The ACT Law Reform Advisory Council (LRAC) has set out to answer how Canberra could become a restorative city.
Emeritus Professor Tony Foley SFHEA
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Emeritus Professor
BA; LLM (Hons); Master Dispute Res.(Distinction); PhD ANU. Practising Certificate ACT, Senior Fellow Higher Education Authority. Leader of the Transition to Practice Research Group
ANU College of Law, Bld 6, Fellows Rd, Acton ACT 2600
ANU College of Law, 5 Fellows Rd, Acton ACT 2600
Research Centre
Research interests
Biography
Professor Tony Foley is a leading scholar in the areas of institutional responses to criminal wrongdoing and restorative justice. He also conducts empirical research on the legal profession and lawyer well being. He has published widely in those fields and regularly presents his research at national and international conferences.
Tony sits as a Senior Member of the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal. He was the final Chair of the ACT Law Reform Advisory Council, the territory's peak law reform body, which ceased in 2019.
Appointments
Current
- Professor, ANU College of Law
- Senior Member, ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal
Past
- Chair, ACT Law Reform Advisory Council (2016-18)
- Director of Clinical Programs (2011-17)
- ACT Legal Aid, Duty Solicitor (2005-15)
- Associate Director Research ANU (2009-10)
- Law Society of the Australian Capital Territory, Member Complaints Committee (2007-12)
- Associate Director, ANU Legal Workshop (2004–06)
- Australian Capital Territory Government’s Victims Assistance Board Member (2002-06)
Awards
| Year | Title |
|---|---|
| 2015 | Office for Learning and Teaching (OLT) Australian Awards for University Teaching, Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning |
| 2014 | ANU Vice-Chancellor's Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning |
Significant research publications
- Changing institutional culture in the wake of clerical abuse – the essentials of restorative and legal regulation (2019) 22(2) Contemporary Justice Review
- Canberra – becoming a restorative city (2018) ACT Law Reform Advisory Council
- Developing Restorative Justice Jurisprudence: Rethinking Responses to Criminal Wrongdoing (Ashgate 2014)
- Rowe, M, T Foley, S Tang, V Holmes, C James Being Well in the Law: A guide for lawyers (NSW Law Society 2016)
- Institutional responses to child sexual abuse: How a moral conversation with its lawyers might contribute to cultural culture in a faith based institution (2015) Legal Ethics 18(2), 1-18
- Tang, S & T Foley, The Practice of Law and the Intolerance of Certainty (2014) UNSW Law Journal 37(3) 1198-1225
- Holmes V, T Foley, S Tang, M Rowe, ‘Practising Professionalism: Observations from an Empirical Study of New Australian Lawyers’ Legal Ethics (2012) 15(1), 29-55
View more publications on the ANU Researchers website
Read selected publications in the ANU Digital Collection
Recent news
24
Sep
2015
Three ANU academics have been named among Australia's best teachers, winning prestigious Office for Learning and Teaching (OLT) Citations for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning.
22
Sep
2015
The transition from law student to newly-admitted lawyer is a critical time, not only for the mental health and wellbeing of these lawyers but for the future of the profession.
25
Jul
2014
A unique approach that encourages students to consider how the law works in the real world has seen Associate Professor Tony Foley awarded the VC’s citation for outstanding contributions to student learning.
In the Media
Please note, only a small selection of recent publications and activities are listed below.
View more publications on the ANU Researchers website
Read selected publications in the ANU Digital Collection
Research biography
Professor Tony Foley is a leading scholar in the areas of institutional responses to criminal wrongdoing, restorative justice and legal education and the legal profession. He has published widely in those fields and regularly presents his research at international conferences.
In 2014, Tony presented on restorative justice and institutional change at the European Forum for Restorative Justice Conference in Belfast and the Law and Society Association Conference in Minneapolis. His research on the ethics of legal practice (with Vivien Holmes, Margie Rowe and Stephen Tang) has been presented at many national and international conferences, including the 2013 Law on the Edge Conference in Vancouver (with Stephen Tang).
He has been a member of expert panels advising government. In 2012, he was an invited panel member on the HC Coombs Policy Forum advising the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department on legal assistance mechanisms and ADR policy development. As an expert in restorative justice, in 2011-12, he was also a member of the Evaluation Group of ACT Drug Programs.
Tony has been a visiting scholar at Dalhousie Law School in Canada and the ANU Regulatory Institutions Network and also sits as a Senior Member of the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
Research projects & collaborations
Project leader:
Transition to Professional Practice Project
Transition to Professional Practice Project
This project examines the experiences of new lawyers in their first year of practice, specifically how they make the transition from student to lawyer and develop their professional identity.
Books & edited collections
- Developing Restorative Justice Jurisprudence: Rethinking Responses to Criminal Wrongdoing (Ashgate 2014)
- Being Well in the Law: A guide for lawyers (NSW Law Society 2016) (with M Rowe, S Tang, V Holmes, M Rowe & C James)
Book chapters
(with V Holmes, S Tang, M Rowe) Australian Legal Practice: Ethical Climate and Ethical Climate Change’ in Levy et al, New Directions for Law in Australia: Essays in Contemporary Law Reform (ANU E Press, 2017)
(with S Tang) On being, not just thinking like, a lawyer: Connections between uncertainty, ignorance and wellbeing in J Duffy, R Field & C James (eds) Promoting Law Student and Lawyer Well-Being in Australia and Beyond (Routledge, 2016)
'New lawyers – starting right' in M Rowe & T Foley (eds) Being Well in the Law: A guide for lawyers (NSW Law Society 2016)
Refereed journal articles
-
‘Changing Institutional Culture in the Wake of Clerical Abuse: The essentials of restorative and legal regulation’ Contemporary Justice Review [accepted, under revision Nov 2018]
-
(with V Holmes and S Tang) ‘Ethical Misconduct by New Australian Lawyers: Prevalence and Prevention’ International Journal of the Legal Profession (submitted Aug 2018)
-
Institutional responses to child sexual abuse: How a moral conversation with its lawyers might contribute to cultural culture in a faith based institution (2015) Legal Ethics 18(2), 1-18
- Tang, S & T Foley, The Practice of Law and the Intolerance of Certainty (2014) UNSW Law Journal 37(3) 1198-1225
- Holmes V, T Foley, S Tang, M Rowe, ‘Practising Professionalism: Observations from an Empirical Study of New Australian Lawyers’ Legal Ethics (2012) 15(1), 29-55
Commissioned reports
(with F Tito Wheatland, S Rice) 2016 ACT Law Reform Advisory Council Report into the Guardianship and Management of Property Act 1991
(with F Tito Wheatland, and Council members) ACT Law Reform Advisory Council Report Canberra- becoming a restorative city (84pp) October 2018
Case notes & book reviews
Research interests
Previous courses
| Year | Course code | Course name |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 |
LAWS4281 Class #4096 |
Environmental Law Clinical Program |
| 2016 |
LAWS4278 Class #9126 |
Indigenous Community Legal Clinic |
| 2016 |
LAWS4281 Class #9627 |
Environmental Law Clinical Program |
| 2016 |
LAWS4278 Class #4137 |
Indigenous Community Legal Clinic |
| 2016 |
LAWS4281 Class #4615 |
Environmental Law Clinical Program |
Teaching awards
| Year | Title |
|---|---|
| 2015 | Office for Learning and Teaching (OLT) Australian Awards for University Teaching, Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning |
| 2014 | ANU Vice-Chancellor's Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning |
