Career Summary
Biography
Frances Simmons joined the University of Newcastle in January 2020 as a part-time Lecturer. She holds a Master of Laws from Columbia University and she is currently undertaking a PhD at Monash University where her research explores Australia's response to modern slavery and the right to an effective remedy. Frances is currently teaching Human Rights Law, Administrative Law, and Legal System and Method.
Frances is a part-time Tribunal member at the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. Between 2012 and 2015 she worked as a full-time member of the Refugee Review Tribunal and the Migration Review Tribunal. Previously, she has worked as a lawyer at the Australian Human Rights Commission, a lawyer and migration agent at Anti-Slavery Australia at the University of Technology Sydney where she represented survivors of slavery and human trafficking in immigration and compensation matters and as a lawyer and migration agent at an immigration law firm. Frances has been engaged as a research consultant on slavery and human trafficking for the United Nations, the Australian Institute of Criminology and the University of Technology Sydney Law Faculty .
Frances is a member of the International Association of Refugee and Migration Judges and the Women Lawyers' Association of NSW. She is currently a visiting scholar at the University of Technology Sydney Law Faculty.
Qualifications
- Master of Laws, Columbia University
Keywords
- Administrative law
- Forced marriage
- Human rights law
- Immigration law
- Modern slavery
- Refugee law
Professional Experience
Academic appointment
| Dates | Title | Organisation / Department |
|---|---|---|
| 28/1/2020 - | Lecturer | Newcastle Law School Australia |
Awards
Prize
| Year | Award |
|---|---|
| 2010 |
James Kent Scholar Columbia University |
Publications
For publications that are currently unpublished or in-press, details are shown in italics.
Journal article (11 outputs)
| Year | Citation | Altmetrics | Link | |||||
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| 2015 |
'The Road to Effective Remedies: Pragmatic reasons for treating cases of sex trafficking in the Australian sex industry as a form of labour trafficking ', Anti-Trafficking Review, (2015)
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| 2013 | Simmons F, 'Money matters: material justice for survivors of slavery and trafficking', Precedent, 15-15 (2013) | |||||||
| 2013 |
Simmons F, Burn J, 'Without consent: Forced marriage in Australia', Melbourne University Law Review, 36 970-1008 (2013) This article explores Australia's response to the emerging issue of forced marriage. In light of community and government responses to forced marriage, we review the challeng... [more] This article explores Australia's response to the emerging issue of forced marriage. In light of community and government responses to forced marriage, we review the challenges involved in defining forced marriage and the degree to which the practice overlaps with other forms of exploitative conduct such as servitude and slavery. While we welcome the reform of existing criminal laws to fully reflect Australia's international obligations to prohibit 'practices similar to slavery', we caution against prioritising prosecutions over preventative and protective strategies. We argue that the creation of specific criminal offences of forced marriage should be accompanied by the introduction of new, family law-based civil remedies for people seeking to avoid or escape forced marriage, and targeted support services for people in, or facing, forced marriage. These measures should be accompanied by investment in community legal education and consultation in order to deepen the community's understanding of forced marriage in Australia.
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| 2013 |
Simmons F, O'Brien B, David F, Beacroft L, 'Human trafficking and slavery offenders in Australia', Trends and Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice, 1-13 (2013)
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| 2012 | Simmons F, 'Making possibilities realities | compensation for trafficked people', The Sydney Law Review, (2012) | |||||||
| 2006 |
Burn J, Simmons F, 'Trafficking and slavery in Autralia: An evaluation of victim support strategies', Asian and Pacific Migration Journal, 15 553-570 (2006) The paper evaluates legal protections and social support systems for victims of trafficking and slavery in Australia within a human rights framework based on the United Nations Pr... [more] The paper evaluates legal protections and social support systems for victims of trafficking and slavery in Australia within a human rights framework based on the United Nations Protocol to Prevent and Suppress Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children and the UN Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights and Human Trafficking. A major focus of the paper is the evaluation of a system of visas offered by the Australian government to victims of trafficking and slavery. The paper argues that the visa system and social support program is restricted to the assistance of victims who participate in the criminal justice process, thereby limiting state protection of victims of trafficking and slavery.
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| 2006 |
Zacharias U, Arthurs J, Dreher T, Simmons F, 'Australian muslim women's media interventions', Feminist Media Studies, 6 117-120 (2006)
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| Show 8 more journal articles | ||||||||
Report (1 outputs)
| Year | Citation | Altmetrics | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Simmons F, Swepston L, 'Providing effective remedies to victims of trafficking in persons, Issue Paper, Inter-agency Coordination Group on Trafficking in Persons, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime', United Nations, 30 (2016) |
Ms Frances Simmons
Position
Lecturer
Newcastle Law School
College of Human and Social Futures
Contact Details
| frances.simmons@newcastle.edu.au |
Office
| Room | . |
|---|---|
| Location | Newcastle City Precinct , |