The ANU College of Law has climbed 10 places from 2022 to place 18th in the world and 2nd in Australia for Law.
Associate Professor Will Bateman
Associate Professor and Associate Dean (Research)
PhD , LLM (Hons) (University of Cambridge), BA/LLB (Hons) (Australian National University)
ANU College of Law, Bld 6, Fellows Rd, Acton ACT 2600
ANU College of Law, 5 Fellows Rd, Acton ACT 2600
Research Themes
Research Centre
Biography
Dr Bateman leads multi-jurisdictional projects on the legal regulation of public and private finance, with a special focus on central banking, sovereign debt markets, digital currencies and sustainable investing. His recent engagements with central banks and financial regulators include:
- UK Parliament, House of Lords Inquiry into Quantitative Easing, expert evidence provided, recommendations adopted in final report (2021)
- Federal Reserve Bank of New York, 'Legal Aspects of Central Bank Money Creation' (2020)
- Bank of England, 'Quantitative Easing, Reserve Creation and Digital Currency' (2020)
Dr Bateman also leads research projects on the regulation of artificial intelligence in collaboration with computer science experts and public/private sector organisations. Select law/tech partners include:
- Minderoo Foundation (global philanthropic organisation)
- Gradient Institute (ethical AI research institute)
- Humanising Machine Intelligence (ANU multi-disciplinary research project)
Appointments
Associate Dean (Research), ANU College of Law (2021->)
Chief Investigator, Humanising Machine Intelligence (ANU Grand Challenge Project) (2020->)
Fellow, Gradient Institute (peak ethical-AI research body headquartered in Sydney) (2020->)
Legal practitioner (admitted to practice in NSW and Federal Courts) (2009->)
Significant research publications
'The Dysfunctional Taboo: Monetary Financing at the Bank of England, Federal Reserve System and European Central Bank' (2023) Review of International Political Economy (advance edition, with J van t' Klooster)
'The Law of Central Bank Reserve Creation' (2022) 85 Modern Law Review 401-434 (with J Allen).
'The Law of Monetary Finance under Unconventional Monetary Policy' (2021) 41(4) Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 929-964.
Public Finance and Parliamentary Constitutionalism (Cambridge University Press, UK, 2020), 1-263.
'Central Bank Money: Liability, Asset, or Equity of the Nation?' (2020) Cornell Legal Studies Research Paper 20-46 (with M Kumhoff, J Allen, R Lastra, S Gleeson, S Omarova), 1-46 *4th most downloaded paper (all-time) SSRN central banking.
'Quantitative Easing, Quasi-Fiscal Power and Constitutionalism', Just Money Roundtable (28 December 2020)
'The Normative Structure of Australian Administrative Law' (2017) 45 Federal Law Review 153-176 (with L McDonald).
'The Constitution and the Substantive Grounds of Judicial Review: the Full Scope of the Entrenched Minimum Provision of Judicial Review' (2011) 39 Federal Law Review 463-507.
Recent news
14
Jun
2022
A new co-edited book with contributions from several ANU Law scholars examines the relationship between law and artificial intelligence (AI), and explores the need for law-based regulation of AI.
09
Dec
2021
ANU monetary law expert Associate Professor Will Bateman has given expert evidence on the financial, institutional and legal aspects of the UK's quantitative easing programme.
07
Dec
2021
Annika Reynolds has been recognised for their contribution to society and perseverance through personal challenges at the 2021 Lifeline Canberra Rising Women of Spirit Awards.
In the Media
Past events
21
Sep
2022
4.00PM to 5.00PM Book launch
- Dr Stefan Theil
- Professor Andrew Macintosh
- Associate Professor Emma Aisbett
Launch of 'Towards the Environmental Minimum: Environmental Protection through Human Rights' (Cambridge University Press, 2021) by Stefan Theil.
22
Apr
2021
5.30PM to 7.00PM Webinar
This online event is the first in the 2021 Menzies Cyber Law Series, featuring three prominent speakers on human/machine intelligence, global health law, cyber warfare, and the future of humanity.
04
Mar
2021
5.00PM to 7.00PM Book launch
- Dr Will Bateman
- Dr Ntina Tzouvala
Join us to help celebrate the recent works of Dr Will Bateman and Dr Ntina Tzouvala for the first CIPL Book Launch event of 2021.
02
Dec
2020
6.00PM to 7.00PM 60th Anniversary Celebrations
Join a panel of leading interdisciplinary experts as they explore the complex legal and ethical challenges AI and automated decision-making present to industry, government and the legal profession.
Research biography
Dr Bateman researches and writes on legal dimensions of finance, artificial intelligence and constitutionalism.
His research has been awarded numerous prizes, including the 2020 Yorke Prize by the University of Cambridge for his work on public finance and constitutionalism.
Research projects & collaborations
Dr Bateman is working on a broad-range of interdisciplinary projects with international and domestic scholars.
Law and finance
Dr Bateman was recently a Co-Investigator on the "Legal and Economic Conceptions of Money" project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (UK)'s "Rebuilding Macroeconomics" Initiative. The team is led by Prof Rosa Lastra (QMUL) and the other team members are Dr Jason Allen (HU Berlin), Mr Simon Gleeson (Clifford Chance), Dr Michael Kumhoff (Bank of England), Prof Saule Omarova (Cornell): https://www.rebuildingmacroeconomics.ac.uk/legal-and-economic
Dr Bateman has recently concluded a major research project on the constitutional dimensions of public finance in the UK, Canada, Australia and elsewhere in the Anglophone Commonwealth. His book, Public Finance and Parliamentary Constitutionalism (Cambridge University Press, UK) presents the findings of that project.
Dr Bateman is also a Team Member of the multi-disciplinary project "FA Mann and his contribution to English, German, European, and International Law" funded by the German Research Foundation.
Artificial intelligence and law
During 2020-24, Dr Bateman is a Chief Investigator on the ANU Grand Challenge Humanising Machine Intelligence: a multi-year interdiscplinary research project (including computer scientists, mathematicians, philosophers, sociologists, psychologists and lawyers) aimed at developing democratically legitimate machine intelligence.
Over 2020-21, he was co-leading (with Associate Professor Julia Powles, University of Western Australia) the first major project to formulate model legal frameworks for the regulation of artificial intelligence in the public sector. The project was funded by the global-philanthropy and research funding body, The Minderoo Foundation.
Dr Bateman is also collaborating with computer science experts in designing ethical and lawful algorithmic decision systems, particularly the peak Australian non-profit AI research organisation: The Gradient Institute.
Grants
"Rebuilding Macroeconomics Initiative: Legal and Economic Conceptions of Money" (Economic and Social Research Council (UK) - Team Member 2020-2021 - https://www.rebuildingmacroeconomics.ac.uk/legal-and-economic
"FA Mann and his contribution to English, German, European, and International Law" (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft - German Research Foundation) - Team Member - 2019-2022 - €620,000 (A$1,012,500) https://fis.hu-berlin.de/converis/portal/Project/901795675?auxfun=&lang=en_GB
"Model Legal Regulation of AI in the Public Sector" - The Minderoo Foundation - Co-Lead - 2020-2021 (further details available on request)
Consultancies
Dr Bateman has been retained as an independent expert by government agencies on issues relating to the legal regulation of automation and artificial intelligence.
Dr Bateman has also provided legal and policy advice on complex administrative and constitutional law matters, as well as issues concerning public finance and the operations of central banks.
Books & edited collections
Public Finance and Parliamentary Constitutionalism (Cambridge University Press, UK, 2020), 1-263.
Hanks' Australian Constitutional Law (LexisNexis, 11th ed, 2021) (with D Meagher, J Stellios and A Simpson), 1-1410.
Refereed journal articles
'The Dysfunctional Taboo: Monetary Financing at the Bank of England, Federal Reserve System and European Central Bank' (2023) Review of International Political Economy (advance edition, with J van t' Klooster)
'The Law of Central Bank Reserve Creation' (2022) 85 Modern Law Review 401-434 (with J Allen).
'The Law of Monetary Finance under Unconventional Monetary Policy' (2021) 41(4) Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 929-964.
'The Legal Structure of Quantitative Easing' (2021) 32 Journal of Banking and Financial Law and Practice 88-109.
'Algorithmic Decision-Making and Legality: Public Law Dimensions' (2020) 94 Australian Law Journal 520-530.
'The Normative Structure of Australian Administrative Law' (2017) 45 Federal Law Review 153-176 (with L McDonald).
'Federal Jurisdiction in State Courts: an Elaboration and Critique’ (2012) 23 Public Law Review 246-267.
'Legislating against Constitutional Invalidity: Constitutional Deeming Legislation' (2012) 34 Sydney Law Review 721-759.
'Chapter III of the Constitution, Federal Jurisdiction and Dialogue Charters of Human Rights' (2012) 35 Melbourne University Law Review 1-40 (with J Stellios).
'The Constitution and the Substantive Grounds of Judicial Review: the Full Scope of the Entrenched Minimum Provision of Judicial Review' (2011) 39 Federal Law Review 463-507.
'Procedural Due Process Under The Australian Constitution' (2009) 31 Sydney Law Review 411-442.
Book chapters
'La dette souveraine, les banques centrales et le droit des finances publiques dans la tradition de Westminster' in Alexandre Guigue (dir.), Les finances publiques des pays anglo-saxons (Mare et Martin, Paris, 2023), ch 1.
'Coding Legal Norms' in Mark Findlay, et al (eds), Regulatory Insights on Artificial Intelligence: Research for Policy (Edward Elgar, 2022), 132-149.
'Rule by Financial Assembly' in John Griffiths and James Stellios (eds), Current Issues in Australian Constitutional Law: Tributes to Professor Leslie Zines (The Federation Press, Australia, 2020), 56-63.
'Comparative Constitutional Law' in Adrienne Stone and Cheryl Saunders (eds), The Oxford Handbook of the Australian Constitution (2018, Oxford University Press) (with S Gageler), 1-18.
Conference papers & presentations
‘European Exceptionalism: the Fiscal Functions of the Eurosystem in Comparative Perspective’, University of Luxembourg: Ditching the Maastrict Model Conference, Luxembourg, 24-25 November 2022 (funded by the University of Luxembourg)
‘Digitised Commerce, Continuous Market-Monitoring and Economic Regulation’, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Canberra, 19 August 2022
‘The Fiscal Fed’, Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung: Central Banking and its Discontents Conference, Berlin, 11-13 July 2022 (Distinguished Symposia Speaker, funded by the German Research Foundation)
‘The Fiscal Fed’, University of Amsterdam: Democratic Central Banking: Danger or Salvation Conference, Amsterdam, 7-8 July 2022 (funded by the Amsterdam Centre for European Studies)
'Doctrine, Legislation and AI' Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department, AGD-ANU Law-Tech Seminar Series, Canberra, 23 February 2022
‘Liberal Constitutionalism: Before, During and After the Zero Lower Bound’, Australian National University: Public Law and Inequality Conference, 17 January 2022
‘Monetary Finance as Economic Policy Taboo’, KU Leuven and University of Amsterdam: Central Banking Beyond Price Stability Conference, 14 January 2022
‘Economic Governance in an Age of Digital Money’, University of New South Wales: Money, Power and Artificial Intelligence Conference, 29 November 2021
'Automated Administrative Decision-Making', Australian Institute of Administrative Law, 'Administrative Law: On the Edge Conference' (Keynote Presentation) 22 July 2021
‘Cognition, Legal Responsibility and Algorithmic Decision-Making’, Monash University, 3 July 2020
'Pandemic Easing as Sovereign Finance', Politics of Economics Forum, University of Cambridge Centre for Research in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, 26 May 2020
'Quantitative Easing, Reserve Creation and Digital Currency', Bank of England, London, 28 January 2020.
'Federal Reserve Bank of New York, 'Legal Aspects of Central Bank Money Creation', Federal Reserve Bank of New York, 20 January 2020.
'Monetary Authority and Liberal Constitutionalism', Intersections of Finance and Society, London, 13 December 2019.
'Legal Implications of Public Sector Automation and Artificial Intelligence', Attorney-General's Artificial Intelligence Lecture Series, Canberra, September 2019.
'Artificial Intelligence, Administrative Law and Financial Regulation', Supreme Court of New South Wales Annual Conference, Bowral, August 2019.
'Algorithmic Decision-Making and Administrative Law', Commonwealth Ombudsman, Canberra, July 2019.
Government submissions
Expert evidence provided to the UK Parliament, House of Lords Inquiry into Quantitative Easing: recommendations in written evidence adopted in final report, April - July 2021
Expert advice provided to NSW Ombudsman, The New Machinery of Government: Using Machine Technology in Administrative Decision-Making, A Special Report under s 31 of the Ombudsman Act, November 2021
Submission to the Australian Attorney-General's Department, Review of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (with Prof Seth Lazar (ANU), Prof Kimberlee Weatherall (U Syd), Dr Damian Clifford (ANU)), December 2020
Submission to Australian Human Rights Commission, Technology and Human Rights: Discussion Paper (with Dr Julia Powles, UWA), April 2020
Other
'Central Bank Money: Liability, Asset, or Equity of the Nation?' (2020) Cornell Legal Studies Research Paper 20-46 (with M Kumhoff, J Allen, R Lastra, S Gleeson, S Omarova), 1-46. Top 10 all time most downloaded SSRN paper on central banking.
'Quantitative Easing, Quasi-Fiscal Power and Constitutionalism', Just Money Roundtable (28 December 2020)
Currently supervising
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Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)Topic: Legal Method, Cartels and Public Monopolies: A View From the High Court 1908 - 1948
PhD supervision
Dr Bateman is keen to supervise research students in his areas of research interest: particularly projects orientated towards critical and inter-disciplinary approaches to law and economics/finance/technology/public administration.
Prospective research students are advised to email Dr Bateman directly with a proposed title, provisional bibliography and CV.
Honours thesis supervision
Dr Bateman usually takes two LLB/JD honours students each year and will supervise projects in administrative law, constitutional law, law and economics/finance and law and technology. Students are advised to contact Dr Bateman with a formal proposal, provisional bibliography and writing timetable (at least) 8 months in advance of their proposed start date.
