If you have been wondering whether to enrol in Melbourne Law School's Masters program, this episode is for you. Associate Professor Matthew Bell speaks with the Director of the Melbourne Law Masters program, Professor Andrew Godwin. They not only discuss how the program now spans more than 25 specialist practice areas, from banking to medical law, intellectual property to tax, but also about the benefits that the program's multi-disciplinary, intensive learning classrooms bring to lawyers and non-lawyers looking to take the next step in their careers. As an added bonus, Andrew proves just how many strings he has to his bow by telling us about some of his favourite composers (spoiler alert: Mozart doesn't make the list!)
In this episode, Matthew Bell speaks with Julian Bailey in London and Kim Rosenberg in Dubai. Julian and Kim both did their legal training and spent their early years in practice in Australia, and have gone on to be partners in leading international firms and to make very substantial contributions to the international construction law community through their writings, teaching and involvement with leading professional bodies.
Julian and Kim reflect on how their early days in Australia prepared them for international practice and how they have built and consolidated their careers. They also share tips for how lawyers keen to do a stint overseas (whether a year or two, or more) can leverage their Australian experience.
You can find out more about Julian and Kim via their firm websites:
In this episode, host Miranda Stewart is joined in conversation by Peter Harris, Professor of Tax Law at the University of Cambridge and Director of the Centre for Tax Law. With a career spanning many years working for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and as a consultant for the Financing for Development Unit of the United Nations, assisting countries to develop and implement taxation policies has been central to Peter’s work.
At Melbourne Law School, Peter teaches Comparative Corporate Tax into the Melbourne Law Masters.
Inside Commercial Law is a podcast of the Melbourne Centre for Commercial Law at Melbourne Law School. For more information about the Centre, visit our website: https://law.unimelb.edu.au/centres/mccl
In late 2023, the High Court of Australia struck down the Victorian scheme requiring users of zero and low-emission vehicles (ZLEV) to pay a distance-based charge. It did so on the basis that the scheme imposed a ‘duty of excise’ and therefore impinged on the Commonwealth’s exclusive power under s 90 of the federal Constitution to levy such duties.
This has sent the Australian states and territories back to the drawing board in trying to raise money from ZLEV owners to pay their share of road maintenance funding, bearing in mind that the traditional source of such funding is the Commonwealth’s fuel excise.
In this episode, Associate Professor Matthew Bell speaks with Professor Miranda Stewart of Melbourne Law School, and Peter Holcombe Henley and Mason Rogers of Clayton Utz about the Court’s decision and its implications. They unpack and explain the decision, noting that it was reached by a bare majority, and explore its implications for Australia’s road revenue and fiscal federalism.
Links:
In this episode of Inside Commercial Law, Professor Miranda Stewart is joined by Professor David Rosenbloom, director of the International Tax Program at New York University School of Law. Professor Rosenbloom is a member of Caplin & Drysdale, a law firm he rejoined in 1981 after serving as international tax counsel and director of the Office of International Tax Affairs in the US Department of the Treasury from 1978 to 1981. At Melbourne Law School, David teaches International Tax in the US into the Masters program.
Inside Commercial Law is a podcast of the Melbourne Centre for Commercial Law at Melbourne Law School. For more information about the Centre, visit our website: https://law.unimelb.edu.au/centres/mccl
When can a party sue to recover its costs under a terminated contract? In this episode, Professor Katy Barnett and Trevor Thomas discuss this issue of reliance damages for breach of contract. First, they explore the quirky history of reliance damages in Australian law. They then examine the High Court of Australia’s recent decision in the Cessnock City Council case. Is it the remedy to the bewilderment caused by Commonwealth v Amann Aviation?
You can find out more about the Melbourne Centre for Commercial Law via this link.
In this episode, Dr Matthew Bell is joined by Michael Earwaker and Trevor Thomas in the week they are teaching the Melbourne Law Masters subject 'Advanced Construction Law'. As they explain, the subject is the 'capstone' in our construction law Masters program, giving students the opportunity to explore cutting edge issues and then write about them in a dissertation-length research paper on a topic they work up with Michael and Trevor. The class of interdisciplinary professionals - lawyers, project managers and beyond, from Australia and overseas - brings diverse and deep experience to these discussions, which touch on topics from recent High Court decisions through to staples of construction law like the prevention principle, risk allocation and reducing unnecessary complexity in contracting and disputes.
For information about the subject, click here and you can find out more about the Melbourne Centre for Commercial Law via this link.
In this podcast, we are joined by Tina Funge and David Ulbrick as they teach the Masters subject 'Managing Legal Risk in Construction' at Melbourne Law School. Tina and Dave tell us how they have developed their practice and scholarship as construction lawyers, give some tips about how to juggle Masters study with everything else going on in their lives, and provide insights into the often-neglected but absolutely vital 'middle end' of construction project delivery and its legal risks.
The AS4000 form of contract for construct-only delivery is one of the most widely used in the Australian construction industry. As it is now 27 years old, though, it doesn't even have a GST clause in it; let alone, provisions dealing with dispute avoidance, security of payment, collaborative contracting, or a raft of other developments which are now part of the contracting landscape. In this podcast, Co-Director of Studies for Construction Law Matthew Bell sits down with Owen Hayford (MLS Senior Fellow and principal of Sydney-based firm Infralegal). Owen was on the drafting committee for a new version of AS4000 which was released for comment in early 2024. Owen tells us about the process which has led to that draft, including the decision not to make any substantial changes to the risk allocation in the 1997 form, and why that risks being a missed opportunity for meaningful reform. He notes, though, some worthwhile changes, including an option for a dispute avoidance board, and encourages industry participants to push the publishers to be more ambitious and innovative in finalising the draft.
In this podcast, Wayne Jocic speaks with Dr Donald Charrett and Sharon Vogel, who teach the Melbourne Law Masters subject ‘International Construction Law’. Donald and Sharon discuss the role of community in international construction law, and speculate about the future of the field.
In this podcast, Matthew Bell speaks with the lecturers of the Melbourne Law Masters subject 'Law of Construction Delay and Disruption', Robert Gemmell and Rebecca Dickson. This is one of the most popular subjects in our program, reflecting not only the importance of the topic to construction procurement in Australia and around the world but also the way in which Robert and Rebecca are able to shine light during their teaching week on what can seem a complex and impenetrable 'dark art'. They give us insights into how they have managed to provide this illumination through sharing their own extensive practising and teaching experience in our classroom.
Every part of our increasingly urbanised cities and the places we live face similar challenges and opportunities when it come achieving sustainable outcomes through infrastructure and the built environment. In this podcast, Jody Williams and Dr Ilsa Kuiper give us insights into how communities can enhance our sustainable future cities in the legal setting. Jody and Ilsa are the teachers of the subject 'Planning and Building Sustainable Cities', taught to lawyers and industry professionals in the Melbourne Law Masters program.
In this episode, we meet Dr Paul Tracey during the week he is teaching the subject 'Global Perspectives on Construction Law' in the Melbourne Law Masters. Paul brings years of project and teaching experience to our classroom, and uses a variety of innovative teaching techniques, including 'rich pictures' and 'object based learning', to engage students from around the world on how we can navigate the legal aspects of procurement collaboratively.
In this podcast, we meet Dr Arthur McInnis and Paul Starr, teachers of the Melbourne Law Masters subject 'Construction Law and Projects in Asia'. With their combined decades of experience in construction project procurement and dispute resolution, they are unrivalled 'tour guides' for our engaged and diverse students who themselves are lawyers and industry professionals from across Australia and our region. During the teaching week, the class gains insights into the differences across Asian jurisdictions but also the many aspects which unite us all, especially the ever-present need to deliver modern infrastructure within the 'eternal triangle' of cost, quality and time demands.
Over the past few years, Major Road Projects Victoria has implemented an innovative procurement strategy, its Program Delivery Approach. In this podcast, Kiri Parr sits down with Matthew Bell to discuss the research which Melbourne Law School has undertaken about the PDA, highlighting how it has transformed the culture and social impact of this important aspect of infrastructure procurement.
The research report Kiri and Matthew discuss can be found via the Melbourne Centre for Commercial Law's website.