Andrew Godwin

Professor Andrew Godwin is Professor of Commercial Law at Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne. He holds a PhD, LLM, LLB (Hons), and BA (Hons), all from the University of Melbourne. Admitted as a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of Victoria in 1993 and as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales in 1997, Godwin practiced law for over 15 years prior to joining academia, including 10 years in Shanghai as Chief Representative and Partner at Linklaters. He began at Melbourne Law School in 2007 as Senior Lecturer, advancing to Associate Professor in 2017 and Professor in 2024. In leadership roles, he serves as Associate Dean (Melbourne Law Masters), Director of the Melbourne Law Masters, Joint Associate Director of the Corporate Law and Financial Regulation Research Program at the Melbourne Centre for Commercial Law, and Associate Director (Commercial Law) of the Asian Law Centre. From September 2020 to February 2024, he was Special Counsel and Acting General Counsel at the Australian Law Reform Commission. Godwin has consulted for the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, and others on financial regulation, enforcement, and judicial reform.

Godwin's research focuses on financial regulation, financial services law, corporate and insolvency law, property law, and regulation of the legal profession. He is co-author of leading textbooks Sackville & Neave Australian Property Law and Ford, Austin and Ramsay's Principles of Corporations Law. Notable edited volumes include Research Handbook on Asian Financial Law (Edward Elgar, 2020), The Cambridge Handbook of Twin Peaks Financial Regulation (Cambridge University Press, 2021), and Technology and Corporate Law: How Innovation Shapes Corporate Activity (Edward Elgar, 2021). Recent peer-reviewed articles encompass 'Regulatory Cooperation in AI Sandboxes: Insights from Fintech' (Law, Innovation and Technology, 2026 forthcoming), 'India’s Journey towards Cross-Border Insolvency Law Reform' (Asian Journal of Comparative Law, 2024), 'The Relevance of the Household to Individual Businesses in Urban and Rural China' (Modern China, 2025), and 'Corporations, Financial Services and Charities: Regulatory Complexity and Coherence' (Australian Journal of Corporate Law, 2023). A Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law and Distinguished Fellow of the Singapore Academy of Law, Godwin contributes to the Advisory Board of the Asian Business Law Institute and holds editorial and committee roles influencing policy and scholarship in commercial law.

Professional Email: a.godwin@unimelb.edu.au