Mr Barry Yau ~ Associate Lecturer, Law

Barry lectures in law to undergraduate students at James Cook University, Cairns campus.  Barry’s primary teaching philosophy is that even if the law is dry and prosaic, its teaching can be vibrant and engaging for students whether or not they intend to enter legal practice.  Barry is a proponent of the teaching-research nexus, where he draws upon his research insights (along with pop culture references) to complement the teaching experience for his on-campus and online students.

Since 2013, Barry has led a longitudinal research project that follows a sample of law students and early career lawyers.  As part of this qualitative research, Barry is exploring themes of wellbeing and work-life balance, along with factors, forces and choices shaping the trajectory of life, family and career journeys.  So far Barry has published research findings in three journal articles and one book chapter in Australia and the UK.  Barry has also presented his research findings at conferences in Australia and internationally.

Barry has blogged about his experience of delivering three teaching models at the same time: asynchronous online, on-campus synchronous, and online synchronous.

Prior to joining James Cook University, Barry was a senior lecturer at the Australian National University and the University of New South Wales.  Barry taught practical legal training online at these two universities, where he convened commercial and corporate law, and consumer law, with the support of a dedicated team of legal practitioners/mentors.  Barry also worked as a lawyer in government and private practice for 13 years, including a stint as an Australian Volunteer Abroad lawyer in Papua New Guinea.  Barry also spent several years in the UK where based at the University of Warwick, he was the Project Manager of the SAFE Project.  The project, which was supported by a 12 million euro grant from the European Union, researched the implementation of routine and cost-effective non-invasive prenatal diagnosis.

Teaching

• LA1102: Legal Research, Writing and Analysis (Level 1; CNS & TSV)
• LA1107: Contemporary Practice: The New Lawyer (Level 1; CNS)
• LA2019: Torts A - Specific Torts (Level 2; CNS & TSV)
• LA2020: Torts B - Negligence (Level 2; CNS)

Interests

Research

• Longitudinal studies, Professional legal training, perceptions of career success, work-life balance, wellbeing

Teaching

• Student engagement, online education

Research Disciplines

• Law in context (4804)
• Legal systems (4805)
• Commercial law (4801)

Socio-Economic Objectives

• law, politics and community services (2399)
• Justice and the law (2304)

Awards

• 2022 - Sessional Teaching Award, College of Business, Law and Governance, James Cook University
• 2022 - Award for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning, School of Law, Society and Criminology, University of New South Wales
• 2020 - Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning, ANU College of Law, Australian National University

Fellowships

• 2018 - Senior Fellow, Higher Education Academy

These are the most recent publications associated with this author. To see a detailed profile of all publications stored at JCU, visit ResearchOnline@JCU. Hover over Altmetrics badges to see social impact.

Journal Articles

• Yau B (2020) Reshaping the teaching–research nexus: connecting with students through research blogging (with an autoethnographic perspective) before they become lawyers. The Law Teacher, 54 (2). pp. 261-284
• Yau B and Catanzariti D (2020) At Play in the Field of Dreams: Theorising Attitudes, Perceptions and Practices of Law Students in conjunction with the Reflections of Early Career Commercial Lawyers. Law in Context, 37 (1). pp. 114-133
• Yau B (2019) The creeping corporatisation of consumer guarantee remedial relief: Implications of Australian Competition and Consumer Commission v LG Electronics Australia Pty Ltd on the Australian Consumer Law. Competition and Consumer Law Journal, 27 (1). pp. 54-75

Book Chapters

• Yau B, Catanzariti D and Atkinson J (2019) The Information Gap: A comparative study of the paradigms shaping perceptions of career success for law undergraduates and professional legal training students in Australia and the latent implications of non-professional legal career opportunities for law. In: Educating for Well-Being in Law: Positive Professional Identities and Practice. Routledge, Abingdon, UK, pp. 74-88

Other research outputs

• Yau B and Catanzariti D (2018) Perceived ethical duties of corporate and in-house lawyers. The Australian Corporate Lawyer, 29 (1). pp. 8-9
• Yau B and Catanzariti D (2018) Bridging the Information Gap. Law Institute Journal, 2018 (June). pp. 40-43