Penelope Carruthers is a Senior Lecturer in the UWA Law School at the University of Western Australia, where she serves as the International Student Advisor (Academic) for Law. She is also an Honorary Fellow of the UWA Law School and coordinates the Law School's Internship programme. Carruthers teaches Property and Land Law units. She holds the degrees of BA, LLB, BJuris, LLM, and PhD, all from the University of Western Australia. Her doctoral thesis, completed in 2018, examined 'The Australian Torrens system principle of immediate indefeasibility: Is it 'fit for purpose' for the 21st century?'.

Carruthers' research interests lie in Property Law, Land Law, Equity, Trusts, and Legal Education. She is a member of the UWA Private and Commercial Law Research Cluster. Her scholarship focuses on the Torrens system, indefeasibility principles, exceptions to indefeasibility, mortgagor protections, and pedagogical developments in property law teaching. Key publications include 'Occupation of Land: General law, retail and residential leases' (2022); 'Assessment, skills and outcomes: The changing approaches of Australian property law teachers' (2021, with Kate Galloway and Natalie Skead); 'Ben-Pelech v Royle: Adverse possession alive and well in Western Australia' (2021); 'From immediate to deferred to no indefeasibility for some registered mortgages' (2020, with Natalie Skead); 'Teaching property law in a changing world: A longitudinal study 2011–19' (2020, with Kate Galloway and Natalie Skead); 'Exploring the fundamentals: Indefeasibility, in personam, proprietary estoppel and Van Dyke v Sidhu' (with Natalie Skead); 'Rights to renew and to purchase in registered leases: Part II — A real or imagined distinction?' (2016, with Natalie K. Skead); and contributions to 'Australian Property Law: Principles to Practice'. Additional works cover topics such as the Registrar's powers of correction ('Alive and well', though perhaps 'unwelcome'?, Parts I and II, 2010), fraud against the Registrar under the Torrens system (2014, with Natalie Skead), and innovations in legal education, including 'Taking up the challenge: embedding, mapping and maintaining threshold learning outcomes in the transition to the JD – the UWA experience' (2013, with Natalie Skead, Sarah Murray, and others). Her publications demonstrate a sustained engagement with both doctrinal property law issues and enhancements to legal pedagogy in Australian law schools.

Professional Email: penny.carruthers@uwa.edu.au