Professor Robert Cunningham is Dean and Head of Curtin Law School, barrister within Murray Chambers and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law. He is also the National Law Lead of the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre and a director of the Australian Pro Bono Centre.

 

Throughout his professional career, he has engaged with the law in his capacity as both legal practitioner and academic.

 

As a legal practitioner Robert has provisioned legal advice, court advocacy and education within Community Legal Centres and the not-for-profit sector. In his barrister practise within Murray Chambers he focuses on Federal Court matters with an emphasis on corporate law, consumer protection, native title, intellectual property and constitutional law. He also takes briefs in relation to international trade law. And, as part of his active interest in public interest advocacy, Robert provides legal advice and representation to not-for-profit organisations.

 

In academia Robert has focused on how the law interfaces with international trade, ecological sustainability, and information governance. He has published numerous academic journal articles and books, as both sole-author and co-author, primarily in the fields of corporate law, intellectual property, and international trade law.

 

Robert is the author of Information Environmentalism: a governance framework for intellectual property rights published open access by Edward Elgar. The book applies analytical frameworks derived from environmental theory to construct a governance framework for the regulation of information in the 21st century. Reviews of this work can be found in the Oxford University Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, Queen Mary Journal of Intellectual Property and the Review of European & International Environmental Law. The book was summarily presented at an Australian Digital Alliance Conference at the National Library of Australia and it is also the subject of a presentation by Professor James Boyle from Duke University.

 

Robert has been embedded within various universities as a research scholar including the University of New South Wales, Melbourne University, Australian National University, New York Law School, University of California (Berkley), and Queen Mary College (London).

 

Along with a PhD from the Australian National University, he holds a Master of Laws (Hons), Bachelor of Laws (Hons), Bachelor of Business (Accounting) and a Graduate Certificate of Legal Practice from the University of Technology Sydney.

 

Robert continues to make teaching contributions in a number of subject areas including corporate law, international trade law,  information governance, professional responsibility and comparative anti-corruption law.

 

Select Publications Include:-

 

Research monographs:

 

Cunningham R. (forthcoming), A Shock to the System: Taser Use and Abuse in Western Australia and Accompanying Institutional Failures

 

Cunningham R. (2014), Information Environmentalism: a governance framework for Intellectual Property Rights, Edward Elgar Publishing

 

Textbooks:

 

Chapple, Baumfield, Copp, Cunningham, Kamalnath, Floyd and Wong (2023), Company Law: an interactive approach, Third Edition, Wiley

 

Chapple, Wong, Baumfield, Copp, Cunningham, Kamalnath, Watson and Harpur (2019), Company Law: an interactive approach, Second Edition, Wiley

 

Wong, Baumfield, Copp, Cunningham and Harpur (2016), Company Law: an interactive approach(ed. Professor Ellie Chapple), First Edition, Wiley

James, Chapple, Wong, Baumfield, Copp, Cunningham and Harpur (2016), Business and Company Law, First Edition, Wiley

 

Book Chapters:

 

Cunningham R. (2025), A Voice, Truth and Treaty Thought Experiment in The Anthropocene Judgments Poject: Futureproofing the Common Law, Edited by Nicole Rogers and Michelle Maloney, Routledge

 

Cunningham R., Papadopoulos M. and Koutras N. (2023), An Australian-Based View on Reconstructing Copyright Licensing Laws, in Comparative Approaches in Law and Policy, Springer

 

Cunningham R. (2018), Climate Change and Open Data: An Information Environmentalist Perspective, in Intellectual Property and Clean Energy: The Paris Agreement and Climate Justice, Springer Publication

 

Cunningham R. (2017), Information Environmentalism and Biological Data: A Thought Experiment, in Law as if the Earth Really Mattered: The Wild Law Judgment Project, Routledge Press

 

Cunningham R. (2007), The Road of Computer Code: Political Economic Dimensions of Copyleft and Legal Analysis of the General Public License, Handbook of Research on Open Source Software: Technological, Economic and Social Perspectives, Edited by St.Amant K. and Still B., Idea Group Inc., USA

 

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles:

 

Cunningham R. (in progress), Taser Paper: Evaluating Institutional Responses to Taser Use and Abuse in Western Australia

 

Tania S., Atkins M., Cunningham R. and Anawaratna A. (2023), Reimagining the Special and Differential Treatment Provisions in the WTO's Dispute Settlement Understanding, Asian Journal of International Law 1

 

Cunningham R. and Carr C. (2019), A Step Too Far? Analysing the stepping stone approach of section 180(1) of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth), 34(1) Australian Corporate Law Journal 58

 

Cunningham R. and Vindedzis S. (2018), Four Legs Good, Two Legs Bad? Animal Welfare vs the World Trade Organisation (featuring Article XX of

GATT and Article 2 of TBT), 38(2) Adelaide Law Review 311

 

Cunningham R. (2017), An Information Environmentalism Almanac: And Intellectual Property Governance Principles Here and There, 41(2) University of Western Australia Law Review 119

 

Cunningham R. (2010), The Separation of (Economic) Power: A Cultural Environmental Perspective of Social Production and the Networked Public Sphere, 11 Journal of High Technology Law 1

 

Cunningham R. (2010), The Tragedy of (Ignoring) the Information Semicommons: A Cultural Environmental Perspective, 4(1) Akron Intellectual Property Journal 1

 

Lucas T., Cunningham R. and Lamberton G. (2009), Small Business Engagement with Sustainability in Regional Australia, 13 (1) Journal of Economic and Social Policy 3

 

St. Amant K. and Cunningham R. (2009), Examining Open Source Software in Offshoring Contexts, 56(4) Technical Communication 361

 

Cunningham R. (2006), The Social Ecology of Information Ecosystems: Computer Code, Copyleft and the General Public Licence, 24(4) Copyright Reporter 208

 

Cunningham R. (2006), Predicting the Predicament: The World Trade Organisation and Biotechnological Agriculture via the EC - Biotech Case, 3 Macquarie Journal of Business Law 99

 

Cunningham R. (2005), The ABCs of GMOs, SPS & the WTO: a critical analysis of the Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement, 9 SCU Law Review 19

 

Cunningham R. and Lamberton G. (2005), Industrial Ecology and the Development of Eco-Industrial Estates, 3(1) Australasian Journal of Business and Social Inquiry

 

Book Review:

 

Cunningham R. (2010), Gifts: A Study in Comparative Law, 20(2) Anthropological Forum 171

 

Select Conference Presentations:-

 

Cunningham R. (2025), Information Governance in the Digital Age, Australasian Law Academic Association Conference, 4 July 2025 

 

Cunningham R. (2025), Navigating Misleading and Deceptive Conduct with Financial Products and Services, Australasian Law Academic Association Conference, 3 July 2025

 

Cunningham R. (2022), Separation of Economic Power and Social Production, Law, Technology & Labour International Symposium, Curtin Law School/Bologna University, 30 June 2022

 

Cunningham (2021), The Present and Future of Global Legal Studies, Global Law School Summit, 3 December 2021

 

Cunningham R. (2020), Law School Leadership, Institutional Resilience and Policy Innovations, Reimagining & Transforming the Future of Law Schools and Legal Education, Jindal Global Law School, 27 November 2020

 

Cunningham R. (2019), A Shock to the System: Taser Litigation, Rule of Law and Resilience, Duxton Hotel, Perth, Legal Aid WA Civil Law Day, 26 February 2019

 

Cunningham R. (2019), Teaching Information Environmentalism, Australasian Intellectual Property Scholar Conference, University of Tasmania, 12-13 February 2019 (forthcoming)

 

Cunningham R. (2018), Separation of Economic Power Doctrine, Law and Society Association of Australia and New Zealand Conference, University of Wollongong, 12-15 December 2018

 

Cunningham R. (2018), Information Environmentalism: An Introduction, North South Pacific Medical & Legal Conference, Whistler Canada, 7-14 January 2018

 

Cunningham R. (2017), Information Environmentalism and Biological Data: a hypothetical judgment, IP Academic Conference, Sydney University, 20-21 July 2017

 

Cunningham R. (2016), Information Environmentalism: an overview, Information Environmentalism Conference, Fremantle, 4-5 February 2016

 

Cunningham R. (2016), Information Environmentalism and Digital Data, Australian Digital Alliance, National Library of Australia, 18 March 2016

 

Cunningham R. (2015), Information Environmentalism and Climate Change, Intellectual Property and Climate Change: the Paris Accord, ANU College of Law

 

Cunningham R. (2014), Information Environmentalism: a thought experiment, Symbiotica, University of Western Australia

 

Cunningham R. (2013), Information Environmentalism: a governance framework for intellectual property rights, IP Academics Conference, Griffith University, February 2013

 

Cunningham R. (2012), Should the Information Commons Have Standing? Applying the Ecology Analytical Framework to IPRs, IP Academics Conference Adelaide University,13 July 2012

 

Cunningham R. (2011), Separation of (Economic) Power: Social Production and the Networked Public Sphere, IP Academics Conference UNSW, 4 February 2011

 

Cunningham R. (2010), Cultural Environmentalism and Creative Commons, Creative Commons Road Show Perth, State Library of Western Australia, 2 September 2010

 

Cunningham R. (2009), After the Crisis: A Paradigm Shift in Risk versus Return, Panelist, Green New Deal, The University of Western Australia, 18 September 2009

 

Cunningham R. (2009), The Social Ecology of Information Ecosystems: Computer Code, Copyleft and the General Public License, Impacts of Globalisation, Australian Global Studies Research Centre, The University of Western Australia, 13-14 August 2009

 

Cunningham R. (2009), The Tragedy of (Ignoring) the Information Semicommons, IP Academics Conference, 26-27 June 2009

 

Cunningham R. (2009), The Unwritten Exceptions, Discussant, Copyright Future Copyright Freedom, Canberra, 27-28 May 2009

 

Cunningham R. (2008), Critical Hardware Infrastructure and Open Source Innovation, Creating Value: Between Commerce and Commons, Brisbane, 25-27 June 200

 

Select Grants:-

 

Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre, Australian Research Council (2022-2032), Research Stream 4 Lead - RegTech with Algorithmic Real-Time Enforcement, with Reserve Bank of Australia, Macquarie Bank, Data 61 et al - $181,000,000 ($60 million Commonwealth Government; $121 million industry partners) 

 

The Australian Royal Commissions and Public Inquiries Library (2021/2022), Australian Research Council, Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities, with Prof Andrew Mowbray, A/Prof Philip Chung et al - $539,000.00

 

National Free Access: Coronial Findings, Recommendations and Responses (2020/2021), Australian Data Research Commons, Public Bridges Program, with Prof Andrew Mowbray, Judge John Cain et al - $264,925

 

FinTech and RegTech: Building a resilient, inclusive and competitive legal and regulatory framework for 21st century finance in Qatar (2019-2022), Qatar University, with Prof Gordon Walker - $91,151.45

 

Large Conference Grant (2014), University of Western Australia, - $18,000.00

 

Perth Convention Bureau International Conference Grant (2013) - $5,000.00

 

Legal Scholarship Research Grant (2007), New South Wales, Attorney-General Department - $2,846.95

 

Legal Scholarship Research Grant (2006), New South Wales, Attorney-General Department - $2,950.00

 

Select Counsel Casework:-

 

Harfouche v Meinen [2026] WASCA 39 (20 March 2026); instructor, Sigi Cohen

 

Harfouche v Meinen [2025] WADC 97 (18 December 2025); instructor Sigi Cohen

 

Rosemary Walley and another v Whadjuk Aboriginal Corporation WAD 269 of 2025; counsel with David Yarrow SC; instructor Shayne Daley

 

Penny-Narkle v The State of Western Australia (3650 of 2020 in District Court of Western Australia); instructor, Ashleigh Buckett, National Justice Project

 

Helmbright v Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs (No 3)[2021] FCA 955, counsel with Raelene Webb KC and Timothy Goodwin; instructors, Sarah Werner, Kelly Butler and Corrina Virtanen, King & Wood Mallesons

 

Helmbright v Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs (No 2)[2021] FCA 647, counsel with Raelene Webb KC and Timothy Goodwin; instructors, Sarah Werner, Kelly Butler and Corrina Virtanen, King & Wood Mallesons

 

Helmbright v Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs [2020] FCA 1872, counsel with Raelene Webb KC and Timothy Goodwin; instructors, Sarah Werner, Kelly Butler and Corrina Virtanen, King & Wood Mallesons

 

Australian Securities and Investment Commission v Hutchison [2020] FCA 978, lead counsel in Federal Court with Brian Nugawela; instructor, James Xenedis, LFS Lawyers

 

Choon v Chen [2019] FCA 1643, instructor, Martin Koshy, Tang Law

 

Kado Muir & Ors (Manta Rirrtinya) v State of Western Australia WAD 453 of 2017 – junior counsel with Raelene Webb KC; instructor, Sally Davis, Australian Government Solicitor

 

Joanne Plumb v Ace Mark Pty Ltd (acting as trustee for the Subiaco Property Trust)(2017); instructor, Rosaline Tan, John Curtin Law Clinic

 

Ponzio v Department of Commerce Consumer Protection (CC1050 of 2016); instructor, Tim Owen, Clayton Utz

 

Woodcock v The State of Western Australia & Ors (CIV233 of 2013) – junior counsel with Christopher Barry KC; instructor, Maithri Pagoda, Carrol & O’Dea

 

Select Special Cases:-

 

State of Western Australia v Cunningham [2018] WASCA 207

 

Cunningham v Traynor [2018] WADC 3

 

State of Western Australia v Cunningham [2017] WASCA 197

 

Traynor v Cunningham [2017] WASCA 159

 

Traynor v Cunningham [2017] WASCA 125

 

State of Western Australia v Cunningham [2017] WASCA 119

 

Cunningham v Traynor [2016] WADC 168

 

Select Special Reports:-

 

If not the CCC ... then where? - An examination of the Corruption and Crime Commission's oversight of excessive use of force allegations against members of the WA Police Force, Joint Standing Committee on the Corruption and Crime Commission, Report 15, September 2020

 

Unfinished business: The Corruption and Crime Commission's response to the Committee's report on Dr Cunningham and Ms Atoms, Joint Standing Committee on the Corruption and Crime Commission, Report No 7, November 2017

 

Parliamentary Inspector's report on a complaint by Dr Robert Cunningham and Ms Catherine Atoms, Parliamentary Inspector of the Corruption and Crime Commission (WA), 4 October 2017

 

Parliamentary Inspector's Report Concerning the Procedures Adopted by the Corruption and Crime Commission when Dealing with Complaints of the Excessive Use of Force by Police, Parliamentary Inspector of the Corruption and Crime Commission (WA), 8 September 2011

 

Select Other Public Output:-

 

Information environmentalism and biodiversity, emerging areas of environmental law to address biodiversity loss, Asian Research Institute for Environmental Law, 31 May 2022

 

Economy of law: law & economics revolution, The Present and Future of Global Legal Studies, O.P. Jindal Global Law School, 3 December 2021

 

Pro Bono Voco Interview, Australian Pro Bono Centre, June 2021

 

Future of law schools, Beg Your Pardon (podcast), 30 July 2020

 

Information environmentalism: an interview, Faculti.net, 10 July 2020

 

CCC condemned for rejecting tasered couple case, 6PR, 12 October 2017

 

Courts consider use of tasers by police, Law Report: Radio National, 28 February 2017

 

Power of information in the age of biotechnology, Creative Disturbance, 9 November 2015

 

Information environmentalism: towards a digital ecology, 16 September 2014

 

Select recognition:-

 

Curtin Law School, Dean's Research Prize, 2017