Our people

Management Board

Professor Dale Stephens

Professor Dale Stephens CSM FAAL is a Captain in the Royal Australian Navy Reserve who spent over 20 years as a permanent officer in the Royal Australian Navy before taking up his appointment at Adelaide Law School. He has occupied numerous staff officer positions throughout his career in the Australian Defence Force (ADF), including Fleet Legal Officer, Command Legal Officer (Naval Training Command), Chief Legal Officer Strategic Operations Command, Director of Operational and International Law, Deputy Director of the Asia-Pacific Centre for Military Law (a joint venture with Melbourne University Law School), Director Navy Legal and Director of the Military Law Centre. He has deployed twice to East Timor (INTERFET & UNTAET) and twice to Iraq (Baghdad) in senior legal officer positions and has provided extensive advice to Government at the strategic level.  He is the recipient of the Conspicuous Service Medal and the (US) Bronze Star as well as ADF and UN commendations for his service. 

In the early 2000's Professor Stephens was part of the Australian delegation to UNESCO negotiating the Underwater Cultural Heritage Convention.  In the mid 2000's he taught at the U.S. Naval War College located in Newport, Rhode Island as a faculty member of the International Law Department. In 2010 was seconded to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet as a senior advisor on Afghanistan.  In more recent years he has taught National Security Law as well as a number of military law subjects at the ANU College of Law.  He is currently Academic Director of the Legal Training Module program the Law School has with the Commonwealth Department of Defence. 

Dr Stephens is Director of The University of Adelaide Research Unit on Military Law and Ethics (RUMLAE) and is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law. 

He is Chair of the SA Red Cross IHL Advisory Committee.  In 2021 he was the recipient of the Red Cross Distinguished Service Award.

He is Chair of the Woomera Project Governance Board (and a participating Editor). 

He was awarded his Doctorate from Harvard Law School in 2014. 

Colette Langos

Dr Colette Langos is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Adelaide Law School. She holds a double degree in Law and Arts from the University of Adelaide, a Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice (Law Society of South Australia), a Masters of Commercial Law from Deakin University and a PhD in Law from the University of South Australia. She specialises in teaching Commercial Law to business students at both the undergraduate and postgraduate level. Colettes academic research interests include technology law and operational commercial law in a military context. Colette is an active member of multiple professional associations and is a member of the Commercial Law Division of the University of Adelaide Research Unit on Military Law & Ethics (RUMLAE). She is the Program Coordinator for Operational Commercial Law Program (Professional Certificate in Operational Commercial Law and Graduate Certificate in Operational Commercial Law).

Matthew Stubbs

Dr Matthew Stubbs is a Professor in the Law School at the University of Adelaide. His research and teaching is focussed in the areas of human rights, constitutional law and international law. Professor Stubbs has received prizes for his outstanding teaching, and for his extensive work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander law students, at Faculty (2008, 2012, 2014), University (2008, 2012, 2013) and National level (2009, 2013). Professor Stubbs is involved with professional bodies in the law and academia, and is the Chair of the Human Rights Committee of the Law Society of South Australia and a member of the Law Council of Australia's National Human Rights Committee.

Kellie Toole

Dr Kellie Toole joined the permanent staff of the Adelaide Law School as a full-time academic in 2012 after having practiced as a criminal defence lawyer. She teaches in Evidence Law, Criminal Law and Procedure, and Military Disciplinary Law. Her interests in legal practice, teaching and research is at the intersection of criminal law and human rights law, and she has completed her PhD on how prosecutors decide whether to prosecute particular cases.


Our researchers

Mark Giancaspro

Dr Mark Giancaspro is a Lecturer at the University of Adelaide Law School. He holds an honours degree in Laws and Legal Practice from Flinders University and a PhD from the University of Adelaide. His legal employment background and research interests are both primarily commercial, with issues in contract law and its various applications being his principal theme. Mark teaches in contract law, business law, sports law and tort law and has published widely on matters including issues with the formation and renegotiation of contracts, the doctrine of consideration, and contractual issues in sport. He is on the editorial committee for the Alternative Law Journal and is a member (Commercial Law) of the Adelaide University Research Unit on Military Law & Ethics (RUMLAE).