Kris Gledhill was a barrister in England, appearing in a wide range of human rights cases, before coming to New Zealand in 2006 to undertake study for a PhD course.

He accepted a lectureship at University of Auckland Law School from the start of 2007, where his teaching includes criminal law and international human rights law and his research and writing covers various aspects of human rights law, particularly its impact on mental health law: he has spoken on this topic in many fora, and recently authored a report for the Mental Health Commission of Ireland on the compliance of the Mental Health Act 2001 with human rights standards.