Dr Rae Kaspiew
Senior Research Fellow

BA (Melb), LLB(Hons) (Melb), PhD (Melb), GDLP (ANU)

Biography

Dr Rae Kaspiew is a socio-legal researcher who joined AIFS in April 2007 to work on the Family Law Research Program. She is the manager of the Legislation and Courts Project in the Evaluation of the family law reforms that is being conducted by AIFS. Dr Kaspiew is also involved in research on relocation disputes in the family law context with Dr Juliet Behrens (ANU) and Dr Bruce Smyth (ANU). She has previously conducted empirical research on children's matters in family law. She is admitted to practise as an Australian lawyer in the Supreme Court of Victoria.

Current research activities

• Manager, Legislation and Courts Project, AIFS Evaluation of the family law reform package
• Experiences of parents after court disputes about relocation as partner investigator on an ARC funded project with Dr Juliet Behrens and Dr Bruce Smyth (Chief Investigators, ANU)

Specialist areas

• Socio-legal research in family and criminal law
• Children’s interests in legal contexts
• Family violence

Selected recent publications

• Kaspiew, R. (2008). Family violence in children's cases under the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth). Journal of Family Studies, forthcoming.
• Kaspiew, R., & Behrens, J. (2008). Violence and abuse in families: Fragmented legal responses. In Fehlberg, B. & Behrens, J. (Eds.) Australian family law: The contemporary context. Melbourne, Vic: Oxford University Press.
• Kaspiew, R. (2007). Empirical insights into parental attitudes and children's interests in Family Court litigation. Sydney Law Review, 29(1), 131-161.
• Kaspiew, R. (2005). Violence in contested children's cases: An empirical exploration. Australian Journal of Family Law, 19(2), 112-143.
• Rhoades, H., Sanson, A., Astor, H., & Kaspiew, R. (2006). Family lawyers and family dispute resolution services: A study of inter-professional practices. Parkville, Vic: University of Melbourne.

Presentations

• See also Staff papers and presentations
• Kaspiew, R. (September 2007). Parental attitudes and children's interests. Paper delivered to the Queensland Law Society's Family Law Residential, 14 September 2007.
• Behrens, J., Smyth, B., & Kaspiew, R. (April 2008). Preliminary results from the experiences of parents after Family Court decisions about relocation. Symposium: Relocation Disputes in Australia, Australian National University, 18 April, 2008.