In her professorial inaugural lecture Susv Frankel stated, "the parameters of intellectual property law are essentially a cultural construct.  The lawmakers choose which cultural values to protect and to balance them." Susy's scholarship has developed the theme that intellectual property law is a cultural and social construct through much of her scholarship, using it as a framework to analyse how policy and law can be developed in order to achieve more effective outcomes to support both innovation and cultural understanding.

Susy is an internationally renowned expert on international intellectual property law. Her scholarship includes:

- publications addressing the interpretation and implementation of international intellectual property law and policy and particularly methods of treaty interpretation. She is author of Test Tubes for Global Intelelctual Property Issues: Small Market Economies, an innovative monograph discussing how to find middle ground among competing interests in international intellectual property issues using examples from small market economies that do just that and co-author (with D Gervais) of Advanced Introduction to International Intellectual Property (2016)

-  extensive scholarship addressing both the nexus and disconnect between intellectual property rights and Indigenous Peoples' rights in international intellectual property and trade both in Aotearoa New Zealand and internationally. Her scholarship analyses the relationship between intellectual property and mātauranga Māori, the body of knowledge flowing from te ao Māori (the Māori world view) and Māori creativity and innovation. She has been at the forefront of this field for over 20 years and has taught and mentored many early career researchers to advance their own research in this field. Susy was expert Counsel advising the Waitangi Tribunal on Ko Aotearoa Tenei (WAI 262).

- in-depth explanation, analysis and critique of New Zealand's intellectual property law. She is the author of the substantial and much cited treatise Intellectual Property in New Zealand (2^nd Ed, 2011), a new edition is forthcoming entitled Frankel on Intellectual Property. She is also co-author (lead) with Jessica Lai of Patent Law and Policy (2016) 

Susy has taught numerous courses in intellectual property including copyright, trade marks, patent law and innovation, patent interpretation, global intellectual property issues, international trade law, the protection of mātauranga Māori (traditional knowledge), biosecurity and the law (together with Prof Phil Lester, School of Biology), the law of contract, and regulation in practice and in theory. She has developed and led postgraduate intellectual property law subjects, including courses accredited by the Trans-Tasman Intellectual Property Board and the Master of International Trade cross-disciplinary degree. As Lead Director of the New Zealand Centre of International Economic Law (NZCIEL),  since its founding in 2007, Susy has spearheaded the Law School's teaching and scholarship and hosted numerous conferences and events in this field.

From 2020-2025 she was a Member of the Waitangi Tribunal. She sat on the following panels:

·         The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (Wai 2522)

·         Report Kei Ahotea Te Aho Matua Kura Kaupapa Māori (Dewes) Claim (Wai 1718)

·         Te Reo i te Kāwanatanga Ruku Tātari Ohotata / Te Reo in the Public Sector Urgent Inquiry

·         The Health Services and Outcomes Kaupapa Inquiry (Wai 2575)

·         Wai 3550 - The Economic Development Kaupapa Inquiry (Wai 3550)

Susy served as Chair of the Copyright Tribunal, 2008-2020 and as an Assistant commissioner of Trade Marks, Patents and Designs (acting as an independent Hearing Officer hearing multiple oppositions) from 1998 - 2006

In 2018 Susy was the first member of the Faculty of Law elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Te Apārangi and was elected the Convenor of the Humanities Domain of the Royal Society, Te Apārangi from 2020-2022 and was the Deputy Chair of the Academy Executive Committee and a member of the Society's Council from 2022 until June 2025

Susy was President (2015–2017) of the International Association for the Advancement of Teaching and Research of Intellectual Property (ATRIP)

In 2024 and 2020 she was a Global Professor at NYU Law School teaching courses in international intellectual property. She has been a visiting Professor at the University of Haifa (Reinhold Cohen Visiting Chair) 2014; University of Western Ontario 2012; Fellow of Clare Hall, University of Cambridge and visitor to the Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Law, University of Cambridge, Michalmas term 2008; visiting Professor, University of Iowa 2000; and between 2013 and 2014 she was a Senior Fulbright Scholar and Hauser Global Fellow at New York University.

Between 2011 and 2013 Susy was the Project Leader of the New Zealand Law Foundation Regulatory Reform Project, funded to NZ$1.9 million. The project was interdisciplinary, involving economists, lawyers and academics. The team produced three books and a cutting-edge regulatory toolkit. She has been the Lead PI in a Marsden Grant (inviting Jessica Lai to join her as PI), entitled "Mission Creep in the Pharmaceutical Industry and its Impact on Innovation and Health".

Before joining Victoria University of Wellington, in 1997, Susy practiced law in New Zealand and London. Susy qualified as Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand in 1988 and as a Solicitor of England & Wales in 1991.

SUSY IS ON LEAVE UNTIL LATE 2027 TO TAKE UP A POSITION AS COUNSELLOR, AT THE WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION, GENEVA, IN THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENT AND COMPETITION DIVISION