Paul Michael O'Shea

Dr O’Shea has a long and proud association with the Law School. As an undergraduate he was President of the University of Queensland Law Society and Law Representative on the Union Council. After post graduate studies in the United States, he practiced as a commercial lawyer in the Brisbane CBD and as a community legal service lawyer specializing in consumer law.

Returning to The University of Queensland in 2000, he taught Business and Commercial Law. He developed and taught the first courses in consumer law and clinical legal education and co-founded the UQ Pro Bono Centre as well as representing the Law School teaching in China, Thailand, Singapore and Brunei.

His doctoral thesis, on “Addressing Inequality in Consumer Transactions” received the Commendation of the Dean of Post-Graduate Studies and his research has been cited with approval in a number of state Supreme Court judgments and, on several occasions, Hansard. He has published in a wide variety of areas with a focus on consumer law and has been described by the publishers of his last co-authored book, Routledge of London as “one of Australia’s leading consumer law researchers.”

Now practicing as principal of his own firm, he continues to teach courses for the Law School every year. He has advised government, industry and consumer groups on consumer law and is a Panel Member of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority; an External Compliance Reviewer approved by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission and serves on several boards and Queensland Law Society committees.

Selected publications

Books and book chapters

• Current author of “Mortgages and Securities” title of Halsbury’s Laws of Australia, Lexis Nexis, June 2017.
• Credit, Consumers and the Law, Joint Editor with Karen Fairweather and Ross Grantham, Routledge, London, 2017. Contribution to Introduction, curation of text and authored a chapter.
• “Regulatory Consistency and Powers”, Chapter 14 in Consumer Law and Policy in Australia and New Zealand, Malbon and L. Nottage (eds), Federation Press, 2013.
• The Legal Environment of Business, Thompson Law Book Co., Sydney, 2006.
• “Concerning Privacy of Debtor’s Information” Chapter in Consumer Credit Law, Butterworths, 2000
• “Consumer and Credit Law” in Lawyers Practice Manual 1998 update, (First Published 1994) Law Book Company.
• “Credit Law” Chapter in The Queensland Law Handbook, Caxton Legal Service, 1995
• “Edmund Barton” and “Herbert Evatt” chapters in Magill’s Great Lives in History: British and Commonwealth Edition, Salem Press, 1987.

Journal articles

• “Consumer Credit: Too much disclosure is not enough” (2009) 90(Jan-Feb) Precedent 22
• “The Lions’ Question applied to industry-based consumer dispute resolution schemes” (2006) 26(1) The Arbitrator and Mediator 63
• “In Defence of Consumer Law: The Resolution of Consumer Disputes” (2006) 28:1 Sydney Law Review
• “Style and Substance – The New Insurance Code of Practice” (2005) Insurance Law Journal 227
• “Consumer Credit Code Disclosure: Does it work?” (2005) 16 Journal of Banking and Finance Law and Practice
• “The complete law school-avoiding the production of ‘half-lawyers’”(2004) 29:6 Alternative Law Journal 272
• “All’s fair in love and war – but not contract” (2004) 23 University of Queensland Law Journal 226
• “Underneath the Radar: The largely unnoticed phenomenon of industry based consumer dispute resolution schemes in Australia” (2004) 15 Australasian Dispute Resolution Journal 156