Lucinda O'Brien

Lucinda O'Brien is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Melbourne Centre for Commercial Law within the University of Melbourne. Her research focuses on interdisciplinary studies of bankruptcy law and literature, and she has contributed to major empirical studies on Australia’s personal insolvency laws and harmful financial products such as pawn loans and buy-now-pay-later services. She holds Honours degrees in Arts and Law from the University of Melbourne, and was awarded a PhD in 2019.

Previously, Lucinda worked in the community legal sector specializing in civil law policy and access to justice, practiced as a solicitor, and served as a judge’s associate in the Supreme Court of Victoria. She has also taught in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Melbourne.

Her research interests span bankruptcy law, consumer protection, and the intersection of law with literature and social policy. She collaborates with senior academics like Professors Ian Ramsay and Paul Ali on projects addressing vulnerable consumers and financial harm.