Call for Papers for Australian Journal of Labour Law, Special Issue, Issue 2, 2027
Overview
Studies that interrogate the legal regulation of work are crucial to understanding and critiquing the field as well as enabling reflections on its scope and philosophical underpinnings. For over 50 years, Richard Mitchell has researched, taught and published in the field with a spirit of collegiality and collaboration.
Richard’s work has been integral to the establishment of fora where experts can interact, discuss and publish their research, including in his roles as a founding editor of the Australian Journal of Labour Law, founding member of the Australian Labour Law Association, Director of the Centre for Employment and Labour Relations Law at Melbourne Law School, and as a mentor in the Labour, Equality and Human Rights Research Group at Monash University.
As a researcher, supervisor, and teacher, Richard has led the way in identifying and shaping the scope, content and methodologies of the academic discipline of labour law. Richard’s published work and that of those he supervised, encouraged, and led in team projects has pushed the boundaries of the discipline and led to new understandings in the field. His work has broken new paths towards conceptualising the regulation of work, the impact of informal systems of labour regulation, the juridification of labour law in Australia, and the very idea of labour law.
Richard’s interest in labour law and history, and the very broad arc of evolution of the law, has also been a lifelong passion. It is reflected in Foundations of Arbitration: The Origins and Effects of State Compulsory Arbitration 1890–1914 (OUP, 1989), which Richard co-edited. The contributions provided new understandings about the emergence of the system of arbitration and its significance.
Richard has also led in the use of empirical and comparative legal research methods to answer questions in the field and deepen understandings about the world of work. He has directed attention to underexamined subjects such as the interaction between law and other disciplines in labour law research and how labour regulation, including in the Asia-Pacific region, might be investigated and measured.
This special issue of the Australian Journal of Labour Law seeks to celebrate and commemorate Richard’s retirement from academia and his significant contribution to the field in Australia and internationally.
Editors
Submission information
Contributions providing national and international perspectives are invited from scholars, legal practitioners and experts by way of research articles (of 7,000 to 10,000 words including footnotes) and shorter commentaries (of 2,000 to 3,000 words including footnotes) on the following five themes. Contributors are also invited to propose to write on another theme that is connected to Richard’s work.
Themes
The five themes are:
- The historical trajectory of labour law and its meaning in the past, present and future
- The scope and subject matter of labour law (encompassing empirical and comparative approaches to examining grand challenges in the field)
- Labour law in the Asia Pacific region
- Labour law as a discipline (including approaches to teaching and textbooks); and
- The role of, and potential for, impact by labour law scholars beyond academia (including engagement with public institutions and contributions to parliamentary inquiries).
Timeline
Abstracts of no more than 300 words should be submitted to Adriana Orifici at adriana.orifici@monash.edu by 1 July 2026 and contributors will be advised if their abstracts are accepted by 20 August 2026.
Contributors of accepted proposals will be asked to submit a full manuscript that complies with the Journal’s style guide by 1 December 2026, which will be subject to the peer review process of the Journal. The special issue will be published as Issue 2, 2027.