Upcoming events and opportunities
Read our monthly round up of upcoming public law events and opportunities, including conferences, seminars and calls for papers
If you have an AUSPUBLAW opportunity, conference or significant public lecture that you would like included in this roundup, please contact us at auspublaw@unsw.edu.au. The roundup is published once a month by the first business day of the month, so please let us know in time for that deadline.
Competitions, calls for papers and scholarships
1 June 2025
Call for Entries: 2025 Law and Religion Essay Competition
The University of Southern Queensland School of Law and Justice
Entries close: 1 June 2025, midnight AEST
Students currently enrolled in an LLB or JD university law program in Australia are invited to enter the 2025 Law and Religion Essay Competition.
The University of Southern Queensland School of Law and Justice invites submissions for the 2025 Law and Religion Essay Competition. All entries will be evaluated by a panel comprising two UniSQ academics and one external expert using standardised assessment criteria.
Prize information:
1st place – $500 and a publication opportunity with the Australian Journal of Law and Religion (AJLR). AJLR is co-edited by Dr Alex Deagon (Associate Professor in the QUT School of Law).
2nd place – $250
3rd place – $100
Entries must be submitted by 1 June 2025.
For more information, click here.
30 June 2025
Call for Submissions: Fencott v Muller Prize
The University of Western Australia
Submissions close: 30 June 2025
Just over 40 years have passed since the landmark, finely balanced decision in Fencott v Muller [1983] HCA 12. Not only did the decision relate to a Western Australian business, but it featured a number of notable UWA alumni as counsel on both sides, including Hon Robert French AC. The decision continues to reverberate to this day.
To celebrate the decision and the activities of UWA alumni in helping shape the law, the UWA Law Review is pleased to announce a $1,000 prize, kindly provided by the Hon Robert French AC, for the best article submitted to the Review on any topic related to federal jurisdiction, the corporations power or trade practices law.
Eligible articles must be submitted for publication in the Review by the end of June 2025, and the winning article will feature in a special supplement to the Review. Students, recent graduates, and practitioners are all welcome and encouraged to apply.
For more information, and to make a submission, click here.
30 June 2025
Call for Nominations: Saunders Prize for Excellence in Scholarship in Constitutional Law
Australian Association of Constitutional Law (AACL)
Nominations close: 30 June 2025
The AACL is now calling for nominations for the 2025 Saunders Prize, which will be awarded to the author of an article or note on a subject of constitutional law published in an Australian legal journal in 2024.
The AACL is pleased to announce that the winner of the Saunders Prize in 2025 will be awarded $1000.
Nominations should take the following form:
A nominated article should be sent by way of e-mail attachment to the AACL Council at secretariat@aacl.asn.au (with the subject line "Saunders Prize").
The article should be in the form in which it was published. Manuscripts in other forms will not be accepted.
In addition, a covering letter should be included containing the details of the nominating party and (if different) the article's author. The covering letter should also confirm that the article was published in an Australian legal journal in 2024.
An article may be nominated by an individual or by a law journal. However, each individual and each law journal is limited to one nomination.
Nominations must be received by 30 June 2025.
For more information, click here.
1 July 2025
Call for Papers: International Journal of Clinical Legal Education 2025 Annual Conference
Monash University Faculty of Law
CfP closes: 1 July 2025
Clinical legal education programs can contribute to universities fulfilling their social responsibilities while serving local and global communities. By embracing innovation and collaboration, universities and their clinical programs constructively and creatively address a range of global challenges. The conference will run from November 19-21 2025.
We invite proposals for papers and workshops relating to the conference theme and other areas of interest in CLE including:
Supporting the cornerstones of clinical legal education.
Embracing innovation and collaboration.
Developing ways in which clinical programs can contribute to universities fulfilling their social responsibilities while serving local and global communities.
The promise and limitations of harnessing technology and AI to enhance access to rights and justice.
For more information, and to submit a proposal, click here.
7 July 2025
Call for Papers: UNSW Legal Education Research Conference
University of New South Wales (UNSW)
CfP closes: 7 July 2025
Addressing crowded law curricula is tricky. Law schools today are juggling competing demands and doing so in a fast-changing world. Laws schools are struggling with the challenge of updating curriculum to address new needs, without sacrificing depth or quality, while providing opportunities to develop skills and reflect on values.
This year we invite individual papers, organised panels, and roundtables on the problem of, and solutions to, the crowded curriculum. Possible contributions might include reflections on:
What are the core competencies that a modern legal education curriculum should prioritise, and how can we ensure these are effectively integrated without overloading students?
When deciding that something should be added to the curriculum, how do we as legal educators decide what comes out to make room? Or can we somehow hold it all in one place defying physics?
How can law schools balance the need for traditional legal knowledge with the growing demand for interdisciplinary skills and knowledge?
Please submit your conference proposal by 7 July 2025. For more information, and to submit a proposal, click here.
31 August 2025
The Australian Academy of Law Annual Essay Prize 2025
Australian Academy of Law
Entries close: 31 August 2025
The Australian Academy of Law is pleased to announce the offering of its Annual Essay Prize for 2025.
The Prize is open to anyone, wherever resident, who is studying or has studied legal subjects at a tertiary level, or who is working or has worked in a law-based occupation. There is no limit by reference to the age or seniority or experience of, or position held by, a person who may submit an entry. Accordingly, judicial officers, legal practitioners, legal academics and law students are all eligible to submit an essay.
The amount of the Prize is $10,000.
The essay topic for the Prize in 2025 is as follows:
Where has Bird v DP [2024] HCA 41 (‘Bird’) left the law of vicarious liability in Australia? How does it differ from the law in other common law jurisdictions? Should there be a legislative response to Bird and, if so, what should be its scope?
The length of the essay to be submitted is a maximum of 8,000 words (excluding the abstract).
For more information, and to submit an entry, click here.
1 October 2025
Human Rights Law Essay Prize
Human Rights Law Association
Entries close: 1 October 2025
The Human Rights Law Essay Prize is awarded annually to the applicant who produces the most original essay (up to 8,000 words) on human rights in Australia and/or New Zealand, having previously submitted the essay for assessment to an Australian or New Zealand university.
The recipient of the Human Rights Law Essay Prize will be selected by a judging panel appointed by the committee of the Human Rights Law Association. The winner will be announced close to Human Rights Week in December and will receive a prize of $1000.
Fill in the application form here and send it together with a Word or PDF copy of your essay to admin@hrla.net with the subject line ‘Human Rights Law Essay Prize submission’ by 1 October 2025.
For more information, click here.
Conferences and seminars
2 June 2025
Australian Electoral Laws: Constitutional and Policy Questions
Centre for Comparative Constitutional Studies (CCCS), University of Melbourne
Date: 2 June 2025
Time: 5.30-7.00pm (AEST)
Location: Online
Please join us for a CCCS Global Public Law Seminar Series panel discussion on Australian Electoral Laws: Constitutional and Policy Questions.
In this seminar, a panel of experts will address recent developments in electoral funding laws in the Commonwealth and Victoria, including issues arising from the Electoral Legislation Amendment (Electoral Reform) Act 2025 and the political donation provisions of the Electoral Act 2002 (Victoria).
Chair: Professor Rosalind Dixon, University of New South Wales
Presenters:
Associate Professor Zim Nwokora, Deakin University
Associate Professor William Partlett, Melbourne Law School
Professor Adrienne Stone, Melbourne Law School
Dr Catherine Williams, Executive Director, Centre for Public Integrity
For more information, and to register, click here.
3 June 2025
Jurisprudence Beyond Law: Five Concepts
Centre for Comparative Constitutional Studies (CCCS), University of Melbourne
Date: 3 June 2025
Time: 1.00-2.00pm (AEST)
Location: Room 202/203, Level 2, Melbourne Law School
Please join the Institute for International Law and the Humanities for a lunchtime seminar presented by Professor Karin van Marle (University of the Western Cape) and chaired by Professor Ann Genovese.
Professor Karin van Marle is currently trying to bring five concepts (linked to ideas and traditions) that she has worked on over three decades together in a short monograph. There concepts are slowness; refusal; limit(s); transformation and space(s). The aim of this presentation is to unpack the five concepts mentioned above, how they relate to each other and how they could contribute to a jurisprudence beyond law.
For more information, and to register, click here.
4-7 June 2025
Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Summit
University of Oxford, United Nations Human Rights
Date: 4-7 June 2025
Time: 5.30pm (NZST) arrival/registration for 5.50pm oration
Location: In-person at the University of Oxford; the launch event and 24-hour plenary on 5 June will be live-streamed
In June 2025 the University of Oxford is hosting a global summit on climate change and human rights in partnership with UN Human Rights, the Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Alliance, the International Universities Climate Alliance, and co-host universities across the world.
Session topics include:
Legal interests in a world of climate change
Digital health and climate justice
The legally disruptive nature of climate change and the role of universities
The right to a liveable planet
A 24-hour global plenary: The cornerstone of the summit is a hybrid global event on World Environment Day, 5th of June 2025. We will bring together leading thinkers and practitioners at the intersection of climate change and human rights for a 24-hour global plenary, which will be broadcast live across time zones. Co-created and co-delivered by universities across the world, the plenary will follow the sun as we pass the baton between different regions.
For more information, and to register, click here.
5 June 2025
Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Summit - UNSW Watch Party
University of New South Wales (UNSW)
Date: 5 June 2025
Time: 9.00am-2.00pm (AEST)
Location: Michael Crouch Innovation Centre, UNSW Sydney
Join us any time between 9am-2pm for our watch party. The UNSW program for the 2025 Right Here Right Now (RHRN) Global Climate Summit gets underway from 11.00am - 1.00pm. Come along to watch the live stream and connect with fellow climate champions and human rights advocates.
Universities around the world, will co-host the landmark 2025 RHRN Global Climate Summit presented by the University of Oxford, UN Human Rights, in partnership with the International Universities Climate Alliance (IUCA) and the Right Here, Right Now Climate Alliance. The Summit will advance climate justice through human rights solutions to the climate crisis.
Program schedule:
11.00-11.05am | Welcome and Introduction
11.05-11.15am | A Just Climate Transition
Professor Jeremy Moss (UNSW Sydney)
11.15am-12.10pm | Transforming partnership to resilience building: A Global South Dialogue on indigenous communities and university engagement
Fengshi Wu (UNSW Sydney) | Heidi Norman (UNSW Sydney) | Andrea Loli (The Utility Regulatory Authority of Vanuatu) | Laylyn Toa (Fixim Solar) | Joyce Wu (UNSW Sydney) | Shanil Samarakoon (UNSW Sydney) | Srinjoy Bose (UNSW Sydney) | Sumit Kumar (Monash)
12.15–1.00pm | At Any Price? The human rights impacts of Australia's fossil fuel exports
Gillian Moon (UNSW Sydney) | Emma Bacon (Sweltering Cities) | Dr Nicola Maher (Australian National University) | Dr Cybele Dey (UNSW Sydney)
For more information, and to register, click here.
6 June 2025
The 2025 AIJA Oration
The Australasian Institute of Judicial Administration Limited (AIJA)
Date: 6 June 2025
Time: 5.30pm (NZST) arrival/registration for 5.50pm oration
Location: Online and In-person at Sir Owen G Glenn Building (Room no. 260-092), University of Auckland, 12 Grafton Road, Auckland Central
The 2025 AIJA Oration will be delivered by The Right Hon Dame Helen Winkelmann GNZM, Chief Justice of New Zealand on the subject of:
“It’s complicated”: Judicial leadership in the 21st Century
Guests can join us either in person at the University of Auckland or online via Zoom. For more information, and to register, click here.
10 June 2025
Progress for All with Law & Justice: Protecting Refugee Rights – Where to now?
University of New South Wales (UNSW) Law & Justice
Date: 10 June 2025
Time: 12.00-1.30pm (AEST)
Location: Council Chamber, UNSW Chancellery
Progress for All with Law & Justice will highlight the work of our researchers, Centres and Institutes on the challenges outlined in the Law & Justice 2030 Strategy.
Progressing Refugee Rights: Where to now?
This first event will explore the challenge of Human Rights and Displacement with Professor Daniel Ghezelbash, Director of the Kaldor Centre of International Refugee Law and Sarah Dale, Centre Director and Principal Solicitor, at the UNSW Law & Justice affiliated centre, the Refugee Advice and Casework Service (RACS). In a timely conversation on refugee rights and policy in Australia in the week leading up to World Refugee Day, our speakers will unpack:
The current state of play in refugee policy in Australia, and key areas of concern
How the Kaldor Centre and RACS are driving impact
Priority reform areas, and opportunities after the recent federal election
Why free legal support matters for asylum seekers in Australia
The role of research in advancing constructive public debate and policy-making in the refugee protection space
For more information, and to register, click here.
12 June 2025
The limits of immigration detention after NZYQ
UNSW Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law , Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law and the Australian Institute of Administrative Law (NSW)
Date: 12 June 2025
Time: 5.30-6.30pm (AEST)
Location: Online
In the November 2023 case of NZYQ v Minister for Immigration, the High Court unanimously held that non-citizens could not be held in immigration detention when there was ‘no real prospect of removal from Australia becoming practicable in the reasonably foreseeable future’. Since NZYQ, numerous cases have tested and refined the limits of this principle, including: ASF17 v Commonwealth; YBFZ v Minister for Immigration; and CZA19 v Commonwealth. This online seminar will explore these developments and the limits of administrative detention.
Chair: Anna Talbot, Coordinator of the Strategic Litigation Network at the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law and a PhD candidate at UNSW Law & Justice
Speakers:
Kate Bones, barrister at Banco Chambers
Sanmati Verma, Legal Director (Principal) of the Human Rights Law Centre
Douglas McDonald-Norman, PhD candidate at UNSW Law & Justice and barrister at Eight Selborne Chambers
For more information, and to register, click here.
16 June 2025
The Right to a Healthy Environment
James Cook University
Date: 16 June 2025
Time: 1.00-2.00pm (AEST)
Location: James Cook University Cairns, Nguma-bada Campus, Smithfield
The first independent review of Queensland’s Human Rights Act was completed in September 2024, with the release of the report hotly anticipated. The expansion of human rights including the recognition of the right to a healthy environment is one aspect of the review. This could mean legal protections for clean air, safe water and thriving ecosystems. ACT has already led the way, and Qld has the opportunity to follow. Join Naim Santoso-Miller from the Environmental Defenders Office who will delve into how this change could impact Queensland’s legal and environmental landscape.
For more information, and to register, click here.
17 June 2025
Community Forum - Celebrate Half a Century of Progress: the 50th Anniversary of the Racial Discrimination Act
The Whitlam Institute
Date: 17 June 2025
Time: 1.00-5.00pm (AEST)
Location: Parramatta Town Hall, Parramatta, NSW
This year marks 50 years since the introduction of one of Australia’s most powerful pieces of legislation: the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth). To commemorate this milestone, the Whitlam Institute invites you to a special free community event.
The Keynote Address will be delivered by Race Discrimination Commissioner Giridharan Sivaraman followed by a Plenary Address by Thomas Mayo – Indigenous Leader, Author, and Advocate. The Community Forum will also include a Panel Discussion with the following speakers:
Professor Azadeh Dastyari (Moderator) – Director of Research & Policy at the Whitlam Institute
Professor Kevin Dunn – Provost of Western Sydney University and Lead of the Challenging Racism Project.
Dr Alanna Kamp – Researcher with the Challenging Racism Project & the Young and Resilient Research Centre.
The event welcomes community voices and emerging leaders to join in the conversation about justice, identity and belonging in modern Australia.
For more information, and to register, click here.
18 June 2025
Book launch: ‘Refugee Protection in Southeast Asia’
Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness, University of Melbourne
Date: 18 June 2025
Time: 5.00-6.30pm (AEST)
Location: Online
Refugee Protection in Southeast Asia: Between Humanitarianism and Sovereignty explores humanitarian responses on the one hand and the meaning and use of state sovereignty on the other, in responses to refugee protection in Southeast Asia. It contains engaging essays from interdisciplinary and theoretical perspectives from both emerging and established scholars and researchers on Southeast Asia.
Professor Susan Kneebone will explain the genesis of the book, outline its structure and some of the key insights.
Dr Tristan Harley, Senior Research Associate at the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law in the Faculty of Law & Justice, will follow with a discussion of key themes that emerge from the book and some of the central debates regarding how to best advance protection for refugees and others experiencing displacement in Southeast Asia.
Author and PhD student Ms Bongkot Napaumporn will explain the legacy of generational statelessness among long-term refugees in Thailand.
Co-editor Dr Reyvi Mariñas will address the question ‘The Concept of Asylum: Can it hold its promise of protection in Southeast Asia?’ based on his interpretation of Hannah Arendt’s reading of the role of law.
For more information, and to register, click here.
18 June 2025
Reimagining democracy: how diverse knowledges are creating more-than-human justice
Sydney Environment Institute, University of Sydney
Date: 18 June 2025
Time: 7.30-8.30pm (AEST)
Location: F10 Level 2 Law Foyer 201, University of Sydney
Around the world, communities and organisations are taking truly radical actions, not only to protect our planet, but to transform how people relate to the natural world. In this sense, they are doing more than providing hope that the climate, nature and biodiversity crises we are facing may be abated. Rather, they enable us to imagine what our worlds would look like if all animals and ecosystems were truly included in the decisions that are shaping how we live.
This event brings together leading environmental figures across cultures and geographies to explore how other animals, forests, rivers, ecosystems and so on can be included in decision making practices. World leaders from South America, Australia and Europe will share stories of radical change: from the Living Forest movement, to representing animals in political decision-making, to how Indigenous kinship systems can guide us toward living well with the Earth.
Join us for this one-hour panel discussion followed by a half an hour of networking.
Chair: Danielle Celermajer, Sydney Environment Institute
Speakers:
Shrishtee Bajpai, Indian researcher-activist
Melanie Challenger, public intellectual on more-than-human decision-making
Patricia Gualinga, Sarayaku Indigenous rights advocate
Nardi Simpson, Yuwaalaraay storyteller and performer
For more information, and to register, click here.
25 June 2025
Professorial Lecture Series: What's the point of lawyers?
Monash University
Date: 25 June 2025
Time: 6.00-8.30pm (AEST)
Location: Monash University Law Chambers, 555 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne
In his inaugural Professorial Lecture, Professor Steven Vaughan, Dean of Monash Law, will challenge us to rethink the role of lawyers in modern society. Are they really just in it for themselves — or are they vital agents of justice?
From confronting ethical dilemmas to defending the public good, Professor Vaughan explores why lawyers matter — and why understanding their role matters to us all.
These are timely and important issues that impact us all. Understanding the role of lawyers — whether they represent individuals, businesses, or governments — is crucial for anyone concerned about the fabric of justice and fairness in society and for those who care about the trust and confidence the public has (and should have) in the legal profession.
Light refreshments will be provided. Please RSVP by COB Friday 13 June.
For more information, and to register, click here.
2 July 2025
The Annual Kirby Lecture in International Law - The International Court and Historic Responsibility for Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Australian National University
Date: 2 July 2025
Time: 5.00-7.30pm (AEST)
Location: HC Coombs Lecture Theatre, 8A Fellows Road ACT 2600 Australia
Reading Climate Change Treaties: The International Court and Historic Responsibility for Greenhouse Gas Emissions
The much-anticipated hearings in the Advisory Opinion on State obligations with respect to Climate Change concluded last December and the International Court is expected to give its judgment sometime this year. Of the many arguments presented, the question of responsibility for historic emissions loomed large. A bewildering array of possible interpretations of climate change treaties were presented by the parties. The areas of contestation mirrored the divisions between States frequently seen at the annual UN Climate Change Conferences, with the majority of industrialised developed States adopting an interpretation of the law that would effectively shield them from responsibility for historical greenhouse gas emissions. Yet the Court has been called upon to provide a way out of the current impasse by a decision rooted in legal instruments and the techniques and processes of legal decision making.
In this lecture, Professor Phoebe Okowa (Professor of Public International Law at Queen Mary University of London) will interrogate the many possible readings of the Climate Change treaties and attempt to offer a pathway to a meaningful and effective decision.
For more information, and to register, click here.
2-4 July 2025
32nd ANZSIL Annual Conference 2025
Australian and New Zealand Society of International Law (ANZSIL)
Date: 2-4 July 2025
Location: Australian National University, Canberra
The 2025 ANZSIL Conference will be in person, at the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia on Wednesday, 2 July–Friday, 4 July 2025. The Conference theme is ‘International Law: Silence, Forgetting and Remembrance’.
What is unknown to, or excluded from, international law? What doctrinal fields, subject matters, actors and objects, and approaches are we at risk of forgetting or ‘un-knowing’? Once, universal disarmament, or at least arms limitation, was seen as a core goal of international law. Now, in a period of major international conflicts such goals once again appear to have a contemporary flavour and relevance. What can other forgotten or neglected histories of international law teach us about our present circumstances? What do we most need to remember?
On the question of silence we may ask: Who is given a voice in international law? What subjects are marginalised as irrelevant by international law? Why are some subjects easier to speak about than others? Papers could explore the perception of the Global South finding its voice in international courts and tribunals in matters ranging from climate change to the Genocide Convention, the involvement of international courts in ongoing conflicts, and the continued failure of international law to give adequate protection to the natural environment in the Anthropocene.
For more information, and to register, click here.
2-4 July 2025
2025 Australasian Law Academics Association Conference
Australasian Law Academics Association (ALAA)
Date: 2-4 July 2025
Location: University of Queensland, Queensland
Navigating Tradition and Change: How can we incorporate contemporary challenges into legal education and scholarship?
Legal educators and scholars today are juggling competing demands. Traditional constraints on legal education (regulatory, economic, structural) often exist in tension with the urgent need to incorporate contemporary issues, such as First Nations truth-telling, climate justice, technological transformation, and global debates on equity and inclusion. The evolving legal profession is requiring us to rethink how we teach, research, and prepare students for practice. Legal scholars experiencing increasing resourcing constrains need to rapidly respond to the changing local and global political climate.
The ALAA 2025 Conference seeks to foster dialogue and innovative solutions for these dynamic challenges across all areas of law.
For more information, and to register, click here.
9-11 July 2025
2025 ALSA Law & Technology Conference
Asian Law Schools Association (ALSA); University of New South Wales Law & Justice
Date: 9-11 July 2025
Location: Sydney, Australia
We are delighted to announce that the 2025 ALSA Law and Technology Conference will take place in Sydney, Australia in July 2025.
The ALSA was established in September 2020 for the purpose of upholding and advancing excellence in legal education and scholarship in Asia through meaningful collaboration among Asian law schools.
Session topics include:
AI and Society
Legal Education
Digital Regulation and Governance in Emerging Tech Landscapes
For more information, and to register, click here.
17-18 July 2025
2025 Australasian Society of Legal Philosophy Annual Conference
Australasian Society of Legal Philosophy
Date: 17-18 July 2025
Location: Melbourne Law School, 185 Pelham St, Carlton, Victoria
The 2025 ASLP conference will take place at the University of Melbourne on Thursday 17 July 2025 and Friday 18 July 2025 (with an informal workshop for PhD candidates on Wednesday 16 July 2025). Keynotes will be delivered by Grant Lamond (University of Oxford) and Margaret Davies (Flinders University). The subject of the book symposium will be Liberalism as a Way of Life by Alexandre Lefebvre (University of Sydney).
The aim of the ASLP Conference is to provide a forum for the discussion and debate of a range of issues in legal theory, broadly defined.
For more information, and to register, click here.
24 July 2025
The Accountability of Executive Government: Theory and Bitter Experience
Centre for Comparative Constitutional Studies, University of Melbourne
Date: 24 July 2025
Time: 6.00-7.30pm (AEST)
Location: Woodward Conference Centre, Level 10, Melbourne Law School
The Centre for Comparative Constitutional Studies (CCCS) at Melbourne Law School is pleased to invite you to the second Michael Crommelin Lecture. The Michael Crommelin Lecture is an ongoing series of public lectures in honour of Michael and, in 2025, will be delivered by the Hon Catherine Holmes QC, former Chief Justice of Queensland, Royal Commissioner, Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme.
The 2025 Michael Crommelin Lecture will run in conjunction with the 2025 CCCS Constitutional Law Conference.
Pre-lecture reception: The Centre for Comparative Constitutional Studies invites you to join us at Melbourne Law School (Woodward Conference Centre) for drinks and refreshments from 5:15pm. The lecture will commence at 6:00pm.
For more information, and to register, click here.
24-25 July 2025
2025 CCCS Constitutional Law Conference
Centre for Comparative Constitutional Studies (CCCS), Melbourne Law School
Date: 24-25 July 2025
Location: Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne, Victoria
CCCS is proud to announce the return of the CCCS Constitutional Law Conference on 24th and 25th July 2025. The CCCS Constitutional Law Conference has been a forum for high level discussion of enduring themes in constitutional law since 2009.
The Conference will open on the evening of 24th of July 2025 with the Second Michael Crommelin Lecture to be delivered by The Hon Catherine Holmes AC SC, former Chief Justice of Queensland, Royal Commissioner, Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme on the topic "The Accountability of Executive Government: Theory and Bitter Experience".
On Friday 25 July, there will be four panels on contemporary themes in public law:
Property, Native Title and the Constitution: Yunupingu v Commonwealth
Human Rights Acts in Australasia: The state of the art and challenges for the future’
Chapter III and Indefinite Detention: NZYQ and its Sequels’
Australian constitutionalism 50 years after ‘The Dismissal’
Among the cases discussed will be Yunupingu v Commonwealth [2025] HCA 6; NZYQ v Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs [2023] HCA 37, DPP v Smith [2024] HCA 32, ASF17 v Commonwealth [2024] HCA 19, YBFZ v Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs [2024] HCA 40.
Confirmed speakers include:
Timothy Goodwin (Victorian Bar)
The Hon Justice Graeme Hill (Federal Court of Australia)
Associate Professor Lael Weis (Univerity of Melbourne)
Kylie Evans SC (Victorian Bar)
Associate Professor Scott Stephenson (University of Melbourne)
Professor Jason Varuhas (University of Melbourne and Senior Crown Counsel, New Zealand)
Dr Ashleigh Barnes (Macquarie University)
Dr Julian Murphy (University of Melbourne)
Thomas Wood (Victorian Bar)
Professor Elisa Arcioni (University of Sydney)
Associate Professor Ryan Goss (Australian National University)
Brendan Lim (New South Wales Bar)
Associate Professor William Partlett (University of Melbourne)
For more information, and to register, click here.
25 July 2025
The Annual Castan Centre for Human Rights Law Conference 2025
Castan Centre for Human Rights Law, Monash University
Date: 25 July 2025
Location: Online and In-person at Conversation Quarter and Theatrette, Conference Centre, State Library Victoria, 179 La Trobe Street, Melbourne
The highly anticipated Annual Castan Centre for Human Rights Law Conference will take place on Friday 25 July 2025, in person at the Conference Centre of the State Library Victoria. Whether you're a practitioner or student, the Conference offers an invaluable opportunity to deepen your understanding of human rights, and network with fellow practitioners, academics, advocates and activists. Join us for a day of insightful discussions, and thought-provoking panels on critical issues surrounding human rights law.
Keynote speaker: Hugh de Kretser, President, Australian Human Rights Commission
Panel topics:
Achieving stronger legal human rights protection in Australia
Challenges in securing the rights of trans and gender diverse people
New challenges in climate change litigation and human rights
Understanding human rights law in the coronial jurisdiction
For more information, and to register, click here.
28-30 July 2025
ICON•S Annual Conference
ICON•S
Date: 28-30 July 2025
Location: University of Brasília, Brasilia, Brazil
Our 2025 Annual Conference titled “At the Crossroads of Public Law: Equality, Climate Emergency, and Democracy in the Digital Era” will take place on July 28-30, 2025, in person in Brasília, Brazil, hosted by the University of Brasília and jointly organized by the Center for Comparative Constitutional Studies and the Constituições: Centro de Constitucionalismo e Comparativismo.
There is a fee for this event. For more information, and to register, click here.
30 July 2025
ICON•S Theory Group Webinar: Sovereignty and Contestation
ICON•S Australia/NZ Constitutional Theory Group
Date: 30 July 2025
Time: 11.00am-12.00pm (AEST); 1.00-2.00pm (NZST)
Location: Online
We are delighted to host a webinar on Sovereignty and Contestation in July with Canadian scholar Dr Keith Cherry, an interdisciplinary legal and political theorist writing from unceded lək̓ʷəŋən and W̱SÁNEĆ territories on the west coast of Canada, who will speak about his upcoming book on the subject.
In Sovereignty and Contestation, Keith works to bridge two normally disparate literatures – scholarship on constitutional pluralism and post-sovereign political community in the European Union, and scholarship on decolonization and Indigenous legal orders, and Indigenous governance in Canada. By connecting the two literatures, Keith hopes to expose scholars from both fields to novel ways of perceiving similar theoretical quandaries, leverage contrasts to unsettle dominant assumptions in both contexts, and ultimately open up space for creative new proposals. In this talk, Keith will discuss some of the common lessons arising from these disparate cases.
Our chair for this event will be Dr Justin McCaul, a member of the Mbarbarum people of far north Queensland and a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Australian National University. Our discussant will be Dr Harry Hobbs, an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law and Justice at the University of New South Wales.
Audience Q&A will begin approximately 40 minutes into the 1-hour session.
For more information about this event, you can contact Professor Ron Levy at ron.levy@anu.edu.au. To register for the event, click here.
31 July-1 August 2025
AIAL 2025 National Administrative Law Conference
Australian Institute of Administrative Law (AIAL)
Date: 31 July-1 August 2025
Location: University Club of Western Australia, Hackett Drive, Crawley, Perth, Western Australia
The overarching theme for the 2025 AIAL National Administrative Law Conference is Perspectives in Administrative Law. Within this topic, the 2025 Conference aims to explore and present various viewpoints and voices in administrative law, whilst also trying to understand the impact of administrative decisions on the individual.
The aim of the Conference is to provide those involved or interested in Australian administrative law with the opportunity to discuss contemporary issues, share practical experiences and consider future developments. The 2025 Conference will be hosted by the Western Australian Chapter of the Institute.
Session topics include:
Who judges the judges? Suing judges and oversight by judicial commissions
Social housing: perspectives on administrative law challenges
Justiciability, Standing and Administrative Law Remedies in the Context of Environmental Litigation
Oversight of oversight: Anti-corruption and integrity
The Evolution of Administrative Tribunals
There is a fee for this event. For more information, and to register, click here.
21 August 2025
Frail Lawyers and Their Fearless Logics: What Drives Ethical Error?
University of Queensland Law School
Date: 21 August 2025
Location: TBA
As the Robodebt scandal has illustrated, lawyers’ ethics are important. This paper will show why it is not just bad apples or overweening clients that mean all lawyers are at risk of ethical blunders. Traditional notions of lawyers’ ethics - ideas such as fearlessness, zeal and cab rank neutrality - will be examined, as will the human frailties that all humans, even (perhaps especially) lawyers face. We will consider how such ideas can drive lawyers towards disaster. Examples will be taken from the United Kingdom Post Office private prosecution scandal, but also elsewhere. I will suggest that traditional notions of ethics are flawed; that rather than protecting the rule of law, they render it vulnerable.
Chair: Mr Graham Gibson KC
Commentator: Mr Richard Douglas KC
Speaker: Professor Richard Moorhead, University of Exeter
For more information, and to register, click here.
22-24 August 2025
2025 Samuel Griffith Society Conference
Samuel Griffith Society
Date: 22-24 August 2025
Location: Ritz-Carlton Perth
The 35th annual national conference of The Samuel Griffith Society will be held at the Ritz-Carlton in Perth over the weekend of Friday 22 August to Sunday 24 August, 2025.
The conference will feature:
The Fifteenth Sir Harry Gibbs Memorial Oration, delivered by The Hon Simon Steward, Justice of the High Court of Australia
The Third Sir David Smith Memorial Oration
Other announced speakers include:
The Hon Richard Court AC, 26th Premier of Western Australia
The Hon Nicholas Hasluck AM, KC, former Justice of the Supreme Court of Western Australia
The Hon Dyson Heydon KC, former Justice of the High Court of Australia
There is a fee for this event. For more information, and to register, click here.
19-21 November 2025
2025 International Journal of Clinical Legal Education Annual Conference
Monash University Faculty of Law
Date: 19-21 November 2025
Location: Monash University Law Chambers, Melbourne
The theme of IJCLE 2025 is Navigating Global Challenges in Clinical Legal Education: Innovating for the Future.
The first day of IJCLE will feature a number of workshops focused on building the skills clinical teachers need for their work with students, clients and colleagues. These skills include supervision, reflective practice, assessment, feedback and scaffolding student learning.
Days 2 and 3 will provide participants with opportunities to engage with multiple issues related to climate justice, the impact of technology and AI, access to rights and justice, along with enhancing regional and global collaboration. There will be publication-themed sessions including a writing workshop mini retreat designed to encourage clinical scholarship and research collaborations.
There is a fee for this event. For more information, and to register, click here.
24-25 November 2025
Legal Education Research Conference
University of New South Wales Law & Justice
Date: 24-25 November 2025
Location: UNSW Law & Justice, Kensington Campus
In today's fast-paced world, law schools face the complex challenge of balancing an already crowded curriculum with the evolving demands of the legal profession. Accrediting bodies mandate that law degrees cover an array of prescribed knowledge areas. The legal profession demands graduates with substantive legal knowledge who are adept at research. All professions require graduates with a range of intrapersonal and interpersonal skills, including communication, reasoning, negotiation, networking and teamwork. There has been a documented increase in the volume and complexity of laws and there are new theories, under-represented perspectives and novel proposals to consider. Students are increasingly expected to be proficient in emerging technologies that are becoming integral to practice and need to be prepared for a world in which significant change is likely. All the while, educators are trying to engage students in the context of a competitive attention economy.
It is unsurprising that laws schools are struggling with the challenge of updating curriculum to address new needs, without sacrificing depth or quality, while providing opportunities to develop skills and reflect on values. Navigating this process requires creativity, balance and great care.
For more information, and to register, click here.
6 December 2025
In-Person Symposium: Judicial Independence in Australia - Looking Forward, Ten Years On
T. C. Beirne School of Law, University of Queensland
Date: 6 December 2025
Time: 9.00am-5.00pm (AEST)
Location: T. C. Beirne School of Law, University of Queensland
Ten years after the publication of Judicial Independence in Australia: Contemporary Challenges, Future Directions (Federation Press, 2016), the landscape of judicial independence has radically changed. The time is ripe for a new edited collection taking stock of these changes and looking to the future.
The symposium will bring together leading scholars, judges and lawyers to discuss the nature and importance of judicial independence in Australia, and to debate current and future challenges.
For more information, click here.