Dr. Sophie Rigney

Sophie Rigney is a Senior Lecturer in Law. Sophie's research is in three areas: first, relationships between Indigenous peoples and the state (including the Uluru Statement from the Heart, the Voice to Parliament, and how Indigenous communities create and practice a distinctly Indigenous international law); secondly, international criminal law (particularly the formation of a carceral abolition movement for international criminal law, the rights of the accused, and the role of defence lawyers); and thirdly, international law's narratives, especially the ways in which international law is depicted in children's literature. Sophie is the author of 'Fairness and Rights in International Criminal Procedure' (Edinburgh University Press, 2022).

Most recently, Sophie was a Senior Research Associate at the Indigenous Law Centre, University of New South Wales. There, she worked on the ARC-funded project, 'Recognition after Uluru: What Next for First Nations?' with Professors Megan Davis and George Williams. Sophie has previously worked as a Lecturer at the Melbourne Law School (2023); and as a Lecturer in Law at the University of Dundee, Scotland (2017-2020), where she was the Director of Doctoral Studies for the School of Social Sciences, overseeing the research higher degree experience of 120+ candidates. Sophie has also worked as the Academic Convener of the project 'Transition and Nation: the United Kingdom and Indigenous Nations as a Meeting of Sovereigns' (2016-2017), a major research collaboration between the Melbourne Law School and the Institute of Commonwealth Studies in London.

Sophie is a passionate teacher, and has taught across a number of areas in public law, private law, and international law. Sophie has taught at the Universities of Melbourne, Dundee, Tasmania, Sussex, and London. She has acted as an External Examiner at the London School of Economics, has supervised Masters theses at the University of Glasgow, and has published on decolonising legal pedagogy.

Prior to her academic career, Sophie worked as a practicing lawyer at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (2009-2011). This included working for the defence of Lahi Brahimaj and the stand-by defence team for Radovan Karadzic. Sophie's work has been cited by the International Criminal Court. Sophie has also previously served as the Chair of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (UK), and as a Director of Amnesty International Australia.

By appointment

PhD (Melbourne Law School)