Bond University's renowned Faculty of Law has been given a boost, with the appointment of three highly-respected academics - covering diverse fields including family law, legal philosophy and legal education - adding to its team of national and international legal experts.
Professor Rachael Field, Professor Jonathan Crowe and Assistant Professor Kate Galloway have all commenced teaching at the Gold Coast private university.
Professor Field - a national leader in legal education, dispute resolution, family law and women in law - will bring to Bond University the National Wellness Network for Law, which she founded and coordinates.
She is an advocate for access to justice for vulnerable women and their children, particularly those in circumstances of domestic and family violence, a cause she has supported since commencing as a volunteer with the Women's Legal Service in 1993.
Her research into mediation and domestic violence, legal education and law student success, and wellbeing has had an impact nationally, and is being taken up internationally, with her body of work contributing to her being awarded the 2013 Queensland Woman Lawyer of the Year.
She was also instrumental in the development of the Threshold Learning Outcomes (TLOs) for law, central to Learning and Teaching Academic Standards (LTAS).
Professor Field is finalising a book she has co-authored on dispute resolution, and will be co-authoring another book with fellow Bond University recruit, Professor Crowe, on the new approach to ethics in mediation and dispute resolution.
“I am really passionate about student success and the student experience and was drawn to Bond because of its student focus and the fact it punches above its weight in terms of its performance in research," said Professor Field.
"I want to contribute to building that success at Bond."
Professor Crowe is recognised globally for his work on legal philosophy, ethical theory and public law, and has more than a decade experience teaching constitutional law, legal theory and public international law, particularly international humanitarian and human rights law. He also has teaching interests in dispute resolution, family law and criminal law.
He is finalising a book on the natural law tradition in legal and ethical theory, exploring questions of the nature and purpose of law, particularly its connection to human wellbeing and the good life.
Professor Crowe is the President of the Australian Society of Legal Philosophy and serves on the Queensland International Humanitarian Law Committee of the Australian Red Cross.
"Bond was attractive to me given its profile as a young, dynamic and forward looking university," said Professor Crowe.
"The university provides the scope to develop innovative solutions to the challenges of higher education, and I was inspired by its strong focus on the student experience."
Assistant Professor Galloway is a prolific researcher and commentator in the fields of legal education and property law, and has a decade experience teaching land law, public law, public international law and Indigenous law.
She is Associate Editor of the Legal Education Review, serves on Queensland Law Society's Equalising Opportunity in the Law committee and was a founder of the Australian Legal Education Associate Dean’s Network.
Assistant Professor Galloway is working on a number of research projects, including as a team member of 'Smart Casual', which involves the development of six self-paced, free professional modules for sessional law teachers covering topics including wellness, critical thinking, reading law, Indigenous inclusion and ethics.
"I’m principally interested in curriculum and have worked across diverse aspects of curriculum design – from the first year experience, to aspects of wellness, internationalisation, sustainability and statutory interpretation," said Assistant Professor Galloway.
"The aim of this research is to understand how we can promote graduates who will best serve society, the profession and their clients.
"I am keen to develop my work in legal education and Bond is the right environment for me to achieve this."
Bond University Faculty of Law Executive Dean, Professor Nick James, said the appointments had further bolstered Bond's highly-regarded team of legal academics.
"Rachael, Jonathan and Kate are among the most respected legal minds in Australia," he said.
"They each bring with them extensive experience in aspects of the law that are complementary to the expertise and skills we already have within the Bond Faculty of Law and, are therefore, a great asset to our team.
"It is also a coup to add two new legal networks to our stable, particularly given their focus on the topical issues of dispute resolution and wellness in law.
"I look forward to working closely with Rachael, Jonathan and Kate and warmly welcome them to the Bond team."