Book Launch: A Sense of Common Purpose - A History of the Australian Academy of Law (The Federation Press)

Author: Emeritus Professor David Barker AM FAAL 

Date: Tuesday, 21 June 2022 at 5.30 - 7.00 pm 

Location: Level 20 Conference Room,  Federal Court of Australia, Queens Square, Sydney.

Speaker: The Hon Chief Justice James Allsop AO, Chief Justice of the Federal Court of Australia

Chair: The Hon Kevin Lindgren AM QC

This book recounts the history and development of the Australian Academy of Law from its early beginnings in 1996, through its official launch in July 2007 at Government House in Brisbane to the end of 2020. It traces the influence on its development exercised by the recommendations of the Australian Law Reform Commission in 2000 in its Report Managing Justice – A Review of the Federal Civil Justice System (ALRC Report 89).

Sponsored by the Academy, the book has the advantage that its author, David Barker, has been involved with the organisation from the beginning, then later as a Foundation Fellow and as its Secretary to the present time. His early involvement has meant that he has been able to observe the influence on its development exercised by both its Foundation and current Fellows, its three Presidents, all of whom have been Judges of the Federal Court of Australia, and its three Patrons, all of whom have been Chief Justices of the High Court of Australia.

The book will be of great interest to those concerned with the Academy’s role within modern Australian legal history and its future influence on the legal community

The Presentation by The Hon Chief Justice James Allsop AO can be accessed here.

The speech by Emeritus Professor David Barker AM can be accessed here.