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Prof Des Butler - School of Law |
ProfessorLLB (Hons), PhD (QUT) Contact: Room: C321 (Gardens Point campus) Before joining the Faculty of Law full-time in January 1989 Des was employed by Brisbane solicitors Feez Ruthning (now Allens Arthur Robinson) and practised in the areas of commercial litigation (specialising in insurance litigation) and banking and finance. A former law medallist and dux of the then QIT (now QUT) Law School, he also tutored Torts part-time in the Faculty from 1985-87. He became a senior lecturer in 1995, Associate Professor in 2001 and Professor in 2004. He was appointed Assistant Dean, Research from November 1997 to 2002. In 1996 he completed his doctorate on the topic "Evaluation of Judicial Approaches to Determining Tortious Liability for Psychiatric Injury Independent of Physical Injury Caused by Negligence in Australia and England". His major publications include Butler and Duncan, "Maritime Law in Australia" (1992) (Legal Books); the tutorial book Butler, "Contract Law: Questions and Answers" (1st edn 1999, 2nd edn 2005) (Lexis Nexis); the monograph Butler and Rodrick, "Australia Media Law" (1st ed 1999, 2nd edn 2004, 3rd edn 2007) (Thomson Lawbook); the monograph Willmott, Christensen and Butler, "Contract Law" (1st edn 2001, 2nd edn 2005) (OUP); the monograph Butler, "Employer Liability for Workplace Trauma" (2002) (Ashgate); the monograph Butler, "Damages for Psychiatric Injury" (2004) (Federation Press); and the monograph Butler and Mathews, "Schools and the Law" (2007) (Federation Press). He is currently working on a third edition of “Contract Law” with Sharon Christensen and Dr Bill Dixon. He is currently a member of the editorial board of the Torts Law Journal. He has written numerous articles, particularly in the areas of liability for psychiatric injury, negligence, defamation, contract law, and privacy. He is lead Chief Investigator for the project "Teachers Reporting Child Sexual Abuse: Towards Evidence-based Reform of Law, Policy and Practice" which attracted an Australian Research Council Discovery grant in the amount of $250,000 for the 2006-2008 period. He is also lead Chief Investigator for the project “Cyberbullying in Schools” which is funded in the amount of $15,000 by a Law Faculty Special Projects grant. Des received Law Faculty awards for Research Excellence in 1992 and 2003 and for Achievement in Research in 2004, and in 2000 received a University Award for Outstanding Academic Contribution for his research. Des has been involved in a number of multi-media projects designed to improve teaching and learning. He wrote and produced the CECL computer tutorial and its later on-line version OSCaR in Contracts, wrote portions of and produced all video segments for the Crimson Parrot project and was a member of design and management teams for the LawSim template, as well as writing and producing modules using the template for the units Contracts (the "Whiskey Bravo" modules), Torts (the “Vlad’s of Matavia” module) and "The Merlin Affair", a multimedia program fully integrated into the teaching and learning of Media Law. He also wrote and produced "Viva: the Video", an instructional video for students undertaking oral examinations and created "The Contracts Vignettes" podcasts, a series of on-line multimedia segments for Contract Law students.. This was the first use of podcasting in the Law Faculty. He is currently the leader of the project team creating “Air Gondwana”, an on-line suite of modules designed to give students instruction in the theory and practice of negotiation, which is scheduled to be offered to students from 2008. This project is funded by a $22,000 University Small Teaching Grant. In 2006 he was awarded a prestigious national Carrick Australia Award for Teaching Excellence in the Law, Economics, Business and Related Fields category. He has also received a Law Faculty Teaching Excellence Award in 2004, a Vice-Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Award in 2005 for his innovations in teaching and learning, particularly "The Merlin Affair", a University Innovator’s Award in 2006 (nominated by students) for “The Merlin Affair” and a Law Faculty Citation for Contribution to Student Learning in 2007 for “The Contracts Vignettes” podcasts. Units currently taught:Research Interests:
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