Projects per year
Personal profile
Biography
Dr Sonya Willis is a senior lecturer at Macquarie Law School. Sonya researches and teaches primarily in civil procedure, taxation and private international law. Sonya is currently engaged in researching the potential for an online litigant vulnerability assessment tool. Sonya completed her PhD in Law at the University of Sydney on the interaction between case management, justice and procedural fairness in civil litigation. Sonya was also a university medallist in law at UTS and holds a masters of law from the University of Cambridge and a bachelor of Economics from the University of Sydney. Sonya has maintained a NSW Practicing Certificate for over 25 years and was a taxation specialist at an international accounting firm and a senior associate in commercial dispute resolution at Blake Dawson (now Ashurst) prior to becoming an academic. Sonya is the author of Civil Dispute Resolution: Balancing Themes and Theory published by Cambridge Univerisity Press in 2021 and Civil Procedure published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2012. Sonya is also an editor of the Legal Education Review. Sonya is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a member of the NSW Law Society's Law Litigation and Practice Committee.
Teaching
LAWS3200/398 Civil and Criminal Procedure LLB (Co-Convenor)
LAWS8130/813 Civil and Criminal Procedure JD (Co-convenor)
LAWS8025 Taxation JD (Convenor)
LAWS5053 Taxation LLB (Co-lecturer/tutor)
LAWS8098/898 International Commercial LAW JD/MITCL/LLM (Convenor 2018-2021)
LAWS8100 Professional Skills and Practice LLM/MITCL (Convenor 2020)
LAWS530 Jessup International Law Mooting Competition (Co-convenor 2018-2019)
LAW 550 Litigation LLB (Convenor 2016-17)
Research interests
Civil Procedure; Procedural fairness and its effect on court process; Civil litigant vulnerability; Civil and Commercial Litigation; Alternate Dispute Resolution; Private International Law; International Commercial Arbitration and other means of private international dispute resolution; Conflicts of law; International Commercial Litigation; Legal Education and Taxation.
Research student supervision
I am available to supervise higher degree research candidates in civil procedure, commercial litigation, international commercial arbitration, international commercial law, conflicts of law and dispute settlement.
Current Supervisions
Rhys Manley, Thesis Title, 'Liberalisation of Trade in the Era of Increasing Supervision of the Financial System: A Model for Promoting Financial Stability and Inclusion' (PhD).
Rose Al-Kahili, Thesis (working title): The Systemic Snares of Self-representation: Avoiding procedural pitfalls in family law cases. (MRes).
HDR Completions:
Ummey Sharaban Tahura, Thesis: The role of legal costs and technology in accessing justice in Bangledesh courts (PhD).
Community engagement
Primary Ethics Teacher (2011-present).
Dunmore Lang College Board Member, Finance Committee Member, Nominations Committee Member (2022).
NSW Law Society Law Litigation and Practice Committee Member (2022).
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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
Projects
- 2 Finished
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Access to Justice Lab on Business and Human Rights
Deva, S., Harris, H., Ghezelbash, D., Willis, S., Taylor, M., Nolan, J., Sinclair, A. & Poonjatt, J. J.
13/10/22 → 30/06/23
Project: Research
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Navigating court protocols in post pandemic practice
The Law Society of NSW Litigation Law and Practice Committee, Willis, S., Fernandez, S., Hutchinson, C. & Peterson, C., 10 Mar 2023, LSJ Online.Research output: Contribution to Newspaper/Magazine/Website › Article
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The right to be heard: can courts listen actively and efficiently to civil litigants?
Willis, S., 9 Feb 2023, (Accepted/In press) In: University of New South Wales Law Journal. 46, 3Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Civil dispute resolution: balancing themes and theory
Willis, S., 2022, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press (CUP). 512 p.Research output: Book/Report › Book › peer-review
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Good etiquette is good advocacy: professional interactions in and out of court
The Law Society of NSW Litigation Law and Practice Committee, Willis, S., Johnson, G., Tyrrell, J., Peterson, C., Fernandez, S., Hutchinson, C., Yamine, E. & Robb, J., 5 Aug 2022, LSJ Online.Research output: Contribution to Newspaper/Magazine/Website › Article
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Family Court abolition doesn't fix the problems faced by divorcing families: study
Willis, S. & Al-Kahili, R., 23 Feb 2021, The Lighthouse.Research output: Contribution to Newspaper/Magazine/Website › Article
Open Access
Activities
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Can only the rich and crazy afford to go to court?
Sonya Willis (Speaker)
12 Feb 2020Activity: Talk or presentation › Presentation
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Civil Justice Research Conference 2019
Sonya Willis (Organiser)
21 Feb 2019Activity: Participating in or organising an event › Organising a conference, workshop or event series
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Subversion, diversion or conversion: who is subverting what as international students become a fixture in the Australian legal education landscape?
Sonya Willis (Speaker)
27 Nov 2019Activity: Talk or presentation › Presentation
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Macquarie Law Journal (Journal)
Sonya Willis (Editor)
2018Activity: Peer-review and editorial of research outputs › Editorial work
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The why, how and whether of assessing vulnerability in an institutional context
Sonya Willis (Speaker)
23 Nov 2018Activity: Talk or presentation › Presentation