Joyman Lee was trained in private law and history. His interests centre on trusts, property and succession, including the ways in which non-Western ideas impact upon contemporary legal systems.

As a comparatist, Joyman is interested in Asian law, specifically Japan and Taiwan, as well as Francophone Africa. He is interested in the ways in which successful non-Western legal systems are often "hybrid" in nature; that is to say, how a decolonial approach assists us in appreciating the creativity of jurists in non-Western legal systems. He is also interested in how land provides a space in which non-Western legal ideas maintain or reassert their autonomy in face of the hegemonic presence of state law across the divide of settler colonialism.

Raised in London, he taught at the University of Glasgow before joining UNSW.