Rate My Professor Eileen O'Brien

Eileen O'Brien is a distinguished legal scholar with expertise in ageing and law, real property law, housing and tenancy law, and consumer law. As Associate Professor at Curtin Law School, Curtin University, she advanced research on key issues including the limitations of banks policing financial abuse, as detailed in her 2017 analysis published via The Conversation. Her work addresses housing stress, homelessness among vulnerable groups, and legal protections for older individuals, emphasizing security of tenure and prevention of financial exploitation. O'Brien has explored law reforms to support seniors' downsizing, assets-for-care arrangements, and the application of property law and human rights principles to aid older women facing homelessness.

O'Brien's publication record is extensive, featuring co-authorship of the 6th edition of Focus: Land Law (2025) with Margaret Stephenson, alongside articles such as 'Housing, Older People and Abuse in Australia' (Adelaide Law Review, 2025), 'What role for caveats in protecting an older persons interests under a failed family accommodation arrangement?' (Australian Property Law Journal, 2021), 'Papering over the void - could (or should) consumer law be used as a response to elder abuse?' (Competition and Consumer Law Journal, 2016), and 'What role for real property in combatting financial elder abuse through assets for care arrangements?' (Canterbury Law Review, 2016). She participated in Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI) projects on housing models and aspirations for precariously housed older Australians (2020-2021) and a national survey on tenancy laws' effects on women and children escaping violence (2018-2019). A former academic member of the Law Reform Commission of Western Australia, O'Brien co-edited The Age-friendly Lens (Routledge, 2023) and contributes to organizations including the Australian Research Network on Law and Ageing, Australian Association of Gerontology, and Elder Abuse Action Australia advisory board. Her scholarship influences policy on elder protection and housing equity.