Using Empirical Research to Advance Workplace Equality Law Scholarship: Benefits, Pitfalls and Challenges

Abstract

Legal scholars are increasingly attuned to the substantial benefits that can be derived from empirical and socio-legal scholarship. While drawing on the knowledge of legal insiders–such as legal practitioners, judges or academics–to critique and evaluate the effectiveness of law and legal reform is an established means of empirically evaluating legal impact, this approach can be particularly problematic in relation to empirical equality research, as legal insiders are unlikely to be members of the under-represented groups that are the focus of equality regulation, and are instead more likely to represent the majoritarian status quo. Drawing on two empirical projects conducted in Australia an..