Rate My Professor Michael Quinlan

Professor Michael Quinlan is Emeritus Professor and former National Head of the School of Law and Business at The University of Notre Dame Australia. He holds a BA, LLB, and LLM from the University of New South Wales, an MA in Theological Studies with High Distinction from The University of Notre Dame Australia, and a Legal Practice Course in Civil Litigation. Admitted as a solicitor in New South Wales in 1989, Western Australia in 1999, Queensland in 2000, and the High Court of Australia in 1989, he pursued a 23-year career at Allens, serving as a partner for over 14 years. His practice concentrated on commercial litigation, specializing in insolvency and insurance law. Quinlan was a longstanding member of Allens’ Pro Bono Committee, emphasizing refugee and migration appeals as well as support for charities and individuals.

Assuming academic leadership roles from 2013, Quinlan served as Dean of the School of Law, Sydney, within the Law faculty. He is Vice President of the St Thomas More Society, a board member of Freedom For Faith, a member of the Legal Profession Admissions Board, and an advisory board member of the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney’s Anti-Slavery Taskforce. His academic interests include religious freedom, law and religion, bioethics, jurisprudence, and insolvency law. Prominent publications feature his editorship of Religious Freedom in Australia – a new Terra Nullius? (Shepherd Street Press, 2019, with Iain T. Benson and A. Keith Thompson) and the forthcoming Religious Freedom in Australia – the challenge of inclusion? (2020). Key chapters encompass “An unholy patchwork quilt: The inadequacy of protections of freedom of religion in Australia” (2019) and “Born (Again) This Way: Why The Inherent Nature of Religiosity Requires a New Approach to Australia’s Discrimination Laws” (2018). Notable journal articles include “Marriage, Tradition, Multiculturalism and the Accommodation of Difference in Australia” (2016, The University of Notre Dame Australia Law Review), “Enforcing Conformity: Criminalising Religiously Inspired Acts” (2019, Australian Law Journal), “Christianity and the law: Trial separation or acrimonious divorce?” (2018, Western Australian Jurist), and “Such is Life: Euthanasia and capital punishment in Australia” (2016, Solidarity: The Journal of Catholic Social Thought and Secular Ethics). In insolvency, he edited Allens Arthur Robinson Directors' Duties During Insolvency (Thomson LBC, 2nd ed., 2006). Quinlan earned recognition as a leading Australian insurance and reinsurance lawyer (Euromoney Guide, 2004) and insolvency/restructuring practitioner (Chambers Global/Asia Pacific, Band 1-3, 2003-2011). His influence includes editorial contributions as co-editor of INSOL World (2004/2005) and service on international insolvency committees.