Laura Hilly

Laura Hilly is Research Associate of the Oxford Human Rights Hub and the Oxford Martin Programme of Human Rights for Future Generations.

As former Deputy Director of the Oxford Human Rights Hub (2013-15) and Postdoctoral Fellow of the Oxford Human Rights Hub (February-July 2015), Laura's research interest considers the contribution that gender diversity brings to appellate courts in common law jurisdictions.  Laura's DPhil thesis in Law was completed summer of 2015, and she continues to research feminist legal theory, gender and judging, access to justice and the right to education.

Laura completed her BA/LLB at the Australian National University, graduating with first class honours; the University Medal in Law; and the Supreme Court Judges’ Prize. She then worked at the Federal Court of Australia as an Associate to the Honourable Chief Justice Black AC; and as a litigation solicitor at Blake Dawson (now Ashurst). Laura was admitted to practice in Australia in 2007 and the United Kingdom in 2013. With the support of a Rhodes Scholarship she came to Oxford in 2009, completing the BCL with distinction in 2010, and her MPhil dissertation entitled A Woman’s Contribution: Gender Diversity and the Judicial Process in 2011. Her DPhil research was supported by a Clarendon Scholarship.  She has also worked with various community legal organisations such as the Welfare Rights Centre in Canberra, the Victorian Women’s Legal Service in Melbourne and the Women’s Legal Centre in Cape Town.

Laura has tutored in European Human Rights Law and Administrative Law at Oxford. She has been the Managing Editor of the Oxford Human Rights Hub Blog since 2013 and is a former Chair of Oxford Pro Bono Publico.

Publications and Major Academic Works:

• Laura Hilly & Claire Overman Global Perspectives on Human Rights: Oxford Human Rights Hub 2012-2013 (OxHRH, 2014) (available: http://ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk/global-perspectives-on-human-rights-e-publication/)
• Assistant Editor for Christopher McCrudden, Liora Lazarus and Nigel Bowles (eds) Reasoning Rights: Comparative Adjudicative Approaches (forthcoming, 2013, Hart Publishing).
• Laura Hilly ‘Lessons for Australia on the Rule of Law’ [2012] Pandora’s Box 103.
• Laura Hilly & Emma Hoiberg ‘New Commonwealth laws subject to human rights scrutiny’ (2012) 37(1) Alternative Law Journal 59.
• Laura Hilly & Aaron Rathmell ‘Book Review: Revolution and Rhetoric in the Debate Over Reconciliation of Paid Work and Unpaid Care in European Union Law (2011) 11(1) Commonwealth Law Journal 105.
• Laura Hilly, ‘Her Honour: Book Review of “From Mauree to Mabo: The Mary Gaudron Story"' (2011) 36(3) Alternative Law Journal 214.
• Co-author of various reports for Oxford Pro Bono Publico including ‘Draft General Recommendation on Displaced and Stateless Women’ (May 2010); ‘Submission to the Indian Parliament on the Protection of Women Against Sexual Harassment at the Workplace Bill’ (February 2011); ‘Reconciling superior courts with the ECtHR: a comparative perspective’ (July 2011); ‘Submission to the Australian Attorney General’s Department in response to question 5 and 10 of Discussion Paper on the Consolidation of Commonwealth Anti-Discrimination Laws’ (January, 2012).
• Laura Hilly, ‘Operational Requirements of an Apolitical Public Service’ (2008) 21(2) Australian Journal of Labour Law 221
• Laura Hilly, ‘Welfare to Work and WorkChoices: A Job at any Cost?’ (October 2006), Paper Submitted for Honours Thesis, ANU College of Law.

Conference Papers:

• 'Experienced Justice' - paper presented at an international colloquium titled 'The Judge is a Woman' at l'Université Libre de Bruxelles (November 2013) (podcast: http://droit-public.ulb.ac.be/le-juge-est-une-femme-the-judge-is-a-woman-podcast/).
• 'Human Rights in the 21st Century' - panellist at the Rhodes 110th Anniversary, Rhodes House, Oxford (September 2013) (podcast: http://media.podcasts.ox.ac.uk/rhodes/alum2013/2013-09-18-human_rights_in_the_21st_century.mp3).
• 'Critiques of the Feminist Judgement Project' - paper presented to the Irish Feminist Judgement Project Workshop, Durham (September 2012).
• 'Judicial Diversity' - internal presentation given at the invitation of the President of the Court of Appeal to Judges and Staff at the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal, Victoria, Australia (August 2012).
• 'Women Judges and the European Court of Human Rights' - paper presented at the Law and Society Annual Conference, Hawaii (June 2012).

Faculty of Law OxHRH Page