Key people
- (Interim) Dean of Law
- Deputy Dean, Associate Dean Teaching & Learning, Director of Academic Program
- Associate Dean of Research
- Associate Dean of HDR
- Director of Academic Program First Year Studies
- Academic Program Advisor
- Associate Dean (International)
- (Acting) Director of Clinical Legal Education
Catherine Renshaw is Interim Dean of the School of Law. Catherine commenced as a Professor at Western Sydney University in 2019, following four years as Deputy Dean of Law at Australian Catholic University. Prior to this, Catherine taught and researched at the University of Sydney, the University of New South Wales, and the University of Newcastle. Catherine is a passionate educator, deeply committed to the success of her students and to the powerful role that education plays in creating a better society.
Catherine holds a PhD from the University of Sydney, a Master of Laws from the University of Sydney, a Bachelor of Laws from the University of New South Wales, and a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) from the University of Sydney. Catherine has been admitted to practice as a solicitor in the Supreme Court of New South Wales and the High Court of Australia, and she holds Associate Membership with the Law Society of New South Wales. Prior to entering academia, Catherine practiced as a lawyer for commercial law firms Allens Linklaters and Sparke Helmore, and for the Legal Aid Commission of New South Wales. Catherine maintains strong connections with the legal profession in Sydney and with state and federal governments. Before commencing as a lawyer, Catherine spent a year working in a refugee camp on the border of Mozambique and South Africa.
Catherine’s field of research is international human rights law, and she has an internationally recognized track-record of publication in the field of human rights law and democratization, with a particular focus on the Indo-Pacific. Catherine has received numerous research grants, including for her work in Myanmar. She is Co-Chair of the International Human Rights Law chapter of the Australian and New Zealand Society of International Law, and a member of the Executive Council of the Asian Society of International Law.
Deputy Dean
Ms Elen Seymour
» Contact details
.
Associate Dean (Research)
Professor Michael Head
Michael Head is a widely-published Professor in the School of Law at Western Sydney University. His research areas are administrative law, public law, emergency law, war powers, law and society, legal theory, socialist law, civil liberties, democratic rights, Marxist legal theory. Michael completed his jurisprudence and law degrees at Monash University, his Master of Laws at Columbia University and his PhD at Western Sydney University. Apart from administrative law textbooks, his recent books include: Domestic Military Powers, Law and Human Rights: Calling out the Armed Forces (2020, Routledge); The Legal Power to Launch War: Who Decides? (with Kristian Boehringer) (2019, Routledge); Emergency Powers in Theory and Practice: the Long Shadow of Carl Schmitt (2016, Ashgate). Michael’s latest book is Democracy, Protest and the Law: Defending a Democratic Right (2024, Routledge). That book concerns the following:
In a new era of rising protests, social unrest and political discontent globally, especially over climate change, war dangers, austerity measures and social inequality, the right to protest is a critical democratic right. Yet it is increasingly controversial and subject to government reaction. This book poses a crucial question: how to defend and extend democracy? It examines the critical historical, social, political, ethical and legal issues raised by the basic democratic right to protest and the legislative and executive measures being taken by governments to restrict it.
Associate Dean (HDR)
Professor Rehan Abeyratne
Rehan Abeyratne is a Professor at the School of Law. His primary research area is comparative constitutionalism. He serves as co-chair of the International Society of Public Law (ICON-S) Committee on New Directions in Scholarship, Subject Editor at the Asian Journal of Comparative Law, and Book Reviews Editor at Comparative Constitutional Studies. Professor Abeyratne is the author of Strategic Cosmopolitanism: LGBTQ Rights in an Age of Judicial Retrenchment (forthcoming with Oxford University Press). He is a co-editor of Towering Judges: A Comparative Study of Constitutional Judges (Cambridge University Press 2021), The Law and Politics of Unconstitutional Constitutional Amendments in Asia (Routledge 2021), and the Routledge Handbook of Asian Parliaments (Routledge 2023). Professor Abeyratne has authored articles in leading journals including the International Journal of Constitutional Law (I-CON), Yale Journal of International Law, and Global Constitutionalism, as well as chapters in edited volumes published by Hart, Cambridge University Press, and Oxford University Press.
Academic Program Advisor
Dr Meda Couzens
Contact details
Associate Dean (International)
A/Prof Jeremy Kingsley
Dr Jeremy J. Kingsley is an Associate Professor and Associate Dean (International) at the Western Sydney University - School of Law (WSU-SOL). He is a transnational law scholar and anthropologist. His academic work is published in both public affairs and academic journals. His book, Religious Authority and Local Governance in Eastern Indonesia, was recently published by Melbourne University Press.
Kingsley is currently working on a research project on ‘Inter-Asian Legalities’, funded by the Social Science Research Council (US) and the National University of Singapore, and is a member of the InterAsia Partnership (Arab Council for the Social Sciences, Secretariat). Kingsley is also foundation editor of the Asia Law and Society Series, Melbourne University Press. He is a Chief Investigator on an Australian Research Council Discovery Project on contract enforcement in Indonesia. He is also the coordinator of the Transnational Lawyering Consortium, a partnership between Deakin Law School and WSU-SOL, to provide student mobility programs directly connected to our law curriculum.
(Acting) Director- Clinical Legal Education
Rebecca Dominguez
Rebecca Dominguez (BA Hons, MLLP Hons) is Director / Principal Solicitor with the Western Sydney University Justice Clinic and Interim Director, Clinical Legal Education in the School of Law. The WSU Justice Clinic is a community legal service where practicing lawyers and academics work on client cases and law reform and access to justice projects, run health justice outreach clinics, provide community legal education, operate the university's Student Legal Service, and teach the university's clinical legal and internship subjects.
Prior to joining WSU, Rebecca managed a pro bono practice at Baker McKenzie specialising in human rights and social justice cases involving modern slavery, human trafficking, family violence, elder abuse, employment, and refugee and asylum seeker claims. Rebecca has also worked as a criminal defence lawyer representing clients of the Aboriginal Legal Service (NSW/ACT) and Legal Aid NSW, in-house in legal and compliance, and in private practice in worker’s compensation and public liability matters. In addition to individual case work and representation, Rebecca partners with clients to conduct impactful research on domestic and international human rights issues, and has made multiple submissions to relevant federal and state government inquiries as well as assisted community and other stakeholders with submissions and advocacy. She is also a peer reviewer of academic articles for a range of reputable publications and journals.
Rebecca won the 2019 Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year award for her legal work with those affected by family violence and modern slavery, and received the 2022 WSU Vice-Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Indigenous Teaching and Learning, and the 2022 University of Technology (UTS) Alumni Award for Excellence in Law. In 2023, she completed the University of Oxford’s Executive Leadership Programme, and continues to sit on a number of Commonwealth and NSW committees, government panels, and advisory boards focused on the legal assistance sector, human rights, and modern slavery.
Our Staff
Academic Staff
- Professor Rehan Abeyratne, Associat Dean HDR
- Dr Amira Aftab, Lecturer, DAP First Year Students
- Dr John Azzi, Senior Lecturer
- Dr Maria Bhatti, Lecturer
- Ms Grace Borsellino, Lecturer
- Mr Michael Brogan, Senior Lecturer,
- Dr Caroline Compton
- Mrs Meda Couzens, Lecturer, Academic Program Advisor
- Professor Azadeh Dastyari
- Ms Rebecca Dominquez, Principal Solicitor/Clinical Supervisor, (Acting) Director of Clinical Legal Education
- Dr Jason Donnelly, Senior Lecturer
- Dr Souheir Edelbi, Lecturer
- Mr Bradley Gooding, Associate Lecturer
- Ms Francine Feld, Senior Lecturer
- Dr Patrick Foong, Lecturer
- Dr Sarah Hook
- Dr Jeremy Kingsley, Associate Dean International
- Professor Michael Head , Associate Dean Research
- Dr Engi Messih, Associate Lecturer
- Dr Rob Mezyk, Associate Lecturer
- Dr Sandy Noakes, Deputy Dean
- Dr Rangika Palliyaarachchi, Lecturer
- Dr Thilla Rajaretnam, Lecturer
- Professor Catherine Renshaw, Interim Dean/ Associate Dean Research
- Dr Lucy Robinson, Lecturer
- Dr Jacinta Sassine, Associate Lecturer
- Ms Elen Seymour
- Ms Shreeya Smith, Associate Lecturer
- Associate Professor Liesel Spencer
- Dr June Wang, Associate Professor
Professional Staff
- Louella Almeida, School Manger
- Adrian Buckland, Business Coordinator
- Dylan Conceicao, Administration Officer
- Farzana Mannan, Project Officer
- Rinu Mathew, Administrative Assistant
Student Experience Staff
- Sophia Cassimatis, Student Experience Officer
- Kerrie Manning, Student Experience Officer
- Manu Cherian, Student Experience Officer
Contact Us
Contact details for the School of Law.
Office Location
Parramatta Campus Building EK
Campbelltown Campus Building 22
Postal Address
School of Law
Western Sydney University
Locked Bag 1797
Penrith NSW 2751
Australia
Email Contact Addresses
lawenquiry@westernsydney.edu.au - Student and General Enquiries
Law.Research@westernsydney.edu.au - Research Enquiries
Dean.Law@westernsydney.edu.au - Office of the Dean, School of Law
Course Enquiries
Australian Students
Tel: 1300 897 669
Fax: + 61 2 9678 7160
Course enquiries form
International Students
Tel: + 61 2 9852 5499
Fax: + 61 2 9685 9298
International course enquiries form
School of Law Staff
See Staff Directory
Mobile options: