Meet our Law team

Students studying outdoors at the Gold Coast campus

A group of leading scholars drive our agenda for cutting-edge legal critique, teaching and public debate.

 

Executive team Course coordinators Faculty Practice professionals Adjunct staff Law Advisory Committee (LAC)

Executive team

Portrait of David Heilpern

Associate Professor David Heilpern

Chair of Discipline (Law)

David Heilpern was a Magistrate and judicial trainer from 1998 to 2020. Prior to this appointment, David was a litigation lawyer on the North Coast where he co-founded the law school at SCU in 1992, David graduated with a Masters in Law from SCU and was the Alumni of the Decade in 2005. In August 2022 was appointed as a Dean and Chair of Discipline (Law) at SCU. David is passionate about legal education, seeking to ensure that students are stimulated, excited and fulfilled.

Course coordinators

John Orr

Dr John Orr

BHumanMvSt(UQ), LLB(Hons)(SCU), PhD(QUT)

Course Coordinator Master of Laws (Business Law), Master of Business Law, Graduate Certificate in Business Law, Bachelor of Laws & Double Degrees in Law, Bachelor of Legal and Justice Studies, & Associate Degree in Law (Paralegal Studies)

Rohan Price Profile

Dr Rohan Price

BA, LLB (UTAS), LLM (UTAS), DPhil (UNE)

HDR Convenor and Honours Coordinator, Lecturer

Faculty

Jennifer Neilsen

Associate Professor Jennifer Nielsen

BSc(Monash), LLB(Hons)(Monash), PhD(Melb)

Associate Professor

Emma Babbage

Ms Emma Babbage

BArts(SCU), BEd(SCU), LLB(Hons)(SCU)

Casual Academic (Teaching)

Julia Cook

Ms Julia Cook

BA(Hons)(Murdoch), LLB(Hons)(Melb)

Casual Academic (Teaching)

Yvette Holt

Ms Yvette Holt

BA(Hons)(Syd), LLB(Hons)(Syd), LLM(Hons)(Camb)

Lecturer

Lance Jones

Mr Lance Jones

AssocDipSocial Work(UniSA), BA(UNE), LLB(UNE), GradCert(OutdoorEd)(UniSA), LLM(LP)(ANU)

Casual Academic (Teaching), Adjunct Fellow

Aidan Ricketts

Mr Aidan Ricketts

LLB(Hons)(UQ), LLM(QUT), MEd(JCU)

Lecturer

Emma Somerville

Ms Emma Somerville

BA(Jurisprudence)(Adelaide), LLB(Adelaide), GradDipLegPrac(UniSA)

Casual Academic (Teaching)

Jonathan Harlen

Dr Jonathan Harlen

BA (VUW), LLB(Hons) (SCU)

Lecturer

Warwick Fisher

Mr Warwick Fisher

BEd(JCU), BLegS(Macq)

Lecturer (Teaching Scholar)

Helen Walsh

Ms Helen Walsh

AssocDipBus(UNE), LLB(SCU), LLM(QUT)

Lecturer (Teaching Scholar)

Associate Professor Mark Wellard

Associate Professor

Mark is a leading insolvency, corporate and commercial law academic, having previously practised as a lawyer in Australia, the UK and as Legal Director of ARITA, Australia's peak professional association for insolvency practitioners. Mark is a member of The Law Council of Australia's Insolvency & Restructuring Committee. Mark's professional experience and engagement inform both his teaching and research. Mark is passionate about readying law students for the demands of legal practice.

Georgina Dimopoulos

Dr Georgina Dimopoulos

Senior Lecturer

Dr Georgina Dimopoulos is an Australian lawyer and a socio-legal researcher with expertise in legal and policy evaluation, and doctrinal, qualitative and empirical research, across the areas of family law, children's rights, privacy and family violence. Her book, Decisional Privacy and the Rights of the Child (Routledge, 2022), presents a new model for enabling and listening to children’s voices in decision-making processes.

Tom Round

Dr Tom Round

BA(Hons)(Qld), LLB(Qld), PhD(Griff)

Lecturer

Student in graduation dress

Dr Meri Oakwood

BSc(Hons)(Macq), LLB(Hons)(SCU), PhD(ANU)

Sessional Lecturer and Unit Assessor

Practice professors

The Practice Professorial Program in the Law Discipline at Southern Cross University fosters professional engagement and builds linkages between the Faculty and professional practice.

It does so by inviting accomplished and respected current or former legal practitioners to take up pro bono adjunct professorial roles and to work with the Faculty on relevant activities.

The program is a unique opportunity for the profession to influence the academic life of the Faculty, while also enabling staff and students to engage with leading local, national and international practitioners.