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Professor Hilary Astor

Profile

Degrees
B.Tech (Law), PhD Brunel

Courses Taught

  • Dispute Resolution
  • Mediation Skills and Theory
  • Family Law
  • Legal Research 3

Brief Biographical Detail
Professor Hilary Astor grew up in Blackpool, England and still retains the capacity to recite the dramatic monologue "The Lion and Albert". She received her Bachelors and Doctoral degrees from Brunel University, London, England, where she was a lecturer for ten years. Professor Astor joined the Faculty of Law at Sydney in 1986. She is presently Professor of Dispute Resolution.

Her areas of interest are dispute resolution, especially mediation, and family law. She is the co-author, with Professor Christine Chinkin, of Dispute Resolution in Australia (2nd edition, Butterworths, Sydney, 2002). She is well known for her work on the mediation of disputes involving violence against women, and her work on relationships of power in mediation and mediator neutrality. She is presently working on ARC funded projects on the relationships between family dispute resolution practitioners and family lawyers and the ways universities handle conflict and disputes. She was the inaugural Chairperson of the National Alternative Dispute Resolution Advisory Council, served for many years as a part-time Commissioner of the New South Wales Law Reform Commission and is presently a member of the Council of the Australian Institute of Judicial Administration.

Her interests include music, netball, needlepoint and reading detective novels.

Publications

Research Report | Books and Monographs | Chapters in Books | Articles in Refereed Journals | Articles in Non-Refereed Journals | Case Notes | Book Reviews | Conference Papers, published proceedings

Research Report

Books and Monographs

  • Astor, H, Rhoades, J, Sanson, A & Kaspiew, R, Working On Their Relationships: A study of inter-professional practices in a changing family law system University of Melbourne: Melbourne (2006).
  • Hilary Astor & Christine Chinkin, Dispute Resolution in Australia, Butterworths: Sydney (2nd ed, 2002).
  • Hilary Astor, Quality in Court Connected Mediation Programs: An Issues Paper, Australian Institute of Judicial Administration: Melbourne (2001).
  • Hilary Astor, Position Paper on Mediation, National Committee on Violence Against Women, Office of the Status of Women (1991).
  • Hilary Astor, Guidelines for use if Mediating in Cases Involving Violence Against Women, National Committee on Violence Against Women, May 1992.
  • Hilary Astor, Women and Mediation: Information About Mediation for Women, National Committee on Violence Against Women, (1992).

Chapters in Books

  • Hilary Astor, "Civil Procedure: Gender Issues in Dispute Resolution" in Reg Graycar and Jenny Morgan (eds), Including Gender in the Core Law Curriculum: Work and Violence Themes, DEET (1996).
  • Hilary Astor, "Family Law: Gender and Dispute Resolution in Family Law" in Reg Graycar and Jenny Morgan (eds), Including Gender in the Core Law Curriculum: Work and Violence Themes, DEET (1996).
  • Hilary Astor, "The Intersection of Race and Other Grounds of Discrimination" in Racial Discrimination Act 1975: A Review, AGPS: Canberra (1995), 261-272.
  • Hilary Astor, "The Weight of Silence: Talking About Violence in Family Mediation" in Margaret Thornton (ed), Public and Private: Feminist Debates, Oxford University Press: Melbourne (1995), 174-196.
  • Hilary Astor, "Swimming Against the Tide: Keeping Violent Men Out of Mediation" in Julie Stubbs (ed), Women, Male Violence and the Law, Institute of Criminology: Sydney (1994), 147-173.
  • Hilary Astor, "Disability and Discrimination" in Get it Right: Human Rights, Victorian Council for Civil Liberties (1994).

Articles in Refereed Journals

  • Hilary Astor, ‘Mediator Neutrality: Making Sense of Theory and Practice’ (2007) 16(2) Social & Legal Studies: an International Journal 221-239
  • Hilary Astor, 'Some Contemporary Theories of Power in Mediation: A primer for the puzzled practitioner' (2005) 16(1) Australasian Dispute Resolution Journal 30-39.
  • Hilary Astor, 'Improving Dispute Resolution in Australian Universities: Options for the future' (2005) 27(1) Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management 49-65.
  • Hilary Astor, 'Rethinking Neutrality: A Theory to Inform Practice - Part I' (2000) 11 Australasian Dispute Resolution Journal 73-84.
  • Hilary Astor, 'Rethinking Neutrality: A Theory to Inform Practice - Part II' (2000) 11 Australasian Dispute Resolution Journal 145-154.
  • Hilary Astor, 'Elizabeth's Story: Mediation, Violence and the Legal Academy' (1997) 2 Flinders Journal of Law Reform 13-29.
  • Hilary Astor, 'Mediation of Intra-Lesbian Disputes' (1996) 20 Melbourne University Law Review 953-978.
  • Hilary Astor, 'Violence and Family Mediation: Policy' (1994) 8 Australian Journal of Family Law 3-21.
  • Hilary Astor, 'Mediation of Family Disputes in Australia in Family Law and Gender Bias: Comparative Perspectives' (1992) 4 International Review of Comparative Public Policy 107-116.
  • Hilary Astor & Christine Chinkin, 'Mediator Training and Ethics' (1991) 2 Australian Dispute Resolution Journal 205-223.
  • Hilary Astor & Christine Chinkin, 'Dispute Resolution as Part of Legal Education' (1990) 1 Australian Dispute Resolution Journal 40-56.
  • Hilary Astor & Christine Chinkin, 'Teaching Dispute Resolution: A Reflection and Analysis' (1990) 2 Legal Education Review 1-33.
  • Hilary Astor, 'Domestic Violence and Mediation' (1990) 1 Australian Dispute Resolution Journal 143-153.
  • Hilary Astor, 'Anti-Discrimination Legislation and Physical Disability - the Lessons of Experience' (1990) 64 Australian Law Journal 113-128.
  • Hilary Astor, 'Discrimination in Employment on the Ground of Physical Impairment' (1988) 1 Australian Journal of Labour Law 79-84.
  • Hilary Astor & John Nothdurft, 'Laughing in the Dark - Anti-Discrimination Law and Physical Disability in New South Wales' (1986) 28 Journal of Industrial Relations 336-52.
  • Hilary Astor, 'The Unrepresented Defendant Revisited: A Consideration of the Role of the Clerk in Magistrates' Courts' (1985) 13 Journal of Law and Society, 225-39.
  • Hilary Astor & John Nothdurft, 'Report of the New South Wales Law Reform Commission on De Facto Relationships' (1985) 48 Modern Law Review 61-72. (Cited Baumgartner v Baumgartner (1985) 2 NSWLR 406)

Articles in Non-Refereed Journals

  • Hilary Astor & Captain Helen Marks, 'Power in Theory and Practice - The example of the Australian Defence Organisation' (2003) 6(2) Australian Dispute Resolution Bulletin 23-27.
  • Hilary Astor, 'Mediation and Disputes Involving Violence Against Women: Recent Australian Developments' (1998) 8 Family Mediation 18.
  • Hilary Astor, 'Feminist Issues in ADR' (1991) 65 Law Institute Journal 69-71. (Awarded the Editorial Committee Award, 1990-91 for the best article of the year)
  • Hilary Astor, 'Domestic Violence and Mediation' (1991) 16 On the Record - Newsletter of New South Wales Community Legal Centres 1 and 12.
  • Hilary Astor, 'Mediation: An Introduction to the Issues' (1990) 15 On the Record. Reprinted by request in the Domestic Violence Newsletter, NSW Women's Co-ordination Unit, 1991, 1-2.
  • Hilary Astor &Christine Chinkin, 'Alternative Dispute Resolution - Panacea or Problem?' (1990) Polemic.
  • Hilary Astor & John Nothdurft, 'Fighting Discrimination: Anti-Discrimination Law in Australia' (1986) 27 Childright, 16-19.
  • Hilary Astor & John Nothdurft, 'A Leap in the Dark: Anti-Discrimination Law and Physical Disability' (1986) 11 Legal Service Bulletin, 250-254.

Case Notes

  • Hilary Astor, 'Indirect Discrimination in the Provision of Government Services' (1992) 3(4) National HIV/AIDS Legal Link Newsletter 10-13.

Book Reviews

  • Hilary Astor, 'Christine Piper, The Responsible Parent: A Study in Divorce Mediation' (1995) 4 Social and Legal Studies 544-5.
  • Hilary Astor, 'Half Way to Equal: Report of the Inquiry into Equal Opportunity and Equal Status for Women in Australia, AGPS: Canberra, 1992' (1993) Australian Journal of Labour Law 74-6.
  • Hilary Astor, 'Rosemary Hunter, Indirect Discrimination in the Workplace, Federation Press: Sydney, 1992' (1993) 15 Sydney University Law Review 388-91.
  • Hilary Astor, 'Gwynn Davis and Mervyn Murch, Grounds for Divorce, Clarendon Press: Oxford, 1988' (1989) 3 International Journal of Law and the Family 240-42.
  • Hilary Astor, 'Penny Darbyshire, The Magistrate's Clerk, Barry Rose, 1984' (1986) Anglo-American Law Review 79-82.

Conference Papers, published proceedings

  • Hilary Astor & Captain Helen Marks, RAN, 'Power in theory and practice - the example of the Australian Defence Organisation', presented at 6th National Mediation Conference, Canberra, September 2002, forthcoming at http://www.mediate.com/australasia/ and in the ADR Bulletin 2003.
  • Hilary Astor, 'Identity, Diversity and Mediation', in Tom Fisher (ed), Conference Proceedings: Fourth National Mediation Conference, Melbourne, 1998. (invited keynote address).
  • Hilary Astor, 'The Weight of Silence: Talking About Violence in Family Mediation', in Relationships Australia (ed), Domestic Violence: Current Responses, Future Directions, Sydney NSW, 1998.
  • Hilary Astor, 'Mediation Initiatives and The Needs of Aboriginal Women; Mediation and Cultural Diversity', in Bagshaw, D (ed), Conference Proceedings, Second International Mediation Conference, Adelaide, 1996.
  • Hilary Astor, 'The Facts About Domestic Violence', A Family Law Day with the Family Law Section of the Law Council of Australia, CLE Department of the College of Law, 1996.
  • Hilary Astor, 'Same Sex Mediation Mediation Throughout the Family Life Cycle', in Linda Fisher (ed), Proceedings of the 3rd National Family Mediation Conference (1995), Sydney.
  • Hilary Astor, 'Domestic Violence: Barriers to Telling', Gender Awareness Seminar, Family Court of Australia, Kooralbyn, Queensland, 1994 (Published on video).
  • Hilary Astor, 'Domestic Violence: The Facts', Gender Awareness Seminar, Family Court of Australia, Kooralbyn, Queensland, 1994 (Print and video).