Prof Anthony Connolly

Anthony J. Connolly is a Professor at the Law School of the Australian National University, specialising in legal philosophy, indigenous rights law, and public law. He completed his BA.LLB (Hons) at the University of Western Australia, after which he practiced law for a number of years, predominantly as a human rights lawyer working with indigenous people. He holds a Ph.D. in philosophy, supervised by Professors Philip Pettit (Princeton) and Robert Goodin (ANU), and a Masters degree in education.  

He is the author of Cultural Difference on Trial: The Nature and Limits of Judicial Understanding (Routledge: 2010) and The Foundations of Australian Public Law: State, Power, Accountability (Cambridge University Press: 2017). He is the editor of Indigenous Rights (Routledge: 2009), Public Law in the Age of Statutes (with D. Stewart) (Federation Press: 2015), and Cultural Heritage Rights (Routledge: 2015). In addition, he has published a number of book chapters and journal articles on legal philosophy, indigenous rights, and public law. 

Within his main area of legal philosophy, topics which presently interest him include the legal regulation of cognition and communication and legal modes of intercultural recognition. These philosophical issues ground his current interests within public law and Indigenous rights discourse around Indigenous self-determination and self-government. In addition to his substantive research areas, Professor Connolly also maintains an interest in the theory and practice of legal education and academic governance, publishing on these topics and leading a number of important educational reform initiatives within the Law School.

BA.LLB (Hons) (W.Aust), Ph.D. (ANU); MHEd. (ANU), Barrister & Solicitor WA.