Charting the Impact of Academic Research on Australian Court Proceedings

Charting the Impact of Academic Research on Australian Court Proceedings

On 14 August 2026, the Centre for Law as Protection co-hosted a one-day event with Monash University’s Castan Centre for Human Rights Law at Deakin Downtown which was organised by Associate Professor Tania Penovic from Deakin Law School and the Centre for Law as Protection.

The event brought together leading judges, scholars, and practitioners to examine how academic research shapes legal reasoning, informs advocacy, and contributes to the development of the law. Academic research has informed judicial decision-making through a range of avenues, including expert evidence, amicus curiae submissions by academics, judicial notice or where judges otherwise take academic research into account in determining questions of fact and law. These avenues were explored by the speakers.

The day opened with a welcome and acknowledgement of country by Associate Professor Penovic, followed by a keynote address by the Hon. Justice Kristen Walker AM KC, a judge in Victoria’s Court of Appeal.

Keynote Address

Her Honour reflected on the role of academic research in judicial decision-making through her experience as an academic, a barrister and now a judge. She reflected on judicial tradition employed by judges in the UK and Australia of only citing academic research posthumously under the convention of ‘better read than dead.’ That tradition no longer holds.

The Hon. Justice Kristen Walker AM KC then drew on her experiences as an academic at Melbourne Law School, including her work as an academic on the cases of Croome v Tasmania and McBain v Victoria, as a barrister presenting submissions (citing academic research) to the High Court of Australia and now as a judge. Her Honour observed that academic research can help ‘educate and inform’ judges and may help them understand the history of legal concepts.

(Photo: From left, keynote speaker The Hon. Justice Kristen Walker AM KC, Professor Kim Rubenstein, Associate Professor Tania Penovic, Professor Paula Gerber and Kate Eastman AM SC).

Panel 1: Experiential Perspectives on academic research in court proceedings

The first panel of the day was chaired by Associate Professor Penovic and examined different experiences of academic participation in court proceedings. Speakers were Professor Paula Gerber (Monash Law Faculty and the Castan Centre for Human Rights Law), barrister Kate Eastman AM SC and Australian legal scholar Professor Kim Rubenstein.

Professor Gerber presented a paper titled ‘The Law Academic as Expert Witness: Lessons from the Battlefield’. Professor Gerber spoke about acting as an academic expert witness for the Australian Human Rights Commission in the discrimination case of Lesbian Action Group v Australian Human Rights Commission. Her expert witness report provided an overview of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and its application in Australia and to the Sex Discrimination Act 1984, including the application of CEDAW to trans women. Professor Gerber reflected on her experience as an expert witness and the lessons learned from her experience.

(Photo: Professor Paula Gerber discussing her role as an expert witness)

Kate Eastman AM SC presented a paper titled ‘A practitioner’s perspective on bringing the academy into court – a case study on interventions in human rights and public interest litigation’. She spoke about when, how and why from a practitioner’s perspective academic research can be used strategically on questions of statutory interpretation, discretionary considerations and ‘informing’ the Court without the formalities attached to admissible expert evidence. Ms Eastman discussed the amicus curiae submissions of the Castan Centre for Human Rights Law in the High Court matter in Clubb v Edwards and Anor (which A/Prof Penovic co-authored, with Kate Eastman acting as counsel) and its importance in providing the court with relevant constitutional facts not otherwise available.

(Photo: Kate Eastman AM SC)

Professor Kim Rubenstein presented ‘ An academic’s perspective of maintaining a practising-certificate – how I brought the two worlds of the academy and the Court room together.’ Professor Rubenstein spoke about her experience in bridging the two worlds of legal practice and academia, the latter including her role as the Australian National University’s Director of the Centre for International and Public Law and Convenor of the ANU Gender Institute. Professor Rubenstein is the author of the major text, Australian Citizenship Law and discussed her experiences acting as legal counsel in citizenship matters, appearing before the Federal Court and High Court of Australia. She reflected on being asked to appear as counsel assisting the Solicitor-General in a citizenship law matter and presenting her work via amicus curiae submissions to the High Court and also the US Supreme Court. Professor Rubenstein also discussed her role in supporting Lucy Bradlow and Bronwen Bock who brought a proceeding in the Federal Court in their efforts to run as a job-share candidate for the Senate.

(Photo: Professor Kim Rubenstein)

Panel 2: Exploring the role of academic research in judicial decision-making

The afternoon panel session was chaired by Associate Professor Ronli Sifris, the Director of the Castan Centre for Human Rights Law. The speakers were academics Dr Josh Gibson (Monash Law Faculty and Castan Centre for Human Rights Law), Associate Professor Tanya Josev (Melbourne Law School) and Dr Anne Carter (Adelaide Law School).

Dr Josh Gibson presented a paper titled ‘Friends of the Court, Voices of the Academy: The Academic Amicus.’ His paper drew on his PhD, completed at the University of New South Wales Faculty of Law and Justice which examined the role played by amicus curiae (Latin for ‘friend of the court’) in the High Court of Australia. Dr Gibson’s paper focused on the involvement of academics as amicus curiae. After surveying the contemporary use of the amicus procedure by academics across jurisdictions, Dr Gibson examined a specific type of amicus advocacy in the High Court, that of the academic research centre. He considered how academic research centres have used amicus in the Court, what legal arguments or other expertise has been presented in submissions and oral arguments, and the structural and legal factors that may have influenced whether the Court granted leave to appear.

(Photo: Dr Josh Gibson)

Associate Professor Tanya Josev from the University of Melbourne spoke about ‘The Use of Australian Historiography in the Courtroom – Where We Stand Now’. She examined the role of historians as expert witnesses in the High Court of Australia, the Full Federal Court and the Federal Court of Australia. She observed that the citation of Australian histories has taken on heightened significance in courtrooms in the decades that have followed the ‘history wars’ in Australian public discourse. A/Prof Josev considered whether the chilling effect of partisan discourse has changed practices in the reliance upon, and citation of, evidence submitted by expert historians.

(Photo: Dr Josh Gibson, Associate Professor Tanya Josev (speaking) and Dr Anne Carter).

Dr Anne Carter presented a paper titled ‘From Journals to Judgments: Academic Research and Judicial Fact-Finding.’ Her paper mapped how judicial references to academic research form part of judicial fact-finding in the common law tradition, examining how such reliance on academic research fits within the existing classifications of facts and the associated processes of proof. By drawing on several case studies from the High Court of Australia, Dr Carter suggested that while in some instances academic work will form part of conventional evidentiary practices (e.g., through the expert witnesses who provide opinion evidence), at other times academic research might be used to establish background context. She called for a more careful understanding of precisely how academic research can inform judicial fact-finding to enhance the potential of academic work to inform judicial practice.

(Photo: Associate Professor Tania Penovic, Associate Professor Tanya Josev, Dr Anne Carter, Dr Josh Jibson and Associate Professor Ronli Sifris).

Professor Kate Seear, co-director of the Centre for Law as Protection provided some closing remarks on the impact of academic research on judicial decision making from her perspective as Centre Director and Director of Research Impact for the Faculty of Business and Law.

Closing reflections

Judicial proceedings are an important avenue for academic research to generate impact. The event brought together a diverse range of speakers and attendees. The Honourable Justice Chris Maxwell, former President of the Court of Appeal, attended the event and spoke to attendees about the Judicial College of Victoria’s Scholarship for the Legal Community resource. This is a curated online resource featuring summaries of recently published academic research from Australian and international journals, designed to foster greater engagement between the judiciary, academia and the legal profession.

Charting the Impact of Academic Research on Australian Judicial Proceedings provided a stimulating discussion between academics, judges and legal practitioners, celebrating the impact of academic research and exploring opportunities for future impact.

(Photo: The Honourable Justice Chris Maxwell, former President of the Court of Appeal, discussing the Scholarship for the Legal Community Resource).

Speaker Bios

Kristen Walker AM KC is a judge in the Court of Appeal of Victoria and a former Solicitor-General of Victoria. Her elevation to the Court of Appeal stands among many professional achievements that reflect both excellence in legal practice and deep dedication to public service. As a leading Silk and respected educator, she has also played a vital role in shaping and mentoring the next generation of legal professionals. She has been appointed as a member of the Order of Australia for her significant service to law, the judiciary and to legal education.

Tania Penovic is an Associate Professor at Deakin Law School and senior co-chair in women and girls’ rights for Australian Lawyers for Human Rights. She is an affiliated academic member of the Castan Centre for Human Rights Law at Monash University, where she served as a deputy director from 2011 to 2020. Her research has been cited in parliaments, by the High Court of Australia, the United Kingdom Supreme Court and human rights bodies of the United Nations and has been awarded for its substantial and sustained impact on legislative reform, judicial decision-making and the understanding of human rights.

Paula Gerber is a Professor at Monash Law Faculty and an internationally renowned scholar with expertise in international human rights law generally, with a particular focus on children’s rights and LGBTI rights. Paula has written and edited numerous books and articles on human rights issues, and she is regularly featured in the Australian media, including on ABC television and radio, and on The Conversation. Paula is the Chair of Kaleidoscope Human Rights Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation that advocates for better protection of the rights of LGBTQIA+ people in the Asia-Pacific region.

Kate Eastman AM SC is an Adjunct Professor with the University of Technology Sydney one of Australia’s most distinguished human rights lawyers and a trailblazer in the legal profession. With a career spanning over three decades, she has consistently championed justice, equality, and access to the law for society’s most vulnerable. She co-founded Australian Lawyers for Human Rights, represented Australian NGOs in the UN negotiations for the International Criminal Court, served as Senior Counsel Assisting the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability and is a Law Reform Commissioner with the New South Wales Law Reform Commission.

Kim Rubenstein is an Australian legal scholar, legal practitioner, professor and a fellow of the Australian Academy of Law and Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia. From 2006 to 2016 she was Professor and Director of the Centre for International and Public Law at the Australian National University, from 2011-12 she was the Inaugural Convenor of the ANU Gender Institute and from 2020-2022 she was Co-Director, Academic of the 50/50 by 2030 Foundation. Professor Rubenstein is one of Australia’s leading experts on citizenship, having written the major text, Australian Citizenship Law, acting as a consultant to government including being appointed a member of the Independent Committee that reviewed the Australian citizenship test in 2008 and appearing as legal counsel in citizenship matters before the Administrative Review Tribunal, Federal Court of Australia and the High Court of Australia. She has also been a major scholar on gender and public law and active in the public policy gender space, and for this work, she won the 2013 Edna Ryan Award for Leadership. She is currently an Adjunct Professor at the University of Canberra and the University of Technology Sydney and an Honorary Professor at the Australian National University.

Ronli Sifris is an Associate Professor at Monash University’s Faculty of Law and the Director of the Castan Centre for Human Rights Law. She has served as Assistant Commissioner of the Australian Law Reform Commission in its Review of Surrogacy Laws and has published widely on the intersection of women’s reproductive health and the law. Her work includes two sole authored books: Reproductive Freedom, Torture and International Human Rights: Challenging the Masculinisation of Torture (Routledge, 2014) and Towards Reproductive Justice (Monash University Publishing, 2024).

Josh Gibson is a Lecturer at Monash University Faculty of Law, specialising in public and constitutional law. He previously worked as a Senior Legal Researcher for the Australian Parliament and a Senior Legal Officer in the Attorney-General’s Department. Josh’s PhD thesis, completed at UNSW Law, examined the role of amici curiae in constitutional and public interest litigation in the Australian High Court.

Tanya Josev is an Associate Professor and legal historian in the Melbourne Law School. She researches in contemporary Australian and American legal and political history. Her multiple-prizewinning book, The Campaign Against the Courts: A History of the Judicial Activism Debate, examined the evolution of the public debate over the judicial role as involving ‘activism’ and ‘restraint’. She also studies the role of historiography in the High Court of Australia, and the status of judicial archives. Tanya worked at Allens, and as an associate to the late Justice Alan Goldberg AO, prior to undertaking a PhD in law and history at the University of Melbourne. Tanya was a previous participant in the Hauser programme at NYU and was the recipient of the University of Melbourne’s Woodward Medal for the most significant contribution by a researcher to humanities and social sciences scholarship in 2022.

Anne Carter is a Senior Lecturer at Adelaide Law School. Her PhD, completed at the University of Melbourne investigated the role of facts in proportionality reasoning in constitutional law, and was subsequently published as a monograph with Hart Publishing: Proportionality and Facts in Constitutional Adjudication. She has also published an edited collection (with Joe Tomlinson, Kings College London) on Facts in Public Law Adjudication, which brings together scholars from Australia, the UK, Canada and New Zealand. Anne’s contribution to public law scholarship has been recognised by external funding and prizes, and her solo-authored work has been cited or quoted by the High Court in 2021, 2023, 2025 and 2026. Prior to becoming an academic Anne worked as a practising lawyer, specialising in constitutional and administrative law. She previously worked as a Judge’s Associate in the Supreme Court of South Australia and the Federal Court, as Researcher to the Solicitor-General for Victoria, and as a solicitor at the Crown Solicitor’s Office of South Australia.

Kate Seear is Professor of Law and an Australian Research Council Industry Fellow in the Deakin Law School. She is Deakin Law School’s Director of Research Impact and was previously an Australian Research Council Future Fellow (2021-2025), as well as an Australian Research Council DECRA Fellow (2016-2019). Kate is also a qualified solicitor, with experience working in family and sexual violence, personal injury law and community law. She is the Deputy Chair of Victoria’s landmark Inquiry into Women’s Pain, and an invited member of the Victorian Women’s Health Advisory Council.