Law Review

About the Law Review

The Western Sydney University Law Journal  is a refereed journal that is produced once per year.  The journal publishes scholarly research that is topical, comparative and makes an original contribution to legal scholarship.  The journal seeks to encourage inter-disciplinary and cross-disciplinary writing on law and social justice, broadly defined.  We welcome submissions of Articles, Book Reviews and Case Notes. Articles are accepted for consideration under the condition that they contain original, unpublished research that has not been submitted for publication elsewhere.

Call for Papers

2016 Special Issue: Law and Social Justice in Western Sydney

Submissions due: 1 March 2016

The Western Sydney University Law Review will launch in 2016 with a special issue dedicated to the theme of 'Law and Social Justice in Western Sydney'. We seek submissions that challenge conventional notions of law as distinct from society and from the places where we live and work. In this issue, we aim to showcase diverse ways of thinking about law and its differential impacts on communities, families, and individuals.  We seek to do this with a focus on our region of Western Sydney, as well as comparative analyses and understandings from similar and dissimilar regions across Australia and around the world. We also aim to interrogate concepts such as diversity and inclusion as vehicles for equality and justice. The language of multiculturalism, inclusion, and diversity has been mobilized in ways that range from Eurocentric, reductionist and essentialist to critical, post-modern and inter-sectionalist.  How successful are we and other societies at ensuring these concepts work for equality and social justice? We are especially interested in innovative and interdisciplinary approaches to the special issue theme. Suggested topics include (but are not limited to) law and social justice in Western Sydney in relation to:

  • Democracy, Equality and Law
  • Economic Inequality and Justice
  • The Legal Profession
  • Legal Education
  • National Security and Citizenship
  • The Role of the State
  • Practices of Inclusion
  • Sexualities and Law
  • Universality and Rights

General Information for Contributors:

All submissions, other than Book Reviews and Case Notes are double-blind peer reviewed. Referees will be selected with expertise in the author's areas of scholarship. The review process may take six weeks and the Editors will notify authors of the final publication decision as soon as possible.

  • Articles should be between 7,000 and 12,000 words in length (excluding footnotes).
  • Book Reviews and Case Notes should not exceed 3,000 words in length (excluding footnotes).
  • All submissions must comply with the Australian Guide to Legal Citation (Melbourne University Law Review Association, 3rd ed, 2010) at: http://www.law.unimelb.edu.au/mulr/aglc.
  • Submissions should be submitted electronically (in Microsoft Word) and emailed to the Editor.
  • Manuscripts must include an abstract of approximately 200 to 250 words on a separate page together with each contributor's name, academic and professional qualifications, institution, current title and position.