Current research and studies concerning legal systems in developing countries include the following: (1) understanding the legal norms of target nations by collecting and analyzing relevant laws and precedents. (2) analysis of how laws are implemented and how they impact society, and understanding the judicial system as well as legal system of individual areas of law. (3) analysis of discrepancies between the legal norms/institutions and how stakeholders actually understand and perceive these norms/institutions. With this knowledge as a base, further study can identify structural legal issues faced by target countries and, then, explore potential legal policy solutions.
A country's legal structure is fundamentally impacted by the state of its economic development as well as its indigenous society and culture. These legal structures, furthermore, are influenced by, in addition to domestic factors, external factors such as globalization and international relations. As such, research on legal systems of developing countries should take these contextual factors into account, if not focus specifically on them. For example, potential research topics could include analysis of how contextual factors such as economic globalization, regime change, regional cooperation, and international aid influence the legal system in a developing country or how their legal systems respond to domestic and international issues related to environment, consumers and labor issues, or on democratization, human rights and the rule of law. Given that deep understanding of the role of law in developmental processes is necessary for effective legal reform by the developing countries and for effective legal technical assistance by donor countries, further research and theorization regarding these issues needs to be carried out.