Lecturer
College of Business, Government and Law
Esther joined Flinders Law School as a lecturer in 2017. Prior to that she lived in Hong Kong, where she completed her PhD and worked at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Esther has a background in both civil and common law, with expertise in family law and human rights in France, England and Hong Kong. Her research focuses on ways in which the law and dispute resolution empower – or disempower – traditionally disadvantaged groups in society, such as children and minorities. She takes a specific interest in the horizontal effect of human rights (especially in relation to parental responsibility/authority/rights), parent-child dispute resolution, the right to education (particularly within the context of homeschooling), law & religion, and equality.
Esther recently published her monograph Religious Rights within the Family: From Coerced Manifestation to Dispute Resolution in France, England and Hong Kong with Routledge. Her latest article Hong Kong Boarding School Applications, High Conflict Divorce and Strategic Diversion: Is ‘Sending Child J Abroad’ the Solution? is available here.
Esther holds degrees from Utrecht University (LLB), Maastricht University (LLM) and The Chinese University of Hong Kong (PhD), although with the help of various scholarships, she has also studied at Tsukuba University, The University of Aix-en-Provence (Paul Cézanne) and The University of Leeds.
2013: CUHK-Leeds PhD Student Exchange (WUN), CUHK
2010: Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme, Hong Kong Government
2009: Top 3% Award, Maastricht University
2008: Erasmus Scholarship, European Union
2006: JASSO Short Term Exchange Scholarship, Japanese Government
Esther is the Book Review Editor for the Journal of Law, Religion and State, and is a member of the Management Committee of the Law & Society Association of Australia and New Zealand (LSAANZ).
Member, Asian Law and Society Association
Member, Association of Family and Concilliation Courts
Member, Hong Kong Family Law Association
Previously:
Executive Board member, Southgate Institute for Health, Society and Equity