Australian Academy of Law

The Foundation Patron of the Academy was Chief Justice Murray Gleeson AC, Chief Justice of Australia.

The second Patron of the Academy was Chief Justice Robert French AC, Chief Justice of Australia.

The present Patron of the Academy is The Hon Chief Justice Susan Kiefel AC, Chief Justice of Australia.

The first President of the Academy, from 2008, was the Hon Robert Nicholson AO KCSJ. From 2011 to 2020 the President was the Hon Kevin Lindgren AM QC. He was succeeded by the Hon Alan Robertson SC with effect from 1 July 2020.

When the Academy was founded in 2007 there were 36 Foundation Fellows, in alphabetical order:

• Professor David Barker
• Professor Larissa Behrendt
• Her Excellency Ms Quentin Bryce AC
• Henry Burmester AO QC
• Professor Donald RC Chalmers
• Professor Hilary Charlesworth
• Justice Terry Connolly
• Professor Michael Coper
• Professor Rosalind Croucher
• Associate Professor Andrea Durbach
• Professor Paul Fairall
• Mr Glenn Ferguson
• Justice Robert French
• Judge John Goldring
• Justice Susan Kenny
• Justice Susan Kiefel
• Justice Kevin Lindgren
• Justice Margaret McMurdo
• Professor Marcia Neave AO
• Justice Robert Nicholson AO
• Dr Melissa Perry QC
• Justice Ronald Sackville
• Professor Cheryl Saunders AO
• Justice Ralph Simmonds
• Justice Stephen Southwood
• Justice Margaret Stone
• Ms Pamela M Tate SC
• Professor Margaret Thornton
• Ms Anne Trimmer
• The Hon John von Doussa
• Bret Walker SC
• Emeritus Professor Louis Waller AO
• Professor Kate Warner
• Justice Mark Weinberg
• Emeritus Professor David Weisbrot
• Justice Margaret White

The Academy consists of an elected Fellowship which includes nine Life Fellows, 342 Fellows and 16 Overseas Fellows as at January 2021.[6]

The Life Fellows, in alphabetical order, are:

• The Hon Sir Gerard Brennan AC, KBE, GBS, QC
• The Hon Quentin Bryce AC, CVO
• The Hon Robert French AC
• The Hon Murray Gleeson AC, GBS, QC
• The Hon Chief Justice Susan Kiefel AC
• The Hon Kevin Lindgren AM, QC
• The Hon Sir Anthony Mason AC, KBE, CBE, GBM, QC
• The Hon Robert Nicholson AO, KCSJ
• Emeritus Professor David Weisbrot AO

The Directors for the year 2020-2021 are:[7] The Hon Alan Robertson SC, The Hon Kevin Lindgren AM, QC, The Hon Justice G John Digby, Emeritus Professor David Barker AM, The Hon Justice Tony Besanko, The Hon Justice Mark Moshinsky, The Hon Emeritus Professor Ralph Simmonds, Professor Bee Chen Goh, Professor Les McCrimmon, Professor Erika Techera, Professor Melissa De Zwart, Professor Gino Dal Pont, Mr Russell Miller AM, Dr Nuncio D'Angelo, Mr Michael Murray.

The Academy's officeholders as at 1 January 2021 are:[8]

President: The Hon Alan Robertson SC

Deputy President: The Hon Kevin Lindgren AM QC

Treasurer: The Hon Justice G John Digby

Secretary: Emeritus Professor David Barker AM

The Academy has the following Board Committees:[9]

The Governance Committee

The Membership Committee

The Finance Committee

The Website and Communications Committee

The Prizes Committee

The Research and Expenditure Committee.

In calendar year 2020, the events held by the Academy were as follows:

19 February 2020 – Graeme Neate AM – Native title – concepts, challenges and creative outcomes.

27 February 2020 – Professor Kate Lewins – Cruise Ship Passengers and Australian Law – Contracts, Consumer Protection, Convention?

18 June 2020 – Professor Stephen Bottomley – Covid-19 and the International Cruise Industry.

24 June 2020 – Ms Jessica Kerr – Making Judges in Commonwealth Judiciaries.

7 and 21 July 2020 – Covid-19: What effect has the pandemic had on legal practice, on the courts and on the law schools and how are they each responding? – On 7 July 2020: Allsop CJ. Ward CJ in Equity, Ms Pauline Wright, Ms Jocelyn Williams, Professor Michael Legg, Ms Jessica Der Matossian – chaired by Justice François Kunc – On 21 July 2020: The Hon Justice Derek Price AO, Judge Graeme Henson AM, Professor Lesley Hitchens, Professor Tanya Sourdin, Ms Rose Khalilizadeh, Mr Richard Spurio, Ms Karen Pedersen – chaired by the Hon Alan Robertson SC.

11 August 2020 – Celebrating Samuel Griffith – The Hon Chief Justice Catherine Holmes AC, Professor Carolyn Evans, Mr John McKenna QC, Professor Sarah Joseph and Dr Raymond Evans – Introduced by the Hon Justice Peter Applegarth AM.

19 August 2020 – The Reception, Quality and Evaluation of Scientific Evidence in Australian Courts – Joint Symposium with the Australian Academy of Science – The Hon Justice Mark Weinberg AO QC, Tim Game SC, Professor David Balding FAA, Professor Carolyn Vinuesa FAA, chaired by the Hon Justice Virginia Bell AC.

23 September 2020 – World in a Box – 50 years of containerisation in Australia – Mr Martin Orchard, the Hon Justice Angus Stewart, the Hon Justice SC Derrington, Chaired by the Hon Chief Justice James Allsop AO.

14 October 2020 – Justice in the Hood?: The Potential of the Community Justice Centre Model for Western Australia.

22 October 2020 – Patron's Address – Aboriginal Australians and the Common Law – Her Excellency the Hon Margaret Beazley AC QC, Governor of New South Wales.

28 October 2020 – The Legal Implications of Brexit for the Uniting Kingdom – Professor Sally Wheeler OBE, MRIA, FAcSS, FAAL.

19 November 2020 – Whistleblowing-what is it, who does it, when is it lawful, when is it mandatory – Professor A J Brown, Professor John McMillan AO, Ms Kate McClymont AM, Mr Bret Walker SC, chaired by the Hon Justice Julie Ward, Chief Judge in Equity, Supreme Court of New South Wales.

15 December 2020 – The Tuning Cymbal: Selected Papers and Speeches of Robert French – Professor Adrienne Stone, Professor Gino Dal Pont, the Hon Robert French AC, Professor Robert Pascoe, chaired by the Hon Virginia Bell AC.

A list of upcoming events and past events is to be found on the Academy's website [10] and in the regular Newsletters.[11]

The Australian Academy of Law awards an annual essay prize of AU$10,000.[12] It was inaugurated in 2015. In 2020 the two winners ($5,000 each) were Natalie Ngo and Tom Allchurch, the essay topic being: The impact of a new and widespread contagious disease on pre-existing contractual obligations, with earlier ‘new’ outbreaks of infectious diseases being able to be taken into account.[13] The essays of the two winners will be published in the Australian Law Journal. Prize winners from 2015 to 2020 are listed on the Academy's website.[14] As well, the Academy awards annually the Michael Coper Memorial Prize of $1,500 to the winner of the Paper Presentation Competition conducted by the Australian Law Students Association, and a prize of $1,500 for the best presentation at the Australian and New Zealand Law Honours Students Conference.

• Official website