Miss Bella Mickan
Higher Degree by Research Candidate
School of Law
College of Business and Law
Bella is a PhD Candidate, Associate Teacher and Research Assistant at Adelaide Law School. Her PhD considers the effectiveness of legal responses to sexual violence, focusing on alternative frameworks to the criminal justice system.
Bella holds an Honours Degree of Bachelor of Laws (First Class) from the University of Adelaide, and is admitted as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of South Australia and the High Court of Australia. Prior to commencing her PhD, she practised at the Crown Solicitor's Office (Attorney General's Department), acting for the State Government across a range of litigious matters, primarily in medical negligence, asbestos litigation and coronial inquests.
Bella’s PhD research focuses on publicly administered legal responses to sexual violence in South Australia. Her research examines three existing legal frameworks to understand how these pathways operate in practice and identify opportunities for reform. It explores the limitations of relying predominantly on the criminal law as the primary legal response to sexual violence, contributing to growing scholarship that considers alternative legal frameworks and their capacity to provide more meaningful justice outcomes for victim-survivors.
Beyond her PhD, Bella has been a Research Assistant at the Law School since 2021, contributing to a range of professional projects alongside academics, including work examining gender equity; bullying, discrimination and sexual harassment within the legal profession; and constitutional, public and administrative law issues.
| Date | Position | Institution name |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 - ongoing | Associate Teacher | Adelaide University |
| 2025 - 2025 | Sessional Teacher | Adelaide University |
| 2023 - 2025 | Solicitor | Attorney-General's Department |
| 2021 - ongoing | Research Assistant | Adelaide University |
| Date | Type | Title | Institution Name | Country | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Award | M.F. and P.J. Manetta Prize | University of Adelaide | Australia | - |
| 2022 | Award | Dean's Certificate in Comparative Constitutional Law | The University of Adelaide | Australia | - |
| 2021 | Award | Law & Justice Essay Award | The Law Foundation of South Australia Inc. | Australia | $1,500 |
| 2021 | Award | Justin Skipper Prize | The University of Adelaide | Australia | $300 |
| 2018 | Achievement | Psychology 1B High Achiever Award | The University of Adelaide | Australia | - |
| Date | Institution name | Country | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 - 2022 | The University of Adelaide | Australia | Honours Degree of Bachelor of Laws (First Class) |
| Date | Title | Institution | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 - 2023 | Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice | The College of Law | Australia |
| Date | Title | Institution name | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Admission to Practice as a Barrister and Solicitor | Supreme Court of South Australia | - |
| 2023 | Admission to Practice as a Barrister and Solicitor | High Court of Australia | - |
| Year | Citation |
|---|---|
| 2022 | Mickan, B., & Puntillo, M. (2022). The Past, Present and Future of Law Reform in South Australia: Paving the way Forward. Adelaide Law Review. |
| Year | Citation |
|---|---|
| 2022 | Mickan, B. (2022). "I have never studied such a course before."- The role of digital technology in enabling novel, engaging courses. In Paper presented at HERGA Conference. University of Adelaide. |
Bella teaches across multiple courses at the Law School and contributes to course development across a range of subjects, including Civil Dispute Resolution (final-year Civil Procedure), Becoming a Lawyer (final-year Ethics), Criminal Law (third-year) and Tort Law (first-year).
| Date | Role | Board name | Institution name | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 - 2023 | Representative | The Faculty of Professions | The University of Adelaide | Australia |
| Date | Role | Committee | Institution | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 - ongoing | Representative | College of Business and Law Student Engagement Committee | Adelaide University | Australia |
| Date | Role | Editorial Board Name | Institution | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 - 2022 | Editor | Adelaide Law Review | The University of Adelaide Law School | Australia |
| Date | Office Name | Institution | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 - ongoing | Graduate Research Student Representative (School of Law) | Adelaide University | Australia |
| 2022 - 2023 | Vice President | The Adelaide University Law Students' Society (AULSS) | Australia |
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