Lee Hansen

Biography

Lee Hansen is a Senior Lecturer at the Essex Law School and Human Rights Centre, University of Essex. Prior to joining the University of Essex, he was based at LawWorks, a national pro bono charity where he provided consultancy to support solicitors firms and law schools in England and Wales in their pro bono and clinical activities (2013-16). In that role he helped to set up new pro bono legal advice clinics in a variety of contexts and settings eg. libraries, homeless shelters, law schools, advice agencies, court or tribunal based duty schemes and virtual clinics such as those using web-conferencing technology. Lee has extensive experience in the community legal sector in Australia. As the Principal Solicitor at a community legal centre in Sydney, serving the local community and offering a statewide practice for LGBTI communities, Lee undertook advice and casework on behalf of these communities including the conduct of matters in the areas of discrimination, vilification, police complaints, broadcasting complaints and victim support and compensation in relation to hate crime and transphobic violence (2011- 12). Furthermore, Lee supervised and practiced in specialist projects assisting transgender clients, LGBTI persons experiencing domestic violence and sex workers. He also founded a free legal outreach clinic at Twenty10 a specialist youth support service for young people of diverse genders, sexualities and sexes. Prior to this Lee was based at a community legal centre in NSW specialising in welfare benefits law. He was appointed there to the positions of Principal Solicitor (2011-12) and Litigation Solicitor (2010- 11). He was a member of the Australian Law Reform Commissions Expert Panel on Family Violence and Social Security informing the ALRCs recommendations to its final report on Family Violence and Commonwealth Laws—Improving Legal Frameworks (February 2012). Prior to this Lee was based with a community legal centre providing specialist advice and assistance to residential, rooming house and caravan park tenants and residents (2008-10). Lee had the conduct of a number of cases before the Victorian Civil & Administrative Tribunal and appeals before the Supreme Court of Victoria involving novel applications of the Charter of Human Rights to eviction action by public housing authorities.

Qualifications

• Master of Laws, University of Melbourne

• Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice, College of Law (Australia)

• Bachelor of Laws, University of Melbourne