Louis is a professor of law at La Trobe Law School.

Between 2014 and 2019 Louis led the Law and Policy Program of the Data to Decisions Cooperative Research Centre. The Law and Policy Program, a $1,8 million collaborative program between La Trobe Law School, UNSW Law and Deakin Law School, investigated policy and regulatory options to protect fundamental rights and ensure national security in a context where data technology is changing the paradigm.

His financial crime research focuses on managing the relationship between financial inclusion and anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing objectives. He has undertaken various university research engagements with the bodies such as the World Bank and AusAID and has worked closely with the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) and with the Financial Integrity Working Group of the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI). This work extended to a range of developing countries including Ghana, Indonesia, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Namibia, Nigeria, Uganda, the Ukraine and Palau. His publications have been cited in publications and research papers of international bodies such as the World Bank, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, the International Labour Organisation, the G20's Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion and the World Economic Forum. He was invited to serve on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) project group to draft its financial inclusion guidance in 2011 and to revise it in 2013.

In 2004 he was awarded a Commonwealth Academic Staff Fellowship to undertake research on money laundering control in the UK. In 2004-2005 he was a visiting fellow at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies of the University of London. In 2012 he was a visiting scholar at the School of Law of George Washington University, Washington, DC. In 2022-3 Louis was a visiting scholar at Wolfson College, Oxford, and at SOAS and a visiting professor at the University of Barcelona.

Louis has also held visiting positions at the Levin College of Law of the University of Florida and, from 2009-2013, at the University of Johannesburg. From 2012-2016 he was a professor extraordinarius at the University of the Free State and from 2021 he is an extraordinary professor in the Department of Mercantile and Labour Law of the University of Cape Town.

Louis is an attorney of the High Court of South Africa and a fellow of the Society of Advanced Legal Studies.


Editorial positions:

- The Company Lawyer: Member of the editorial advisory board
- Journal of Financial Crime: Member of the editorial advisory board
- Journal of Money Laundering Control: Member of the editorial advisory board
- Transactions of the Centre for Business Law: Consultant editor
- Deakin Law Review: Faculty advisor (2008-16)


Recent conferences and workshop presentations:

Delivered more than 80 papers and addresses to national conferences and symposia and 40 papers and keynote addresses to international conferences. Recent examples include:

- Speaker: Asia Development Bank: Correspondent Banking in the Pacific - Challenges and Opportunities (November 2023, Sydney)

- Keynote speaker: 2023 Financial Crime Investigation and Compliance Research Symposium, hosted by the Academy of Excellence in Financial Crime Investigation and Compliance, Griffith University (November 2023, Brisbane)

- Keynote speaker on FATF greylisting: NWU Corporate and Financial Markets Conference, (October 2023, Namibia, virtual)

- Panellist at the high-level multi-stakeholder global consultation on NPOs organised by the European Union Global AML/CFT Facility in partnership with the Global Program Combating Illicit Financial Flows (GP IFF) and the Global NPO Coalition on the FATF at the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) (September 2023, Bonn).

- 40th Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime: Invited to deliver a paper and co-present three workshops (September 2023, Jesus College, Cambridge)

- Panellist invited by the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development to address the 2023 Global Forum on Remittances, Investment and Development in Nairobi, Kenya on de-banking of vulnerable communities (July 2023, Nairobi)


Grants and funded projects (selection):

2024: eKYC utility: a legal diagnostic (PNG)
Researchers: De Koker, L (CI); Nel, JY (CI; Oboler A (CI)
Asian Development Bank

2022: Frictionless ticketing for Public Transport - Regulatory review
Researchers: Wardrop, A (CI); Wishart, D (CI) and De Koker, L (CI)
Funding body: iMove CRC via the Centre for Technology Infusion for Transport for New South Wales : $25 000

2021: Consequences of blacklisting for non-compliance with international financial integrity standards
Researchers: De Koker, L (PL), Morris, N (CI), Howell, J (CI)
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ): $58 000

2020: Using a digital dispute resolution platform to support the 2020 Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot
Researchers: De Koker, L (PL), Casanovas, P (CI), Morris, N (CI), Stammers, M (CI), Zeleznikow, J (CI)
Immediation: $20 000

2020: Sustainability and the integrity standards of the Financial Action Task Force: Increasing alignment through technology
Researchers: De Koker, L (PL), Morris, N (CI), Nel de Koker, J (CI)
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ): $32 000

2020: The e-KYC platform in Jordan: Assessment of access by microfinance institutions
Researchers: De Koker, L (PI), Abassi, A (CI), Nel de Koker, J (CI)
SANAD Fund for Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise (Luxembourg) for Jordan Payments & Clearing Company (JoPACC): $64 000

2018-19: Articulating law and policy principles for guiding Big Data usage for defence, national security and law enforcement purposes. Researchers: Bennett Moses, L. (PL), de Koker, L. (CI), Logan, S (CI), Oboler, A. (R).
Data to Decisions CRC: $91 000

2018-19: Compliance by Design (CbD) and Compliance through Design (CtD) solutions to support automated information sharing. Researchers: Casanovas, P. (PL), de Koker, L. (CI), Governatori, G (CI), Rodriguez-Doncel, V. (CI), Watts, D. (CI, Keyzer, P. (CI), Barnes, J (CI), Mendelson, D. (CI), Stammers, M (CI), Stumptner, M. (CI); Mayer, (W.) (CI). End-user: Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, Canberra.
Data to Decisions CRC: $231 000

2017-18: Improving access to remittances and other financial services through digital solutions. Researchers: de Koker, L (PL) and Perlman, L. (CI). Funder: Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. End-user: Central Bank of Jordan. $120 000

2017: A governance framework for the National Criminal Intelligence System (NCIS). Researchers: de Koker, L. (PL),  Watts, D. (CI), Casanovas, P. (CI), Bainbridge, B. (CI) and Smyth, S. End-user: Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, Canberra.
Data to Decisions CRC: $201 000

2016-17: Practical perspectives on a balanced, enabling regulatory framework for data-based decision-support technologies used by law enforcement and national security in Australia: Identity Proofing. Researchers: de Koker, L. (PL),  Casanovas, P. (CI), Bainbridge, B. (CI); Mendelson, D. (CI) and Wolf, G. (CI). End-user: Attorney-General’s Department, Canberra.
Data to Decisions CRC: $204 000

2016: Guiding principles in the design, regulation, implementation, governance and oversight of data-based decision-support technologies for law enforcement and national security. Researchers:  Bennett Moses, L. (PL),  Casanovas, P. (CI), Chan, J. (CI), Bennett Moses, L. (CI), De Koker, L. (CI), Maurushat, A. (CI), Bainbridge, B. (CI); Mendelson, D. (CI) and Vaile, D. (CI) (Joint Deakin Law School / UNSW Law project). End-user: Attorney-General’s Department, Canberra.
Data to Decisions CRC: $ 57 000

2016-17: Qualitative – End User Evaluation. Researchers: Scheepers, R. (PL), Nielsen, I. (CI), De Koker, L. (CI), Whelan, C. (CI)
Data to Decisions CRC: $ 80 000

2014-16: Big Data technology and national security: comparative international perspectives on strategy, policy and law. Researchers: Chan, J. (PL), Bennett Moses, L. (CI), De Koker, L. (CI), Maurushat, A. (CI), Mendelson, D. (CI) and Vaile, D. (CI) (Joint Deakin Law School / UNSW Law project). End-user: Attorney-General’s Department, Canberra.
Data to Decisions CRC: $ 467 000

2010-11: Mobile money and financial crime. Researchers Chatain, P-L. (PL), Zerzan, A. (CI), Noor, W. (CI), Dannaoui, N. (CI) and de Koker, L. (CI).
Financial Market Integrity Group of the World Bank: $ 40 000

2010: Impact of SIM-card registration requirements on mobile money initiatives in South Africa. Researchers: De Koker, L. (PL); Symington, J (CI).
Centre for Financial Inclusion and Regulation (South Africa): $ 13 000

2006-08: Developing guidelines for the implementation of FATF Recommendations. Researchers:  Bester, H. (CI), Chamberlain, D. (CI), de Koker, L. (CI), Hougaard, C. (CI), Short, R. (CI), Smith, A. (CI) and Walker, R (CI) (Genesis Analytics)
FIRST Initiative, World Bank: US$ 655,374