Dr Prest is a lecturer in law specialising in environmental law with interests in administrative law and litigation and is a Member of the IUCN Commission on Environmental Law. He is currently publishing papers on renewable energy law (particularly on feed-in tariffs and tradeable RE certificates law), and major projects legislation. His research interests are in the areas of renewable energy law, climate change law, special projects legislation, biodiversity law, and environmental offences.
After graduating from the University of Adelaide and the ANU and gaining admission to practise in the Supreme Court of the ACT in 1995 he worked for several years as a legal policy officer at the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. He has also held positions as a Research Officer at the Law and Bills Digest Group of the Parliamentary Library in Canberra and as an adviser at Parliament House. He has practiced as a solicitor with Corrs Chambers Westgarth, and the Legal Aid Office in Canberra. In 2004 he was a solicitor in the Save the Ridge legal team with matters in the ACT AAT, Commonwealth AAT, ACT Supreme Court and Federal Court. In January 2004 he submitted a PhD thesis in law at the Centre for Natural Resources Law and Policy, Faculty of Law, University of Wollongong, under the supervision of Professor David Farrier, author of the NSW Environmental Law Handbook. Between October 2004 and December 2006 he held the position of principal solicitor at the Environmental Defender’s Office (ACT) Inc.
