Katie Robertson
Assistant Director, Melbourne Law School Clinics
Research Fellow, Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness
Coordinator - Stateless Children Legal Clinic
+61 3 8344 2640 | katie.robertson@unimelb.edu.au
Overview
Katie Robertson is the Assistant Director of the Melbourne Law School Clinics at the Melbourne Law School, and a Research Fellow at the Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness.
In 2021, she founded the Stateless Children Legal Clinic, with support from the Hiam Chalouhy Grant (The Cameron Foundation). She is proud to lead the Clinic’s work in assisting stateless children to obtain Australian citizenship.
Katie brings over 10 years practical legal experience to her role at the Melbourne Law School in human rights, public interest litigation and the community legal sector both in Australia and overseas. Prior to joining the Melbourne Law School, Katie worked at the Human Rights Law Centre, in Maurice Blackburn’s Social Justice Practice, the Aboriginal Legal Service in Central Australia, and at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia. She also has policy and political experience, having worked at Oxfam Australia and as an advisor for a Federal Senator. She has extensive strategic litigation experience and has represented clients from diverse backgrounds including victims of war crimes, refugees and people seeking asylum, Aboriginal clients living in remote communities and victims of corporate misconduct and asbestos disease.
Through her work on behalf of refugees and people seeking asylum in Australia, Katie developed a particular interest in the rights of stateless children.
Katie coordinates and teaches in the Public Interest Law Clinic and the Stateless Children Legal Clinic.
Katie is also co-chair of the Stateless Children Australia Network, a network aimed at developing knowledge regarding stateless children in Australia and increasing pathways to legal assistance.
Publications:
- ‘A Place to Call Home – Shining a Light on Unmet Legal Need for Stateless Children in Australia (March 2021) (view here)
- SBS News, ‘We need to do more to help stateless children realise their right to Australian citizenship,’ (K Robertson & S Dale) 25 March 2021 (view here)
- Pursuit, ‘What about those left out of the stimulus package?’ (K Robertson) 7 May 2020 (view here)
- Pursuit, ‘Detention increases Covid-19 Risk,’ (K Robertson & M Foster) 17 April 2020 (view here)
- The Guardian, ‘Stateless is a TV show – but it’s also the harsh reality behind the wire in Australian detention,’ (K Robertson & M Foster) 3 March 2020 (view here)