After the defeat of
Paul Keating by
John Howard and the commencement of the tabling of the
Workplace Relations Act 1996, Riley became interested in labour law and, soon thereafter, began to teach the area and completed a Ph.D., under the supervision of
Ronald C. McCallum and Patrick Parkinson, in employment, equity, and commercial law. Riley also attended the
Macquarie Graduate School of Management, where she earned a Graduate Diploma of Management. Following the departure of
Gillian Triggs as Dean of the Sydney Law School in mid-2012, Riley was appointed as Triggs' successor in early 2013. ==Personal life==