Professor Justine Nolan

Justine Nolan is the Director of the Australian Human Rights Institute and a Professor in the Faculty of Law and Justice at UNSW Sydney. She is an internationally recognised expert in modern slavery and human rights issues relating to business practices. For more than 25 years, Professor Nolan has provided advice and training to business, civil society, government and the UN on business and human rights and her career is notable for its collaborative approach and its strong and sustained engagement with diverse stakeholders. She has been a key driver of the Australian and global business and human rights movement.

Justine's research focuses on the intersection of business and human rights, in particular, supply chain responsibility for human rights and modern slavery. Her research is noted for both its conceptual clarity and collaborative practical focus that has set out a strategic path to addressing significant business and human rights challenges. She is currently the lead investigator on a research project on ‘transformative business practices’ funded by the Laudes Foundation, that is identifying and testing replicable business practices and empowering stakeholders to advocate for and implement just transitions in global supply chains. Her 2019 co-authored book Addressing Modern Slavery examines how consumers, business and government are both part of the problem and the solution in curbing modern slavery in global supply chains. Other books include The International Law of Human Rights (OUP, 2017) and Business and Human Rights: From Principles to Practice (Routledge, 2016). She teaches international human rights law and related courses on global law, development, globalisation and business and human rights. In 2019 she was named 'Academic of the Year' at the Australian Law Awards.

Prior to joining UNSW in 2004, she worked as the Director of the Business and Human Rights program at the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights (now Human Rights First) in the USA. This work examined ways in which to prevent and redress corporate violations of human rights. During this time Justine advised both companies and civil society organisations on effective strategies to protect human rights in the corporate sphere and was closely involved in the establishment of the Fair Labor Association. She has also worked in both public interest and private legal practices and started her career at Allens, a global law firm and included time at the Public Interest Advocacy Centre.

Justine continues to hold various expert advisory roles. In 2022 she was elected to serve on UNSW Council as the staff representative. In 2020 Justine was appointed to the Australian Government's Modern Slavery Expert Advisory Group and was reappointed to this role in 2024.  Other appointments include the Australian Government's Multi-Stakeholder Advisory Group on Business and Human Rights (2017) and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade & Ausaid's Human Rights Grants Scheme Expert Panel (2009-2013) which provided practical financial support for small community-based projects to promote and protect human rights in developing countries. She was an advisory member of NSW Legal Aid's Human Rights Panel (2012-2017). Both globally and nationally, she has presented at over 200 events to promote greater respect for human rights and have been invited by the UN, OECD, UNDP and UNOHCHR to advise on business and human rights issues in multiple global forums. 

From 2006-2017 she was the Deputy Director of the Australian Human Rights Centre and from 2016-2019 she served as Associate Dean Academic at UNSW Law. She is a Visiting Professorial Scholar at NYU's Stern Center for Business and Human Rights. She is a member of the Editorial Board of the Business and Human Rights Journal and the Executive Editor of the Australian Human Rights Journal.