Academy Fellow Michael Murray has co-authored the 9th edition of the Annotated Bankruptcy Act 1966, with Paul Nichols, barrister of Perth WA.
The text brings the law up to date as at July 2022 including the Bankruptcy Regulations 2021, and the rules of the new Federal Circuit and Family Court. The Act is comprehensively annotated with latest case law and practice guidance.
The text is published by Lexis Nexis.
Effective adjudication has become a key consideration for environmental lawyers. One of the most important questions is whether environmental law frameworks need their own courts, with the conclusion being: yes they do.
Here, a pioneer of such a court, the NSWLEC is forensically examined to see what it might teach other such courts.
Showing a court ‘in action’ it suggests models that practitioners and policy makers might follow.
It also speaks to the environmental law scholars, setting out a conceptual framework for studying such courts as legal institutions.
This multi-faceted collection is invaluable to scholars and practitioners alike.
The sixteen chapters of the book cover many aspects of the NSWLEC including its proactive decision-making, its place in the planning system of New South Wales, climate law and Gloucester Resources v Minister for Planning, international comparisons, biodiversity, environmental principles, the recognition of indigenous peoples’ environmental rights, administrative law expertise of the Court, criminal proceedings for offences against environmental laws, access to justice and ADR.
As the publisher notes, while it is “sometimes said that great advocates are born, not made … the central tenet of this book is that such assertions are dangerous nonsense”, explaining that
“modern litigation is a sophisticated business, requiring a wide range of organisational, procedural, presentational and technical legal skills. Whether it be a plea of guilty before a magistrate or a multi-party commercial dispute involving billions of dollars and dozens of lawyers for each party, each stage in the preparation and presentation of a case requires skills that must be learned, then honed” ….
Read further: Learning to Litigate – The Federation Press
The book is aimed at younger lawyers and those mentoring them. As Chief Justice Kiefel writes in the Foreword,
“The work is essential reading for young litigators and their mentors… I wish that I had been fortunate enough to have had access to a guide such as this when I commenced my career in litigation.”.
Neil Williams has been a Fellow of the Academy of Law since 2014. Chief Justice Kiefel is Patron of the Academy.
As explained by the publisher
“… The purpose of Case Management and Complex Civil Litigation is to examine the case management tools available to the modern-day judge for dealing with crucial aspects of complex civil litigation, such as pleadings, discovery, expert evidence, alternative dispute resolution, summary judgment and the separate question procedure. The text also addresses the role of the overriding or overarching purpose with its command that civil litigation is to be conducted in a manner which achieves justice while minimising cost and delay as this has major significance for complex cases. The text considers the use of costs and sanctions as a way in which to encourage and enforce compliance with civil procedure requirements in complex litigation. Concerns voiced about case management, such as ensuring procedural fairness, are examined. …“.
The Hon Justice Steven Rares of the Federal Court of Australia, also an Academy Fellow, has written a foreword to the text, saying that Professor Legg has “impressively surveyed, synthesised and compared” the various rules and practices of Australian, English and US courts in managing complex litigation, revealing “as one might expect, that there is more than one way to approach any problem”.
Further details are here: Case Management and Complex Civil Litigation – The Federation Press
5 October 2022, AAL.
Academy Fellow Professor Miranda Stewart’s new book, Tax and Government in the 21st Century, was launched by the Hon Dr Andrew Leigh MP at the Australia Institute’s Revenue Summit 22 on 6 October 2022 at Parliament House Canberra. His speech for the launch is here: Speech launching Miranda Stewart’s book ‘Tax and Government in the 21st Century’ – Andrew Leigh MP
As the publisher Cambridge University Press explains:
“With an accessible style and clear structure, Miranda Stewart explains how taxation finances government in the twenty-first century, exploring tax law in its historical, economic, and social context. Today, democratic tax states face an array of challenges, including the changing nature of work, the digitalisation and globalisation of the economy, and rebuilding after the fiscal crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic. ….”.
See further at 9781107483507_Tax and Government in the 21st Century_Flyer.pdf
The book recounts the history and development of the Academy 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 of 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), which recommended the establishment of such an Academy.
Sponsored by the Academy, the book has the advantage that its author, David Barker, has been involved with the organization 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 since its inception in promoting discussion on important issues within the Australian legal system and in supporting the future development of law in Australia.
The book was launched on 21 June 2022 by the Hon Chief Justice James Allsop AO, Chief Justice of the Federal Court of Australia, and the event was chaired by the Hon Melissa Perry, a Judge of the Federal Court.
The speech of the Chief Justice is at this link.
Other details about the book are on the Federation Press website.
This edition explains Australian insolvency law under the Bankruptcy Act 1966 and the Corporations Act 2001, in light of the substantial case law and practice developments flowing from the changes made by the Insolvency Law Reform Act 2016. The changes include new powers of the courts and the regulators, ASIC and AFSA, and new practitioner registration and regulation regimes. Further changes to the law in relation to safe harbour, ‘ipso facto’ and phoenix companies, and debt agreements, and then further reforms again as a consequence of the economic and social impacts of COVID-19, are also explained.
While Keay’s Insolvency continues with the authors’ views on the need for major reform of insolvency law and practice, in chapter 1, they explain what they see as initial structural reforms necessary to address significant gaps and deficiencies in the operation of insolvency law in Australia. These were the subject of the authors’ presentation to an Academy roundtable in August 2021: see Australian Academy of Law – Sydney Insolvency Roundtable.
Keays is now approaching its 30th year of publication with this, its 11th edition. The original first edition was written by Professor Andrew Keay, now of the University of Leeds in the UK. Michael Murray has been involved since the 4th edition and Jason Harris since the 7th edition.
Further details can be found here: Keay’s Insolvency: Personal & Corporate Law and Practice, 11th Edition – Thomson Reuters Australia
“Weaving together theoretical, historical, and legal approaches, this book offers a fresh perspective on the concept of allegiance and its revival in recent times, identifying and contextualising its evolving association with theories of citizenship.
The book explores how allegiance was historically owed in return for the sovereign’s protection but has been redeployed by modern governments to justify the withdrawal of protection. It examines allegiance from multiple perspectives, including laws for the revocation of citizenship, new ideas of citizenship education, the doctrine of treason, oaths of allegiance, naturalisation tests, and theories of belonging. This thought-provoking book ultimately finds allegiance to be a feudal concept that is inappropriate in the liberal democratic state, and is misplaced, even dangerous, in its association with modern citizenship. Rejecting allegiance, but reaching a constructive resolution, it explores modern alternatives to describe the bond between citizens, advancing a new perspective on the ‘enigma’ of belonging.
With its carefully constructed analysis, this work will prove pivotal in furthering our understanding of allegiance and citizenship. Its legal–theoretical account of a complex and under-theorised concept make it valuable reading for legal and political theorists, legal historians, and scholars of citizenship, law, and social politics”.
The book is published by Edward Elgar Publishing: for purchase and other details please see this link: Allegiance, Citizenship and the Law (e-elgar.com)
Professor Irving’s comment on the recent High Court of Australia decision in Alexander v Minister for Home Affairs [2022] HCA 19 (8 June 2022) concerning the invalidity of section 36B of the Australian Citizenship Act 2007, as to the cessation of a person’s citizenship if certain conduct “demonstrates that the person has repudiated their allegiance to Australia”, is on the Australian Public Law blog.
It has been seven years since the publication of the 6th edition of Professor Zines’s classic book on Australian constitutional law, The High Court and the Constitution. In that time the High Court has handed down a range of important decisions transforming, extending and developing existing constitutional law principles.
The 7th edition of the book, by Professor James Stellios, contains analysis and critique of the High Court’s jurisprudence over that period. Revisions have been made to almost all chapters to update the existing law. The most significant revisions relate to:
Published by Federation Press: full details here.
Ombudsmen are a global phenomenon. They are also a critical part of the public law frameworks of modern liberal democracies. This is the first edited collection to examine the place of the ombudsman in the modern state.
In its sixteen chapters, it brings together key international scholars to discuss current and future challenges for the Ombudsman institution and the systems of government within which they operate, with its authors heralding from most continents – Canada, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, South Africa, Germany, and Austria.
Professor Groves and Professor Stuhmcke open the collection with a joint chapter on the evolution and future of the ombudsman. Academy fellow Professor John McMillan of the ANU also provides a chapter, on Complaint Handling Effectiveness: What Can We Learn from Industry-Based Ombudsmen Schemes?
This global analysis is both in-depth and expansive in its coverage of the operation of Ombudsmen across civil and common law legal systems.
The book has two key themes:
– the enduring question of the location and operation of Ombudsmen within public law systems in a changing state, and
– the challenges faced by Ombudsmen in contemporary governance.
This collection adds to the public law scholarship by addressing a common problem faced by all avenues of public law review – the evolving nature of modern public administration.
The book is published through Bloomsbury at this link The Ombudsman in the Modern State: : Matthew Groves: Hart Publishing (bloomsbury.com)
Academy fellow Mr Scott Atkins, of Norton Rose Fulbright, is the President of INSOL International and as such is responsible for the organisation of what is the 40th anniversary of INSOL International itself, with over 930 delegates attending the conference comprising judges, regulators, academics and practitioners from all over the globe.
INSOL comprises 45 Member Associations with over 10,500 professional members. INSOL also has ancillary groups that represent the judiciary, regulators, financiers, academics, insolvency mediators and arbitrators, each of which has individual sessions at the conference.
At the Academics Colloquium, Academy fellow Professor Christopher Symes (Adelaide) has a paper jointly authored with his colleague Dr Sulette Lombard (Uni SA), as presenter, on their insolvency litigation funding project.
Academy fellows Adjunct Professor Rosalind Mason (QUT) and Mr Michael Murray have jointly authored a paper with Professor Paula Moffatt of Nottingham Law School, Nottingham Trent University, comparing insolvency practitioner regulation in the UK and Australia, the paper being presented by Professor Moffatt, with Professor Mason.
Both topics – litigation funding, and practitioner regulation – are of current significance in Australian law reform.
The book provides analytical commentary on the growing body of case law applying the Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration in Australia and around the world, discusses innovations in institutional rules and offers practical guidance.
There is a launch of the third edition on 22 June 2022 in Sydney by the Honourable Chief Justice James Allsop AO, at the Federal Court of Australia in Sydney. The launch will also feature a welcome from Georgia Quick, ACICA President and the authors. Details: Launch of the Third Edition of Commercial Arbitration Commercial Arbitration in Australia under the Model Law – Sydney (acica.org.au).
There is also a launch at Melbourne Law School on 29 June 2022 at 5pm with an address by Academy fellow Professor Richard Garnett of the Law School. The launch will be followed at 6:00pm by Professor Doug Jones’ 2022 Sir George Turner Lecture ‘Australia – The Very Model of Modern Arbitration Law.’ Details: Book Launch and 2022 Sir George Turner Public Lecture – Chartered Institute of Arbitrators Australia (ciarb.net.au).
Both Justice Lindsay and Ms Webster collaborate in other publications, as editor and consultant editor respectively of the Australian Bar Review, along with another Academy fellow, Mr Clyde Croft QC.
Then there was the publication in 2021 of Australian Jurists and Christianity (Federation Press), edited by Professor Wayne Hudson and Justice Lindsay, with Ms Webster contributing an essay on Sir Victor Windeyer.
Finally, both Justice Lindsay and Ms Webster collaborated in the establishment and administration of The Francis Forbes Society for Australian Legal History, both being foundation members of the Society’s Council. The establishment of the Forbes Society coincided with publication of centenary essays celebrating the NSW Bar Association: “No Mere Mouthpiece” (Lexis Nexis 2002), coedited by both.
Justice Lindsay is a Judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, and Carol Webster is a senior counsel at Tenth Floor St James Hall Chambers.
The work of the Academy’s two fellows well supports the promotion of excellence in legal research, education and practice among various other objects of the Academy of Law.
The Responsible Shareholder
Stephen Bottomley, Emeritus Professor, ANU College of Law, The Australian National University, Australia
This book is published by Edward Elgar and can be found here
Examining the role of shareholders in modern companies, this timely book argues that more should be expected of shareholders, both morally and legally. It explores the privileged position of shareholders within the corporate law system and the unique rights and duties awarded to them in contrast to other corporate actors. Introducing the concept of shareholders as responsible agents whose actions and inactions should be judged on that basis, Stephen Bottomley unites a number of distinct corporate governance discussions including stewardship, activism and shareholder liability.
Future-Proofing the Judiciary
Brian Opeskin Professor of Law, University of Technology, Sydney
This book is published by Palgrave Macmillan and can be found here
The book reinvigorates the field of socio-legal inquiry examining the relationship between law and demography. Originally conceived as ‘population law’ in the 1970s following unprecedented growth in world population and the use of law to temper that growth, this book takes a fresh approach by examining how population change can affect legal systems, rather than the converse. Through four case studies, the book examines how demographic change impacts judicial systems and how those systems should adapt to embody greater preparedness for the demographic changes that lie ahead. The case studies focus on Australian courts and judges, but the book offers global insights and raises critical questions about institutional structures. In making recommendations for reform, it speaks to socio-legal scholars, applied demographers, and all those interested in judicial institutions.
Both Justice Lindsay and Ms Webster collaborate in other publications, as editor and consultant editor respectively of the Australian Bar Review, along with another Academy fellow, Mr Clyde Croft QC.
Then there was the publication in 2021 of Australian Jurists and Christianity (Federation Press), edited by Professor Wayne Hudson and Justice Lindsay, with Ms Webster contributing an essay on Sir Victor Windeyer.
Finally, both Justice Lindsay and Ms Webster collaborated in the establishment and administration of The Francis Forbes Society for Australian Legal History, both being foundation members of the Society’s Council. The establishment of the Forbes Society coincided with publication of centenary essays celebrating the NSW Bar Association: “No Mere Mouthpiece” (Lexis Nexis 2002), coedited by both.
Justice Lindsay is a Judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, and Carol Webster is a senior counsel at Tenth Floor St James Hall Chambers.
The work of the Academy’s two fellows well supports the promotion of excellence in legal research, education and practice among various other objects of the Academy of Law.
Both Justice Lindsay and Ms Webster collaborate in other publications, as editor and consultant editor respectively of the Australian Bar Review, along with another Academy fellow, Mr Clyde Croft QC.
Then there was the publication in 2021 of Australian Jurists and Christianity (Federation Press), edited by Professor Wayne Hudson and Justice Lindsay, with Ms Webster contributing an essay on Sir Victor Windeyer.
Finally, both Justice Lindsay and Ms Webster collaborated in the establishment and administration of The Francis Forbes Society for Australian Legal History, both being foundation members of the Society’s Council. The establishment of the Forbes Society coincided with publication of centenary essays celebrating the NSW Bar Association: “No Mere Mouthpiece” (Lexis Nexis 2002), coedited by both.
Justice Lindsay is a Judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, and Carol Webster is a senior counsel at Tenth Floor St James Hall Chambers.
The work of the Academy’s two fellows well supports the promotion of excellence in legal research, education and practice among various other objects of the Academy of Law.
