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Dr

Oscar Roos

Senior Lecturer (Constitutional Law)

Faculty of Business and Law/Deakin Law School

Orcid identifier0000-0001-8035-7605
  • Senior Lecturer (Constitutional Law)
    Faculty of Business and Law/Deakin Law School
  • +61 3 924 46649 (Work)
  • Melbourne Burwood Campus, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood, Victoria 3125

BIO

Dr Oscar Roos is a Senior Lecturer in Deakin Law School. He graduated with an
honours degree in law and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Melbourne
in 1992, where he was awarded the Hearn Exhibition and the Supreme Court Prize
for Jurisprudence. He was subsequently admitted to practice as a Barrister
and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Victoria in 1993, after completing his
professional training at the Leo Cussen Institute where he won the Advocacy
Award.

After graduating, Dr Roos worked for the Commonwealth Public Service for two
years before his appointment as Associate to Justice David Byrne of the
Supreme Court of Victoria. After completing his associateship, he worked for
Victoria Legal Aid and then in 1999 he completed the Bar Readers' Course and
signed the Roll of the Victorian Bar. As a barrister, he practised mainly in
criminal law, appearing for both prosecution and defence in summary and
indictable jurisdictions. In 2002, he was awarded a Master of Laws from Monash
University.

Dr Roos commenced working at Deakin in 2003 as an associate lecturer. He has
taught in the areas of criminal law, criminal procedure, evidence,
constitutional law and administrative law. His current research interests
include domestic and international public law, and GLBTIQ human rights. His
writing has been cited in Australia and overseas, including in the Melbourne
University Law Review and in the Sydney Law Review, and numerous textbooks.
The quality of his research was acknowledged by the Law Institute of Victoria
in 2008 when he was runner-up in the Rodgers Legal Writing Award and by the
School of Law when he was awarded a prize for outstanding research publication
for 2013.

In 2015, Dr Roos completed a Doctor of Juridical Science at Monash University.
His thesis was entitled 'Towards An Originalist Assessment of the Entrenchment
of Judicial Review in the Australian States'. Two lengthy articles derived
from his thesis were published in the prestigious Sydney Law Review in 2013
and the Public Law Review in 2015. In 2017 he published a lengthy article in
the United States of America in the George Washington International Law Review
(co-authored with Dr Anita MacKay of Latrobe University) on the right to marry
in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and same-sex
marriage.

Dr Roos is currently a non-practising member of the Victorian Bar, an
Associate Member of the Law Institute of Victoria and a member of the
Australian Association of Constitutional Law and the Australian Institute of
Administrative Law.

In 2021 Dr Roos was awarded the prestigious Cheryl Saunders Prize by the
Australian Association of Constitutional Law ('AACL') for his article 'The
Kirk Structural Constitutional Implication' published in 2020 in volume 44 of
the Melbourne University Law Review. The Saunders Prize is named in honour of
Laureate Professor Cheryl Saunders AO, in recognition of her exceptional
eminence in constitutional law and her leadership in the creation of the AACL.
The Prize is awarded to the author of an article or note on a subject of
constitutional law, published in an Australian legal journal in the preceding
calendar year, which reflects the highest standards of research and
scholarship, as judged by a Panel consisting of three eminent constitutional
law scholars or practitioners, appointed for each year by resolution of the
Council of the AACL. The judging panel for 2021 comprised the Hon Virginia
Bell AC SC, Professor the Hon William Gummow AC and Professor Michael
Crommelin AO.

Dr Roos is a coach of the Deakin Team in the annual Sir Harry Gibbs
Constitutional Law Moot.

DEAKIN UNIVERSITY CURRENT APPOINTMENT

  • Senior Lecturer (Constitutional Law)
    Deakin University, Deakin Law School

DEGREES

  • Doctor of Juridical Science
    Monash University
  • Master of Laws
    Monash University
  • Bachelor of Arts
    University of Melbourne
  • Bachelor of Law(s) (Honours)
    University of Melbourne

FIELDS OF RESEARCH (2020)

  • Public law
  • International and comparative law
  • Legal systems
  • Law in context

AREA/FACULTY

  • Faculty of Business and Law

DEPARTMENT/SCHOOL/INSTITUTE

  • Deakin Law School