Call for Papers: Private law and the courts in an age of disruption: Bending, breaking or restating?
The Warren Centre for Civil Justice invites submissions for a one-day conference on the theme of “Private law and the courts in an age of disruption: Bending, breaking, or restating?” to be held on Friday 30 October 2026 at the Monash University Law Chambers in Melbourne, Victoria.
The keynote session will be given by The Honourable Justice Mark Leeming, Judge of Appeal of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, and be chaired by Professor The Honourable Marilyn Warren AC KC. A selection of peer reviewed papers will be published in a special issue of the Monash University Law Review.
Conference Theme
Private law has long presented itself as a domain of incremental development, doctrinal coherence, and principled reasoning. Yet contemporary pressures, including digital platforms and AI, climate change, mass harm events, financial innovation, and shifting conceptions of property, personhood, and responsibility, raise profound questions about the stability and adaptability of private law’s core concepts and doctrines.
We welcome papers that use diverse methodologies and/or approaches to address any topic related to the conference theme, including (but not limited to):
- Challenges to private law’s theoretical foundations.
- The role of courts, whether appellate or first instance, in doctrinal development.
- Disruptions in contract law, including digital contracting and smart contracts.
- Tort law’s role in addressing harms caused by climate change and emerging technologies.
- Property law and digital or intangible assets.
- The application of equitable and fiduciary doctrine to complex and novel settings.
- Remedies and the recalibration or restatement of private law’s responses to wrongs.
- Comparative or transnational perspectives on doctrinal change.
Submission Details
Please submit an abstract of up to 300 words to the conference co-convenors Dr Lucas Clover Alcolea (lucas.cloveralcolea@monash.edu) and Dr Brandon D. Stewart (brandon.stewart@monash.edu) by 11:59 pm AST on 15 May 2026. Selected authors will be notified by 1 June 2026. Draft papers will be due by 15 October 2026 and will be circulated to presenters and attendees to facilitate discussion. For those wishing to be considered for publication in the special issue, revised papers will be due in early 2027.
For further information, please contact the conference co-convenors.
Conference Details
Private law and the courts in an age of disruption: Bending, breaking or restating?
Date: Friday 30 October 2026
Campus: Monash University Law Chambers,
555 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne