Rate My Professor David Birchall

Dr. David Birchall is a Senior Lecturer at Macquarie University Law School and serves as Deputy Director of the Business and Human Rights Access to Justice Lab. He earned his PhD in Law from City University of Hong Kong in 2019. Prior to his current role, Birchall was a Senior Lecturer in Law at London South Bank University and a Visiting Fellow at City University of Hong Kong School of Law. His research investigates business-related human rights issues, with a focus on socio-economic rights, corporate power and accountability, law and political economy, and access to justice for human rights violations linked to business activities. Birchall's work addresses critical topics such as corporate human rights due diligence, governance gaps in business and human rights legislation, and the structural obligations of states and corporations in protecting socio-economic rights.

Birchall has contributed significantly to the academic discourse through key publications. He co-edited the Research Handbook on Human Rights and Business with Surya Deva (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2020), which includes his chapters 'The Role of Civil Society and Human Rights Defenders in Corporate Accountability' and 'From "Business or Human Rights" to "Business and Human Rights": What Next?'. Other notable works include 'Corporate Power over Human Rights: An Analytical Framework' (2021), 'Human Rights and Political Economy: Addressing the Legal Construction of Poverty and Rights Deprivation' (2022), 'Business Strategy as Human Rights Risk' (2023, co-authored with Nadia Bernaz), 'The Structural Obligations Approach to Human Rights', 'The Binding Treaty on Business and Human Rights' (submitted 2025), and 'Some of Australia's Largest Companies are Failing to "Know and Show" Their Respect for Human Rights' (2025, co-authored with Ebony Birchall and Surya Deva). Additionally, he co-authored 'Closing the Governance Gap? Business and Human Rights Legislation in Australia' (2025). Through these contributions and his leadership in the Lab, Birchall influences policy and scholarly debates on enhancing corporate responsibility for human rights globally and in Australia.