School resources

The Dean obtains advice from the Law Advisory Board (LAB). The LAB is a group of distinguished legal practitioners from across the spectrum of legal practice. The LAB currently comprises:

Ms Julia Abrahams

Julia Abrahams holds honours degrees in Arts and Law and a Masters of Arts in Theology. Julia is the Director of Mission and Chief Counsel of Catholic Healthcare, a Catholic ministry that owns and operates 42 aged care services in NSW and South East Queensland, 3 healthcare services, and also provides services to over 4000 persons in the community.

Mr Robert Algie

Robert has a broad legal practice and is a Partner in the Compensation Law Division at Carroll & O'Dea. He has worked on a large number of difficult negligence cases. In addition to his law degree, Robert has degrees in Applied Science and in Nuclear Medicine which position him well to conduct complex medical law litigation for plaintiffs.

As well as being a member of the LAB, Robert is a member of Notre Dame's Medico-Legal Liaison Committee. He is regularly involved with the inter-school mock trial competition which is run by the Law Society. He is equally adept as both a plaintiff and defence lawyer and due to his broad practice, he does both types of work for clients of his firm.

The Honourable Justice Geoffrey Bellew

Justice Bellew attended Marist Brothers North Shore and was school captain in his Higher School Certificate Year of 1977. He was admitted to practice as a Solicitor in 1983, admitted to the NSW Bar in 1991, appointed Senior Counsel for the State of NSW in 2006, and sworn in as a Judge of the Supreme Court of NSW in 2012. Whilst at the Bar, his Honour practiced extensively in the criminal jurisdiction and appeared regularly in all states of Australia on behalf of the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions at first instance, in intermediate Courts of Appeal, and in the High Court. His Honour also had an extensive civil practice, and appeared regularly for professional and amateur sports persons in disciplinary tribunals, as well as in the Court of Arbitration for Sport. His Honour sits in the Common Law Division of the Supreme Court of NSW, as well as in the Court of Criminal Appeal.

Mr Michael Brennan

Michael Brennan undertook a BA/LLB (Hons) at the University of Melbourne and was first admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of Victoria in May 2001. Subsequently, Michael was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of New South Wales and the High Court of Australia in 2002. Michael obtained a principal's practising certificate in New South Wales in 2008.

Between 2000 and 2007 Michael practised in the workplace relations group of the national firm, Corrs Chambers Westgarth and was promoted to Senior Associate in 2005. Michael joined TNT in February 2007 as Senior Legal Counsel and was promoted to General Counsel and Company Secretary in January 2008. In his present role, Michael has overall responsibility for the provision of legal services for TNT within Australia, New Zealand and Fiji and manages the Legal and Insurance teams. Michael is a member of the St Thomas More Society.

Ms Marie-lyse Eliatamby

Marie-lyse Eliatamby is Head of Legal and Compliance at Alleasing.

Mr John Emmerig

Since December 2012 John has been a partner of international firm, Jones Day. John has lectured at ANU and has guest lectured at Notre Dame speaking on class actions as part of the Civil Procedure unit. Jones Day was formed in the USA and has a very deep connection with Notre Dame there. It is a growing global presence in Australia. John mainly practices in class actions, commercial disputes, matters involving regulators and government and commissions of inquiry. Before joining Jones Day John was at Blake Dawson (now Ashurst) for more than 24 years.

Ms Melissa Fisher

Melissa Fisher is a commercial barrister specializing in administrative, building and construction, commercial, company, equity, insurance and reinsurance, property, trade practices and competition and in Royal Commission, statutory tribunal and appellate work. Melissa is a contributing author to Thomson Uniform Civil Practice and Procedure, the Moderator of the NSW Bar Association's Practice and Procedure Examination and is a member of the Examination Working Party. Melissa is regularly invited to speak on Practice and Procedure.

Ms Lynne Harman

Lynne joined the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) in June 2008 to provide support in the governance of the organisation and to coordinate and provide advice on legal issues. Her role includes taking responsibility for the conduct of Board Meetings and ensuring compliance with the GBCA Constitution and statutory requirements. Lynne is the point of contact for all legal and governance issues that arise across the organisation. Lynne has a BA LLM from the University of Sydney and worked at the commercial law firm, Allens for 20 years. She is also a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

The Hon Dr Tricia Kavanagh

The Hon Dr Tricia Kavanagh is a former Justice of the Industrial Court of New South Wales and former Deputy President of the NSW Industrial Relations Commission.

Judge Dale Kemp

Judge Kemp was appointed to the Bench of the Federal Magistrates Court, now Federal Circuit Court of Australia in July 2007 and is presently sitting in the Family Law Division. He is also an Adjunct Professor of the School of Law Sydney, University of Notre Dame Australia.

Mr Matthew McLennan

Matthew is a former partner of the Commercial Litigation and Dispute Resolution practice of Allens where he specialised in complex commercial disputes. Matthew is now Head of Litigation for Macquarie Group.

The Hon Justice Anthony Meagher

Justice Anthony (Tony) Meagher was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, Court of Appeal, in August 2011. Before his appointment he practised for many years as a barrister. He holds Degrees in Commerce and Law from the University of New South Wales and a Master of Laws from London University (London School of Economics). He and his wife, Fran, are enthusiastic supporters of the Orchestra.

Ms Catherine Osborne

Catherine Osborne has over 20 years' experience in insurance and reinsurance law and commercial litigation and was a partner at the insurance specialist firm Ebsworth & Ebsworth for 10 years. In 2008 Catherine became a partner at Wotton+Kearney before taking her current appointment at specialist insurance firm Curwoods. As well as a BA (Mus) and an LLB (Syd) Catherine is a Graduate of Australian Institute of Company Directors. Catherine has been recognised by Who's Who of Australian Women and is ranked by Chambers Asia Pacific 2013 and 2014 as a leading individual. She is also a Non-Executive Director of Zurich Australian Superannuation Pty Ltd. Catherine has a particular commitment to pro bono work including asylum seeker/migration law.

The Honourable Brian Tamberlin QC Chair of Law Advisory Board

The Honourable Brian Tamberlin holds Bachelor degrees in Art and Law (First Class Honours) from the University of Sydney  and a Master’s degree from Harvard Law School. He was Justice of the Federal Court of New South Wales from 2004-2009, Acting Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales from 2009-2011 and was appointed as Commissioner of Inquiry into the NSW Electricity Transactions for the $5b sale of Generators.  He is also an Adjunct Professor of the School of Law Sydney, University of Notre Dame Australia.

Mr Geoffrey Watson SC

Geoffrey was called to the bar in 1984 and appointed an SC in 2002. He mainly practices in appellate work, building and construction, insurance, product liability, professional indemnity and in commissions of inquiry.

The University of Notre Dame Australia has conferred Honorary Doctorates of Laws to many highly distinguished men and women. These men and women have made significant contributions to many professions, including law, theology and politics.

The list below includes the majority of the recipients of the Honorary Doctorate of Laws to date:

• His Excellency The Honourable Kim Beazley AC
• Rev Father William Beauchamp CSC
• Brother Kelvin Canavan FMS
• Sir William Deane AC KBE QC
• Emeritus Professor John Finnis AC QC FBA
• Most Reverend Anthony Fisher OP
• Professor John Haldane
• Archbishop Barry James Hickey OAM
• The Honourable John Howard OM AC
• The Honourable Thomas Hughes AO QC
• Rev Monsignor Michael Keating STL DCL
• Professor Michael L'Estrange AO
• Sister Cecilia Masterson SJG
• Rev Fr John Neill OP
• Professor Lowitja O'Donoghue AC CBE DSG
• Barry O’Keefe AM QC
• Dr Peter Tannock AM
• Carolyn Woo

Honour Code

The legal profession and the wider community demand high ethical standards from lawyers. As part of the School's Catholic character, and our responsibility to provide a high quality legal education, we seek to instil ethics and professionalism in our students in all aspects and at all stages of their studies at Notre Dame.

As a condition to their enrolment in the School of Law, students are required to sign an Honour Code which sets out the ethical standards expected of law students.

Academic Integrity Policy

In addition to adherence to the Honour Code, the School of Law expects an ethical and professional standard of conduct from its students in their academic activities. The Academic Integrity Policy outlines the definitions of academic misconduct and the penalties that the University may apply. All students should familiarise themselves with this policy.

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