UNSW Honorary Degree awarded to Emeritus Professor Rosalind Croucher AM

Emeritus Professor Rosalind Croucher AM has been awarded a Doctor of Laws honoris causa from UNSW Sydney.

Professor Croucher was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2015, for her significant service to the law as an academic, to legal reform and education, to professional development, and to the arts as well as her work as President of the Australian Law Reform Commission. Professor Croucher is currently President of the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC). She was one of nine eminent recipients to receive honorary degrees and fellowships in the University’s most recent graduation season.

“Rosalind has long been a strong and effective leader in the legal field, and her work has enriched and improved lives. She is very deserving of this prestigious award,” says Dean of the Faculty of Law, Professor George Williams AO.

Professor Croucher taught and held university management positions for 25 years including seven years teaching at UNSW from 1984.

Professor Croucher adds this UNSW Honorary Degree to a long list of achievements.

Prior to joining the AHRC, Professor Croucher was President of the Australian Law Reform Commission (2009–2017) and Commissioner (2006–2009), where she led a number of significant law reform inquiries, including on Client Legal Privilege, Secrecy Laws, Family Violence, Discovery, Age Barriers to Work, Disability Laws, Encroachment on Freedoms in Commonwealth Laws, and Elder Abuse.

She is an Honorary Fellow of St Andrew’s College of the University of Sydney (2002), Honorary Fellow of the Australian College of Legal Medicine (2004), and an Honorary Life Member of the Women Lawyers’ Association of NSW (2013).

In 2014, Professor Croucher received the Australian Women Lawyer’s Award in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the legal profession in supporting and advancing women in the legal profession.

Also in 2014, she was acknowledged for her contributions to public policy as one of Australia’s ‘100 Women of Influence’ in the Australian Financial Review and Westpac awards.

In 2011 she was recognised as one of the 40 inspirational alumni of UNSW Sydney, where she received her PhD in 1994.

Professor Croucher said: “It means a great deal to me to be recognised for my contribution to the Australian Human Rights Commission as well as my work in legal reform and education by UNSW. But there is more to be done. I will continue to facilitate projects supporting women in law and advocate for human rights in the 21st century”.