Louise Floyd

Dr Louise Floyd is an Associate Professor of Law (full-time, permanent at JCU) and also a Barrister to the Supreme Court of Queensland. In 2011, Dr Floyd became the first Australian to win the MacCormick Fellowship to the University of Edinburgh Law School, Scotland (to which she returned briefly as Visitor in 2014 and 2017). She has also served as International Visiting Fellow at the Industrial & Labor Relations School at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA (2002, 2014, 2017 and 2022); Visiting Scholar at Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas, USA (2002, 2011, 2014 and 2017); and Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Public and Comparative Law at the University of Hong Kong Law School (2009 and 2010). From 2008-2016, Dr Floyd was Director of Research for Law at JCU; during her time in office, she led the Law School to an ERA ranking of 'at world standard' for its research, which it then retained for her entire period in the role. Dr Floyd also relieved (as required) as Acting Associate Dean of Research.

Publications

Dr Floyd's scholarly articles have been published on four continents and in some of the leading law journals in the world, eg: the Law Quarterly Review (UK); the Hong Kong Law Journal (Asia), the International Lawyer (USA), and the Australian Law Journal.

In 2023, Dr Floyd published her 6th book, Practical Employment Law (Thomson Reuters Publishing - foreword by Hon Justice Glenn Martin AM). Louise's prior works include Employment, Labour and Industrial Law in Australia (Cambridge University Press 2017) of which Louise was lead author. Louise is the sole author of the official history (monograph) of arguably Australia's leading public high school, Celebrating Brisbane State High School's Centenary 1921-2021 (foreword by Hon Justice Glenn Martin AM and Hon Justice Peter Applegarth AM), which traces the development of education in Queensland and the significant contribution of the school's graduates to many walks of life, especially the legal profession.

Dr Floyd's further publications include: sole authorship of Employment Law in a Nutshell (1st Edition Thompson Reuters 2010, second edition 2018); Chapter Thirty-Two (Workplace Law) in Australian Commercial Law from 1996-2008 (Law Book Company); a series of commentaries on topics ranging from terminating the bargaining period through to freedom of association in Butterworths' (now Lexis') Industrial Law Federal; and in 2023 Louise was one of a number of co-authors of Company Law: An Interactive Approach (published by Wiley Publishing).

Expertise; Degrees & Legal Practice

Dr Floyd's research expertise lies in the areas of:

• Australian and International Employment and Labour Law - including university & public sector employment; executive employment; trade union regulation; the law in China, the USA and the UK; workplace investigations and upstream bullying;
• Workplace Change eg automation/AI, the gig economy; globalisation, wellness/work-life balance;
• Regionalism in a Globalised World; and
• Judicial Working Conditions and Independence.

A former Special Counsel, Dr Floyd has, during her time as an academic, consulted (with honorarium) to the Hong Kong Government and guest lectured in the UK, North America and Asia (for example, the University of Tokyo's Centre for Soft Law and Policy). Dr Floyd appears regularly on television and radio, and has written Op Eds for The Courier Mail newspaper. Dr Floyd earned her degrees from the GO8 institutions: University of Sydney (PhD); and University of Queensland (LLB(Hons) and LLM(Research)). In 2021, she earned her Leadership Essentials Certificate from Cornell University (eCornell) New York, USA. Dr Floyd is a former Judge's Associate to Hon Justice MA McMurdo AC and co-founder of the JCU-Bar Association of Queensland Continuing Professional Development Series.

Teaching & Service

In 2017, Dr Floyd was the President of the Brisbane State High School Past Students' Association, having served as Vice President in 2015 and 2016. In 2014, 2015 and 2016, before an audience of 400 people, Dr Floyd was compere of the UN WOMEN International Women's Day Breakfast at Jupiter's/The Ville Casino, Townsville (which championed eg the protection of women against domestic violence). The year 2023 saw Dr Floyd serve as keynote speaker at that same event, speaking on developments in anti-discrimination law and also the workplace consequences of domestic violence.

In 2015, Dr Floyd was awarded Honorary Life Membership of the JCU Business Students' Society for services to academia and business. In her earlier career, as Sub Dean of the University of Queensland Law School (where Louise also held permanent tenure), she won three Excellence in Teaching Awards from the UQ Law Students' Society; was also a nominee for Excellence in Teaching across the entire university; and she won the UQ Promoting Women Fellowship.

High School & Primary School

As noted above, Dr Floyd is a proud alumna of Brisbane State High School (1980-84), where she graduated with the maximum 990 TE Score (she was academically ranked in the top 1% of students in the State); won the school's academic prizes for Ancient History, Economics and Proficiency (ie finishing in the top ten students of the school). Dr Floyd also Captained the Senior A Debating Team; made the State Debating Squad; played 'cello in the school orchestra and appeared in the chorus in the operattas: The Wizz and also Jesus Christ Superstar.

Prior to attending State High, Louise completed her primary education at the heritage-listed, 125-year-old East Brisbane State School, just as her father John had before her. Louise was House Captain of Kendall and enjoyed social tennis lessons, piano classes and convening the ABBA fan club.

Further Interests

In her spare time, Dr Floyd enjoys: reformer pilates (in 2022, Louise was inducted into the Studio Pilates Club for having completed 1000 classes), hula hooping and going for long walks. (She especially loves walking with her prepossessing Westies, Mackie III and Petal). Dr Floyd is a member of Animals Australia; the WWF Bequest Society (with a special interest in Koalas, the platypus, Carnaby's Black Cockatoo and the African Elephant and Lion); Bush Heritage (with a special dedication to the Night Parrot); and when it was operating, Louise sponsored turtles at The Reef HQ Turtle Hospital, Great Barrier Reef. Louise's love of animals has fostered her developing interest in animal law. To that end, Dr Floyd has served previously on the animal law pro bono panel for the Bar Association of Queensland (prosecuting for the RSPCA).

In addition to all of that, Dr Floyd is also a member of the Royal National Association (RNA) and counts The Ekka as her favourite time of year. Louise dedicates all her published works and her career to her late mother, Jessica, without whose love, guidance and support Louise would have got nowhere...