Professor
Leighton McDonald
Professor
BEc LLB (Hons) (Macq) (University Medal in Law); LLM (Osgoode Hall; York)

Leighton McDonald’s research has traversed a number of areas in public law and legal theory.

Leighton’s current research is focused on administrative law. He is the co-author of a well-known text in this area and has written number of articles on different aspects of the law of judicial review. Leighton draws on his administrative law expertise in his role as legal adviser to the Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Bills.

Appointments

  • Professor; ANU Law School
  • Director, Centre for International and Public Law, ANU Law School (2019-2022)
  • Legal Advisor, Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Bills

Significant research publications

  • 'Thinking About Doctrine in Administrative Law' in Goudkamp, Lunney and McDonald (eds), Taking Law Seriously: Essays in Honour of Peter Cane (Hart Publishing, forthcoming)
  • Principles of Administrative Law 3rd edition (Melbourne: Oxford University Press 2018) (with Peter Cane and Kristen Rundle)
  • 'Jurisdictional Error as Conceptual Totem' (2019) 42 UNSW Law Journal 1019-1038 (http://www.unswlawjournal.unsw.edu.au/article/jurisdictional-error-as-co...)
  • 'The Normative Structure of Australian Administrative Law' (2017) 45 Federal Law Review 153-179 (with Will Bateman)
  • 'Reasons, Reasonableness and Intelligible Justification in Judicial Review' (2015) 37 Sydney Law Review 467
  • 'Rethinking Unreasonableness Review' (2014) 25 Public Law Review 117
  • ‘The Entrenched Minimum Provision of Judicial Review and the Rule of Law’ (2010) 21 Public Law Review 14
  • ‘The Rule of Law and the New Regulatory State’ (2004) 33 Common Law World Review 197
  • ‘Rights, ‘Dialogue’ and Democratic Objections to Judicial Review’ (2004) 32 Federal Law Review 1
  • ‘Can Collective and Individual Rights Coexist?’ (1998) 22 Melbourne University Law Review 310

View more publications on the ANU Researchers website

Link to ANU researchers profile

View more publications on the ANU Researchers website

Link to ANU researchers profile

Grants

  • 2013 Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Projects

Books & edited collections

  • Taking Law Seriously: Essays in Honour of Peter Cane (Hart Publishing, forthcoming) (with J Goudkamp and M Lunney)
  • Principles of Administrative Law 4th ed (Oxford University Press: 2023) (with Kristen Rundle and Emily Hammond)
  • Cases for Principles of Administrative Law 4th ed (Oxford University Press: 2023) (with Kristen Rundle and Emily Hammond)
  • Principles of Administrative Law 3rd ed (Oxford University Press: 2018) (with Peter Cane and Kristen Rundle) (First edition, 2008)
  • Cases for Principles of Administrative Law 3rd ed (Oxford University Press: 2018) (with Peter Cane) (First edition, 2009)

Refereed journal articles

  • 'Thinking About Doctrine in Administrative Law' in Goudkamp, Lunney and McDonald (eds), Taking Law Seriously: Essays in Honour of Peter Cane (Hart Publishing, forthcoming)
  • 'The Purpose of Administrative Law and the Legitimacy of Administrative Government' (2019) 30 Public Law Review 330-336 (book review)
  • 'Jurisdictional Error as Conceptual Totem' (2019) 42 UNSW Law Journal 1019 (http://www.unswlawjournal.unsw.edu.au/article/jurisdictional-error-as-co...)
  • 'Graham and the Constitutionalisation of Australian Administrative Law' (2018) 91 AIAL Forum 47
  • 'The Normative Structure of Australian Administrative Law' (2017) 45 Federal Law Review 153-179 (with Will Bateman)
  • 'Reasons, Reasonableness and Intelligible Justification in Judicial Review' (2015) 37 Sydney Law Review 467
  • 'Rethinking Unreasonableness Review' (2014) 25 Public Law Review 117
  • 'Comment on the Vantage of Law' (2013) 38 Australian Journal of Legal Philosophy 166
  • 'The Entrenched Minimum Provision of Judicial Review and the Rule of Law' (2010) 21 Public Law Review 14
  • 'Federal Judicial Review Jurisdiction After Griffith University v Tang' (2006) 17 Public Law Review 22-48 (with Christos Mantziaris)
  • 'The Rule of Law and the New Regulatory State' (2004) 33 Common Law World Review 197-221
  • 'New Directions in the Australian Bill of Rights Debate' [2004] Public Law 22-32
  • 'Rights, 'Dialogue' and Democratic Objections to Judicial Review' (2004) 32 Federal Law Review 1-29
  • ‘Positivism and the Formal Rule of Law: questioning the connection’ (2001) 26 Australian Journal of Legal Philosophy 93-128
  • ‘Can Collective and Individual Rights Coexist?’ (1998) 22 Melbourne University Law Review 310-336
  • ‘On the Monarchist’s Maxim: “If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It”’ (1998) 26 Federal Law Review 259-270
  • ‘Regrouping in Defence of Minority Rights: Kymlicka’s Multicultural Citizenship’ (1996) 34 Osgoode Hall Law Journal 291-319
  • ‘The Denizens of Democracy: The High Court and the Free Speech Cases’ (1994) 5 Public Law Review 160-198

Conference papers & presentations

  • 'Grounds of Review, Statutory Interpretation and Proportionality: Diversity and Unity in the English and Australian Law of Judicial Review' (with Will Bateman) Cambridge Public Law Conference, 12-14 September 2016

Committees

EXTERNAL ORGANISATIONS

  • Legal Adviser, Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Bills

Currently supervising

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Topic: Legal Method, Cartels and Public Monopolies: A View From the High Court 1908 - 1948


 

Current courses

YearCourse codeCourse name
2023

LAWS2201

Class #4115

Administrative Law
2023

LAWS6201

Class #2553

Administrative Law
2023

LAWS8141

Class #4606

Judicial Review of Government Action

Previous courses

YearCourse codeCourse name
2021

LAWS8141

Class #4726

Judicial Review of Government Action
2021

LAWS2201

Class #2396

Administrative Law
2021

LAWS6201

Class #2709

Administrative Law
2020

LAWS8141

Class #1614

Judicial Review of Government Action

How my works connects with public policy

Legal Adviser to the Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Bills

Leighton McDonald

Research themes

Administrative Law
Constitutional Law and Theory
Legal Theory

Contacts

leighton.mcdonald@anu.edu.au
ANU College of Law, Bld 6, Fellows Rd, Acton ACT 2600