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Associate Professor Ellen Rock

Associate Professor Ellen Rock

Associate Professor
Law & Justice
School of Global & Public Law

Ellen is an Associate Professor in the UNSW Faculty of Law & Justice and a member of the Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law. Ellen's primary area of research interest is government accountability and liability, investigating the different legal and non-legal mechanisms that are used to control government power. Ellen's research focuses on themes of government corruption, public trust and accountability structures. Ellen also has a strong interest in the relationship between principles of public law (eg administrative law) and private law (eg torts), and the use of private litigation as a tool of government accountability. Ellen's monograph Measuring Accountability in Public Governance Regimes (Cambridge University Press, 2020) offers a framework for the study of accountability "gaps" and "overloads" in government administration, exploring the negative consequences of both "not enough" and "too much" accountability. Ellen's current research projects are focussed on understanding the most effective ways to enforce and enhance government accountability.

Before her move to academia, Ellen worked as a practicing litigator specialising in administrative law and government liability at Corrs Chambers Westgarth. She currently holds an appointment as an independent legal adviser to the NSW Legislative Council Regulation Committee, assisting the Committee in scrutiny of delegated legislation.

Ellen teaches Administrative Law at UNSW and is available to supervise higher degree research students.

  • Books | 2020
    Rock E, 2020, Measuring accountability in public governance regimes,
    Books | 2019
    Boughey J; Rock E; Weeks G, 2019, Government Liability: Principles and Remedies, LexisNexis,
  • Book Chapters | 2024
    Rock E, 2024, 'Government Liability and the Will of Parliament', in Rolph D; Eldridge J; Pilkington T (ed.), Australian Tort Law in the 21st Century, Federation Press,
    Book Chapters | 2023
    Rock E, 2023, 'Questions of Measurement: Striking an Accountability Balance', in Questions of Accountability Prerogatives, Power and Politics, pp. 39 - 60,
    Book Chapters | 2018
    Rock E, 2018, 'Fault and Accountability in Public Law', in The Unity of Public Law?: Doctrinal, Theoretical and Comparative Perspectives, Hart Publishing, Oxford, pp. 171 - 192,
  • Journal articles | 2023
    Rock E; Weeks G, 2023, 'Getting What You Want From Administrative Law', AIAL Forum, 108, pp. 88 - 109,
    Journal articles | 2023
    Rock E, 2023, 'Causation in Public Law', Australian Journal of Administrative Law, 30, pp. 56 - 80,
    Journal articles | 2022
    Rock E, 2022, 'Government liability for false imprisonment: Thoms v Commonwealth [2022] HCA 20', Australian Journal of Administrative Law, 29, pp. 157 - 161,
    Journal articles | 2020
    Rock E, 2020, 'Brett Cattle: a New Lease on Life for Misfeasance?', Public Law Review, 31, pp. 365 - 369,
    Journal articles | 2020
    Rock E, 2020, 'Resolving Conflicts at the Interface of Public and Private Law', Australian Law Journal, 94, pp. 381 - 394,
    Journal articles | 2019
    Boughey J; Rock E; Weeks G, 2019, 'Remedies for Government Liability: Beyond Administrative Law', AIAL Forum, 97, pp. 57 - 74,
    Journal articles | 2019
    Rock E, 2019, 'Misfeasance in Public Office: A Tort in Tension', MELBOURNE UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW, 43, pp. 337 - 368,
    Journal articles | 2018
    Rock E; Weeks G, 2018, 'Monetary awards for public law wrongs: Australia’s resistant legal landscape', The University of New South Wales Law Journal, 41, pp. 1159 - 1186,
    Journal articles | 2018
    Rock E, 2018, 'Book Review: Australian Constitutional Values', Australian Journal of Administrative Law, 25, pp. 253 - 254,
    Journal articles | 2017
    Rock E, 2017, 'Accountability: A Core Public Law Value?', AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF ADMINISTRATIVE LAW, 24, pp. 189 - 203
  • Reports | 2024
    Rock E; Boughey J, 2024, Submission to House of Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs ‘Inquiry into the Administrative Review Tribunal Bill 2023 and the Administrative Review Tribunal (Consequential and Transitional Provisions No.1) Bill 2023’, Commonwealth Government, Australia, Submission 13,
    Reports | 2023
    Rock E; Boughey J, 2023, Submission to the Administrative Review Taskforce ‘Administrative Review Reform: Issues Paper’, Commonwealth Government, Australia
    Reports | 2021
    Rock E, 2021, Submission to the Commonwealth Attorney-General's Department on the Commonwealth Integrity Commission consultation draft, Australian Government: Attorney-General's Department, Submission 100,
    Reports | 2019
    Lee K; Rock E, 2019, The Impact of Information Technologies on the Teaching of Administrative Law, Centre for Professional Legal Education Bond University, Robina Queensland,
    Conference Papers | 2018
    Rock E; Rock E, 2018, 'Mapping the Relationship Between Excess of Power and Government Liability in Tort', Banff, Alberta, presented at Obligations X, Banff, Alberta, 11 July 2018 - 14 July 2018
    Conference Papers | 2018
    Rock E, 2018, 'Locating the Courts within the Australian Accountability System', Melbourne Law School, presented at Public Law Conference 2018: The Frontiers of Public Law, Melbourne Law School, 11 July 2018 - 13 July 2018
    Conference Papers | 2016
    Rock E, 2016, 'What were they thinking? The role of fault in public law and accountability as a unifying theme', University of Cambridge, presented at Public Law Conference 2016: The Unity of Public Law?, University of Cambridge, 12 September 2016 - 14 September 2016
  • Media | 2021
    Rock E, 2021, Superimposing private duties on the exercise of public powers: Sharma v Minister for the Environment,