'Measuring' an academic contribution

Given all the circumstances surrounding the attempts to oversee the performance of legal academics and their research efforts, it is remarkable that Sam Ricketson has written and published his treatises on the law of intellectual property (in Australia), the 100-year history of the Berne Convention and the Paris Convention. Hindsight is always 20/20 as noted so frequently by the courts when considering inventiveness and what was obvious at a given prior point in time. it was not obvious at the time of commencing these works that they would be so successful Yet hindsight tells us that Ricketson’s decisions to invest so much of his time and energy into writing his treatises were rational and obvious decisions and the outcomes for both himself and the multiple audiences that enjoy the fruits of his labour equally predictable.