Liz Fisher
Professor of Environmental Law
Biography
Liz Fisher, BA/LLB (UNSW), D Phil (Oxon) is Professor of Environmental Law at the Faculty of Law Corpus Christi College. Her research explores the mental constructs lawyers and legal scholars use to legally reason, particularly in relation public administration and environmental problems. Her work is grounded in national common law jurisdictions.
Elizabeth Fisher and Sidney Shapiro, Administrative Competence: Reimagining Administrative Law (CUP 2020) was jointly awarded the American Bar Association Administrative Law Section's Scholarship Award 2021. Her 2007 book, Risk Regulation and Administrative Constitutionalism, won the SLS Peter Birks Prize for Outstanding Legal Scholarship 2008. Other publications include Environmental Law: A Very Short Introduction (OUP 2017) and Fisher, Lange and Scotford, Environmental Law: Text, Cases and Materials (2nd ed, OUP 2019).
Two recent edited publications include Elizabeth Fisher, Jeff King, and Alison L Young (Des), The Foundations and Future of Public Law (OUP 2020) and Elizabeth Fisher and Brian Preston (eds) An Environmental Court in Action: Function, Doctrine and Process (Hart 2022). Fisher is also General Editor of the Oxford Journal of Legal Studies and and served as General Editor of the Journal of Environmental Law for a decade from 2012 to 2022.
Fisher is an Overseas Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law. She has won teaching awards, and served as Vice Dean of the Law Faculty 2013-6, HT 2019, and TT 2021 (the last being Vice Dean (Personnel)). She was awarded a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship for 2022-25 for a project exploring legal imagination and environmental law.
Publications
FISHER E, ‘Why Doctrinal Administrative Lawyers Need to Think More About Policy’ [2023] Australian Journal of Administrative Law
BELL J and FISHER E, ‘Climate Change Legislation and Administrative Law Adjudication in the UK Supreme Court’ [2022] The Modern Law Review
BELL J and FISHER E, ‘Exploring a Year of Administrative Law Adjudication in the Administrative Court’ [2021] Public Law
Bell J and Fisher L, ‘The ’Heathrow’ Case: Polycentricity, Legislation, and the Standard of Review’ (2020) 83(83) Modern Law Review early
FISHER E, ‘Executive Environmental Law’ [2019] Modern Law Review
Wagner W, Fisher E and Pascual P, ‘Whose Science? A New Era in Regulatory "science wars".’ (2018) 362(6415) Science (New York, N.Y.) 636
Fisher E, ‘Law and Energy Transitions: Wind Turbines and Planning Law in the UK’ [2018] Oxford Journal of Legal Studies
Fisher E, Scotford E and Barritt E, ‘The Legally Disruptive Nature of Climate Change’ [2017] The Modern Law Review
Fisher E, ‘Towards Environmental Constitutionalism: A Different Vision of the Resource Management Act 1991’ [2017] Resource Management Theory and Practice
Fisher E and Scotford E, ‘Climate Change Adjudication: The Need to Foster Legal Capacity: An Editorial Comment’ (2016) 28(1) JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL LAW 1
Fisher E, ‘’JURISDICTIONAL’ FACTS AND ’HOT’ FACTS: LEGAL FORMALISM, LEGAL PLURALISM, AND THE NATURE OF AUSTRALIAN ADMINISTRATIVE LAW’ (2015) 38(3) MELBOURNE UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW 968
Fisher E, Pascual P and Wagner W, ‘Rethinking Judicial Review of Expert Agencies’ (2015) 93(7) TEXAS LAW REVIEW 1681
Fisher E, ‘Chemicals As Regulatory Objects’ (2014) 23(2) Review of European, Comparative and International Environmental Law 163
Pascual P, Wagner W and Fisher E, ‘Making Method Visible: Improving the Quality of Science-Based Regulation’ (2013) 2(2) Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law
Fisher E, ‘Framing Risk Regulation: A Critical Reflection’ (2013) 4(2) European Journal of Risk Regulation 125
Fisher E, ‘Climate Change Litigation, Obsession and Expertise: Reflecting on the Scholarly Response to Massachusetts V. EPA’ (2013) 35(3) LAW & POLICY 236
Fisher E, ‘Environmental Law As ’Hot’ Law Introduction’ (2013) 25(3) JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL LAW 347
Shapiro S and Fisher L, ‘Chevron and the Legitmacy of Public Administration’ (2013) 22(2) William and Mary Bill of Rights Law Journal 465
Shapiro S, Fisher E and Wagner W, ‘The Enlightenment of Administrative Law: Looking Inside the Agency for Legitimacy’ (2012) 47(3) Wake Forest Law Review
Fisher E, ‘The Rise of Transnational Environmental Law and the Expertise of Environmental Lawyers’ (2012) 1(1) TRANSNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW 43
Fisher E, Pascual P and Wagner W, ‘Understanding Environmental Models in Their Legal and Regulatory Context’ (2010) 22(2) Journal of Environmental Law 251
Wagner W, Fisher E and Pascual P, ‘Misunderstanding Models in Environmental and Public Health Regulation’ (2010) 18 NYU Environmental Law Journal
Fisher E, ‘Transparency and Administrative Law: A Critical Evaluation’ (2010) 63(1) Current Legal Problems 272
Fisher E, ‘Food Safety Crises As Crises in Administrative Constitutionalism.’ (2010) 20(1) Health matrix (Cleveland, Ohio : 1991) 55
Fisher E, Lange B, Scotford E, and others, ‘Maturity and Methodology: Starting a Debate about Environmental Law Scholarship’ (2009) 21(2) Journal of Environmental Law 213
Fisher L, ‘Law, Precaution and Principles of Good Administration’ (2005) 52(6) Water Science and Technology 19
Fisher E, ‘The European Union in the Age of Accountability’ (2004) 24(3) Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 495
Fisher L, ‘The Rise of the Risk Commonwealth and the Challenge for Administrative Law’ (2003) 2003(Autumn) Public Law 455
Fisher L, ‘Precaution, Precaution Everywhere: Developing a ’Common Understanding’ of the Precautionary Principle in the European Community’ (2002) 9 Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law 21
Fisher E, ‘Unpacking the Toolbox: Or Why the Public Private Divide Is Important In EC Environmental Law’
Fisher L and Schmidt, ‘Seeing the ’Blind Spots’ in Administrative Law: Theory, Practice, and Rulemaking Settlements in the United States’ (2001) 30 Common Law World Review 272
Fisher L, Gullett W, Paterson C, and others, ‘Substantive Precautionary Decision-Making: The Australian Fisheries Management Authority’s ’Lawful Pursuit’ of the Precautionary Principle’ (2001) 7 Australasian Journal of Natural Resources Law and Policy 40
Fisher E, ‘Is the Precautionary Principle Justiciable?’ (2001) 13(3) Journal of Environmental Law 314
Fisher E, ‘Drowning by Numbers: Standard Setting in Risk Regulation and the Pursuit of Accountable Public Administration’ (2000) 20(1) Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 109
FISHER E, ‘Climate Change and Statutory Construction: Administrative Law Expertise and ‘New’ Emergencies’ Edinburgh Law Review: an international forum for the discussion of law
FISHER E, ‘’Environmental Law, Scholarship, and Epistemic Responsibility’ Journal of Environmental Law
Fisher E and Shapiro S, Administrative Competence: Reimagining Administrative Law (2021)
Fisher E, Environmental Law Text, Cases and Materials (Oxford University Press, USA 2019)
Fisher E, Environmental Law: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press 2017)
Fisher E, Risk Regulation and Administrative Constitutionalism (Bloomsbury Publishing 2007)
Fisher L, Risk Regulation and Administrative Constitutionalism (Hart Publishing 2007) 318
Fisher E, Jones J and von Schomberg R, Preface (2006)
Fisher L, ‘Afterword: Law in Unexpected Places’ in E Fisher and B Preston (eds.), An Environmental Court in Action: Function, Doctrine and Process (Bloomsbury 2022)
Fisher L, ‘The Administrative Law Expertise of the Land and Environment Court of New South Wales’ in E Fisher and B Preston (eds.), An Environmental Court in Action: Function, Doctrine and Process (Bloomsbury 2022)
Fisher L, ‘Administrative Tribunals: An Essay about the Legal Imagination of Administrative Law Scholars’ in J Goudkamp, M Lunney and L McDonald (eds.), Taking Law Seriously Essays in Honour of Peter Cane (Bloomsbury 2022)
Fisher L, ‘Legal Imagination and Teaching’ in L Rajamani and J Peel (eds.), Oxford Handbook of International Environmental Law (OUP 2021)
Fisher E, ‘EU Environmental Law and Legal Imagination’, The Evolution of EU Law (2021)
Fisher L, ‘Through ’Thick’ and ’Thin’: Comparison in Administrative Law and Regulatory Studies Scholarship’ in P Cane and O and (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Administrative Law (OUP 2020)
Craig P, ‘Six Dimensions of Public Law: Pressure-Testing the UK and EU Systems’ in E Fisher, J King and A Young (eds.), The Foundations and Future of Public Law (Oxford University Press 2020)
Fisher L, ‘The Open Road?: Navigating Public Administration and the Failed Promise of Administrative Law’ in E Fisher, J King and A Young (eds.), The Foundations and Future of Public Law: Essays in Honour of Paul Craig (OUP 2020)
Fisher L, ‘Sciences, Environmental Laws, and Legal Cultures: Fostering Collective Epistemic Responsibility’ in E Lees and J Viñuales (eds.), Oxford Handbook of Comparative Environmental Law (OUP 2019)
Fisher E, ‘Back to Basics: Thinking About the Craft of Environmental Law Scholarship’, Perspectives on Environmental Law Scholarship: Essays on Purpose, Shape and Direction (2018)
Fisher L, ‘Expert Executive Power, Administrative Constitutionalism and Co-Production: Why They Matter’ in M Weimer and A de Ruijter (eds.), Regulating Risks in the European Union The Co-production of Expert and Executive Power (Hart 2017)
Fisher L, ‘Imagining Technology and Environmental Law’ in R Brownsword, E Scotford and K Yeung (eds.), Oxford Handbook of Law, Regulation and Technology (OUP 2017)
Fisher L, ‘Blazing Upstream? Strategic Environmental Assessment As ’Hot’ Law’ in G Jones and E Scotford (eds.), The Strategic Environmental Assessment Directive: A Plan for Success (Hart 2017)
Fisher E, ‘Environmental Impact Assessment: ’setting the Law ablaze’’, RESEARCH HANDBOOK ON FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL LAW (2016)
Fisher L, ‘Making Sense of the WTO Sanitary and Phytosantiary Agreement: An Essay About Scholarly Expertise’ in B Lange, F Haines and D Thomas (eds.), Regulatory Transformations: Rethinking Economy-Society Interactions (Hart 2015)
Fisher E, ‘Exploring the Legal Architecture of Transparency’, RESEARCH HANDBOOK ON TRANSPARENCY (2014)
Fisher E, ‘Exploring the Legal Architecture of Transparency the Legal Architecture of T’, Research Handbook on Transparency (2014)
Fisher E, ‘Risk And Governance’, The Oxford Handbook of Governance (2012)
Fisher L, ‘Risk Regulatory Concepts and the Law’ in OECD (ed.), Risk and Regulatory Policy: Improving the Governance of Risk (OECD 2010)
Fisher E, ‘Opening Pandora’s Box: Contextualising the Precautionary Principle in the European Union’, Uncertain Risks Regulated (2009)
Fisher E, ‘Opening Pandora’s Box: Contextualising the Precautionary Principle in the European Union’, Uncertain Risks Regulated (2008)
Fisher L, ‘Administrative Law, Pluralism and the Legal Construction of Merits Review in Australian Environmental Courts and Tribunals’ in L Pearson, C Harlow and M Taggart (eds.), Administrative Law in a Changing State: Essays in Honour of Mark Aronson (2008)
Fisher L, ‘Risk and Environmental Law: A Beginner’s Guide’ in B Richardson and S Wood (eds.), Environmental Law for Sustainability (Hart Publishing 2006)
Fisher E and Harding R, ‘The Precautionary Principle and Administrative Constitutionalism: The Development of Frameworks for Applying the Precautionary Principle’, IMPLEMENTING THE PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLE: PERSPECTIVES AND PROSPECTS (2006)
Fisher E, Jones J and von Schomberg R, ‘Implementing the Precautionary Principle: Perspectives and Prospects’, IMPLEMENTING THE PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLE: PERSPECTIVES AND PROSPECTS (2006)
Fisher L and Harding R, ‘The Precautionary Principle in Australia: From Aspiration to Practice?’ in T O’Riordan, J Cameron and A Jordan (eds.), Reinterpreting the Precautionary Principle (Cameron May Publishing 2001)
Fisher E, ‘Beyond the Science Democracy Dichotomy: The World Trade Organisation Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement and Administrative Constitutionalism’
Fisher E and Preston B, An Environmental Court in Action Function, Doctrine and Process (Bloomsbury Publishing 2022)
Fisher L, King J and Young A, The Foundations and Future of Public Law: Essays in Honour of Paul Craig (OUP 2020)
Fisher E, Jones J and von Schomberg R, Implementing the Precautionary Principle Perspectives and Prospects Preface (2006) XV
Fisher E, ‘Blazing Upstream? Strategic Environmental Assessment As ’Hot’ Law’, STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT DIRECTIVE: A PLAN FOR SUCCESS? (2017)
Fisher E, ‘The ’perfect storm’ of REACH: Charting Regulatory Controversy in the Age of Information, Sustainable Development, and Globalization’, JOURNAL OF RISK RESEARCH (2008)