Robyn is a graduate of UWA and the University of Oxford. She teaches and researches in private law and dispute resolution and has experience in mediation practice and tribunal work. She has published extensively on commercial and contract law, family law, the role of apologies in the resolution of legal disputes and mediation and presents her work at judicial, practitioner and academic workshops and conferences. In 2013 Robyn co-founded the International Network for Law and Apology Research (INLAR) and in 2014 was invited by the Hong Kong Department of Justice to write a research report on the enactment of apology legislation in Hong Kong.
Robyn was a senior sessional member of the State Administrative Tribunal for many years and her experience in adult guardianship and administration orders informs her teaching and research on family law, mediation and apologies. In 2021 Robyn was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academic of Law. She was appointed a legal sessional member of the WA Mental Health Tribunal in August 2024.
Most important experiences while at UWA
Studying and working for most of my adult life on Whadjuk boodjar and the beautiful UWA campus, friendships formed during my law studies, the academics who taught me and those I met from other disciplines who guided and inspired my career at UWA, and being part of a deeply committed community to educating and mentoring students, pursuing meaningful research and striving for good academic governance.
Where did you think you would end up, when you began your career?
I always saw myself teaching law. Over time I pursued my interest in less adversarial approaches to the practice of law as my teaching and research and professional practice moved from commercially focused law to more people focused areas and to alternative ways of resolving disputes. I never imagined myself as the first Emerita Professor in the Law School’s 97 year existence.
What are some of your most significant achievements?
My three children and being around to enjoy their children, contributing to the legal education of law graduates for 34 years and my internationally recognised and influential research and scholarship on apologies in the law and publications on contract law, family law and mediation.
What has been the most interesting aspect of your career?
The opportunity as a teaching and research academic to develop educational, research and practice-based knowledge and skills in many areas of the law and interrelated disciplines and to share this expertise with students, colleagues, and professional and public communities.
Where are you planning to go from here? Are there new interests you are looking to get involved in?
I have HDR supervisions, a book on apologies in the law to complete and other writing projects underway. I look forward to contributing as a newly appointed sessional member to the Mental Health Tribunal which reviews involuntary treatment orders. In pursuit of learning and my love of sharing knowledge and the outdoors I will train as a Rottnest Island Volunteer Guide next year.