Dr Lara Pratt

Senior Lecturer
PhD (Macq), BA/LLB (Hons) (Macq), GradCertUniTeaching (NDA), PGCert Res Prep (Hum)(Macq)

Email: lara.pratt@nd.edu.au
Phone: 9433 0956

  • Biography

    Dr Lara Pratt has been a Senior Lecturer at the University of Notre Dame since 2012 and was the Assistant Dean of Teaching and Learning of the Law School from 2017 to 2020.

    Lara teaches in a variety of courses with her main teaching area being those courses with an International Law element, including Public International Law, Law and War and Human Rights.  Lara also initiated the Law School’s international internship program which has involved taking a groups of student to Phnom Penh, Cambodia to visit the Khmer Rouge Tribunal and various NGOs seeking to improve access to justice in Cambodia as well facilitating as longer-term internships at international commercial law firms.

    In addition to international law, Lara also currently teaches Legal Research and Writing, which is the introductory course designed to introduce first year students to the study of law. She has previously taught Property Law and Contemporary Legal Issues at Notre Dame.

    Lara is also involved in initiatives within the Law School designed to assist students transition from ‘student’ to ‘professional’. She created the Law School’s CV workshop for penultimate and final year students. In 2017 Lara facilitated the Law School’s entry in the Mentor Program run in conjunction with the School of Law and Justice at Edith Cowan University and the Young Lawyers Committee of the Law Society of WA. She oversaw Notre Dame’s participation in that program for several years and the program was so successful that by 2019 all WA Law School’s had joined the program.

    Lara’s research interests are in public international law, in particular international humanitarian and international criminal law, as well as human rights law.  Lara also has an interest in teaching and learning in law.

    Prior to coming to the University of Notre Dame, Lara completed a PhD at Macquarie University on the topic of Bills of Rights.  She also taught courses at the Macquarie Law School and in the Department of Modern History, Politics and International Relations.

    Lara has a long relationship with the Australian Red Cross’ WA International Humanitarian Law Advisory Committee and is currently on the WA Divisional Advisory Board.

  • Teaching areas

    • Public International Law
    • Human Rights Law
    • International Humanitarian Law
    • International Criminal Law
    • Legal Research and Writing
    • Property Law
    • Contemporary Legal Issues

  • HDR and Honours supervision

    Select Honours Supervision:

    • Jamie Hick (2021) '"On their Watch" Does the Criminal Code Act 1995(Cth) Require Amendment to Ensure Australia is Able to Prosecute Commanders Who Exhibit Culpable Indifference to the Lives and Safety of Protected Persons?'
    • Madeleine Goodsir (2019) "‘Never Again’  An analysis of whether the conduct of the Sri Lankan Authorities in the No Fire Zones of Sri Lanka constitutes genocide and the consequences of such a finding'
    • Darcy Harwood (2018)  'Ethnic Cleansing or Genocide: A Case Study of the Rohingya in Myanmar'
    • Katelin Taylor (2016) 'Gender-Related Persecution in Australian Refugee Law and Policy: Where Are We Now, and Where to From Here?'
    • James Mansfield (2015) 'Extraterritorial Application and Customary Norm Assessment of Non-refoulement: the Legality of Australia's 'Turn-back' Policy
    • Jake Lowther (2014), 'The Recommendations of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf: A Primitive Legal Status'
    • Claire Egan (2013) 'Does the Stronger Futures Legislation Comply with the Racial Discrimiantion Act 1975 (Cth)?'

  • Research expertise and supervision

    • Public international law, especially in the areas of human rights and international humanitarian law
    • Comparative law
    • Bills of Rights and domestic rights protection

  • Book chapters

    • Lara Pratt, 'Parliamentary scrutiny committees' contribution to the obligation to respect and ensure respect for IHL' in Eve Massingham and Annabel McConnachie, 'Ensuring Respect for International Humanitarian Law' (Routledge, 2020)
    • Lara Pratt ‘Protected persons under international humanitarian law’ in Michael Crawley and Fauve Kurnadi (eds), Australian Red Cross Handbook on International Humanitarian Law Mooting (Australian Red Cross, 2018)
    • Lara Pratt, ‘Cultural Property as a Casualty of Armed Conflict: A Comment on the Lessons from Iraq and Syria’ in Doug Hodgson (ed), International Human Rights and Justice (Nova: 2016)

  • Journal articles and proceedings

    • Lara Pratt, ‘Prosecution for the Destruction of Cultural Property - Significance of the al Mahdi Trial’ (2018) 18(6) International Criminal Law Review (reproduced in Holly Cullen et al, The Politics of International Criminal Law (Brill, 2020)
    • Lara Pratt, ‘An International Experience for Law Students: Preparing, Planning and Pastoral Care’, (2017) 10 Journal of the Australasian Law Teachers Association 96 (developed from a presentation at the 2017 Australasian Law Teachers Association Conference)
    • Zamaris Saxon and Lara Pratt, ‘From Cause to Responsibility: R2P as a Modern Just War’ (2015) 17 University of Notre Dame Australia Law Review http://researchonline.nd.edu.au/undalr/
    • Lara Pratt, ‘Political Protections of Fundamental Rights as a Means of Mitigating the Weaknesses of Legal Protections’ (2012) 10 Macquarie Law Journal 103

  • Community engagement

    • Lara regularly presents at the Red Cross of WA IHL training courses which are open to the general public and which attract CPD points for practising solicitors
    • Lara is a member of the Australian Red Cross, WA Divisional Advisory Board and International Humanitarian Law Committee

  • Awards

    • 2020 Vice Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (Initiatives)
    • 2020 WA Red Cross Service Award