Home / Sydney Law School / Research & publications / Research

Research and publications

Sydney Law School is noted for the volume, depth and diversity of its legal scholarship and publications. A member of the Group of Eight Research Universities, Sydney has by far the largest cohort of doctoral and other higher degree research students in the country. It hosts a variety of specialist research centres and faculty members regularly win major research grants to further their wide variety of staff research interests, covering both doctrinal, theoretical and inter-disciplinary fields of scholarship.

In recognition of the breadth, relevance and international standing of this work, the Law School is represented in seven of 21 university research strengths, in addition to the groupings of staff which comprise the areas of special faculty research strength.

Professor Terry Carney

Terry Carney
Director of Research

Sydney Law School Research News

2008

Sydney Law School doctoral student recognised in Queen's Birthday Honours List

13/06/2008

Sydney Law School would like to extend its congratualtions to one of its doctoral students, Mr. John Boersig, who was awarded an Australian Public Service Medal in the 2008 Queens birthday honours list recently.

The award was in recognition of "...outstanding public service in the delivery of law and justice services to Indigenous Australians."

John is the Assistant Secretary, Indigenous Law and Justice Branch, in the Federal Attorney-General's Department.

John's Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) thesis is entitled, Towards a New Framework for Sentencing: Blending Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Notions of Justice

It is currently under examination and the supervisor is Sydney Law School's Director of Research, Professor Terry Carney.

The Australian Public Service Medal recognises outstanding service by employees of the Australian Government and state, territory and local government employees. ‘Outstanding service’ could be shown through:

  • service excellence to the public, or to external or internal clients;
  • innovation in programme, project or policy development;
  • leadership, including as a member of a team; or
  • the achievement of more efficient processes, improved productivity or better service delivery.

2008 Sydney Law School Authors

23/04/2008

The Sydney Law School extends its congratulations to the following Faculty members who authored or co-authored the following books published in 2008:

  • Thalia Anthony & Chris Cunneen (eds), The Critical Criminology Companion, Hawkins Press, Sydney, 2008.
  • Belinda Bennett, Health Law's Kaleidoscope: Health Law Rights in a Global Age, Ashgate Publishing, UK, 2008.
  • Helen Irving, Gender and the Constitution: Equity and Agency in Comparative Constitutional Design, Cambridge University Press, UK, 2008
  • Greg Tolhurst & Elisabeth Peden, Commercial Issues in Contract Law, Ross Parsons Centre of Commercial, Corporate and Taxation Law, Sydney, 2008
  • Mark Findlay, Governing Through Globalised Crime: Futures for international criminal justice, Willan Publishing, UK, 2008

"In our discipline, as in the humanities in general, the 'book' is rightly seen as the definitive scholarly work (along with articles in quality, usually peer-reviewed journals)," said Director of Research, Professor Terry Carney.

"Books are demanding of time, intellectual energy and sheer determination to bring the project 'home' whatever the odds.

"And of course they provide a vehicle for establishing an intellectual 'position' and scholarly reputation both nationally and internationally.

"I am therefore delighted to congratulate our colleagues on their fine achievements in respect of the books published so far this year."

2008 Sydney Law School LSSF Grant Winners

24/01/2008

The Sydney Law School extends its congratulations to the following Faculty members in no particular order who were victorious in the most recent round of LSSF Grant Applications:

  • Dr. Thalia Anthony - A cross-jurisdictional study of customary law and Indigenous culture as mitigating factors in criminal sentencing

This project seeks to examine sentencing factors in NSW in comparison with other Australian jurisdictions, with a view to providing an overall assessment of sentencing principles for Indigenous offenders. It aims to position this study in the critical context of Law Reform Commission reports and international law.

  • Dr. Fleur Johns - Power and Rule in the Mekong Basin: The Dynamics of 'Hard' and 'Soft' Law in International Watercourse Governance

Effective, responsive, coordinated governance is vital to maintenance of the fragile eco-system of the Mekong River Basin and the social, economic and political networks that depend upon its flourishing. Development of such a governance regime tailored to the field in question has, however, been impeded by the absence of any rigorous, critical mapping of the normative infrastructure of the Mekong River Basin, particularly its transnational 'soft law' dimensions. This project seeks to connect intra-regional developments in the law and policy of transboundary water governance with the broader tendencies and tensions within the international legal order by which they are, in part, informed.

This project will result in a book to be published by Federation Press. The book will explore the legal implications - particularly the protection of lack of protection - of a celebrity's reputation and personality in the modern technological age.

Japan's 'lost decade' of economic stagnation over the 1990s has generated extensive legal and socio-economic, involving significant deregulation. Yet, as in other major post-industrial capitalist economies, it has been a 'gradual transformation'. The government has recently re-regulated areas characterised by risks commonly encountered by citizens in Japan and indeed world-wide. Manufacturers must now notify regulators about serious consumer product related risks. Consumer lenders face stricter interest rate caps. Securities regulation has been expanded and strengthened. This project considers whether this means a return to welfare-statism, or instead a "third way" balancing public and private interests in increasingly complex contemporary society.

  • Professor Julie Stubbs - New models of justice in response to violence against women: An analysis of two US cases studies

This project forms part of a larger research program but is significant in itself. Debates about responses to violence against women (VAW) have been limited by a dichotomous characterisation of justice as retributive or restorative, and by the absence of empirical data concerning restorative justice (RJ). This project will draw on feminist theory to challenge that dichotomy and will document newly emerging models of justice for VAW. It will contribute much needed empirical data through two cases studies of innovative US programs and will inform debates about improving justice system responses to VAW.

  • Professor Gillian Triggs - Resolution of trans-national commercial disputes through international arbitration and enforcement of awards in the Asian region

While international commercial arbitration has flourished in legal and financial cities such as London, Paris and New York, efforts to promote the use of expert legal skills available in Sydney have been only moderately successful. The value of the proposed research lies in its emphasis on the use of international arbitration to resolve commercial disputes by states and companies within the Asian region, filling a gap in legal analysis that has tended to emphasise practice in the Northern hemisphere.

  • Dr. Brett Williams - What do the 1995-2008 World Trade Organization ('WTO') disputes on the rules applying to agricultural trade indicate about the adequacy of the 1995 reforms and the trajectory of further reform?

After many years of difficulty in applying the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) to agricultural trade, in the Uruguay Round of negotiations (1986-1995) the partied agreed on a programme of reform to be implemented under the new Agreement on Agriculture (AoA). It is proposed to analyse the outcomes of dispute settlement cases under the AoA between 1995 and the present so as to make some observations on the adequacy and suitability of the reforms adopted in 1995 and upon the impact of the decisions on the likely path of negotiations to further reform agricultural trade.

Sydney Law School PhD student to receive National Council of Women NSW Student Award

07/01/2008

Sydney Law School PhD student, Jane Wangmann, will receive the National Council of Women NSW Student Award at a ceremony on 23rd January 2008.

The event will take place at State Parliament House where Jane will receive the award of $1,000, sponsored by Law Firm, Gilbert & Tobin.

Jane's PhD Thesis is entitled, An Examination of the use of cross applications in NSW Apprehended Domestic Violence Order (ADVO) proceedings.

Her supervisor is Professor Julie Stubbs.

2007

2008 Sydney Law School Research and Development Grant winners

20/12/2007

The Sydney Law School extends its congratulations to the following Faculty members in no particular order who were victorious in the most recent round of Research Grants:

  • Dr. Thalia Anthony - Conference - The Future of Indigenous Legal Studies in Australian Law Schools

In recent years Australian law schools have increasingly embraced Indigenous legal issues in their core and elective curricula. In part this has been catalysed by the recognition of native title in 1992. In part it is due to the ongoing overrepresentation of Indigenous people in the legal system. Arguably, it is also attributable to the rising consciousness in the academy of the importance of Indigenous justice. However, Indigenous issues continue to be under-represented in law curricula in proportion to their significance in and to the Australian legal system. Their significance arises of Indigenous peoples’ engagement with the legal system, as well as the historical rights of Indigenous people within the legal system and to their own legal systems. This conference – encapsulated in the theme of 'The Future of Indigenous Legal Studies in Australian Law Schools' – seeks to promote cross-institutional dialogue (and potentially agreement) on the development and presentation of Indigenous Legal Studies in Australian law schools. It endeavours to create a working framework for the inclusion of Indigenous Legal Studies across core subjects.

This workshop will bring together leading Australian and some international scholars to share their experiences of teaching and research in Tort Law. Tort law in Australia has undergone a major transformation because of the introduction of tort reform statures around the country. This has presented challenges to research and research led teaching and also challenges academics who aim to give students a grounding in fundamental principles in an international context. How can they reconcile greater emphasis on statutory interpretation, with its jurisdictional specificity, with aims of educating students for a global legal profession and economy.

  • Dr. Kristin Savell - The construction of the victim in determinations of criminal liability in medical settings

This project asks whether, in the context of a broader cultural turn toward utilitarian ethics, the medical management of seriously disabled individuals poses serious challenges for the criminal law of homicide. The project will draw upon current legal and policy debates around (1) the withdrawal of treatment in adults and children; (2) proposals to relax the prohibition on active killing; and (3) the sacrificial separation of conjoined twins. The primary focus will be to analyse the jurisprudence relating to ‘end of life’ medical treatment as an intermingling of distinct paradigms (family and criminal) which has been made possible, perhaps necessary, by the failure of criminal law theory to fully engage with the construction of the victim.

  • Professor Elisabeth Peden and Dr. Greg Tolhurst - Principles of Contract Construction and the Role of Good Faith in Contractual Pre-emptive Rights and The Operation and Efficacy of Contractual Pre-emptive Rights

Pre-emptive rights are widely used, with little research ever having been carried out to explain and rationalise their operation. Significantly, pre-emptive rights bring together the three largest issues being debated in contract law scholarship, namely, formation of contracts, construction of contracts and the relationship between contract and property. Their use spans from the first right of refusal to purchase land or goods, to pre-emptive rights in shareholdings to pre-emptive right in joint venture enterprise especially in the mining and petroleum industry. There are hundreds of unreported cases that are very long because of the complex transactions involved; this more than anything else inhibited research into the legal principles governing these clauses.

  • Dr. Murray Lee - Governing Social Exclusion: Criminalisation, Isolation and Disadvantage in Sydney’s West

Much has been expressed in the popular media and in political circles about social problems in specific areas of Sydney's West and South West. The so called 'Macquarie Fields Riot' in March 2005 focused attention on the plight of residents in some areas, however the public and governmental response to this disturbance was largely law and order focused; constructing the 'rioters' as 'bad' individuals lacking self control and thus in need of discipline. On the other hand some commentators spoke as if crime were a self evident outcome of disadvantage. Past work has attempted to focus on the problem of social isolation or exclusion in some areas of Sydney's west and how a sense of social isolation creates an enviormonment where crime and criminalisation occurs under some circumsatances. It has attempted to be attentive of the lack of services in many areas and the larger economic, political and social forces that have seen such areas excluded from Australia's recent economic 'miracle'. This project seeks to begin a process of more specifically identifying and mapping areas of social isolation and exclusion and beginning the painstaking work of developing a body of empirical data to help us more fully understand the connection between social isolation/exclusion, criminalisation, policy and governance

2007 Postgraduate Research Student Conference hailed as 'best to date'

26/11/2007

The standard of the papers at this year's Postgraduate Research Student Conference was universally excellent and the conference dinner on Friday night was a brilliant success, according to Associate Dean (Postgraduate Research), Professor Mary Crock.

"Notwithstanding the unfortunate coincidence with Election Day that pushed us to finish promptly on the Saturday, I would have to say the conference went exceptionally well," said Professor Crock.

The prizes for best paper went to Rebecca Bates for her paper entitled GATS and Water: Are Member States Obliged to Liberalise their Water and Sanitation Market; and Danielle Andrewartha for her paper, Is Justice Blind: Assessing Credibility in the Trial Process.

Rebecca is completing her PhD at Sydney Law School, entitled, Australia's Right to Water and the Private Sector: Can Australia Protect its Citizens Right to Water? supervised by Associate Rosemary Lyster and Nicola Franklin, while Danielle is studying her PhD at Monash University in Melbourne.

Two other students whose written work was of an extraordinarily high standard were Edwin Bikundo and Scott Lopez.

Edwin's PhD thesis is entitled Abuse of the process and the role of counsel before the international criminal court, waxing clarity in the right to a fair trial? with supervision by Professor Mark Findlay and Associate Professor Alex Ziegert, while Scott is upgrading from an LLM by Research to a PhD, with the title, Western Australia's New Public Health Act: Achieving true law reform and Servicing Australia's Native Peoples, with supervision from Professor Hilary Astor and Professor Peter Butt.

Best speaker awards went to Alana Maurushat and David Plater who are completing their doctoral theses at the University of New South Wales and the University of Tasmania respectively.

The Postgraduate Research Students Conference is annual event which is a key feature of Sydney Law School's Postgraduate Research Program in Law.

The Law School and Conference organisers are grateful to Thomsons Legal for its sponsorship.

2007 Postgraduate Research Students Conference

From left to right: Conference co-organiser and Sydney PhD student, Philippa Ryan, Sydney Law School's Professor Mary Crock, Professor Joellen Riley, UNSW Faculty of Law and Sydney Law School alumnus, Dr. Ben Cremer

Sydney Law School Alumnus and Former Faculty Member Praised for Doctoral Thesis

23/11/2007

Former Faculty Member and alumnus of the Sydney Law School, Assistant Professor Kirsten Anker, of the Faculty of Law, McGill University, received glowing reports recently for her completed Sydney doctoral thesis.

Entitled, The Unofficial Law of Native Title: Indigenous Rights, State Recognition and Legal Pluralism in Australia, Assistant Professor Anker (BSc '93, LLB '95 Syd) received supervision from another former Faculty member of the Sydney Law School, Professor Desmond Manderson as well as the Law School's Director of Research, Professor Terry Carney.

"Kirsten's thesis received award without any emendation at all," said Director of Research at the Sydney Law School, Professor Terry Carney.

"This is a well deserved accolade for one of the best theses either I, or more importantly her examiners, had read."

Health Law Faculty Members Secure University of Sydney Bridging Support Grant for 2008

26/10/2007

Dr. Isabel Karpin and Associate Professor Belinda Bennett secured a University of Sydney Bridging Support Grant for 2008 for a project entitled:

The impact of genetic technologies on the regulation of reproductive decision-making in Australia

"This is a wonderfull achievement, and will enable this very important research work to be progressed during 2008," said Professor Terry Carney.

Faculty Member wins external grant from Don Chipp Foundation

26/10/2007

Dr. Thalia Anthony received an external grant from the Don Chipp Foundation for her project entitled:

Indigenous Stolen Wages on Northern Territory Cattle Stations: Testimonies from Wave Hill claimants

Sydney Law School secures two Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Grant Awards for 2008-2010

27/09/2007

Two teams led by Professor Ron McCallum AO and Professor Patricia Apps were successful in winning two ARC Discovery Grants for the 2008-2010 period.

Details of each project are below:

Workplace Death and Injury: Re-visiting the Regulatory Impact of Prosecution and Deterence
The project will be conducted in Australia's two most populous States and falls squarely within the commonwealth Government's mission of 'promoting good health and well being for all Australians' one of the key national research priorities. In particular the project supports the specific goal of 'strengthening Australia's social and economic fabric' by examining the role played by legal prosecution of OH&S offences in deterring serious workplace injuries and fatalities. It is anticipated that the results of the project will be used to reduce the heavy costs that current rates of workplace injuries and deaths impose on Australian workers, their families and the national economy.

A Life Cycle Approach to Labour, Supply, Human Capital Accumulation and Public Policy
According to available time use data Australia has a relatively low labour supply, when compared with other major OECD countries, due primarily to low female working hours. This project will investigate the lifecycle dynamics of family labour supply decisions and human capital accumulation, to provide a more informed basis for policy debates. We therefore see the major national and community benefit as that of promoting Australia's rate of economic growth and ability to sustain funding for education, health and welfare, in an ageing population.

2006

Faculty Members Secure University of Sydney Bridging Support Grant for 2007

28/11/2006

Professor Ron McCallum AO and Dr. Isabel Karpin both won University of Sydney Bridging Support Grants for major research projects during 2007.

Their respective projects are entitled:

Workplace Death and Injury: Re-imagining Deterrence and Prosecution

Law Regulating Reproductive Decision-Making in Australia and the Impact of Genetic Technologies

2007 Sydney Law School Research and Development Grant winners

08/11/2006

The Sydney Law School extends its congratulations to three Faculty members who were victorious in the last round of the University of Sydney Research and Development Grants:

  • Celeste Black - Promoting an Efficient Market for Water Rights: Clarifying the impact of the income tax system
  • Dr. Belinda Smith - Is the UK's new legal duty to promote equality a viable reform option for Australian gender equality laws?
  • Dr. Andrew Tuch - Conflicts of Interest in the Investment Banking Industry: A conceptual framework and comparative study of regulation