Research biography

Associate Professor David Letts is Director of the Military Law Program, and Director of the Centre for Military and Security Law, at the ANU College of Law. He arrived at ANU in late 2012 after a career of more than three decades in the Royal Australian Navy.

David’s research interests centre upon the application of legal regimes to military operations, and he has written on topics including military justice, law of the sea, the law of naval warfare, international humanitarian law and the legal issues which arise on peacekeeping operations.

Since joining the ANU College of Law David has been a regular public commentator on government policy which affects the legality of Australian military operations and his opinion is regularly sought by the media.

Refereed journal articles

• "A review of selected measures for reducing potential conflict among naval vessels in the South China Sea" Operational Maritime Law Vol 1 (2018) 143-160
• "Maritime Law Enforcement and the Aggravation of the South China Sea Dispute: Implications for Australia", Volume 34 Australian Yearbook of International Law, (2017) 53-63 (with Rob McLaughlin and Hitoshi Nasu)
• "Naval mines: Legal considerations in armed conflict and peacetime" International Review of the Red Cross (2016), 98(2), 543-565
• "Call-Out Powers for the Australian Defence Force in an Age of Terrorism: Some Legal Implications" (2016) 85 AIAL Forum 63 (with Rob McLaughlin)
• "Beyond Hague VIII: Other Legal Limits on Naval Mine Warfare" 90 International Law Studies 446 (2014)
• “Recent Australian Experience of the Law of the Sea and Military Operations” (2005) Australian Year Book of International Law Vol 24 pp 129-144
• “The Use of Force in Patrolling Australia’s Fishing Zones” (2000) Marine Policy Vol 24 Issue 2 pp 149-159

Book chapters

• "The Law of Naval Warfare: International Humanitarian Law in the Maritime Domain" (with Rob McLaughlin) in Rain Liivoja and Tim McCormack (eds) Routledge Handbook of the Law of Armed Conflict (2016)
• "A Maritime School of Strategic Thought for Australia: Legal Considerations" in Justin Jones (ed) A Maritime School of Strategic Thought for Australia: Perspectives (Sea Power Centre - Australia, 2013) pp 137-143
• “Peacekeepers in Post-Conflict Situations – Upholding the Rule of Law” in Ustina Dolgopol and Judith Gardam (eds) The Challenge of Conflict (Koninklijke Brill BV, 2006) pp 529-545
• "The Royal Australian Navy, the Constitution and the Law – Then and Now” in David Stevens and John Reeve (eds) Southern Trident: Strategy, History and the Rise of Australian Naval Power, (Allen and Unwin, Sydney, 2001) pp 276-290

Conference papers & presentations

• "The Australia/Timor-Leste Boundary Dispute" paper presented at 31st US Pacific Command MILOPS Conference, Singapore, April 2018
• "Military operations at sea: maintaining the distance between inadvertent conflict and freedom of navigation" International Society for Military Law and the Law of War/Exeter University Law School Conference "The International Law of Military Operations: Mapping the Field", Exeter University, 22 June 2016
• "The RAN and the Law'", Centre for Military and Security Law & UNE School of Law, "Law, War and Memory - Centenary of ANZAC Legal History Symposium", UNE Armidale, November 2015
• “Soft law and warships: measures for reducing conflict at sea” ANZSIL Annual Conference, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand, July 2015
• "The role of a lawyer when deployed on military operations", Universidad Bernardo O’Higgins, Santiago de Chile, March 2015
• “The Royal Australian Navy and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea: 20th anniversary of entry into force of UNCLOS – retrospective and prospective considerations”, Co-Convenor and Session Chair, Fleet HQ, Sydney, November 2014
• "Categories of Conflict at Sea and their Rules of Engagement", paper presented at a Forum on International Humanitarian Law on Conflicts at Sea (also provided closing Synthesis), Institute of International Legal Studies, University of the Philippines Law Center, Manila, November 2014
• “Forced Boarding at Sea – from Refugees to the Sea Shepherd, what does the law allow?”, Panelist for NSW Young Labor Public Seminar, Sydney, April 2014
• "Operation Sovereign Borders: Charting the Legal Issues", Panelist for CMSL Public Seminar, ANU College of Law, February 2014

Committees

EXTERNAL ORGANISATIONS

• Australian Red Cross ACT International Humanitarian Law Committee
• ACT Law Society Military Law Committee

INTERNAL ANU COMMITTEES

• Military Law Program Committee (Chair)
• Military Law Contract Committee
• ANU College of Law College Education Committee
• ANU College of Law Graduate Coursework Committee

Case notes & book reviews

David Letts, ‘Book Review: Australian Maritime Law by Dr Michael White’ (3rd Ed 2014) in Ethos (Journal of the ACT Law Society) September 2014

LLM Masters thesis supervision

I am willing to supervise in areas related to my academic interests.

Honours thesis supervision

I am willing to supervise in areas related to my academic interests.

Philosophy & approach

I combine legal knowledge with practical legal and military experience so that students can contextualise how the law might apply in their own environment. My hope is that classes not only provide detailed legal content to students but are also a place where information exchange can take place in an open and interactive manner.

Past courses

• Law of the Sea (LLM)
• Maritime Security Law (LLM)
• Military Operations Law (LTM2 and LTM3)
• Military Administrative Law (LTM2 and LTM3)
• Military Discipline Law (LTM2 and LTM3)
• Military Legal Practice (LTM2)

How my works connects with public policy

• July 2018 CMSL Submission to Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee's inquiry into the Defence Amendment (Call out of the Australian Defence Force) Bill 2018
• April 2015 CMSL Submission (with Rob McLaughlin and Hitoshi Nasu) to Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee’s inquiry into the potential use by the Australian Defence Force of unmanned air, maritime and land platforms
• February 2015 CMSL Submission (with Rob McLaughlin) to Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee’s inquiry into Defence Legislation Amendment (Military Justice Enhancements—Inspector-General ADF) Bill 2014