Professor Andrew Stewart

Biography

Andrew Stewart is Professor of Work and Regulation at Queensland University of Technology, an Adjunct Professor with Adelaide Law School, and a consultant to the law firm Piper Alderman. An Oxford law graduate, he held positions at the Universities of Adelaide and Sydney before moving to Flinders University in 1991 to help establish its law programme. During his time at Flinders he served as Dean of Law, Convenor of the Committee of Australian Law Deans, and President of the Australasian Law Teachers Association. From January 2008 to December 2024, he was the John Bray Professor of Law at the University of Adelaide, before taking up his current position in January 2025.

Andrew is a leading expert in employment law and workplace relations, but he also has expertise in the areas of contract law and intellectual property. He has written more than 25 books, as well as numerous articles for Australian and international journals. His most recent books include Contract Law: Principles and Context and new editions of Creighton and Stewart’s Labour Law, Stewart’s Guide to Employment Law and Intellectual Property in Australia, as well as Cooperation at Work: How Tribunals Can Help Transform Workplaces and two co-edited collections, The Wages Crisis in Australia and Internships, Employability and the Search for Decent Work Experience.

Andrew has been part of several teams awarded Australian Research Council funding, including Discovery Grants to examine the regulation of work experience and the organisation of work through digital platforms. Along with colleagues from QUT’s Centre for Decent Work and Industry he has helped design and analyse results from groundbreaking national surveys on both of those topics. His current research interests include non-standard forms of work, pay equity and transparency, the regulation of child work, the use of post-employment restraints, and the impact of recent changes to Australia’s main labour statute, the Fair Work Act.

Besides working with Piper Alderman, Andrew has provided expert advice to the International Labour Organization, to federal and State governments in Australia and to a wide range of other organisations. His work has included major reports commissioned by the Fair Work Ombudsman, the Department of Employment and the International Labour Organization on unpaid internships, and by the Fair Work Commission on equal remuneration claims. He also advised the Australian government on the drafting and structure of the Fair Work legislation.

Andrew is a Fellow of both the Australian Academy of Law and the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia. He is a former President of the Australian Labour Law Association, the Association of Industrial Relations Academics of Australia and New Zealand, and the Industrial Relations Society of South Australia.