Justine Poon is a Lecturer in Law and Society at USC. Justine is a critical legal theory, law and humanities, and refugee law scholar whose PhD is currently being completed at the Australian National University’s College of Law (ANU). Her research is on how language, images and different genres of storytelling can give us the tools to gain insight into the logic and operations of law. She has presented her work extensively at conferences in Australia and internationally.
Justine has taught in general law courses and electives at the ANU and given special seminars at the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, the University of Lucerne and Vrije Universiteit Brussel. She was the manager of Law Reform and Social Justice at the ANU from 2014-2019 – an initiative that developed student community law, outreach and law reform projects. Justine has held visiting fellowships at the Refugee Law Initiative at the School of Advanced Study, University of London, the Legal Intersections Research Centre, University of Wollongong and at the Institute for Interdisciplinary Legal Studies – lucernaiuris, University of Lucerne.
Also a creative writer, Justine collaborated on a large scale exhibition at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art in 2017, produces a podcast on Law, Art and Politics (2021 – ongoing) and written creative pieces as alternative expressions of her research intended for a broader audience. She is keen to collaborate on projects that embed law in its social, cultural and philosophical contexts.
Professional Memberships
- Member of the Law, Literature and Humanities Association of Australasia
Awards/Fellowships
- Visiting PhD Fellow at the Refugee Law Initiative, School of Advanced Study, University of London (2015)
- Visiting PhD Fellow at the Legal Intersections Research Centre, University of Wollongong (2017)
- Visiting PhD Fellow at the Institute for Interdisciplinary Legal Studies, University of Lucerne (2018)
Professional Social Media
Research Grants
Grant/Project name | Investigators | Funding body & A$ value | Year(s) | Focus (of research grant) |
Visiting Fellowship, Institute for Interdisciplinary Legal Studies, University of Lucerne | Justine Poon | Institute for Interdisciplinary Legal Studies, University of Lucerne ($8000) | 2018 | Establishing cross-institutional connections and collaborations in interdisciplinary legal research. |
Law for Humans: Developing Your Essay Writing Practice | Dr Michelle Worthington and Justine Poon | ANU Fund ($7000) | 2017 | Development of essay writing workshop for law students. |
Visiting Fellowship, Legal Intersections Research Centre, University of Wollongong | Justine Poon | Legal Intersections Research Centre, University of Wollongong ($750) | 2017 | Establishing cross-institutional connections and collaborations in interdisciplinary legal research. |
Research areas
- Law and humanities
- Cultural legal studies
- Critical legal theory
- Refugee law
Teaching areas
- Legal Theory
- Public International Law
- International Human Rights Law
- Torts
- Legal Ethics
- Justine Poon and Dario Henri Haux (2021) “Rethinking the Law: Discussing Andreas Philippopoulos-Mihalopoulos’ Spatial Approach to the Law” Cognitio. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4317837
- Justine Poon (2018) “How a Body Becomes a Boat: The Asylum Seeker in Law and Images” 30(1) Law and Literature 105. https://doi.org/10.1080/1535685X.2017.1346960