My work in law combines the depth of a chaired professor with the practical judgement of a practising barrister. A professor of law at the University of Western Australia since 2014, I bring together legal scholarship, advocacy and specialist advice across Australian and international law. My expertise encompasses equity and trusts, property, commercial relationships, administrative power and the interaction of legal systems.
I graduated from UNSW with first class honours in law, placing second on the graduation merit list. My academic awards included prizes in property law and the law of international organisations, and the prize for the highest overall performance in first year. Subsequent qualifications include a diploma of legal practice from ANU and a postgraduate diploma in law from London, with specialist study in equity, offshore trusts, international equity, treaties and multinational enterprise.
Advocacy and practice
I have been a barrister in New South Wales since 2013 and Western Australia since 2014, with practice since 2014 encompassing specialist advice on trust law, administrative law, contract, property, equity, bankruptcy, family law, negligence and domestic and international taxation. This breadth supports a practical understanding of how legal doctrines interact within complex disputes and advisory matters.
My advocacy training includes the Essential Trial Advocacy Course in 2013 and the Australian Bar Association’s intensive Advanced Trial Advocacy course in 2023. I have also contributed specialist expertise to legal proceedings, serving as an expert witness for the NSW Government on Chinese taxation between 2011 and 2013, and as a tax expert for the Singapore Arbitration Centre in 2015. In 2015, I convened the Federal Tax Litigation conference at UWA, bringing together practitioners and scholars to examine litigation in a technically demanding field.
Australian law
My expertise in Australian law rests on distinguished academic achievement, sustained legal scholarship and professional practice across multiple areas of doctrine. My advisory work engages with rights in property, contractual obligations, equitable principles, administrative decision-making and civil liability, as well as the legal consequences of bankruptcy and family relationships.
As a chaired professor of law, my scholarship extends to foundational questions about the rule of law, statutory interpretation and the relationship between legal rules and their administration. Publications including The Rule of Law in Substitution and Conflict and Poetry and Tax Statute: Translation as Interpretation examine questions whose significance reaches beyond any single statutory field: how legal meaning is established, how public power is constrained, and how law operates in practice.
Equity and trusts
Equity is a longstanding focus of my legal work, extending from my UNSW honours thesis to specialist postgraduate study, professional advice and published scholarship. My expertise connects the conceptual foundations of equitable intervention with practical questions concerning trusts, property and the protection of rights.
My chapter, What Was the Problem with Palm Tree Justice? Language, Justice, Equity and Enrichment, published by Oxford University Press in Rethinking Unjust Enrichment: History, Sociology, Doctrine and Theory (2023), examines fundamental questions about justice, equitable reasoning and enrichment. This scholarship complements my advisory experience in equity and trust law, bringing historical and theoretical depth to contemporary legal problems.
International trusts
My expertise in international trusts combines specialist study of offshore trusts and international equity with professional advice on trust law and scholarship on cross-border asset protection. I have completed STEP’s Advanced Certificate in Cross-Border Estates and have been awarded the Trust and Estate Practitioner (TEP) designation.
My research includes an examination of cross-border tax and asset protection issues arising from Chinese private investment in Australia, published in Trusts & Trustees. This work addresses the interaction of asset ownership, trust arrangements and legal systems, where an effective analysis requires attention to both domestic doctrine and the consequences of crossing jurisdictions.
Taxation
Taxation is a major area of my legal scholarship and practice, encompassing Australian tax law, international taxation and double taxation agreements. My approach places tax within its wider legal framework: statutory interpretation, administrative law, equity, property, treaty obligations and the rule of law.
My published work examines international taxation as international law, the relationship between taxation and conflict of laws, and the proof of foreign tax law in domestic courts. Alongside specialist advice and expert evidence, this research demonstrates expertise in taxation as a demanding field of legal reasoning, public power and international legal coordination.
International law
My engagement with international law began with prize-winning study of the law of international organisations and developed through specialist postgraduate work on treaties and multinational enterprise. My scholarship examines how international obligations, domestic legal systems and institutions interact, particularly where legal authority crosses national boundaries.
Publications including International Tax as International Law and the Impact of China, An International Organisation for Tax in SE Asia, and, with Sagi Peari, Pairing International Taxation and Conflict of Laws explore treaty relationships, institutional design and the coordination of legal systems.
My wider contribution to international legal scholarship includes organising and editorial roles for the University of Latvia’s Legal Science conferences in 2019 and 2021. At its 2019 centenary conference, I presented research on the rule of law, administrative realities and sustainability in China.
Commercial law
My commercial law expertise draws on advice concerning contracts, property, trusts, equity, bankruptcy and negligence, supported by specialist study of multinational enterprise. These fields provide the legal foundations for structuring commercial relationships, allocating responsibility and resolving disputes over assets and obligations.
My scholarship also addresses the challenges of commercial activity across jurisdictions, including foreign anti-corruption law in the Chinese context and asset protection in Chinese investment in Australia. My accounting qualifications and practical financial reporting experience add a detailed understanding of the business transactions and financial information to which commercial law applies.
Immigration law
My background in immigration law includes two independent courses of study, completed in 2000 and 2001, followed by two years of practice as a migration agent. This provided direct experience of applying migration law to individual circumstances and working within an administrative decision-making framework.
That experience forms part of my broader grounding in legal practice, connecting statutory requirements, administrative processes and the practical consequences of government decisions.
Law in China
My work on law in China combines sustained scholarship with experience explaining Chinese law in Australian legal proceedings. As an expert witness for the NSW Government between 2011 and 2013, I addressed Chinese taxation in a setting requiring careful analysis and communication of foreign law. My subsequent publication, Proving the Tax Law of China in a Foreign Court, examines the legal and evidentiary challenges involved.
My scholarship extends to professional ethics, the rule of law, administrative practice and the application of foreign anti-corruption law in the Chinese context. Publications such as Ethical Legal Practice Across Societies: Western vis-à-vis Chinese investigate how legal institutions and professional responsibilities operate across different social and legal settings.
Together, this work supports a distinctive capacity to analyse Chinese legal questions in their institutional context and to explain their significance for cross-border practice, investment and legal proceedings.
