Ben Hayward

I had a good friend in high school who was convinced that his English teacher was not really reading the essays being graded. He inserted the words 'cat eight Egypt' in the middle of a sentence, out of context, to test his theory. It's still a source of amusement for our cohort to this day!

I find this really interesting. My own legal research training was pre-Google Scholar. I use Google Scholar a lot, but I also wouldn't have a problem adapting if it disappeared. All the old ways are still there! And I find I continue using them concurrently with Google Scholar right now anyway.

I once had an administrator acknowledge to me that many people who their university would like to have apply for awards don't, because they are too busy doing the good work that would justify their applying for an award!

With thanks to the University of Adelaide and the University of South Australia for the opportunity to contribute to today's generative AI law assessment showcase. Lots to learn from others' research and strategies and very glad to contribute!

This is (more or less) the story of the Samurai Pizza Cats! Which I was excited to be able to work in as the theme of a conference paper I presented earlier this year ...

And that's how it's done done done!

Our @monash-iticl.bsky.social feed recently (cheekily) pointed out that despite AI integration, you still can't add comment boxes to footnotes in Word. A reply correctly observed you can attach comments to the footnote marker. But for the reason you give here, very often that's still not useful!

I can report that 'Golden' is now a staple of our before school and before bed-time routine. It's a start!

Unfortunately (for them), my family has had to put up with me talking about it all weekend ... !

ADR and Arbitration: An Australian Perspective with Dr Benjamin Hayward Expert Views On ADR (EVA) Vid /Podcast Show · Episode

I had a great time this week chatting to Dr Chinwe Egbunike-Umegbolu on the #EVApodcast about #arbitration in #Australia! For those interested, the podcast is available in all the usual places, including here: open.spotify.com/episode/0fOh...

Food for the mind? ...

Sometimes I feel like my best academic artistry is in my words ... :-)

#ITICL is represented by @lawguypi.bsky.social today at #UNCCA's May Seminar at Sydney Law School! We're currently enjoying hearing Dr Peng Guo's analysis of the #CISG's application in China!

Getting the electronic offprint is great, but seeing an article arrive in real (and very shiny!) life is even better! Thanks to the great team at the #VindobonaJournal for the opportunity to share my research!

Final tally: one out of three projects with pop culture framing made it out into the world in its original form. I'll take that as a great result! (And in the two other cases, of course, it was still fantastic to get my research out there!)

My recent #VindobonaJournal article explores how The #Matrix helps us understand the #Vienna #Sales #Convention's Australian application. Shout out to @pagingdrpaige.bsky.social and @drnajimagi.bsky.social for putting their own pop culture enthusiasm out there! vindobonajournal.com/wp-content/u...

Was the Tyrannosaurus rex fast or slow? (Featuring Dr. John Hutchinson) - Daniel and Kelly’s Extraordinary Universe | iHeart <p>Daniel and Kelly talk to Dr. John Hutchinson about how large animals move.&nbsp;</p><p>See <a href='https://omnystudio.com/listener'>omnystudio.com/listener</a> for privacy information.</p>

Outside the law I'm a #podcast fiend, and this week @dandkuniverse.bsky.social answered my question: do big creatures move slow (eg. giant Ant-Man) or fast (eg. Eva Units)? The answer refers to the t-rex, so #Marvel, #anime, and #dinosaur fans are covered! #thanksdandk www.iheart.com/podcast/105-...

I've recently been marking a batch of papers with extremely few students have lodged generative AI declarations, yet very many papers have particular similarities that are suggestive of generative AI use. To students: know the rules, and declare when you need to!

It does take a little longer - unless I'm making my porridge very incorrectly!! ;-)

That said, I've been surprised by the regularity with which I have cited papers in some of the key festschrifts in my field! Some contributions can be really great, from time to time!!

I feel like the many exceptionally great law review editors out there often don't get the recognition they very much deserve! I've been on the receiving end of really great editorial assistance on a good number of occasions too. Really love this post!

I just realised that I'll happily eat what I'm given because complaining is too scary, but at the same time I'll also happily cite and disagree with someone else's scholarship. I'm now not sure what this means ...

I got through an entire first draft of my first chapter of my thesis before realising that every instance of 'tortious liability' had been autocorrected to 'tortuous liability'. Although your example is far more entertaining!!!

The day I realised that D&K is one of my favourite podcasts was the day I realised that despite being a white chocolate fan, I continue to listen and enjoy, being completely unoffended :-)

Boost for UK economy as Arbitration Act receives Royal Assent A new law to help the UK’s legal services sector maintain pole position and which will deliver millions more to grow the economy and help implement our Plan for Change.

The Arbitration Bill has received the Royal Assent. It is now the Arbitration Act 2025. See: www.gov.uk/government/n...

Save the date, Lucky 13th Australian Dispute Resolution Research Network Roundtable, 27-28 November 2025, Monash University The Faculty of Law, Monash University is proud to host the 13th Australian Dispute Resolution Research Network Roundtable on Thursday 27 and Friday 28 November 2025 at the Monash University Clayton Campus (approx. 30 minutes from Melbourne CBD). There are many public transport options to Monash from inner city Melbourne and we will share details for attendees from afar. The Roundtable is an opportunity to present work in progress and receive feedback and critique in a supportive and friendly environment, and to network with leading dispute resolution academics.

Save the date, Lucky 13th Australian Dispute Resolution Research Network Roundtable, 27-28 November 2025, Monash University

The Faculty of Law, Monash University is proud to host the 13th Australian Dispute Resolution Research Network Roundtable on Thursday 27 and Friday 28 November 2025 at the…

What a great milestone to note! We have a very different landscape here - it is not typical for law theses to be the subject of oral defence, but rather assessment is of the written thesis only. There are some exceptions though, and I wonder if the defence will become more common here!

Last year, I had the pleasure of working with the Melbourne University Law Review to bring a long-running project to print: analysing Australia's adoption of the #CISG, and that adoption's implications for the CISG's #interpretation. Available here: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

It strikes me that stand-up comedians are really masterful at doing this. I'm always amazed when I find myself enjoying a range of jokes on apparently disconnected topics, and then experience them all being drawn together at the end. A great suggestion for academic presentations!

Last year, I had the very good fortune of working with my former colleague - Roger Gamble - to update Concise Australian Commercial Law for its 8th edition. Now that it's out, I'm very much enjoying preparing our updated syllabus for our Business Law and Commercial Law students this year!