Matthew Atkinson is a Senior Lecturer and legal practitioner with extensive experience in clinical legal education and community legal practice. He is Director of Adelaide University Law Clinics, and previously served as Managing Solicitor of the Legal Advice Clinic at the University of South Australia, where he led clinic operations and supported its development as a student-focused, community-facing legal service.
 
Before entering legal academia, Matthew practised for approximately seven years in the community legal centre sector at Northern Community Legal Service Inc in Adelaide’s northern suburbs, where he later served as Principal Solicitor. He represented South Australia on the National Association of Community Legal Centres in 2007, and again from 2009 to 2010.
 
Matthew teaches into the Legal Advice Clinic and Law Professional Placement courses, as well as Becoming a Lawyer. His teaching and scholarship focus on reflective practice, professional identity formation, and the role of clinical pedagogy in advancing social justice. His publications have appeared in the International Journal of Clinical Legal Education, Alternative Law Journal, Legal Education Review, UniSA Law Student Law Review, and the Law Society Bulletin. He is co-editor (with B Livings) of Contemporary Challenges in Clinical Legal Education: Role, Function and Future Directions (Routledge/Taylor & Francis, 2023), and has contributed chapters on reflective practice and emerging themes in CLE pedagogy.
 
Matthew holds a Bachelor of Business (Management) from Charles Darwin University and a Bachelor of Law and Legal Practice (Honours) from Flinders University.