Rate My Professor Sonya Willis

Dr Sonya Willis is a senior lecturer at Macquarie Law School, Macquarie University. She completed her PhD in Law at the University of Sydney, focusing on the interaction between case management, justice, and procedural fairness in civil litigation. She holds a Master of Laws from the University of Cambridge, a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Sydney, and was a university medallist in law at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). Before entering academia, Dr Willis practiced law for over 25 years, holding a New South Wales Practising Certificate. She served as a taxation specialist at an international accounting firm and as a senior associate in commercial dispute resolution at Blake Dawson, now known as Ashurst. She has been a Primary Ethics Teacher since 2011.

Dr Willis's research and teaching interests encompass civil procedure, procedural fairness and its effect on court processes, civil litigant vulnerability, civil and commercial litigation, alternative dispute resolution, private international law, international commercial arbitration, conflicts of law, international commercial litigation, legal education, and taxation. Currently, she is researching the potential for an online litigant vulnerability assessment tool. Her major publications include the books Civil Dispute Resolution: Balancing Themes and Theory (Cambridge University Press, 2021) and Civil Procedure (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012). Recent articles feature "Assessing law students in a GenAI world to create knowledgeable future lawyers" co-authored with Amanda Head (International Journal of the Legal Profession, 2024), "Making tax fairer not harder: how compliance changes may reduce the current inequities in Australia's taxation system" (UNSW Law Society Court of Conscience, 2024), "Direct speech evidence after Kane’s Hire and Gan v Xie: did you get the gist?" with Andrew Hack (LSJ Online, 2024), and "Can unbundled legal services rescue family law disputes?" (LSJ Online, 2025). Dr Willis is an editor of the Legal Education Review and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She serves as a member of the NSW Law Society's Litigation Law and Practice Committee and holds positions on the board and committees of Dunmore Lang College, including finance, governance, and risk committees. In 2024, she shared the Faculty of Arts Learning & Teaching Educational Leader Award for pioneering AI-enhanced learning across multiple disciplines.