Robert Black has been Professor of Scots Law in the University since January 1981, having previously been in practice at the Bar. For various periods between 1983 and 1999 he served as Head of the Department of Scots (later Private) Law. He has been an Advocate since 1972, a QC since 1987 and a member of every Dean's Council from 1984 to 2003. From 1987 to 1996 he was General Editor of The Laws of Scotland: Stair Memorial Encyclopaedia (25 volumes), having previously acted for six years as deputy to the late Sir Thomas Smith QC. From 1981 to 1994 he served as a temporary sheriff. Over the years Robert Black has acted as the Law Society of Scotland's examiner in Evidence and as the examiner in Civil and Criminal Procedure and Pleading for solicitors seeking extended rights of audience, and as the Faculty of Advocates' examiner in Private Law.

He has taken a close interest in the Lockerbie affair since 1993, not least because he was born and brought up in the town, and has published a substantial number of articles on the topic in the United Kingdom and overseas. Professor Robert Black is often referred to as the architect of the Lockerbie trial at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands: see http://lockerbiecase.blogspot.com/, http://web.archive.org/web/20020524233852/ and http://www.thelockerbietrial.com/