Cirrus@Austlit

Meehan has been Professor of Literary Studies and Head of the School of Communication and Creative Arts at Deakin University. Prior to that he was Head of both English and Legal Studies at Flinders University and subsequently Director of the Flinders Institute of English. Having grown up in northwestern Victoria, he gained a B.A. (Hons) from Monash University, an LL.B from the University of Adelaide, and a Ph.D in eighteenth-century literature and political theory from the University of Cambridge.

Meehan engaged in teaching and public lecturing on language and communication in secondary and tertiary education, and in professional training contexts, as a Visiting Instructor to the Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice (University of South Australia) and as an instructor in the Continuing Legal Education programs for the Law Society of South Australia, for the Judicial Continuing Education Committee, for many leading South Australian law and accounting firms, and for a number of South East Asian law firms. He was a foundation member of CLARITY (South Australia), a public interest group of lawyers, academics and administrators keen to promote improved language and design in documents. He is fluent in French and speaks some Indonesian.

Meehan was for many years Chair of Adelaide Writers' Week, and conducted research on the literary festival and public culture, and on issues related to literature and law. In 1986 his book Liberty and Poetics in Eighteenth Century England was published. He has practical business experience in the publishing and wine industries (Edward Arnold Pty Ltd, and F & E May Pty Ltd, London).