ANU COLLEGE OF LAW
Alumni NewsletterWinter 2008
Contents
ANU Alumni get-together in London
The Australian Centre for Dialogue celebrates
Appointment of new Commonwealth Solicitor General
Law Alumni Cocktail Reception 2008
Launch of The Centre for Climate Law and Policy
Don Anton speaks at Conference on Environmental Governance and Democracy
Congratulations to Belinda Robilliard
ANU College of Law well represented at Australia’s 2020 Summit
Appointment for Professor Kim Rubenstein
Congratulations to Professor Mick Dodson
Launch of Australian Centre for Military Law and Justice
Congratulations to Amelia Simpson
The Annual ANU Reconciliation Lecture
Congratulations to Professor Jane Stapleton
Prestigious prize for Professor Stephen Bottomley
ANU Alumni get-together in London
The ANU held an alumni reception at the Oxford and Cambridge Club in London on 9 April 2008. Over 130 alumni and friends attended the event to reconnect with old friends and to hear the latest news about the ANU from the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ian Chubb.
The event also marked the establishment of the ANU UK Foundation which is chaired by Robert McCorquodale (former head of school at ANU College of Law, now based in London).
Professor Simon Bronitt, who was master of ceremonies at the event, has established a Facebook contact for ANU Law Alumni in the UK to assist UK based Law alumni to keep in touch.
Photograph from left: Alexis Arthur, Simon Bronitt, Henry Mares and Patrick Delaney
Patrick Delaney is currently working for the UK Ministry of Justice (International Law & Property Branch Civil Law and Justice Division), and is due to take up the next International Court of Justice (ICJ) Internship. Alexis Arthur works for a London based NGO, and Henry Mares is a Lecturer at St Hilda's College Oxford teaching criminal law, while completing his PhD at Cambridge.
Senator Kate Lundy joined with Pro-Vice Chancellor Professor Mandy Thomas and Project Director, Peter Hancock on 5 June to launch a new DVD promoting the Australian Centre for Dialogue and explaining the benefits of dialogue. Supporters of the Centre from the ANU and the community celebrated the raising the first $10M dollars from a philanthropist and the new site for the Centre on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin in the National Humanities and Science Campus. The project to establish the Centre has been hosted by the ANU College of Law since 2004.
The celebration was held in the Conference Room overlooking the site where the Centre for Dialogue will be linked to Questacon and its proposed Garden of Wonder and the National Health and Medical Research Council’s proposed Life and Health House. An architectural concept plan was commissioned to examine the linkages and synergies that can be achieved on this site in the National Humanities and Science campus which includes the National Library of Australia. This will be an outreach activity of the ANU to Australia and the Asia-Pacific.
The three speakers emphasised the importance of fostering constructive dialogue in Australia in resolving issues today and the need for a dedicated place for it where the architectural ambience and in-the-round configuration have proven beneficial effects on outcomes. The Centre will also serve as a boutique conference venue for the ANU, seating up to 160 persons in- the-round in the main dialogue theatre and smaller numbers in a range of dialogue rooms. A total of $26M is required to commence construction and it is hoped that it can be up and running for the Centenary of Canberra in 2013.
Photograph from left: Professor Mandy Thomas, Peter Hancock and Senator Kate Lundy
For more information see: The Australian Centre for Dialogue website.
Stephen John Gageler SC, a graduate of The Australian National University has been appointed the next Commonwealth Solicitor-General of Australia. He will commence a five year term on 1 September 2008.
For further details please read the press release.
All alumni and friends of the Law School are warmly invited to attend the Alumni Cocktail Reception on Friday 10 October 2008 at the National Library of Australia, Canberra.
The event will celebrate the achievements of three of our distinguished alumni: The appointment of Hilary Penfold and Richard Refshauge as judges of the ACT Supreme Court, and the appointment of Stephen John Gageler SC as the next Solicitor-General of Australia.
The invitation and registration form will be sent out in our next e-mail, so make a note in your diary!
The world’s first legal research centre devoted to climate change was officially opened at ANU College of Law at The Australian National University by Environment Minister Peter Garrett on Friday 6 June 2008.
The ANU Centre for Climate Law and Policy (CCLP) has been established in response to a growing awareness of the legal dimensions of global warming. It will be headed up by Director Tim Bonyhady and Associate Director Andrew Macintosh and carry out research on the full range of climate law and policy issues including energy law, regulation of transport and forestry emissions, international climate law and climate litigation.
Above from left: ANU College of Law Dean, Profossor Michael Coper, Director of The Centre for Climate Law and Policy,
Professor Tim Bonyhady and The Hon Peter Garrett MP.(Photograph by Stuart Hay, ANU Photography)For the full press release see the ANU Media Office
And for more information about The Centre for Climate Law and Policy see the website.
See also details of the Sydney launch of the ANU Centre for Climate Law and Policy.
Don Anton spoke at a Conference on Enviromental Governance and Democracy at Yale Law School on 10-11 May as a part of the 16th Session of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development.
For more details about the conference please see: http://www.yale.edu/envirocenter/envdem/
Don Anton
Belinda Robilliard, a postgraduate student at the ANU College of Law, has been awarded the Nygh Prize for her essay in the field of private international law. The essay, Jurisdiction and Choice of Law Rules for Defamation Actions in Australia following the Gutnick case and the Uniform Defamation Legislation, was a shorter version of an assignment written for Professor Jim Davis, who teaches Conflict of Laws as a postgraduate course at ANU and who is Australia’s foremost academic in this field.
The prize was established in 2006 by the International Law Association (Australian Branch) to honour the memory of one of its most distinguished members, the Hon. Peter Edward Nygh, AM, LLD. Entries must demonstrate outstanding scholarship and makes a distinct contribution to an understanding of the subject.
Belinda received a certificate, membership of the International Law Association for one year and cash in the amount of $300.
For information about the Nygh Prize see: http://www.ila.org.au/nygh_brennan_awards.htm
The ANU College of Law was well represented at the 2020 Summit in Canberra. The Summit was an initiative of the Australian Government to help shape the future of Australia. It covered topics including the economy, infrastructure, environment, farming, health care, indigenous Australians, arts, national security, the system of government, and strengthening communities. A number of colleagues, students, alumni and Visiting Fellows were chosen from thousands of applicants from all over Australia to brainstorm the future of the country at this event.
ANU College of Law participants included: colleagues Kent Anderson, Hilary Charlesworth, Simon Rice and Amelia Simpson; students Susan Harris Rimmer, Jamila Rizvi, and Xian-Zhi Soon; Visiting Fellows Sir Anthony Mason and George Williams; and many ANU College of Law alumni.
Congratulations also to ANU College of Law student, Charles Deutscher, and Tim Goodwin, an ANU College of Law graduate and current student in Legal Workshop. They were selected as two of the 11 participants from the 2020 Youth Summit held in Canberra on 12 and 13 April to attend the main 2020 Summit.
The ANU College of Law congratulated these members of the College community on their success in being chosen, and in underlining the College’s commitment to playing a leadership role in Australian public affairs.
For more information about the 2020 Summit, please visit the Commonwealth Government website at: http://www.australia2020.gov.au
Professor Kim Rubeinstein was appointed to an independent committee to review the citizenship test by the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Senator Chris Evans on 28 April, 2008.
For more details of the appointment see the following article:
Independent committee to review citizenship test
Professor Kim Rubenstein
Professor Mick Dodson has been appointed by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission to help establish a new indigenous representative body to replace the disbanded Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC).
For more details see the following article:
New indigenous body bid
Professor Mick Dodson
The country’s first academic centre devoted to studying all aspects of Australian military law was officially opened today at The Australian National University. The Australian Centre for Military Law and Justice was opened by Minister for Defence Science and Personnel, The Hon. Warren Snowden.
The Centre, part of the ANU College of Law, has been established at a time when there is increased focus on the military as Australian forces are increasingly being called on to contribute to peace and security – in Australia, internationally and in the Asia Pacific region. The principal focus of the centre is high quality focused research across the spectrum of military law. The research work of the Centre will complement the postgraduate teaching program for Defence lawyers run by ANU since 2006.
The inaugural Director of the Centre is Professor Robin Creyke, who also holds the Alumni Chair of Administrative Law at the ANU College of Law. Professor Creyke said the Centre will redress a notable absence of academic study in Australian on military law. 'This is the first centre in Australia which looks across the entire spectrum of issues relating to military law and fills a significant gap in Australian legal scholarship' said Professor Creyke.
'For a long period the military has been seen as separate from the general community. The origin of authority to manage defence, formerly in the Crown’s prerogative powers, may explain in part the special and separate nature of defence service and account for the absence of interest in defence legal scholarship in the wider community. But that general lack of interest is not matched by an absence of writing and focus on military law and scholarship within Defence itself, nor on popular interest in Australian military history and strategic policy. The Centre hopes to assist in rectifying an omission in relation to that aspect of the military’s activities that are affected by its legal rights and obligations,' she said. She added that the opening of the Centre complemented the academic work already being undertaken at the University.
'The University has a special mission to advancing Australia’s place in the world. The Centre will complement the existing policy and strategic strength of the University in the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre. It will aim to contribute to solutions to problems and issues both domestically – such as with the Northern Territory intervention – and internationally where Australian personnel are serving.'
From the left: Dean Michael Coper, Professor Robin Creyke,and The Hon Warren Snowden MP
For more information see the Australian Centre for Military Law and Justice website.
Amelia Simpson has been awarded a doctorate (JSD) from Columbia University for her thesis, The Concept of Discrimination in Australian Constitutional Jurisprudence.
The Annual ANU Reconciliation Lecture was held on 28 May 2008 with guest speaker Mark Bin Bakar. The lecture was jointly presented by The National Centre for Indigenous Studies, ANU College of Law and Reconciliation Australia.
For more details about Mark Bin Bakar and to hear a podcast of the Annual ANU Reconciliation Lecture see this link: http://law.anu.edu.au/news/index.asp
Mark Bin Bakar
Professor Jane Stapleton has recently been awarded the degree of Doctor of Civil Law (DCL) by the University of Oxford. The DCL is one of the the ancient 'senior' doctorates. It is awarded for published work 'consisting of an original contribution to the advancement of knowledge of such substance and distinction as to give the candidate authoritative status in some branch or branches of legal learning'. In addition to her post in the ANU College of Law, Professor Stapleton is a Statutory Visiting Professor at Oxford and a member of the Oxford Law Faculty, and Ernest E Smith Professor in Law at the University of Texas at Austin.
Prestigious prize for Professor Stephen Bottomley
ANU College of Law Associate Dean and Head of School, Professor Stephen Bottomley, has won a highly prestigious international prize for his acclaimed book The Constitutional Corporation.
Stephen has been awarded the Hart Socio-Legal Book Prize for 2008 for the most outstanding piece of legal scholarship published in the past year. The prize was announced earlier this week at the Socio-Legal Studies Association annual conference in Manchester, UK.
The judges noted that Stephen’s book 'offers a fresh new perspective on notions of shareholder value, which has suffered from too much economism in the past. This fluently written, impeccably argued work shifts the debate in corporate governance, (and) offers a new model of interpretation drawing on republican theories of governance. (We) were impressed in particular by the way the author has developed the concept of accountability too, drawing on broader theories of accountability within complex organisations.’
The book was published by Ashgate Publishing, ashgate.com
Professor Stephen Bottomley
The Constitutional Corporation
The ANU College of Law has created a scholarship in memory of the late Professor Phillipa Weeks. Phillipa was a significant contributor to the Canberra legal community and a member of the academic staff of ANU from 1979 until her untimely passing in 2006.This scholarship supports students from regional and rural Australia who demonstrate academic achievement, leadership and community involvement. The award is intended to be held by the successful applicant for the duration of their law program. We have decided to endow this fund, so as to award the scholarship in perpetuity. Our goal is $500,000 and we have raised over $145,000 in the first six months. An endowment of this size will allow us to award a scholarship every year.
For more information on giving towards this scholarship, please visit:
http://law.anu.edu.au/undergraduate/Scholarships.asp
Seminar: The UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts by Prof Joachim Bonell
1:00 - 2:00 PM in the Staff Library, ANU College of LawFor more information go to:http://law.anu.edu.au/CCL/Bonell.pdf
Please rsvp to: rsvp@law.anu.edu.au
ANU OPEN DAY
9am - 4pmVisit the ANU to find out about study options for undergraduate and graduate students.
http://info.anu.edu.au/studyat/_Student_Recruitment/_openday.asp
