Fellow Spotlight

Academy Fellow Professor Natalie Klein of UNSW has co-authored Submarines in International Law, the first book to explore both the legal history and the contemporary regulation of submarine operations in varied areas of international law.  Her co-authors are Kate Purcell and Jack McNally, both also of UNSW. 

According to the publisher, the book demonstrates the instances where submarines have influenced the development of the law of the sea and the law of armed conflict, as well as highlighting where international law needs to give greater account of submarines in existing bodies of law - including international marine environmental law, the law on the use of force, navigational safety rules, transnational criminal law and international cultural heritage law.

Submarine operations range from military and defence uses, to supporting research and commercial seabed industries, to ocean tourism and smuggling of illicit goods.

International law regulates all these activities to varying degrees. While submarines may strive to be evasive objects in the ocean, this book demonstrates why they cannot and should not elude the reach of international law.

Details from the publisher including as to purchase are here: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/submarines-in-international-law/72B3CF49FC9D6F15250A80A948CC3115

Professor Natalie Klein

Academy fellows Michael Murray and Professor Jason Harris have produced a 12th edition of their standard Australian textbook on insolvency law - Keay's Insolvency - Personal and Corporate Law and Practice.

The book was initially written in 1993 by Professor Andrew Keay and was the first book in Australia on insolvency itself. Up to that time there had been separate books on bankruptcy and on liquidation. 

The book gives an emphasis to practice in relation to the processes of winding up and sequestration; the various legislative mechanisms available to investigate and recover assets; and to litigation processes and remedies.  It also explains insolvency from the debtor's and creditors' perspectives.  

Policy and reform issues are also covered.  Chapter 1 continues the authors' on-going appraisal of the insolvency regime over several editions.  Their view is that it needs a greater role of the state, in what is an inherently underfunded regime, compounded by significant public interest tasks imposed on practitioners.  

Other particular and current issues are discussed - approaches to corporate restructuring, the tension between competition policy and restructuring, small business insolvencies, family law and superannuation.

Practitioner independence, ethics and remuneration are each explained in detail.

The authors have made extensive law reform submissions over time, and the book is referenced throughout in the 2023 Parliamentary Joint Committee Report on Corporate Insolvency.  They have made further submissions to the current Productivity Commission inquiry into "barriers to business dynamism", due to report in May 2027.

Thomson Reuters' further details and as to purchase are here:  

https://store.thomsonreuters.com.au/keays-insolvency-personal-and-corporate-law-and-practice-12th-ed/productdetail/133565