Jamie Walvisch

Dr Jamie Walvisch is a Senior Lecturer in the Law School at the University of Western Australia. He is a leading scholar on the intersection between mental health and the criminal law, especially in the sentencing context.

Dr Walvisch completed his Bachelors of Arts and Laws at Monash University in 1999. He graduated first in his class and received the Supreme Court Prize. Prior to entering academia he worked as a Research and Policy Officer at the Victorian Law Reform Commission, the Australian Institute of Criminology and the Judicial College of Victoria. During this time he co-authored several law reform reports on topics such as defences to homicide, fraud and electronic commerce- related crime, and violence associated with motor vehicle use. He was also responsible for developing and drafting the Victorian Criminal Charge Book, the main judicial reference book used by judges and legal practitioners in Victorian criminal jury trials.

Dr Walvisch entered academia in 2013. He worked at Monash University and Melbourne University before commencing his role at UWA in 2023. His areas of teaching expertise include criminal law and procedure, evidence law, torts, lawyers’ ethics and forensic evidence. His teaching approach has been recognised in multiple awards and commendations, including the Monash Faculty of Law Award for Teaching Excellence; the Monash Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence (Early Career); and an Australian Awards for University Teaching (AAUT) citation for ‘Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning’.

Dr Walvisch’s research is highly interdisciplinary in nature, engaging with five fields: law, psychiatry, psychology, neuroscience and the forensic sciences. It combines insights from each of these fields to develop and implement innovative legal and regulatory frameworks that address pressing social needs. He is particularly concerned to ensure that mental health issues are properly understood by participants in the legal system, and that they are incorporated in decision-making in a principled and non-stigmatising way. To help achieve this goal, he has been involved in pro-actively advocating for law reform based on his research. For example, he helped bring a successful test case before the Victorian Court of Appeal to challenge the law concerning sentencing and personality disorders.

In addition to publishing numerous articles, book chapters and law reform reports, Dr Walvisch has co-edited two prestigious collections. ‘The Future of Mental Health, Disability and Criminal Law’ brings together contributions from twenty-three world-leading scholars and commentators to address a range of contemporary and pressing international themes in the areas of mental health and disability law. ‘The Feminist Legislation Project: Rewriting Laws for Gender-Based Justice’ brings together academics, lawyers and activists to create the world’s first Feminist Legislation Project. This project aims to demonstrate what legislation could look like if its concern was to create justice for women.

Dr Walvisch remains directly involved in law reform work. In 2022-23 he was engaged as a consultant to the Law Reform Commission of Western Australia, where he worked on projects relating to equal opportunity law and sexual offences.