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BA (hons) (Sydney), LLB (UNSW), LLM (Yale)
,
Law and Legal Studies
1998

MARGARET THORNTON is Professor of Law and ANU Public Policy Fellow at the Australian National University. She has degrees from Sydney, UNSW and Yale, and is a Barrister of the Supreme Court of NSW and the High Court of Australia. She was formerly Professor of Law and Legal Studies at La Trobe University, Melbourne (1990–2006) and Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in Law at Macquarie University, Sydney (1980-90). Professor Thornton specialises in discrimination law and policy, legal education, the legal profession, the corporatisation of universities and feminist legal theory. She is presently investigating work/life balance in the context of the globalisation of law firms. Other areas of expertise include:

  • women and law
  • the construction of merit
  • flexible work
  • Member, NSW Women’s Advisory Council
  • Chair, NSW Committee on Discrimination in Employment and Occupation
  • Consultant, ILO
  • Chair, Federal Government Advisory Committee for Gender Issues in the Law Curriculum Project
  • Member, DEET Quality Assurance in Higher Education Committee
  • Member, ARC Social Sciences and Humanities Discipline Panel
  • Member, ARC Appeals Committee
  • Member, Australian Research Council
  • Member, Fulbright Postdoctoral Selection Committee

1978: University Medal in Law, UNSW

2006: Life member Law & Society Association of Australia and New Zealand (LSAANZ)

2007: Foundation Fellow, Australian Academy of Law (FAAL)

  1. The Liberal Promise: Anti-Discrimination Legislation in Australia (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1990)
  2. Public and Private: Feminist Legal Debates (ed) (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1995)
  3. Dissonance and Distrust: Women in the Legal Profession (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1996) Chinese translation, Law Press, Beijing, 2001
  4. Romancing the Tomes: Popular Culture, Law and Feminism (ed) (London: Cavendish Publishing, 2002)
  5. Sex Discrimination in Uncertain Times (ed), ANU E Press, Canberra, 2010 http://epress.anu.edu.au/discrimination_citation.html
  6. Privatising the Public University: The Case of Law, Routledge, Abingdon UK & New York, 2012
  7. Through a Glass Darkly: the Social Sciences look at the Neoliberal University (ed), ANU Press, Canberra, 2014 http://press.anu.edu.au/titles/through-a-glass-darkly/
https://law.anu.edu.au/staff/margaret-thornton