Michael recently joined the Law School following a distinguished career in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. 

Michael graduated from the University of New South Wales with first class honours equivalent in Law and Commerce. He subsequently spent three years as a legal adviser to the Refugee Review Tribunal. 

As a Fulbright Scholar he completed his Masters in Laws specialising in international law at Columbia University. After brief stints at Human Rights First in New York and Steptoe & Johnson LLP in Washington DC he returned to Australia, joining the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in 1999.

 For the subsequent 24 years Michael worked in increasingly senior positions across the Department and for successive Commonwealth Governments. The vast majority of that work involved international law and multilateral diplomacy. 

Specific areas of engagement have included general international law, international humanitarian law, law of armed conflict, international criminal law, international human rights law, law of the sea, and Antarctic legal issues.

Key issues have included Australia’s engagement with the International Criminal Court, leading Australia’s efforts to ensure individual criminal responsibility for those most responsible for the shooting down of passenger aircraft MH17 over the territory of Ukraine in 2014, and work on the recently concluded Biodiversity beyond National Jurisdiction negotiations.

Michael served as an Australian diplomat in New York twice – as Legal Adviser and Australia’s representative on the UN General Assembly’s Sixth (Legal) Committee and, a decade later, as Australia’s Political Coordinator during its most recent term on the United Nations Security Council. His publication - “An Enduring Contribution? Australia’s 2013-14 term on the UNSC (2013-2014),” Australian Institute of Diplomatic Affairs – continues to be closely relied upon by those preparing for Australia’s (likely) next UNSC term in 2029-2030.