history of involvement in law reform (as President and Deputy President, respectively, of the Australian Law Reform Commission) and bring a reform focus to the research work of the Centre. The Centre engages in interdisciplinary study of legal governance and regulatory problems facing governments, businesses, and communities in the new world order. The Centre's main fields of expertise include international migration law; human rights; health law and ethics; international environmental law; comparative and international law; and the regulation of information in the technological age.

The research expertise of Macquarie Law School is strengthened by a strong culture promoting research development of undergraduate and postgraduate students. Legal research is integrated into undergraduate courses, and students also have an opportunity to undertake a substantial thesis on a topic of their choice as part of the Honours program in law. The research interests of students are fostered through active research training, with the goal of imparting work-ready skills for a wide variety of employment opportunities in law. Increasingly, students are encouraged to collaborate with staff in research and publication, providing a synergy between current student interests and extensive staff experience.