Speakers
The conference program included many judges, practitioners and academics - from both Australia and overseas - who have made distinguished contributions to civil justice reform.
Keynote and opening speakers were:
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The Hon Daryl Williams AM QC MP, Commonwealth Attorney-General
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The Hon Chief Justice Murray Gleeson AC, Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia
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Professor Roderick A. Macdonald, President of the Law Commission of Canada and the F.R. Scott Professor of Constitutional and Public Law at University (where he was Dean of Law 1984-89).
His research and teaching interests are constitutional law, administrative law, civil law, philosophy of law, sociology of law and commercial law.
Professor Macdonald was Director of the Law Society Program of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (1989-94). He was Chair of the Task Force on Access to Justice of the Ministere de la justice du Quebec (1989-91). He has also been a consultant to Royal Commissions on Canada's economic prospects, and on Aboriginal peoples.
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Dr Deborah Hensler, the Judge John W. Ford Professor of Dispute Resolution at Stanford Law School. She is a Senior Fellow at the pre-eminent US think-tank RAND (1993-98), having previously served the Director of the Institute for Civil Justice within the same organisation.
Dr Hensler's research since 1979 has focused on public policy issues in the civil justice area. Her empirical research on dispute resolution and mass tort litigation has won national recognition. She is on the Board of Directors for the American Judicature Society, the American Arbitration Association, and the California Supreme Court Historical Society.
Dr Hensler is widely published on the subjects of mass torts and personal injury litigation, alternative dispute resolution, the civil justice system and policy, and gender bias in the courts.
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Professor William Felstiner, the Distinguished Research Professor of Law at Cardiff University in the UK, and the Scientific Director (elect) of the International Institute for the Sociology of Law in Onati, Spain.
He was a Visiting Professor (Sociology/Law and Society) at University of California, Santa Barbara and from 1986-92 was a Research Fellow at the American Bar Foundation (Emeritus since 1992) and Director (1986-92).
Professor Felstiner is President of the Working Group of the Comparative Studies of Legal Professions of the International Sociological Association. His areas of interest are the legal profession, law and culture, litigation and legal education and is widely published, having more than 59 scholarly publications to his name.
Professor Hazel Genn, Professor of Socio-Legal Studies in the Law Faculty of University College London (previously Professor and Head of the Department of Law at Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London). Before joining London University she held full-time research posts at Oxford University Centre for Socio-Legal Studies and the Cambridge Institute of Criminology.
She is President of the Society of Public Teachers of Law, and Chair of the Economic and Social Research Council's Research Grants Board. She has served on the Judicial Studies Board for the past six years.
Professor Genn has a long-standing research interest in civil justice and has published widely in the field. Her most recent publication is Paths to Justice: What People Do and Think About Going to Law (1999), which reports the findings of a major national survey of the incidence of civil problems and disputes and the way that the public deals with them.
Other confirmed speakers for the Managing Justice conference included:
Ms Louise Anderson, National Native Title Coordinator, Federal Court of Australia
Professor Hilary Astor, Abbott Tout Professor of Litigation & Dispute Resolution, Pro-Dean (Staff Development), University of Sydney
Mr Bruce Barbour, Senior Member, Administrative Appeals Tribunal
Professor Laurence Boulle, NADRAC
The Hon Justice Catherine Branson, Federal Court of Australia & President, AIJA
The Hon Sir Gerard Brennan AC KBE, Foundation Commissioner & former High Court Chief Justice
Ms Diana Bryant QC, Chief Magistrate, Federal Magistrates Court
Mr Julian Burnside QC
Mr Andrew Cannon SM, Supervising Magistrate, Magistrates Court (Civil) Adelaide
Dr Peter Cashman, Maurice Blackburn Cashman
The Hon Justice Ian Coleman, Family Court of Australia & ALRC Commissioner
Dr Kathryn Cronin, Deputy President, Australian Law Reform Commission
Ms Andrea Durbach, Director, Public Interest Advocacy Centre
Ms Chris Fewings, Native Title Services, Dept of the Premier & Cabinet, Qld
Mr Geoffrey Gibson, Partner, Blake Dawson Waldron
Mr Robert Gotterson QC
Professor Rosemary Hunter, Director, Socio-Legal Research Centre, Griffith University
The Hon Justice Michael Kirby AC CMG, High Court of Australia
Ms Jan Macpherson, Group Advisor - Community Legal, WMC Resources
Judge Richard Magnus, Senior District Judge, Subordinate Courts of Singapore
Mr Les Malezer, ATSIC
Mr Geoff Masel, Consultant, Phillips Fox
The Hon Sir Anthony Mason AC KBE
Mr Graeme Neate, President, National Native Title Tribunal
Professor Garth Nettheim, University of New South Wales
Professor Stephen Parker, Dean, Faculty of Law, Monash University
Mr Gerald Raftesath
Mr Donald Robertson, Partner, Freehill Hollingdale & Page
The Hon Andrew Rogers QC
Professor Peter Sallmann, Crown Counsel, Victoria
The Hon Justice JJ Spigelman, Chief Justice, Supreme Court of NSW
The Hon Justice John von Doussa, Federal Court of Australia & ALRC Commissioner
Mr Brett Walker SC
Ms Juliana Warner, Partner, Freehill Hollingdale Page
The Hon Justice Mark Weinberg, Federal Court of Australia & ALRC Commissioner
Professor David Weisbrot, President, Australian Law Reform Commission
The Hon Justice Murray Wilcox, Federal Court of Australia