Dr Constance Lee

Dr Constance is a Lecturer in law at the University of South Australia specialising in constitutional law and jurisprudence. She was awarded her PhD from the University of Queensland in 2021. For over a decade, her research has examined the philosophical foundations for law, examining issues like human nature and conscience to ground legal obligations in the public sphere. She has published across a broad range of fields of law, including legal theory, Australian constitutional law, constitutional theory and comparative law. Her work has appeared in leading international and Australian journals, including, Oxford Journal of Law and Religion, Sydney Law Review, Law and Critique, the Australian Journal of Legal Philosophy and the International Journal of Law and Society. She is co-editor for a book in a research series, Research Handbook of Natural Law Theory (Edward Elgar, 2019).

Constance has over six years of experience of practical legal experience in criminal law. She is an external fellow at the Centre for Public, International and Comparative Law (CPICL), a committee member of the Australian Association of Constitutional Law and a member of the Australasian Society of Legal Philosophy. 

Centre for Public, International and Comparative Law (CPICL) - External Fellow

Australasian Society of Legal Philosophy - Member

Korean Law Program (UQ) - Core Member

Queensland Law Society (since September 2012)

Roll of Attorneys and Solicitors of the Supreme Court of Queensland (since September 2012)

Australasian Society of Legal Philosophy (since 2013)

Australian Association of Constitutional Law - Committee Member (since 2024)

Qualifications

• Doctor of Philosophy University of Queensland

• Master of Laws

• Bachelor of Laws University of Queensland

Work history

Constance Lee commenced her Bachelor of Laws at the T.C. Beirne School of Law, University of Queensland on a Commonwealth Academic Excellence Scholarship in 2005, upon graduating high school with the highest ranked position in the State of Queensland in 2004. After graduating her LLB, she undertook practical legal training and was admitted as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of Queensland in 2012. She then completed her Master of Laws at the University of Queensland and was awarded the Dean's Commendation for Excellence in 2015. She completed her PhD entitled 'John Calvin's Constitutional Theology' in 2021 after being awarded the UQ Law HDR Research Excellence Award in 2020.

As a solicitor, she primarily engaged in criminal and civil litigation and regularly appeared in magistrates' and district courts throughout Queensland. She also made appearances in the Supreme court of Queensland, the Court of Appeal and Federal Circuit Court in Brisbane. In 2015, she made an application for special leave to the High Court of Australia. She has extensively engaged in pro bono work in the areas of employment (underpayment), family (domestic violence, marital fraud) and criminal law matters. She has a strong track record of community service through social justice forums such as the Refugee and Immigration Legal Service (RAILS) and Queensland Public Interest Law Clearing House (QPILCH).