A Rhodes Scholar, Pierre Legrand has lectured or taught at more than sixty universities in more than twenty countries, often as a recurring visitor over very many years.

His work, which has attracted substantial attention worldwide, has been translated from French or English into seven languages. In 2017, the American Journal of Comparative Law, the flagship periodical in the field of comparative law, devoted a special issue to his scholarship – the first time it had so honoured a comparatist in its 65 years of existence.

Pierre Legrand has written extensively on the relevance of philosopher Jacques Derrida for comparative law. For instance, he has published “Siting Foreign Law: How Derrida Can Help”, (2011) 21 Duke Journal of Comparative and International Law 595. He has also contributed “Jacques Derrida Never Wrote About Law” to Administering Interpretation, ed. by Peter Goodrich and Michel Rosenfeld (Fordham University Press, 2019) and has participated in Derrida and Legal Philosophy, ed. by Peter Goodrich et al. (Palgrave Macmillan, 2008). He has authored the chapter on Derrida and law for the Blackwell Companion to Derrida, ed. by Zeynep Direk and Leonard Lawlor (Wiley-Blackwell, 2014). Recent books include Negative Comparative Law: A Strong Programme for Weak Thought (Cambridge University Press, 2022); Comparative Law and the Task of Negative Critique (Routledge, 2023); and The Negative Turn in Comparative Law (Routledge, 2025).