Sarah Sorial

Sarah Sorial is Professor of Law at the Macquarie Law School, and Deputy Dean Research and Innovation in the Faculty of Arts. She holds a BA LLB (Hons) class 1 from Macquarie University and a PhD in Philosophy from the University of New South Wales. 

Her research specialisation is in the areas of speech regulation, including s 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, hate speech, and the constitutional implied freedom of political communication. Other work examines procedural justice, foreign interference legislation, misinformation and disinformation, and how we can improve public deliberation and trust in law and policy reform, through mechanisms such as citizens’ assemblies. She has published extensively in these areas and has made invited written submissions to the Law Reform Commission (NSW) and other parliamentary inquires. She is available to supervise graduate research students in these areas, in addition to topics in political philosophy and jurisprudence. 

She has held several leadership positions at Macquarie University including Associate Dean, Research Training and Performance for the Faculty of Arts (2022-24) and Research Director of the Law school at Macquarie University (2019-2022). Prior to her appointment at Macquarie University, she had a number of leadership positions at the University of Wollongong, including Associate Dean, Education (Acting), Deputy Head of School, and Head of Postgraduate Studies at the University of Wollongong. She is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and has a thorough understanding of university governance. 

Professor Sorial's research specialisation is primarily at the intersection of philosophy and law. She applies philosophical concepts to address various and persistent legal dilemmas, including dilemmas about the limits of speech, the importance of democratic deliberation, and the place of rights in liberal democracies. She has developed a systematic account of the concept of harm as it relates to speech and the nature of speaker authority in establishing harm. This account has been applied to other areas of contested speech, including hate speech, pseudo-scientific speech, and emotionally charged speech in the public sphere. More recent work examines the implied freedom of political communication in several recent High Court judgements, foreign interference legislation, and misinformation and disinformation. 

• LAWS214 - Juripsrudence
• LAWS805 - Theories of Law and Justice

I have supervised HDR students in the areas of political philosophy. My areas of interests include political philosophy and philosophy of law. I am to supervise topics in this area.