My Expertise
Access to legal services and the law and government policy relating to legal aid Legal education, particularly clinical legal education
Fields of Research (FoR)
Law and Legal Studies, Human Rights and Justice IssuesSEO tags
Biography
Frances has worked with the Aboriginal Legal Service and the Legal Aid Commission of New South Wales. She spent seven years with Redfern Legal Centre where she was Principal Solicitor also undertaking extensive work in community legal education. As Director of Kingsford Legal Centre she introduced significant changes and expansion to the clinical programs run by the Centre. She was also Principal Solicitor at the Centre and responsible for...view more
Frances has worked with the Aboriginal Legal Service and the Legal Aid Commission of New South Wales. She spent seven years with Redfern Legal Centre where she was Principal Solicitor also undertaking extensive work in community legal education. As Director of Kingsford Legal Centre she introduced significant changes and expansion to the clinical programs run by the Centre. She was also Principal Solicitor at the Centre and responsible for supervision of the 4 staff lawyers and work of 50 volunteer lawyers working at the Centre. She is recognised as a specialist in legal aid issues and clinical legal education.
Frances' expertise was recognised by the invitation in 1999 to be the first Visiting Clinical Scholar at New York University for six months. In 2000 she received the Vice Chancellor's Award for Teaching Excellence at the University of New South Wales. In 2001 she was a recipient of a Quality Teaching Award from the NSW Minister for Education and Training and the Australian College of Education as well as the national 2001 Australian Universities Teaching Committee Award for University Teaching, Law and Legal Studies. In 2013 she was awarded a Teaching Excellence Award from UNSW Faculty of Law
She was appointed as Coordinator of the new School of Law Program at La Trobe's Bendigo campus in 2004. During her time in Victoria she designed, coordinated and taught an externship clinical legal education program entitled Rural and Regional Issues in Justice LAWS22RRJ for second year students and worked one day a week as a solicitor at the Loddon Campaspe Community Legal Centre working on community legal education and direct legal service provision to people in remote areas affected by drought.
She was Director of Experiential Learning at the Faculty of Law UNSW 2010 -2016. She completed her PhD on the history of Redfern Legal Centre and is currently back at UNSW as Director of Experiential Learning.
My Qualifications
BA/LLB (ANU)
Dip Crim (Uni of Syd)
LLM (La Trobe University)
PhD ( La Trobe University)
My Awards
2013 UNSW Faculty of Law Staff Award for Teaching Excellence.
2001 Australian Universities Teaching Committee Award for University Teaching, Law and Legal Studies.
2001 Quality Teaching Award from the NSW Minister for Education and Training and the Australian College of Education.
2000 Vice Chancellors Award for Teaching Excellence, University of New South Wales.
1999 Awarded First Visiting Clinical Scholarship at New York University, USA.
My Research Activities
Anna Cody and Frances Gibson ‘Universities and Social Justice’ in Social Justice and Legal Education (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2018).
Frances Gibson, ‘Redfern Legal Centre and the Prisoners Legal Service: A Short History’ [2018] UNSW Law Society Court of Conscience 34.
Frances Gibson 'Activists making legal history: the establishment of Redfern Legal Centre Icons: Proceedings of the 13th Australasian Urban History Planning History Conference Published Griffith University 2016 Gold Coast.
Mary Anne Noone and Frances Gibson ‘Going to court: access to legal assistance in Australia’ in Australian Courts: Serving Democracy and its Publics, Australian Institute of Judicial Administration (2013).
Frances Gibson, ‘Psychiatric disability and the practising lawyer in Australia’ (2012) 20(2) Journal of Law and Medicine 391.
Frances Gibson and Anna Cody, ‘Experiential Education’ in Michael Legg, The Future of Dispute Resolution (Lexis Nexis Butterworths, 2012).
Frances Gibson, ‘Beyond Human Rights: An International Agreement on Animal Rights?’ [2012] 6 UNSW Law Society Court of Conscience 29,
Frances Gibson, ‘Community Engagement in Action Creating Successful University Clinical Internships’ (2012) 1 African Journal of Clinical Legal Education and Access to Justice 1.
Frances Gibson, ‘Disability and the Legal Profession in the USA’ (2011) 19 Journal of Law and Medicine 101.
Frances Gibson and Allan Chay, 'Clinical Legal Education and Practical Legal Training' in Sally Kift et al, Excellence and Innovation in Legal Education (Lexis Nexis 2011).
Frances Gibson ‘The Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities :The Response of the Clinic’ (2011) International Journal of Clinical Legal Education 11.
Frances Gibson, ‘Article 13 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities- A right to legal aid?’ (2010) 15 (2) Australian Journal of Human Rights 123.
Frances Gibson and Francine Rochford, ‘Dispute Resolution in Rural and Regional Victoria’ (2010) 21 Australasian Dispute Resolution Journal 111.
Frances Gibson, ‘Drugs Discrimination and Disability’ (2009) 17 Journal of Law and Medicine 400.
Frances Gibson and Francine Rochford, ‘Emerging Consumer Credit Issues for Older Australians’ (2008) 12 University of Western Sydney Law Review 73.
Frances Gibson, ‘Legal Aid in Coroners Inquests’ (2008) Journal of Law and Medicine 587.
Frances Gibson, Financial and Consumer Credit Issues for Older Consumers in Victoria (Loddon Campaspe CLC, 2008) .
Frances Gibson, ‘Alternative Dispute Resolution in Residential Tenancy Cases (2007) 18 Australasian Dispute Resolution Journal 101.
My Teaching
Teaching in the UNSW internships courses