Global and Public Law
Welcome from the Head of School
Law & Justice’s School of Global and Public Law builds on the faculty’s strengths in international and comparative law and Australian public law. Across our teaching, research and engagement, we combine strong analytical foundations with practical approaches designed to make a real difference in the world.
Our outlook is socially and politically progressive. We are mindful of the ways law has, at times, reinforced unjust social and economic power structures, and we remain committed to its transformative potential as a force for social justice.
Our students learn from some of the world’s leading scholars in public law, comparative law and international law. Their excellence in research is matched by a genuine commitment to dynamic, engaging teaching that challenges and supports students to think deeply and critically.
- Professor Sarah Williams, Head of School
About us
National legal systems are still distinct in many ways. The way society sees the law makes them culturally distinct and the way law is practised makes them institutionally distinct. At the same time, national legal systems today are influenced by each other and the complex array of global legal frameworks.
Our academics in the School of Global & Public Law explore a range of topics related to the globalisation of law and the two main branches of Australian public law – constitutional and administrative law.
Representative research projects at the School of Global and Public Law include:
the impact of automated decision-making on administrative justice
the international regulation of seabed mining
the enforcement of investment treaties
children’s rights
the protection in international and Australian law of the rights of refugees, asylum seekers and those displaced by climate change and disasters
the interaction between international human rights law and media law
the relationship between data privacy, competition law and consumer protection
international law and the use of armed force
constitutional reform in response to the call for recognition of Australia’s Indigenous peoples.
