Dr Matthew Psycharis

Matthew is a Fellow of St Edmund’s College, and is Director of Studies of Undergraduate Law, and College Lecturer in Law, at that college. He is also a member of the Centre for Public Law, Cambridge.

Matthew completed his PhD in law at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge, supported by a WM Tapp Scholarship, on the topic of ‘Policy Referendums in the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia’. He was supervised by Professor Alison Young, and was examined by Professor David Feldman (Cambridge) and Professor Cheryl Saunders (Melbourne). In addition to his doctorate, Matthew holds a Bachelor of Arts and Juris Doctor from the University of Melbourne, and a Master of Law from Cambridge.

Before Cambridge, Matthew was admitted to legal practice, and worked as an Associate at the Australian firm Allens-Linklaters, practising as a litigator. He advised clients on a wide range of government investigations and business disputes. In a pro bono capacity, he instructed in constitutional proceedings concerning democratic rights, and advised peak human rights bodies on issues concerning offshore refugee detention and the drafting of anti-discrimination legislation. Taking time out of practice, Matthew spent a year working as the Senior Judicial Assistant to a Judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria (Australia). Before coming to the law, Matthew trained as an economist and worked, in 2012, as a policy analyst at the Department of Treasury and Finance (Australia).

BA (First Class Honours) (Melb), JD (First Class Honours) (Melb), LLM (First Class) (Cantab), PhD Canditdate (Cantab)

Fellow, Director of Studies of Law and College Lecturer in Law, St Edmund's College, Cambridge, 2022-

Supervisor in Tripos Constitutional Law

Supervisor in Tripos Trusts and Equity

PhD Candidate, Gonville & Caius College, University of Cambridge, 2019-2022

• W M Tapp Scholarship
• Cambridge Australia Caius Scholarship
• Executive Committee Member - Cambridge Pro Bono Project

Master of Law (First Class), University of Cambridge, 2015-2016

• St Edmund's College Prize for Law
• Melbourne Global Grant Scholarship
• Research assistant to Dr Michael Waibel, Lauterpacht Centre for International Law
• Masters dissertation on uses of history in legal argument by 16th century English lawyers (supervised by Professor David Ibbetson, and awarded First Class)

Juris Doctor (First Class Honours), University of Melbourne, 2013-2015

• Sir Zelman Cowen Scholarship
• Sir George Paton Prize for Internal Investment Law
• Ruth Campbell-Betty Hayes Prize for Legal Research (thesis on 16th century English legal history)
• Jessie Leggatt Scholarship for European Civil Law / Roman Law
• General Member of Editorial Board, Melbourne University Law Review

Bachelor of Arts (First Class Honours), University of Melbourne, 2010-2013

• Australian National Scholarship
• J A Aird Memorial Prize for Public Policy Research
• Dean's Honours List - 2010, 2011, 2012

Before Cambridge:

Before coming to Cambridge, Matthew worked as an Associate at the Australian firm Allens-Linklaters, practising in general litigation. He advised on a wide range of government investigations and business disputes. In a pro bono capacity, he instructed in Australian High Court constitutional proceedings concerning democratic rights, as well as advising peak human rights bodies on issues concerning offshore refugee detention, and the drafting of anti-discrimination legislation. In 2018, Matthew spent a year working as the Associate (judicial assistant) to the Honourable Justice Riordan of the Supreme Court of Victoria. Before coming to the law, Matthew trained as an economist and worked at the Department of Treasury and Finance (Victoria).