Geoff is Professor of Law in the Law Department, School of Social Sciences.

He is currently Co-Director of Research for Law, the Academic Director of the N8 Policing Research Partnership, and the Co-Lead on Trust and Confidence for the Manchester Policing Academic Centre of Excellence (M-PACE). 

He graduated with an LL.B from the University of Lancaster in 1995 before going on to complete a PhD titled 'Legal Responses to Football Crowd Disorder' at the same institution under the supervision of Prof Michael Salter. He was awarded his doctorate in 1999 (externals Prof Andrew Sanders and Prof Steve Redhead) in 1999 and became Lecturer and then Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of Liverpool (first at the Football Research Unit and then the Management School). He was Director of Studies for the MBA (Football Industries) programme (FiMBA) (2003-2014).

Geoff joined the University of Manchester Law School in 2015 as a Senior Lecturer in Criminal Law and he acted as Programme Director for the LLB Law with Criminology Programme 2016-2020. In 2020 he took over as Academic Director of the N8PRP and was appointed Professor of Law.

Legal and Policing Responses to Football Crowd Violence and Disorder and 'Hooliganism'

Utilising an ethnographic methodology, including covert participant observation (1995-2011), Geoff has studied the impact of legislation and policing strategies and tactics upon levels of football-related violence and disorder and upon the human rights of football fans since the mid 1990s. Particular focus has been on legislation, Football Banning Orders, human rights, and best practice when policing English football fans. He has worked with and advised the UK Home Office, the OSCE, the Law Commission, FIFA, UEFA, the English Football League, the FSA, the Baroness Casey Review into Euro2020, the DCMS Inquiry into Safety at Sports Events, and numerous police forces. In 2021, he was part of the research team that recommended to the SGSA and DCMS that 'Safe Standing' should be introduced into UK football stadiums.

He has published four books in this area, 'Football Hooliganism' (2007, with Clifford Stott), An Ethnography of English Football Fans (2012), 'Legal Responses to Football Hooliganism in Europe' (2017, co-edited with Peter Coenen and Anastassia Tsoukala), and A New Agenda for Football Crowd Management (2022 with Clifford Stott).

Police Powers and Human Rights

In 2013-2019, Geoff conducted a longitudinal ethnographic study with frontline police officers in two forces in the north of England, inestigating the use of police 'street powers' (including vehicle stop checks, stop and search, and arrest), police discretion, regulation and the law. In 2020, he co-authored 'Police Street Powers and Criminal Justice: Regulation and Discretion in a Time of Change' (Hart Publishing, with Mike Rowe). The study led to the recommendation that there should be national recording of all police vehicle stops. Subsequently, Geoff conducted a qualitative study of serving officers to investigate the impact of the Human Rights Act upon policing, and in 2026 he publishes 'Policing and Human Rights: An Incompatible Couple?' (Hart Publishing).

On the issue of police powers and human rights, he has advised the London Assembly's Policing and Crime Committee, the Lord MacDonald Review into Public Order Law and Hate Crime, and the Joint Committee on Human Rights Inquiry into the 'Right to Protest'. 

Ethnography

In 2005, along with Matthew Brannan, Jason Ferdinand, Mike Rowe and Frank Worthington, Geoff established the annual Ethnography Symposium. He is on the editorial advisory board for the Journal of Organisational Ethnography and has published on the ethics of covert participant observation. In 2012 he published 'An Ethnography of English Football Fans: Cans, Cops and Carnivals' (MUP).

Football Player Labour Conditions and European Union Law

Geoff has carried out research investigating the legality of football transfer and quota systems under EU Free Movement and Competition Law and worked with the European Commission assessing the UEFA Homegrown Player Rule. 2016-2017 he was principal investigator for two FIFPro-funded project looking at the labour conditions of professional football players worldwide.

Consultancy, Training, and Knowledge Exchange

Geoff conducts consultancy and training in the areas of law, human rights, policing, and football event safety and security. He currently delivers the human rights content for the College of Policing's national Public Order Gold Commander's Accreditation and Re-Accreditation courses. He also sits on the SGSA's Academic Forum, GMP's Stop and Search and Use of Force Co-ordination Group, and GMCA's Child-Centred Policing Scrutiny Group.  

Most of Geoff's publications can be downloaded at: https://manchester.academia.edu/GeoffPearson/

LAWS10082 Criminal Law (Criminology)

LAWS30082 Criminal Evidence

LAWS31082 Sport and the Law