Michael Douglas

I’m a Senior Lecturer at UWA Law School where I teach civil procedure and various private law subjects.

I have a keen interest in all aspects of private law but a specialisation in the principles applicable to cross-border litigation (private international law or the conflict of laws). In particular, I am interested in cross-border media law issues involving freedom of expression and privacy: subjects which I have commented upon on national television, at TEDx, and in academic journals.

I combine my academic work with legal practice: I work on litigious matters as a consultant at Bennett + Co. I’m also general editor of the Media & Arts Law Review and a reporter for the New South Wales Law Reports.

My academic research has been cited by the Supreme Court of New South Wales, by parliamentary committees, and in the extra-judicial writings of two High Court judges. I’m a regular contributor to popular media platforms, including the ABC. One of my recent pieces of commentary has been read more than 140,000 times.

In the ‘Fall’ of 2018 I researched conflict of laws and privacy law at Harvard Law School, where I also taught a couple of classes to JD and LLM students. In 2019 I am Visiting Scholar at the Hague Conference on Private International Law, which is developing a multilateral convention on the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments.

I am originally from Bunbury, Western Australia, and attended UWA Law School as a Fogarty Foundation Regional Scholar. Apart from my legal studies, I hold an Honours degree in philosophy and an MBA with Distinction. My PhD is supervised by David Rolph and William Gummow.

Books forthcoming in 2019:

Michael Douglas, Vivienne Bath, Mary Keyes and Andrew Dickinson (eds), Commercial Issues in Private International Law: A Common Law Perspective (Hart Publishing)

Martin Davies, Andrew Bell, Paul le Gay Brereton and Michael Douglas, Nygh’s Conflict of Laws in Australia – 10^th edition (LexisNexis)

In 2019, I'm working on the 10th edition of Nygh’s Conflict of Laws in Australia, with Martin Davies, Andrew Bell and Justice Brereton, and the 6th edition of Balkin & Davis – Law of Torts, with David Rolph, Jason Varuhas and Penelope Crossley, each published by LexisNexis Butterworths.

I'm a litigation lawyer, admitted in the Supreme Court of Western Australia and the High Court of Australia. I'm a Consultant at Bennett + Co in the firm’s commercial litigation and dispute resolution practice. I've worked on a wide variety of litigious matters and have appeared as counsel in the Supreme Court of Western Australia.

I'm a former director of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) National Coordination Committee for Australia. In 2013, I interned at the UNCITRAL Regional Centre for Asia and the Pacific in South Korea, where he researched investor-State dispute settlement. I maintain an interest in the harmonisation of laws in respect of business, particularly in respect of private international law.

BarNetwork Pty Ltd project grant: $10,000 (2018)

UWA Teaching-Research Nexus grant: $2,500 (2018)

Walter Reid Scholarship – PhD travel scholarship, University of Sydney: $7,000 (2018)

Postgraduate Research Support Scheme, University of Sydney: $3,000 (2018)

CMCL & IPRIA ECR Workshop travel grant, Melbourne Law School (2017)