ALRC Contributor

Tess Van Geelen

Legal Officer – Feb 2020 to Dec 2020
Research Associate – Feb 2019 to Feb 2020

Tess joined the ALRC in February 2019 as Research Associate and Associate to the Hon Justice Sarah Derrington, President of the ALRC. Tess has been a Legal Officer since February 2020.

During her time at the ALRC, Tess has contributed to the following Inquiries:

Before joining the ALRC, Tess was a Visiting Researcher at the University of the South Pacific School of Law under the New Colombo Plan Scholarship, and a Research Assistant at the Queensland University of Technology School of Law. Tess has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Queensland, a Bachelor of Laws (Hons IIA) from Queensland University of Technology, and a Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice from the Australian National University. Tess was awarded the Leiden University Excellence Scholarship to study an Advanced LLM in Public International Law, which she will commence in September 2021.

03.12.2020

Judicial Bias and Public Confidence: The Importance of Good Data

The Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) has been asked to review the laws relating to impartiality and bias as they apply to the federal judiciary in Australia. These laws seek to ensure that justice is both done and seen to be done in Commonwealth courts and tribunals.

18.11.2020

Mandatory Human Rights Due Diligence: In Conversation with the Australian Law Reform Commission

On Wednesday 18 November Matt Corrigan (ALRC General Counsel) and Tess Van Geelen (ALRC Legal Officer) presented to the UN Global Compact Network Australia (GCNA) on mandatory human rights due diligence in the Australian legal landscape.

19.10.2020

Closing The Gap on Business and Human Rights

Human Rights Pulse Article by ALRC Legal Officer Tess Van Geelen

07.09.2020

Tightening the Screws on Corporate Crime and Human Rights

Latest ALRC report calls for a ‘failure to prevent’ offence for transnational crimes, and a holistic review of the business and human rights framework.
In Chapter 10 of its recent Final Report on Corporate Criminal Responsibility, the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) recommended that the Government consider introducing a ‘failure to prevent’ type offence for certain extraterritorial offences, modelled on the failure to prevent foreign bribery offence that is currently before Parliament.

03.09.2020

Corporate Criminal Responsibility Podcast Series

In this podcast series you will hear from several members of the Australian Law Reform Commission team discussing key issues raised in the Corporate Criminal Responsibility Final Report.
Each of the short interviews will unpack the current landscape and the final recommendations made by the ALRC.

19.12.2019

The Banking Executive Accountability Regime: an alternative model of individual liability for corporate fault

On 15 November, the ALRC released a Discussion Paper as part of its Corporate Criminal Responsibility Inquiry. In the Discussion Paper, the ALRC proposed reforms to individual liability for corporate criminal conduct. The proposals are set out in Chapter 7 of the Discussion Paper, and a shorter summary is available here. These proposals respond to …

19.11.2019

When Should Officers be Liable for Corporate Crime?

Research and consultations in the course of the ALRC’s Inquiry into Corporate Criminal Responsibility have highlighted the important role played by senior management in ensuring compliance throughout the different parts of a corporation. While corporations can be ‘a person’ under law, they are also made up of individuals – some of whom have authority and …

15.05.2019

Thinking big: The Australian Constitution as a law reform project

As part of the ALRC’s Where next for law reform? project the ALRC is encouraging Australians to think big. Arguably the most significant law reform initiative would be to revise the constitution. We have prepared a short paper to start the conversation.