Professor Emeritus Simon Rice
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Professor Emeritus Simon Rice

BA (UNSW) LLB (UNSW) MEd (UNSW) OAM
Phone
+61 8627 5195
Fax
+61 2 9351 0200
Address
F10 - Law School (Camperdown)
The University of Sydney
Details
Professor Emeritus Simon Rice

Appointed to Sydney Law School in 2017, Simon was the Kim Santow Chair of Law and Social Justice from 2020 until his retirement in 2024. He was previously a professor of law and director of law reform and social justice at the ANU College of Law, a senior lecturer in the Division of Law at Macquarie University, and a lecturer in the University of NSW Law Faculty where he was director of clinical programs. He has won a number of teaching awards, and has been awarded competitive research grants in the fields of education, and law and society.

As well as his academic roles Simon has long career in legal practice, and continues to be a consultant lawyer to the law firm Chalk & Behrendt. At different times he has been an employed lawyer, volunteer lawyer, board member or chair of a number of community legal centres: Redfern Legal Centre, Macarthur Legal Centre, Kingsford Legal Centre, Redfern Legal Centre Publishing, the Communications Law Centre, the Disability Discrimination Legal Centre, the Intellectual Disability Rights Centre, Canberra Community Law, and the Welfare Rights Centre.

He has been Director of the NSW Law and Justice Foundation, President of Australian Lawyers for Human Rights, a Board member of the NSW Legal Aid Commission, a consultant to the NSW Law Reform Commission, a judicial member of the then NSW Administrative Decisions Tribunal, Chair of the ACT Law Reform Advisory Council, and legal adviser to the federal Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights. He is a co-founder and continuing member of the Australian Discrimination Law Experts Group.

Simon has trained and advised a wide range of businesses, public agencies and NGOs, and has consulted to NGOs and the public sector on organisational management and strategic planning. He has consulted on and conducted training courses in human rights, legal aid, legal ethics and legal education in Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines and China.

  • Law and social justice
  • Equality and non-discrimination law
  • Human rights law
  • Access to justice
  • Law reform
  • Lawyering and legal ethics
  • Legal education
  • Solicitor, Supreme Court of New South Wales
  • Member, Australian Discrimination Law Experts Group
  • Member, Australian Lawyers for Human Rights
  • Member, Berkeley Comparative Equality and Anti-Discrimination Law Study Group
  • Member, Global Alliance for Justice Education
  • Member, International Legal Aid Group
  • Member, ISA International Working Group for Comparative Studies of Legal Professions
  • Member, Law Society of NSW
  • UNSW Alumni Award (Community), 2006
  • Human Rights Law Award, 2005. Highly commended ‘For the promotion and advancement of human rights through the practice of law’
  • Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM), 10 June 2002. ‘For service to the law and to the community through the Law Foundation of New South Wales, and for commitment to the provision of legal assistance and advice to people who are economically and socially vulnerable’

Publications

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Selected Grants

2019

  • Religious freedom, LGBT employees, and the right to discriminate, Ezzy D, Rice S, Dwyer A, Richardson-Self L, Beaman L, Australian Research Council (ARC)/Discovery Projects (DP)

Related research articles

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