Overview
Law and Legal Studies is centred in the TC Beirne School of Law. The 44 FTE staff
were active principally in FoR18, spread broadly across employment levels, including
8 ECRs.
Research in Law has concentrated on the quality of individual scholarship, and the
appropriateness of outlets for academic or professional audiences. 40% of articles are
in A*/A journals, with books and book chapters published by leading academic
publishers (eg OUP, CUP). Outputs in A*/A journals increased by 63% in the period.
The peer review selections are a representative sample of the School’s research to
evidence quality across all output categories. They show that a significant number of
authors with publications in A*/A journals also have high quality work elsewhere - in
book chapters or articles in B/C ranked journals (eg Allan, Aroney, Burrell,
Grantham, Hamer, Jensen, Johnstone, Orr, Walsh). Most B/C journal publications
were committed prior to the journal ranking exercise, or were in specialist outlets
chosen to reach particular audiences (eg Sherman, Burrell, Weatherall, Black, Forrest,
Sadiq). All current researchers have quality work evidenced in the selection, including
ECRs (eg Bartlett, Crowe, Liu), even where the majority of publications is in B and C
(eg Walsh, O’Shea).
Research income increased dramatically since 2003, led by the Australian Centre for
Intellectual Property in Agriculture (ACIPA) with>$1.3m in external grants in the
period.
The research culture encourages individual work across a wide range of legal
subjects, and within sub-disciplinary groupings, including: intellectual property law;
transnational and comparative law; public power and state institutions; private law.
Significant contributions to the research environment include:
 A number of new research centres: Centre for Public International &
Comparative Law (inc Ratnapala, Corrin, Orr, Forrest, Black, Cassimatis);
Australian Private Law Network, co-founded with Melbourne (inc Grantham,
Rickett, Barker, Jensen); Maritime & Shipping Law Unit focussed on
environmental and admiralty law (inc Derrington, Forrest, White, CogliatiBantz); Australian Centre of Intellectual Property in Law, jointly with Griffith
and ANU (inc Sherman, Burrell, Weatherall);
 Hosting international conferences: Obligations III (2006); Corporate Law
Teachers’ Association (2006); Upper House Conference and Bill of Rights
Symposium (2006), Australasian Tax Teachers’ Association (2007); Future of
Federalism (2008), International Legal Ethics (2008); and 10
national/international conferences on IP;
 Hosting internationally-renowned scholars: Burrows, Oxford; Ginsburg,
Columbia; Cane, ANU; Hay, Cornell; Dennis, UCL; Ewing, Kings; Weinrib,
Toronto; Samuelson, Berkeley; Stout, UCLA; DeMott, Duke; Beever,
Southampton; Jaffey, Brunel; Paulson, Washington; Penner, LSE; Pue, UBC;
Rose, Bristol; Tompkins, Glasgow; Worthington, LSE; and
 Editorial involvement in range of international law journals (inc Alternative
LJ, Journal of Business Law, Company Lawyer, Journal of Corporate Law
Studies, Election LJ, LawAsia, Legal Education Rev, NZBLQ, Otago
LR,UQLJ)
Capacity
20 new fulltime appointments were made in the period by targeted recruitment of
internationally-renowned scholars and ECRs from Australia and overseas, as well as
normal inter-institutional movements and retirements.
Intellectual Property Law: 3 appointments (2 senior). Public Power and State
Institutions: 7 appts; Transnational and Comparative Law: 4 appts; Private Law: 6
appts (3 senior). The School also benefits from over 20 adjunct professors, who add to
the research culture (eg White QC, Derrington QC, Gold AO QC).
Environment
General Research Environment:
Comprehensive research support to all staff:
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Competitive grants to provide seed funding for projects ($40,000 pa);
Financial incentives scheme to promote high quality publications ($120,000
pa);
Two annual lecture series (The McPherson Series and Richard Cooper
Memorial Lecture) presented by leading international judges and academics,
resulting in leading monographs such as Millett, On Villainy; Spigelman,
Statutory Interpretation and Human Rights; Cane, The Political Economy of
Personal Injury La;
Research Seminar Series;
Working Paper Series;
Dedicated Research Development Officer to source external funding
opportunities, assist with grant applications and support interdisciplinary
research (a 25-fold increase from 2003);
Research dissemination opportunities via the Law School’s membership of the
Research Paper Series on Australasian Legal Information Institute and the
SSRN;
ARC Grant application workshops; and
Active mentoring and collegial peer review.
RHD Students and ECRs
The School accepted 45 new RHD candidates during 2003-8. 34 PhDs were
conferred. Of the commencing and completing RHDs,
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25% were from outside Australia;
30% now hold academic positions at Australian law schools (Melbourne,
Adelaide, QUT, UniSA, UQ and Griffith); and
40% secured competitive scholarships (inc Australian Postgraduate Awards,
AusAID, and UQ competitive scholarships).
The School has also actively recruited new 8 ECRs, who account for 15% of the total
reported research outputs. Junior staff also secured >$80,000 from UQ internal
funding schemes.
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The School provides specific research support infrastructure and training for
ECRs and RHDs in the form of:
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Funding for ECRs via UQ New Staff Start-Up and Early Career Researcher
grants;
Annual PhD Student Colloquium: students showcase their work and receive
feedback from peers and experienced researchers;
PhD seminar programme, assisting students to gauge their progress and obtain
constructive feedback; mandatory Thesis Design and Writing course for all
RHDs;
Funding for PhD research and conference attendance; and
ECR Research mentoring scheme focused on facilitating research and
publication
Collaboration
The research activities manifest a strong collaborative dimension:
 36% of the books published by staff in the period were co-authored;
 Major international conference collaborations (see Overview);
 UQ Visitors included academics from over 50 law schools and judges of the
High Court of Australia, House of Lords and NZ Supreme Court who gave
>100 public lectures and seminars (eg McPherson and Cooper Lectures 20068);
 Long-standing collaborations with scholars at other universities include
Schloenhardt’s organised crime project with UBC; Sherman’s IP research with
Cambridge; Weatherall’s digital copyright research with Melbourne; Orr’s
electoral law project with Hong Kong); co-hosting of conferences (eg
Obligations III, with Melbourne; Legal Conference with Griffith); crossinstitutional staff visits (eg visiting fellowships - Burrell at Cambridge,
Schloenhardt at UBC, Allan at Dalhousie, Rickett at Sydney, Aroney at Notre
Dame (US), Derrington at Nottingham);
 Formal research links with a number of institutions enhance the discipline’s
research capacity: Forum of Federations (Ottawa) - Stephenson; MLAANZ –
Derrington and Forrest; UNODC - Schloenhardt; Melbourne
University/Private Law Network – Barker, Grantham, Jensen; and
 Staff are involved in several UQ interdisciplinary projects : eg Macarthur
Foundation project ($350,000), Corrin with academics from Engineering,
Marine Studies, Geography, Economics and Philosophy
Type
The research undertaken spans the disciplinary range, including:
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legal theory (Allan, Ratnapala, Crowe, Orr) ;
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socio-legal (Douglas, Walsh, Billings, Crowe);
doctrinal (Grantham, Rickett, Jensen, McDermott);
health and public policy (Devereux, Orr, Morrison);
industry focussed (IP and maritime); and
international and national.
We continue to have significant impact on the content, practice, and administration of
the law. Researchers have been extensively cited by the:
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High Court of Australia (Grantham and Rickett, Orr, Ratnapala);
State Courts of Appeal (Rickett, Barker, Grantham);
Supreme Court of New Zealand;
House of Lords; and
English Court of Appeal.
Staff have also guided law reform initiatives both in Queensland and nationally via
submissions to the ALRC, Federal Parliamentary Standing Committees on Science
and Innovation, Treaties, Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, Legal and
Constitutional Affairs.
Other
Staff have secured ARC, Fulbright and LPITAF research grants. ACIPA offered over
130 industry education courses on IP in the agricultural sector and its members sit on
a number of government advisory groups (eg Sherman on Plant Breeders’ Rights
Advisory Committee). Appointments/awards include:
 Allan Vice-President, Australian Legal Philosophy Society;
 Aroney, Board member of Australian Association of Constitutional Law;
 Derrington, Vice-President, Maritime Law Assoc of Aust/NZ, Cth Admiralty
Rules Committee;
 Douglas member, Queensland Law Reform Commission;
 Morrison, ARC International Linkage Fellow (2008); and
 Schloenhardt, $50,000 UQ Foundation Research Excellence.