Register now: Private Law and the Courts in an Age of Disruption

Private law and the courts in an age of disruption: Bending, breaking or restating?

Engage with how private law is changing under pressure from AI, digital platforms, climate harm, and new forms of property. This 1.5-day academic conference brings together scholars and practitioners to examine whether private law is bending, breaking, or being restated through the courts. Hosted by the Warren Centre for Civil Justice and the Centre for Commercial Law and Regulatory Studies at Monash University, this event focuses on the role of courts in shaping private law in a period of rapid change.

Why attend

• Hear current analysis on how private law responds to major shifts such as AI and climate change
• Gain insight into doctrinal change across all areas of private law
• See how courts are responding to social and legal change

Who should attend

• Legal academics and researchers
• Judges and legal practitioners
• Doctoral and postgraduate law students
• Policy professionals with an interest in private law

Speakers and organisers

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.

Keynote speaker

The Honourable Justice Mark Leeming, Judge of Appeal, Supreme Court of New South Wales

Keynote chair

Professor The Honourable Marilyn Warren AC KC

Organised by

The Warren Centre for Civil Justice and the Centre for Commercial Law and Regulatory Studies (CLARS), Monash University.

Conference co-convenors

Dr Lucas Clover Alcolea and Dr Brandon D. Stewart

Conference Theme

Private law has long presented itself as a system of incremental and principled development. Current pressures raise questions about whether that approach still holds.

Topics include:

• Challenges to private law theory
• The role of courts in doctrinal development
• Contract law and digital or smart contracting
• Tort law and harms linked to climate change or emerging technologies
• Property law and digital or intangible assets
• Equitable and fiduciary doctrine in new settings
• Remedies and changing responses to legal wrongs
• Comparative and transnational perspectives