Dr Alex Patrick

Biography

Alex Patrick joined Middlesex University in 2021 as a Lecturer in Law. She holds an LLB and a Master of Philosophy from The University of Adelaide, Australia. She obtained her Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice from The Australian National University, and has been admitted as a lawyer of the New South Wales Supreme Court. She completed her PhD at The University of Southampton, with a thesis entitled 'Pay Transparency & Unequal Pay for Equal Work: Devising an Effective Regulatory Framework'.

Alex’s research interests are in equality and discrimination law, primarily considering the role of regulatory tools to strengthen employer compliance with equal pay law. Her current research focuses on the utility of various methods of pay transparency, including gender pay gap reporting and equal pay auditing. Alex is also interested in researching the role of law in eliminating violence against women. Her M.Phil thesis examined criminal law representations of domestic violence in the UK and Australia, and proposed a new criminal offence of intimate partner abuse which recognises the vulnerability of victims of coercive control.

Teaching

Alex currently teaches on the following modules and programmes:

• LLB Programme Leader
• Module Leader LAW3116/1616 Child and Family Law
• Module Tutor LAW1151 Legal Skills

Postgraduate Supervision:

• Batuhan Beyatli, The Intersection of International and EU Law for Social Rights Protection of Vulnerable Groups: A Focus on Racial and Ethnic Groups (2023)

Publications:

A. Patrick, 'Closing the Gender Pay Gap “Once and for All”: Labour’s Proposed Reforms to GPG Reporting in the UK' Oxford Human Rights Hub (2024) https://ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk/closing-the-gender-pay-gap-once-and-for-all-labours-proposed-reforms-to-gpg-reporting-in-the-uk/ 

S. Benedí Lahuerta, P. Rejchrt and A. Patrick, 'The UK pay transparency regulations: apparent transparency without accountability?' (forthcoming) Legal Studies doi:10.1017/lst.2023.12

A. Patrick, 'The Role of Equal Pay Auditing in Resolving Unequal Pay: More Hindrance Than Help?' in F. Hamilton and E. Griffiths (eds) The Evolution of the Gender Pay Gap: A Comparative Perspective (Routledge 2023)

Research areas:

• Anti-discrimination law 
• Equal pay law
• Pay transparency and the gender pay gap
• Employment law
• Feminist legal theory
• Intimate partner abuse