Dr Michelle Worthington
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ANU College of Law, Bld 5, Fellows Rd, Acton ACT 2600

Research Themes
Research Centre
Research interests
Appointments
Lecturer, ANU College of Law
Significant research publications
MM Worthington, 'The Corporation as a Constructed Ethical Agent: Monism, Pluralism and Options for Reform' (2017) 32(2) Australian Journal of Corporate Law 91
Recent news
Eight ANU College of Law staff members were awarded for their excellent contribution to teaching in 2012.
Please note, only a small selection of recent publications and activities are listed below.
Research biography
My work centres on the design of ethics and the ethics of design. In my current research I am focussed on the ethics of the for-profit corporation. I argue that the for-profit corporation exhibits a constructed ethical agency - that it is the device itself, rather than the humans associated with it, that drives corporate decision making. Using insights gleaned from ethical theory, I suggest a range of design modifications aimed at promoting more richly responsible decision making on the part of the corporation.
Grants
- ANU Fund (2017-2018), Law for Humans, 'Developing Your Essay Writing Practice', with Ms Justine Poon also of ANU College of Law
Consultancies
- Law for Humans - a student wellbeing and educational initiative established in 2016 and run as a collaboration with Ms Justine Poon, also of ANU College of Law
Refereed journal articles
MM Worthington, 'The Corporation as a Constructed Ethical Agent: Monism, Pluralism and Options for Reform' (2017) 32(2) Australian Journal of Corporate Law 91
Conference papers & presentations
- ‘‘Unincorporated Body: Inanimate Soul!’: Value Pluralism and Corporate Moral Agency’, 2013 Corporate Law Teachers Association Annual Conference, ANU College of Law, Canberra
- ‘Don't be Evil: Value Pluralism and Corporate Ethical Agency’, 2014 International Graduate Legal Research Conference, King’s College, London
- ‘The Personal and the Parabolic: W H Auden on Law and Love’, 2014 Law and Love Colloquium, ANU Humanities Research Centre, Canberra
- ‘The Pluralist Corporation’, 2016 Demos Journal ‘Master Class’ Series, ACT Housing Co-op, Canberra
- ‘Developing Your Essay Writing Practice’, 2016 Law for Humans Development Series (Two Part Course), ANU (sponsored by the ANU Students' Association)
- ‘Law’s Robots: Value Pluralism and Corporate Ethical Agency’, 2016 Melbourne Doctoral Forum on Legal Theory, Melbourne University Law School, Melbourne
- ‘Corporate Ethical Agency: Agility Through Uncertainty’, 2017 Corporate Law Teachers Association Annual Conference, Griffith University, Gold Coast
Government submissions
- Submission with Mr Daniel Connolly, Inquiry into the Preparation, Administration and Management of the 2016 Census by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Senate Economics References Committee
Research interests
Current courses
Year | Course code | Course name |
---|---|---|
2021 |
LAWS6203 Class #2710 |
Corporations Law |
2021 |
LAWS2203 Class #2213 |
Corporations Law |
2021 |
LAWS1201 Class #5269 |
Foundations of Australian Law |
2021 |
LAWS6101 Class #5704 |
Foundations of Australian Law |
Previous courses
Year | Course code | Course name |
---|---|---|
2020 |
LAWS1201 Class #7277 |
Foundations of Australian Law |
2020 |
LAWS6101 Class #7879 |
Foundations of Australian Law |
2020 |
LAWS6700 Class #4372 |
Law Capstone Project |
Past courses
- Torts Law
- Lawyers, Justice and Ethics
- Foundations of Australian Law
- Corporations Law