Paula O’Brien is a senior lecturer at Melbourne Law School.
Paula graduated from Melbourne Law School with a first class honours degree in law and in arts in 1998. She was awarded a full Commonwealth Scholarship to undertake her Master of Laws degree at the University of Cambridge in 2008. She graduated from Cambridge Jesus with a class I degree, specialising in international law. She is currently undertaking her PhD at Melbourne Law School.
After graduating with her LLB, Paula completed her articles and worked as a lawyer at Minter Ellison Melbourne until 2003. Her practice was principally in the area of administrative law. She advised public sector agencies on the regulation of health professionals. From 2003 – 2007, Paula was the Executive Director of the Public Interest Law Clearing House (PILCH) in Victoria, a community legal centre which engages in case work, advocacy and education to advance the public interest, in particular the position of marginalised and disadvantaged members of the community. For her work at PILCH, she was awarded the Women Lawyers ‘Rising Star’ Award in 2007.
Paula teaches 'Administrative Law' and 'Constitutional Law' in the JD. Paula taught in the LLB and JD at Melbourne Law School as a sessional academic from 2002 – 2006 in the subjects, 'Torts' and 'Legal Method and Reasoning'. She was a lecturer at La Trobe Law School from 2009 – 2010 and taught in the LLB program (Torts, Administrative Law, Principles of Public Law) and the LLM program (Issues in Public Interest Law). Paula has been very involved in the establishment of MLS's new Public Interest Law Program, which will include two clinical subjects, 'Law and Social Change' and 'Street Law'.
Paula’s professional experience forms the basis of her current research interests. Paula works in two main areas: public health law and public interest law.
Within public health law, she focuses on international and domestic regulatory issues associated with the health profession, including professional standards for health workers, global shortages of health workers, and the international movement of health workers. She is the co-author of a monograph published by Milbank Memorial Fund (USA) in 2011 on the global shortage of health workers and the role of the US in responding to this global health problem. This monograph is partly the product of a fellowship she undertook at the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown Law Centre in Washington DC, USA in 2008 - 2009. Paula is also involved in an inter-disciplinary project on social justice and temporary migrant work, where the major case study is the Victorian nursing sector. This is, in part, an empirical project involving interviews with experts in the Victorian nursing industry, as well as nurses on 457 visas: see http://www.socialjustice.unimelb.edu.au/Research/migrantwork3.html
Her public health law research is also concerned with the regulation of harmful products and practices. Her doctoral research is on the effectiveness of legal regulation of alcohol in Australia.
Paula has maintained her connections with the public interest law movement in Australia. Her research in this area has focussed on bringing a social change orientation to public interest lawyering in Australia, in particular through changes to law school curricula.
Other
Referred Publications
Paula O'Brien and Lawrence Gostin, Health Worker Shortages and Global Justice (Millbank Memorial Fund, New York), 2011) 1-108
Paula O'Brien, 'Changing Public Interest Law: Overcoming the Law's Barriers to Social Change Lawyering' (2011) 36 Alternative Law Journal 82-86
Paula O'Brien and Lawrence Gostin, ' Health Worker Shortages and Inequalities: The Reform of United States Policy', Global Health Governance, Volume II, Number 2,, Fall 2008/Spring 2009, 1-29
Paula O'Brien, Emma Hunt et al, 'Pro Bono' in The Successful Law Firm: Tips and Tools for a Profitable Practice (Law Institute of Victoria, 2005)
Philip Lynch and Paula O'Brien, 'From Dehumanisation to Demonisation: the MV Tampa and the Denial of Humanity' 26 (2001) Alternative Law Journal 1
Micheal Tehan and Paula O'Brien, 'The AIRC's Power to Stop or Prevent Industrial Action' (1998) 72 Law Institute Journal 44-46
Other Publications
Sondra Davoren, Michelle Scollo and Paula O’Brien, 'Minimum Pricing' (Discussion Paper, Minimum Pricing Roundtable, Melbourne Law School, 25 October 2011).
Paula O'Brien, 'Law Schools and Pro Bono: Educating for Social Change' (2010) 84 Law Institute Journal 74
Paula O'Brien and Ian Malkin, 'Sample Examination Questions and Answers: Tor Law' in Rick Krever, Mastering Law Studies and Law Exam Techniques (LexisNexis, 2011) 77-86
Ian Malkin and Paula O'Brien, 'Sample Tort Exam Essay Question' in Rick Krever, Mastering Law Studies and Law Exam Techniques (LexisNexis, 2011) 131-157
Emma Hunt and Paula O'Brien, 'From Zilch to PILCH' (2004) 78 Law Institute Journal 84
Paula O'Brien, 'The New Look Victorian Bar Legal Assistance Scheme' (2001) 75 Law Institute Journal 40
