This International Women’s Day we celebrate some of our QUT Law community. Trailblazers, innovators, leaders, experts, researchers, emerging and established voices – each of these women positively shape their industries, break biases, challenge outdated laws and the status quo, and in doing so – light a path to a brighter, more equitable and just future.
Professor Amanda Kennedy
Director of Engagement and Graduate Education, School of Law
Amanda Kennedy (PhD, LLB (Hons 1), B.Com, Grad.Dip. Legal Practice, Grad. Cert. Law Teaching, Lawyer (NSW) joined QUT as a Professor of Law in 2019. She was previously the Deputy Director of the Australian Centre for Agriculture and Law at the University of New England (2007 - 2018). Amanda’s research interests fall predominantly within the area of agri-environmental law, and include:
- resources and land use law
- environmental justice
- food systems governance
She has conducted funded research on these issues under Australian Research Council and other industry grants, and has published her work in both domestic and international journals and books. Amanda has taught across undergraduate and postgraduate programs concerning environmental law and natural resource governance, mining and resource law, and has more recently been teaching in the field of animal law.
What makes you passionate about the work that you do?
I love working in a collegiate environment, especially within research teams who are interested in looking at the law, unpicking and unpacking it to see what works and what doesn’t, and whether there is scope for reform to improve social and environmental justice outcomes. I’m also passionate about sharing my interest in the law with students, especially research students. I love that I can help to grow not only research, but the individual person doing the research. Students bring curiosity and energy to their study of the law, which serves to constantly renew my own enthusiasm for the field.
What is your life motto?
"Kindness in another’s trouble, courage in your own” (taken from Australian poet Adam Lindsay Gordon’s poem Ye Wearie Wayfarer)
What advice would you give either your younger self or the next generation of women?
Be kind to yourself, find your passion, and stay curious.
Define your version of success
Success is being able to do something that energises you and which gives you purpose and meaning every day.
What is one key issue you would like addressed in your lifetime?
WHO estimates indicate that almost 1 in 3 women will experience gender-based violence in their lifetime, which only increases in times of distress like natural disasters and public health crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic. We’ve made some meaningful progress in this space in recent years, but there is still a long way to go. I’m encouraged by the conversations around consent and accountability that have been taking place, particularly those being led by young people.
Find her QUT staff profile and connect on LinkedIn.
Cassie Lang
Solicitor
Cassie is a proud Bundjalung woman, born and raised in Brisbane. Graduating first with a Bachelor of Justice in 2004, Cassie went on to complete a Bachelor of Laws and her Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice with QUT. She has spent more than a decade specialising in Indigenous law, particularly native title, governance, and Indigenous cultural heritage, protecting sites of cultural significance and empowering First Nations communities.
What makes you passionate about the work that you do?
I have been fortunate to benefit from the knowledge and experience that has been shared with me over the years, I am now in a position where I get to share that knowledge and see the confidence develop in my clients as they understand their unique power they bring to the negotiation table.
What is your life motto?
Be like water - water can change a landscape subtly over time or it can drastically change a landscape in a matter of minutes. Depending on the situation will determine the strength of the water you need to bring.
What advice would you give either your younger self or the next generation of women?
Take the time to get curious with who you want to be and what you want to stand for. Once you have that level of clarity you will know who and what you will not tolerate.
Define your version of success.
Having a job that I enjoy so much that it doesn’t feel like work so that I can be the best version of myself at home and at work.
What is one key issue you would like addressed in your lifetime?
Climate change I do a lot of work in the Torres Strait and if we don’t address this now, in our lifetime there is a high chance we will witness climate change refugees in our own country.
Connect with Cassie on LinkedIn.
Isabella Busby
QUT Law Society President 2022
Isabella is currently studying a Bachelor of Behavioural Science (Psychology)/Bachelor of Laws (Honours) at QUT and works as a Paralegal at Allens. As President of the QUT Law Society, Bella is leading one of the most prominent student societies at QUT. QUTLS plays an important role in the fabric of student life for Law students and provides meaningful opportunities to connect students with the legal industry.
What makes you passionate about the work that you do?
Law school can be a challenging time for many people, so I enjoy working with my team to make that journey a little easier for students, by providing fun social events, professional development, mentorship, creative pursuits, sport and many more endeavours. It’s very rewarding seeing the direct benefit that students receive, from the work we contribute to the Society. I also work alongside a team who are passionate about their respective portfolios, and are a great group of people to be around both professionally, and personally.
What is your life motto ?
If something can make a positive difference for even one person, then it is worth doing.
What advice would you give either your younger self or the next generation of women?
Back yourself! If you work hard at the things you believe are important, and are mindful of treating others with respect and empathy, then you have a great contribution to make to your community, and you shouldn’t be discouraged by what others think of you.
Define your version of success.
Success to me is having a healthy balance of activities that provide professional, and personal fulfilment. For example, this year I reduced my study load to ensure that in my final year of university I still make time to play in an orchestra, be part of a social sport team, and remain involved in the debating community as a coach, and an adjudicator, alongside my studies, and my work at a law firm.
What is one key issue you would like addressed in your lifetime?
I would like to see our perception of good leadership expanded to include traits that are more commonly seen in women, like empathy and compassion. I hope that by celebrating diverse approaches to leadership, people from all walks of life will feel empowered to take on leadership roles, even if they look, or feel different from what they see represented in most positions of power at the moment.
Connect with Isabella on LinkedIn.
Associate Professor Tina Cockburn
Co-Director of Australian Health Law Research
LLM (Queensland University of Technology), LLB(Hons) (University of Queensland), BCom (University of Queensland)
Tina Cockburn TEP is an Associate Professor at QUT, Co-Director of the Australian Centre for Health Law Research (ACHLR), co-program leader of the Planning for Healthy Ageing research program within ACHLR, a sessional member of the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) and a member of the Queensland Law Society Health and Disability Law Committee.
Tina’s health law research focuses on access to justice by vulnerable members of society in three broad contexts: patient safety law, elder law, and institutional abuse of children.
She has researched, published and taught undergraduate and postgraduate students in the areas of Equity, Trusts, Torts, Health Law and Elder Law for over 25 years, with over 130 publications. Tina’s work has been published in a range of quality national and international journals, she has presented at a numerous international conferences and has been awarded competitive grants and contracts to conduct research.
What makes you passionate about the work that you do?
The opportunity to work with excellent colleagues to make a difference through my research and by inspiring and challenging students to learn about the law and develop skills to thrive in a rapidly changing global environment.
What is your life motto?
Be kind, to yourself and to others
What advice would you give either your younger self or the next generation of women?
Try and think of setbacks as opportunities for change and growth, and focus on the positives.
Define your version of success.
Being secure, healthy and happy, and having time to enjoy life.
What is one key issue you would like addressed in your lifetime?
Promoting and protecting the human rights of vulnerable individuals and groups
Find her QUT staff profile and connect with Tina on LinkedIn.
Bianca Hill-Jarro
Indigenous Project Officer, QUT Faculty of Business and Law
Bianca is a proud Kabi Kabi woman with connections to Wakka Wakka through her father's family. She holds a Bachelor of Laws, Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice, Master of Laws and Graduate Certificate in Academic Practice from QUT.
In her role she has worked to support Indigenous Law and Justice students within the Faculty of Law from 2011 to 2020, playing a key role in nurturing the development and participation of our future and emerging Indigenous legal professionals.
Since the restructure in 2021, her portfolio has expanded to include Business School Indigenous students.
What makes you passionate about the work that you do?
It’s very easy to be passionate about my work when I get the opportunity to work with the future generations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander lawyers. The number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander law students is growing but more excitingly more are moving into the profession. And not just moving into the legal profession but taking their place.
What is your life motto?
Focus on the journey and not just the destination. Build that journey with as many stops along the way to create more powerful experiences and memories. This allows you to be present in the journey as well as the destination.
What advice would you give either your younger self or the next generation of women?
Always be brave enough to say yes and surround yourself with positive and empowering people who will support you to make the absolute most of those opportunities.
Always treat everyone with kindness, dignity and respect because you just never know what the connection could mean or hold for you.
Define your version of success.
My version of success is to know that I have stayed true to my personal goals, values and morals. That I have lived each day in the way that I know my family, role models, Elders and community would be proud of and that honours the legacy that they have paved for me.
What is one key issue you would like addressed in your lifetime?
I want to to see more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander female academics in law schools and in the legal profession. We need new and exciting ways to create opportunities and pathways for our women to be successful in this profession.
Connect with Bianca on LinkedIn.
Dr Eliana Close
Dr Eliana Close is a Lecturer in the Australian Centre for Health Law Research at QUT. She is currently seconded to a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship as part of the Australian Research Council Future Fellowship, Enhancing end-of-life decision-making: Optimal regulation of voluntary assisted dying (2020-2024).
An experienced transdisciplinary socio-legal researcher with a background in law and psychology her research is focused on the regulation of end-of-life decision making, in particular conflicts over life-sustaining treatment, rationing healthcare resources, and voluntary assisted dying.
What makes you passionate about the work that you do?
End-of-life law, policy and practice is a wide-ranging field and I have worked on a broad array of topical issues from resource allocation in the COVID-19 pandemic to voluntary assisted dying. I’m currently part of a team doing an international study on the regulatory landscape of voluntary assisted dying in Australia, Canada, and Belgium. We have been interviewing patients, families, and health professionals to hear first-hand perspectives of how regulation is working (or not working) in practice. It’s incredibly exciting to be involved in this evidence-based comparative research at a time when voluntary assisted dying law reform is unfolding across Australia.
What is your life motto?
Strive to be present and authentic and “meet people where they are”. To me that means aiming to appreciate others’ values and trying to recognise that everyone is facing their own struggles that we may know nothing about.
What advice would you give either your younger self or the next generation of women?
Take risks, play to your strengths, and lean into your curiosity. The best career opportunities come from investing in relationships and saying yes to things you aren’t 100 percent sure you are qualified for. Also, remember that harassment and bias against women persist in both subtle and overt ways, and the most marginalised are often the most silenced. Find people who are mentors and allies and be a mentor and ally for others.
Define your version of success.
Now that I am in a phase of life where I am trying to balance parenting young children with caring for ageing parents, increasingly my idea of success has changed. I have realised personal and professional priorities wax and wane to some extent. You can’t achieve everything at once and that’s ok. To me success is picking a way to serve others that resonates with you and making a wholehearted effort to show up and do that. Rather than fixating on ‘success’ I increasingly try to focus on finding meaning in what I am doing. Success implies an end point, while creating meaning involves giving your very best and relishing the process of growth along the way.
What is one key issue you would like addressed in your lifetime?
There are so many seemingly unsurmountable challenges the world is facing right now that it is hard to choose just one. A relatively more discrete issue related to my research is that I would like to see discourse about death and dying become a normal part of everyday life. Death is universal and integral to what it means to be human, yet we live in a death-fearing and death-denying society. The decisions we make as we approach the end of life affect us, our families, and the community as a whole. I would love to see a society that embraces the messy reality of death and grief, with laws, policies, education, and a healthcare system that supports and empowers people.
Connect with Eliana on LinkedIn, find her QUT staff profile here.
Dr Rachel Hews
As Course Coordinator for LW78 Graduate Certificate in Future Law Technologies, and a lecturer in the Law School Rachel's principal goal is to support students develop the graduate skills and capabilities they need to build better legal futures. She currently teaches design thinking in law (legal design) at both undergraduate and post-graduate levels – see what her students have to say here. A Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, she was also a finalist for: 2021 Australia Law Awards Academic of the Year. Her current projects include investigating the future of legal services, design thinking in law and higher education, future law technologies, graduate capabilities for the future law, empathic approaches to student engagement, and learning and teaching during COVID19.
What makes you passionate about the work that you do?
As a teenager, I was concerned by the notion that the law does not always lead to justice. As a result, I became focussed on building better futures through improving laws and access to justice.
What is your life motto?
Be a good human. Always help others. Where possible, inspire others.
What advice would you give either your younger self or the next generation of women?
To the next generation of women: position yourself between women who can help you and women you can help. Forge your own success, but also help other women achieve theirs.
Define your version of success.
When I teach students how to use mindsets and innovation in law, I help them to create better legal futures for everybody. That’s success.
What is one key issue you would like addressed in your lifetime?
I’d like to see minorities and vulnerable persons have greater access to justice.
Find her QUT staff profile and connect with Rachel on LinkedIn.
Dr Peta Stephenson
Dr Peta Stephenson is a Lecturer in the School of Law at QUT. She teaches and researches in the fields of constitutional and public law, and is particularly interested in exploring the powers and functions of the Executive, the relationship between the legislative and executive branches of government and federalism.
Dr Stephenson has published on these and related topics in leading Australian law journals and edited collections. In 2019, Dr Stephenson was a Kathleen Fitzpatrick Visiting Fellow with the Laureate Program in Comparative Constitutional Law at the University of Melbourne. While undertaking her doctoral studies at the University of Queensland, she was the recipient of two research excellence awards.
Prior to becoming an academic, Dr Stephenson practised as a solicitor in a commercial law firm in Brisbane and also worked as a policy officer at the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet in Canberra.
What makes you passionate about the work that you do?
I am passionate about teaching students and enlivening their interest in constitutional law, public law and statutory interpretation.
What is one key issue you would like addressed in your lifetime?
I would like to see the recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the Australian Constitution that gives effect to the Uluru Statement from the Heart.
Define your version of success?
My version of success is having a career where I get to do meaningful work that has a positive impact on people’s lives and the love and support of family and friends.
Connect with Peta on LinkedIn and find her QUT staff profile.
Coco Peralta
QUT Women in Law, President 2022
Coco is currently studying a Bachelor of Business/Bachelor of Laws (Honours) at QUT. She currently works as a Paralegal at Herbert Smith Freehills. As President of the QUT Women In Law this year, Coco leads a student society dedicated to building meaningful connections between female law students and women within the legal industry.
What makes you passionate about the work that you do?
I am passionate about initiatives like QUT Women in Law because I want to contribute to elevating and supporting women and diverse people in law in any way that I can. The legal profession has come a long way, but there is still a lot of work to be done. I believe that mentorship and creating meaningful networks is necessary to reduce barriers and foster a more diverse and inclusive legal profession.
What is your life motto?
Be yourself. Run your own race.
What advice would you give either your younger self or the next generation of women?
Embrace every opportunity, focus on your network and seek out a mentor. It is really important to have a strong support network (both personal and professional) that can and assist you in finding your career direction and encourage you towards achieving your goals.
What is one key issue you would like addressed in your lifetime?
There are many things that I would hope to see change during my lifetime, but one of the key issues would be the under-representation of women in Australian politics. Our leaders play a key role in shaping our laws, our society and our future. Elevating women and diverse people into these roles is an integral step in the journey towards equality and ensuring that our representatives are truly reflective of the diverse Australian population.
Connect with Coco on LinkedIn.
Professor Lindy Willmott
Professor Lindy Willmott graduated with first class honours in law from the University of Queensland. She joined the QUT Law Faculty in 1986 and teaches in health law (both in the undergraduate and postgraduate course). Professor Willmott is a member of QUT's Australian Centre for Health Law Research, and publishes extensively in the area of Health Law, specialising in end-of-life decision-making and guardianship law. She has played a key role in submissions to Queensland Parliament regarding Voluntary Assisted Dying legislation.
Find her QUT Staff Profile.