Ms Nicola Howell

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Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law

Master of Law (LLM) (Griffith University), Bachelor of Science (Honours) (The University of Melbourne), Bachelor of Laws (The University of Melbourne), Bachelor of Laws (University of Melbourne)

Nicola is a Senior Lecturer and member of the Consumer Policy and Regulation Research Group in the Law Faculty, Queensland University of Technology. Nicola researches legal and policy issues in consumer financial services, consumer credit and other consumer transactions, and personal insolvency. At QUT, Nicola has received research grants and consultancies from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and Queensland Attorney-General's Department, and has authored or contributed to submissions to government and other review bodies on reviews of consumer law, consumer credit, self-regulation, and personal insolvency. Prior to her appointment at QUT, Nicola was the inaugural Director of the Centre for Credit and Consumer Law at Griffith University, where she undertook and coordinated research on a range of consumer law topics. Nicola has strong links with regulators and consumer organisations, including through her past membership of ASIC's Consumer Advisory Panel, previous appointment as the Consumer and Business Representative on the Banking Code Compliance Committee, and past role on the Executive of the Consumers' Federation of Australia. She has worked with consumer and regulatory organisations to advance research on various consumer and personal insolvency topics. Nicola is also a PhD candidate at Melbourne Law School, and her PhD research focuses on the legal solutions to over-indebtedness and the ways in which consumer experience the different solutions. Nicola's recent publications have covered topics including the fresh start in bankruptcy, new credit laws affecting small loans, and self-regulation in the banking sector. Her work has been published in Australian and overseas refereed journals and edited books. Nicola was, with a colleague, instrumental in establishing the first Australasian Consumer Law Roundtable, an annual event that has been running since 2006, and involves academics from across Australia and New Zealand. Nicola teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students, in areas including insolvency, commercial and personal property, consumer, and financial services law. Some key publications Books

  • Bolitho, Hal, Howell, Nicola, & Paterson, Jeannie Marie (2020) Duggan and Lanyon's consumer credit law (2nd ed) Lexis Nexis, Australia

Book chapters

  • Howell, Nicola (2016) 'Making Payday Loans Safer: The Australian Approach to Regulating Small and Medium Sized Loans'. In O'Shea, Paul & Fairweather, Karen (Eds.) Credit, Consumers and The Law: After The Global Storm. Ashgate Publishing Limited. (In Press)
  • Howell, Nicola (2013) Interest rate caps and price regulation in consumer credit. In Malbon, Justin & Nottage, Luke (Eds.) Consumer Law and Policy in Australia and New Zealand. The Federation Press, Annandale, NSW, pp. 311–336.

Journal articles

Reports

  • Howell, Nicola, Wilson, Therese, & Davidson, James (2008) Interest rate caps : protection or paternalism.
  • Howell, Nicola (2008) Joint consumer submission to the review of the code of banking practice. (Unpublished)
  • Sheehan, Genevieve, Wilson, Therese, & Howell, Nicola (2008) Coming to grips with credit contracts : steps to protect vulnerable borrowers. Brotherhood of St Laurence and Griffith University Centre for Credit and Consumer Law, Fitzroy, Victoria.

Additional information