Dr Alexandra Allen-Franks is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Auckland Law School. Before joining the University of Auckland, Alex taught Human Rights Law for Fitzwilliam College, King's College, Pembroke College and Trinity Hall at the University of Cambridge, as well as Criminal Procedure and Evidence for Pembroke College and Homerton College. She holds an LLM and PhD from the University of Cambridge. Her thesis is titled "Development of Powers Enabling Exclusion of Improperly Obtained Evidence in Civil Proceedings in England and Wales, Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia". Her PhD was funded by a Trinity Hall Research Studentship and Cambridge Trust Scholarship. While at Cambridge, Alex was both a research project manager and a Director of the Cambridge Pro Bono Project.

Alex is a Co-Director of the New Zealand Centre for Intellectual Property. She is a co-author of New Zealand's leading text on the law of evidence, Mahoney on Evidence (2nd ed, Thomson Reuters, 2024).

Alex's practical experience includes working at a large international law firm in London, as an employed barrister at Bankside Chambers in Auckland, and as a Judges' Clerk at the Auckland High Court. She has appeared as counsel in the New Zealand High Court and Court of Appeal, as well as assisting with trade mark applications and oppositions at IPONZ. She holds an LLB(hons) from the University of Otago.