Jessica Schaffer

Biography

Jessica is a research and teaching academic, with a specific focus on feminist legal jurisprudence, criminal law and gendered violence. Prior to her work in academia, Jessica was admitted to legal practice in Australia in 2013, where she practised for numerous years in commercial litigation, specialising in insurance and negligence claims.

Research

Jessica completed her PhD in Law at Bond University in 2025. Her thesis was a thematic and systematic content analysis of South Australian appellate and district court rape trials. She has published her findings in leading peer-reviewed journals and has presented at high-quality academic conferences. In addition, she has published research in the field of international humanitarian law.

In addition to her PhD, she holds a Master’s of Public International Law (Cum Laude) from the University of Leiden and a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) and Bachelor of Arts (Political Science and History) from the University of Queensland.

Teaching

Jessica has taught in numerous legal units at both undergraduate and postgraduate level including legal research & writing, criminal law, torts law, evidence law and public law.