Dr Claerwen O'Hara

Overview

Dr Claerwen O'Hara is a Lecturer at Melbourne Law School. Claerwen’s research is focused on the theory, history and practice of public international law, with a particular emphasis on queer and feminist approaches to international law, alternative internationalisms, and international law and political economy. Claerwen’s work has also appeared in leading critical and international law journals, including the London Review of International Law and Law and Critique. Claerwen is the author of Consensus in International Law: Critical History, Queer Reimaginings (Oxford University Press, 2026). Along with Tamsin Phillipa Paige, they are also the editor of two books focused queer approaches to international law: Queer Encounters with International Law: Lives, Communities, Subjectivities (Routledge, 2024) and Queer Engagements with International Law: Times, Spaces, Imaginings (Routledge, 2024). Claerwen currently teaches Legal Research and Legal Theory in the Juris Doctor programme.

Claerwen is an editor of the Australian Feminist Law Journal (formally, managing editor). Between 2020 and 2025, Claerwen was also a co-chair of the Australian and New Zealand Society of International Law (ANZSIL) Gender, Sexuality and International Law Interest Group. Prior to joining Melbourne Law School, they worked as a Lecturer in Law at La Trobe University, a legal policy officer at the Victorian Department of Justice and Community Services, a researcher at the Victorian Law Reform Commission, and a judge’s associate at the Supreme Court of Victoria. Claerwen holds a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Arts from Monash University (2014), a Masters of Public International Law from Leiden University (2016), and a PhD in international law from Melbourne Law School (2023).

Memberships and Affiliations

• Editor, Australian Feminist Law Journal
• Member, Australia and New Zealand Society of International Law (ANZSIL)
• Member, ANZSIL Gender, Sexuality and International Law Interest Group
• Member, Law, Literature and Humanities Association of Australasia
• Admitted to practice as an Australian lawyer and officer of the Supreme Court of Victoria