William Partlett

William Partlett is an Associate Professor at Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne, where he writes and teaches in the field of public law. He holds a JD from Stanford Law School (2009), a DPhil in Modern History from the University of Oxford (2006, Clarendon Scholar), an MPhil in Russian and East European Studies from Oxford (2003), and an AB in Public and International Affairs from Princeton University (2001, magna cum laude). Before joining Melbourne Law School as Senior Lecturer in Public Law in July 2015, he was Assistant Professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong Faculty of Law (2014-2015), Postdoctoral Research Scholar, Associate-in-Law, and Lecturer at Columbia Law School (2012-2014), and Fellow at the Brookings Institution (2011-2012). Earlier roles include Community Service Fellow at the Office of the Federal Public Defender in Austin, Texas (2011), Judicial Clerk to the Honorable Phyllis A. Kravitch on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit (2009-2010), and law clerkships at Hogan & Hartson LLP, Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP in Almaty, Kazakhstan, and LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae LLP in Moscow and New York.

Partlett's research takes a historical and comparative approach to public law, focusing on constitutional law theory, constituent power, constitutional structures, the relationship between history and constitutional interpretation, and post-colonial constitutionalism in post-Soviet Eurasia, Russia, Australia, and the United States. He explores concepts such as crown-presidentialism, restoration constitution-making, and the elite threat to constitutional transitions. Key publications include the co-edited book The Post-Soviet as Post-Colonial: A New Paradigm for Understanding Constitutional Dynamics in the Former Soviet Empire (2022), 'Crown-Presidentialism' (International Journal of Constitutional Law, 2022), 'The American Tradition of Constituent Power' (International Journal of Constitutional Law, 2017), 'Is Socialist Law Really Dead?' (New York University Journal of International Law & Politics, 2016, with Eric Ip), 'The Dangers of Popular Constitution-Making' (Brooklyn Journal of International Law, 2012, recipient of the American Society of Comparative Law’s Younger Comparativists Prize), 'Courts and Constitution-Making' (Wake Forest Law Review, 2015), and his history book Building Soviet Citizens with American Tools: Russian Revolutions and S. T. Shatskii’s Rural Schools, 1905–1932 (2011). Additional honors include the Yegor Gaidar Fellowship (2014) and various research grants from Columbia University. Partlett speaks Russian, has consulted for the United Nations, provided expert advice on Russian law disputes, and supervises graduate students interested in history and constitutional law.

Professional Email: william.partlett@unimelb.edu.au