Leela Cejnar

Dr Leela Cejnar joined the Department of Law and Criminology in 2022, as a teaching-focused academic. Leela is also the Department's Employability Lead.

Prior to her appointment at Royal Holloway, Leela worked at The University of Sydney (USyd), Australia (2019-2022), in the Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education), with USyd's interdisciplinary Industry and Community Projects Unit (ICPU). Leela collaborated with industry partners to co-design and co-deliver a form of work-integrated learning, using real world challenges to engage undergraduate students in complex problem-solving. She supervised interdisciplinary student teams as they developed innovative and creative solutions for their industry projects.

Leela has also previously held academic positions in Australia at Macquarie University (2009), the University of New South Wales (2010-2016) and the Australian Catholic University (2017-2018). She has supervised Honours students in undergraduate law programs and higher degree research law students in MPhil and PhD programs.

Leela's background includes twenty years in legal practice in Australia, both with major international law firms and with the Australian Commonwealth Public Service (notably, with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission).

Leela is the recipient of several teaching citations and awards for outstanding contributions to student learning. She is a Senior Fellow of the UK's Higher Education Academy.

Leela’s research focuses on the scholarship of learning and teaching, particularly on investigating how interdisciplinary learning can be used to develop employability skills, as students exchange and create knowledge across disciplinary boundaries. 

Leela holds a PhD in Law and has also previously researched and published in the areas of competition and consumer law. 

Leela's current research areas of interest include:

• Interdisciplinary effectiveness in enabling the transferability of skills into the workplace
• Employability and graduate careers
• Use of online learning tools to improve the student experience
• Higher education regulation and policy
• The future of legal education

Leela teaches on Contract Law (LL1002 - Module Convenor, Spring Term 2023), Tort Law (LL2002) and Professional Legal Skills (LL 1006).

Teaching Awards 

2021: University of Sydney, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Faculty Teaching Commendation (Student Nomination)

2020: University of Sydney Business School, Excellence in Tutoring Award Nomination (Student Nomination)

2015: UNSW Business Dean’s Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning

Team Teaching Awards

2021:  QS Reimagine Education Gold Award for Nurturing Employability, awarded to the Industry & Community Projects Team, University of Sydney

2016:  UNSW Vice Chancellor’s Team Award for Teaching Excellence and Outstanding Services to Teaching

PhD (Murdoch University, Western Australia)

Graduate Certificate University Learning and Teaching (UNSW, Australia)

Master of Laws (University of Sydney)

Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Laws (University of Sydney)

Senior Fellow, Higher Education Academy (Advance Higher Education)

Editor, The Law Teacher (Policy, Education and Developments Team)

Member, Association of Law Teachers

Member, Society of Legal Scholars

Member, Australian Law Academics Association (ALAA)

Member, Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia (HERDSA)

Solicitor of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, Federal Court and High Court of Australia (non-practising)