Dr Constance Lee
Lecturer, Law
School of Law
College of Business and Law
Dr. Constance Lee is a Lecturer at the University of Adelaide School of Law, where her research and teaching focus on the intersection of constitutional law and jurisprudence. She was awarded her PhD from the University of Queensland in 2021, building on over a decade of inquiry into the philosophical foundations of law. Her work specifically examines how concepts of human nature and conscience serve to ground legal obligations within the public sphere.
Research and Publications
Dr. Lee’s scholarship spans various fields, including legal theory, Australian and comparative constitutional law, and constitutional theory. Her research has been featured in prestigious domestic and international journals, such as: Oxford Journal of Law and Religion, Sydney Law Review, Law and Critique, Australian Journal of Legal Philosophy, International Journal of Law and Society.
In addition to her articles, she is an editor, having co-edited the Research Handbook of Natural Law Theory (Edward Elgar, 2019) and Jurisprudence and Theology: The Australian School (Routledge, 2026) and author of a forthcoming book titled, Natural Law and the Nature of Government: John Calvin's Constitutional Theology (Routledge, 2026).
Professional Experience and Affiliations
Beyond her academic contributions, Dr. Lee brings a strong practical dimension to her work, drawing on more than six years of experience in criminal law practice. She is actively involved in the broader legal and philosophical community through several key roles:
External Fellow: Centre for Public, International and Comparative Law (CPICL).
Organising Committee Member: Jurisprudence and Theology Symposium
Committee Member: Australian Association of Constitutional Law (SA Chapter)
Member: Australasian Society of Legal Philosophy.
Dr Constance Lee’s research is situated at the intersection of Constitutional Law, Jurisprudence, and Theological Legal Theory. Her work is characterised by a comparative approach, often bridging Western Reformation thought with Eastern philosophical traditions.
- Natural Law & Conscience: Her most cited work explores the role of "conscience" as a grounding for legal obligation. She specifically focuses on the Calvinist tradition and its influence on modern constitutionalism.
- Duty-Based Constitutionalism: A recurring theme in her recent work is the shift from "rights-based" to "duty-based" legal frameworks, often comparing the works of John Calvin and Confucian philosophy.
- Institutional Integrity: She has contributed significant research to the study of "constitutional silences" and the preservation of judicial independence within democratic institutions.
| Language | Competency |
|---|---|
| English | Can read, write, speak, understand spoken and peer review |
| French | Can read, write, speak and understand spoken |
| Korean | Can read, write, speak and understand spoken |
Teaching & Leadership
Dr Lee is a Lecturer in Law with a track record of excellence in curriculum design and student mentorship across four major Australian universities. Her teaching is characterised by a "research-led" approach that bridges the gap between complex theory and practical legal skills. Moreover, her teaching is informed by six years of practice as a criminal law solicitor, allowing her to provide "practice-ready" context to theoretical concepts.
Dr Lee's multi-lingual proficiency (English, Korean and French) also enables her to offer students a comparative global perspective on law. This comparative approach helps her to foster students' soft legal skills like relational intelligence, whilst her understanding of different constitutional arrangements (both horizontally and historically) means that she can help graduates to navigate often complex cultural and historic environments in a nuanced manner.
Previous Tenure & Institutional Impact
University of South Australia (UniSA): Lecturer and Course Coordinator in Constitutional Law (LAWS2008) and Community Justice Project (LAWS1028) (2024).
Central Queensland University (CQU): Served as First Year Discipline Lead; Orientation Coordinator (2021-2023). She was the lecturer and course co-ordinator for core courses like Statutory Interpretation (LAWS11059), Jurisprudence (aka later, Theories of Law and Justice, LAWS13016), and Constitutional Law (LAWS11065).
University of Queensland (UQ): Sessional Law Academic and Research Associate (2012-2018, delivering foundational courses like Constitutional Law, Jurisprudence, and electives such as, Asian Legal Systems, International Humanitarian Law, and Advanced Jurisprudence.
Queensland University of Technology (QUT): Language and Learning Educator (2018-2019), specialised in equipping law students with the academic literacy skills required for success in the rigorous study of law.
Teachings Awards and Recognition
- Unstoppable Nominee Award at the University of South Australia (UniSA) in Constitutional Law (2024)
- The Student Voice Award for Legal Theory (2020)
- The Platinum Teaching Award for Statutory Interpretation at the Central Queensland University (CQU) (2019)
- The Best Tutor for a Core Law Course (2013) at the University of Queensland (2013) for Jurisprudence.
Pedagogical Philosophy
Her teaching philosophy is grounded in a natural law epistemology - an approach which rejects the reduction of rules to a repository of legal rules. Instead, she endeavours to teach law as a dynamic enterprise of intentional, language-based deliberation. Drawing on her extensive research of natural law theory, legal and practical reasoning, she strives to guide students to view that "thinking like a lawyer" presupposes an epistemic process that both accounts for law's normative source and its practical function.
Her teaching thus, places heavy emphasis on Socratic reasoning and the dialectical thinking. She encourages students to view legal discourse not as a static retrieval of history, but as an integrated whole - moving beyond "black letter" learning the legal rules to engaging in the authentic process of identifying and considering the underlying reasons for application.
In an era marked by globalisation and dominated increasingly by Artificial Intelligence, her focus on the natural law methodology equips students with an indispensable skill which is uniquely human: the ability to engage in complex, value-laden practical thinking. In this, she is dedicated to expanding the Work Integrated Learning (WIL) initiative within the Adelaide Law School, to ensure that our graduates can enter the workforce with a profound sense of their professional duties and a robust capacity for critical and ethical reflection.
Connect With Me
External Profiles
Available For Media Comment.