Australian Law Librarians' Association

Keynote Speakers and Special Guests

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The Hon. P A Keane, Chief Justice, Federal Court of Australia

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Patrick Keane was awarded the degree of BA by the University of Queensland in 1973. In 1976 he was awarded the degree of LL.B. (Hons.) with First Class Honours and the University Medal in law. In 1977 he was awarded the degree of B.C.L. (Oxon.) with First Class Honours, and the Vinerian Scholarship and J.H.C. Morris Prize.

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In December 1977 he was admitted as a Barrister of the Supreme Court of Queensland appearing principally in commercial and constitutional cases. In November 1988 he was appointed Queen’s Counsel. From 1992 to 2005 he was Solicitor-General for Queensland. On 21 February 2005 he was appointed to the bench of the Court of Appeal, Supreme Court of Queensland.

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On 22 March 2010 he was appointed Chief Justice of the Federal Court of Australia.

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Professor Emeritus Roland (Roly) Sussex OAM, Chair, Library Board of Queensland

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Professor Sussex is an Emeritus Professor at the University of Queensland and Research Fellow in UQ’s Centre for Educational Innovation and Technology. Since 2009 he has been Chair of the Library Board of Queensland. Earlier this year Professor Sussex received a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in recognition of his services to the development and understanding of languages in Australia.

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His diverse teaching and research interests include the applications of information technology to language, communication and learning. Since 1997, Professor Sussex has been a regular radio broadcaster on language for ABC and commercial radio, and has contributed to newspapers and other media on issues of language in Australia. He currently presents weekly programs on language, with a major focus on English, to the Northern Territory, Queensland and South Australia, and is regularly heard on ABC Radio National and commercial radio. He has also written a weekly column on language for the Brisbane Courier Mail.

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Professor Sussex is a visiting professor at the Xinjiang Normal University in China, advisor to the Macao Polytechnic Institute’s Language and Culture Research Centre, President of Alliance Francaise de Brisbane, Patron of the Institute of Professional Editors, an Australia Day Ambassador, and a Queensland Ambassador of the National Year of Reading 2012.

 

Professor Tom Cochrane, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Technology, Information and Learning Support), Queensland University of Technology

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Professor Tom Cochrane is the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Technology, Information and Learning Support) at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Brisbane, Australia. The position heads a Division (approximately 500 staff) which combines the services of the Libraries, Information Technology Services, Learning Environments and Technology Services, eLearning Services and a number of other areas in the one structure. One of his roles in the University Executive is the chairing of QUT’s Information Technology Governance Committee.

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In his current role Professor Cochrane’s external duties include Chair, Australian eResearch Infrastructure Council; Director, Australian Digital Alliance; Chair, Australian Libraries’ Copyright Committee; and Director, Queensland Cyber Infrastructure Foundation. He is also a member of the National Research Infrastructure Council, the Board of the Queensland Museum, and the Publications Board of the CSIRO. He is a foundation Board member of the international Enabling Open Scholarship (EOS) organisation. Professor Cochrane is also a Director on the Board of the University’s commercialisation company, QUT bluebox.

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He was co-leader of the Creative Commons project in Australia for which QUT was the institutional lead for Australia and developed the approach mandating open access for refereed research produced by the University into formal policy in 2003.

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Michael Klug, Partner, Clayton Utz

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Michael Klug’s primary area of expertise is in the field of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) and he is considered one of Australia’s pioneering lawyers in this area. He has practised law for over 35 years and recently concluded his third term as Partner in Charge of the Brisbane office of Clayton Utz.

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With a particular interest in dispute resolution, he is one of the original founders of LEADR (Lawyers Engaged in Alternative Dispute Resolution). He was also an original Director of the Australasian Disputes Centre and has served on numerous ADR committees nationwide.

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Apart from being one of Australia’s best-known speakers and lecturers in the negotiation area, Michael also has been involved in very significant public disputes and matters.

 

Dorothy Shea, Supreme Court Librarian, Tasmania

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Born in Queensland, and brought up on a farm on the banks of the Condamine River, my first experience of libraries was the local Mechanics Institute Library which was only unlocked for very brief periods. Moving to Toowoomba to start work for Southern Cross Windmills, aged 16, I could not believe that the public library stayed open all day! Three years later, crossing the continent to Perth to study at the University I was overwhelmed by the size and variety of that collection and also the largesse of the Perth public library. Realising that working in a library would be a dream job I enrolled at the then WA Institute of Technology for the Graduate Diploma in Library Studies in 1979 and worked for WAIT and then Hamersley Iron.

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Law libraries came later, both small and large, as I crossed the continent again to work with the Advisory Council for Intergovernment Relations in Hobart in 1981, until its demise in 1986. In 1988 I became the Tasmanian Supreme Court Librarian, and in the past 24 years have seen remarkable changes in the provision of a library service for judges, magistrates and court staff as we move into a virtual environment, while at the same time preserving our unique physical resources.

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As a committed member of ALLA, at both state and national level, I decided to apply for the position of Editor of the Australian Law Librarian, when it was advertised in 2007, with no real thought that I might actually be offered the job. It has been a lot of hard work, particularly as I was still working full time, but what a tremendous privilege to work with everyone involved in the production of the Journal over the past four and a half years, and to try to make it relevant to the changing face of law librarianship.

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Libraries have defined my life and will continue to be a passion in the years to come as I move away from being a provider to a user, from an editor to a researcher, as I set off to explore the decisions of the Supreme Court of Tasmania from self government in 1856 to Federation in 1901, and the social and political conditions in which the judges of the court made those decisions.

 

John Birmingham

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John Birmingham has written many books, including He Died With a Felafel in His Hand and Leviathan, the unauthorised biography of Sydney.

He still writes widely for newspapers and magazines, blogs daily, and publishes books here, in the US and Europe.

He sat on the Board of the State Library of Queensland for three years.

 

 

Alice Anderson, Librarian – Projects, Lander & Rogers

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Alice is a Melbourne librarian at Lander & Rogers law firm; her role is focused on projects for information services.

Alice previously worked on the reference desk at the Law Institute of Victoria library where she also held the position of Intranet Coordinator.

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Prior to law libraries, Alice worked in the TABCORP library which supported a 300 strong IT department.

Alice holds a degree in Arts/Information Management from Monash University.

 

Tamara Castagna, Librarian, Australian Taxation Office

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Tamara Castagna graduated from the Graduate Diploma in Information Management in 2007.

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From 2008 to 2010 Tamara worked as a Law Librarian at Middletons and while there completing her Masters in Business IT graduating with distinctions in 2009.

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In 2010 she joined the Australian Taxation Office as a Librarian in their online content team.

 

Stephanie Carr, Library Manager – Law, University of Auckland

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Stephanie is manager of New Zealand’s leading academic law library, the Davis Law Library, University of Auckland.

In this position she is course coordinator and teaches for two credit legal research papers within the law degree structure.

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She is a registered member of the New Zealand Library Association (LIANZA) and the New Zealand Law Librarians Association (NZLLA).

 

Helen Cluff, Sydney Knowledge Centre Manager, Freehills

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Helen Cluff is the manager of the Sydney Knowledge Centre at Freehills.

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Prior to this, Helen worked at the University of Newcastle, including the Biomedicine and Law Library and in the Teaching and Learning unit.

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Helen is also a visual artist and was a high school teacher.

 

Natalie Cuffe, Lecturer, Faculty of Law, Queensland University of Technology

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Natalie is a lecturer in the Law School at QUT.

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She teaches legal research and writing at undergraduate and postgraduate level.

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Natalie was awarded her research Master’s thesis in 2003 for a thesis entitled “Legal information literacy – law students experiences and the implications for legal education curriculum development”.

 

Robin Gardner, Manager – Law Research Service, Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne

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Robin has worked in libraries for over 30 years and has been a law librarian for the last 15, working as a research and reference librarian in academic law libraries and at the Law Institute of Victoria.

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Robin is currently the manager of the Law Research Service at the University of Melbourne Law School; a research intensive faculty. The Service is unique in Australian university law schools in its support of academic scholarship – by providing in-depth analytical research conducted by a team of librarians and law students.

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In her spare time Robin was until recently on the National Executive of the Australian Law Librarians’ Association, she teaches Moys to anyone who will listen – and is half way through a law degree.

 

Dr Gillian Hallam, Core Trainer, International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions

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Gillian Hallam is Adjunct Professor in the Information Sciences Discipline in the Science and Engineering Faculty at the Queensland University of Technology, where she has been involved in teaching, research and consultancy activities.

Since 2010 she has also been Core Trainer with the IFLA Building Strong Library Associations program, working with the Ukrainian Library Association.

 

Professor John Hockings, Design Director, Architectus

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Professor John Hockings is a designer of some renown, an academic, researcher and architectural critic. He was Design Director of the competition winning design for the Brisbane Supreme Court and District Court.

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In 2005, John joined Architectus as a partner and Design Director. He had previously been at QUT where he was Professor and Head of the School of Design. He had been an academic for 20 years and was also Head of the Department of Architecture at the University of Queensland. Whilst an academic, he also maintained a design practice and worked in collaboration with a number of major Australian and overseas architectural practices as design co-director.

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John’s specialisations are in the fields of architectural design, urban design, subtropical design, and vernacular architecture, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region.

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Over the years, he has been the recipient of a number of architectural awards and prizes including first prize in the Sydney 2000 Olympic Village International Design Competition, first prize in the Post-Expo Southbank competition, and first prize in the Lang Park Stadium competition.

 

Associate Professor Terry Hutchinson, Associate Professor, Queensland University of Technology Faculty of Law

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Associate Professor Terry Hutchinson recently completed a term as full-time member of the Queensland Law Reform Commission. Terry holds qualifications in both law and librarianship including a PhD (GU), MLP (QUT), DipLib (UNSW), LLB (UQ), and BA (UQ). Terry held the position of Law Librarian in the Faculty of Law at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) for six years, before joining the Law School as a Lecturer in 1994. She has published widely in the areas of criminal law, youth justice and legal research skills training, in particular the postgraduate research text Researching and Writing in Law (Thomson Reuters, 3rd ed, 2010).

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During her career, Terry has been actively involved in a number of professional associations, most recently chairing the Queensland Law Society’s Equalising Opportunities in the Law Committee, acting

 

as3D”http://alla2012.filesucation Review, and serving on the Law Council of Australia’s Equalising Opportunities in the Law Committee and the Executive of the Australasian Law Teachers’ Association (ALTA).

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Francis Johns, Lecturer, University of Technology Sydney, Faculty of Law

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Francis Johns is a lecturer in the Faculty of Law at UTS.

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He worked throughout the nineties at Butterworths-LexisNexis as an editor as well as in marketing.

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His research interest is information science and the law.

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He is a co-author of Concise Legal Research 6th Ed Federation Press.

 

Professor Andrew Mowbray, Director, Australasian Legal Information Institute

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Professor Andrew Mowbray joined the University of Technology Sydney Faculty of Law in 1986 as a Lecturer with degrees in Computing Science and Law. He took a national leadership role in the computerization of law and the development of computerized legal research from the late 1980s onwards. Over the years, Professor Mowbray has maintained an active involvement in the teaching of the core subject Legal Research and specialist electives such as Law and Computers.

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Andrew was Associate Dean of the Faculty 1998- 2005 and has served on a range of senior University Boards and Committees. He was appointed Professor of Law and Information Technology in 2003.

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In conjunction with his research colleagues, Professor Graham Greenleaf at UNSW and Philip Chung at UTS, Professor Mowbray was a central figure in the creation of Australasian Legal Information Institute (AustLII). He has been a principal software author and technical director and is currently AustLII’s Co-Director.

 

Jason Murakami, Partner, Nyst Lawyers

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Mr Jason Murakami is a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Queensland and Solicitor of the High Court of Australia, joining Mr Nyst in forming Nyst Lawyers in 2001 and becoming Partner in 2008. He is also a Senior Adjunct Lecturer in Law at Griffith University and an executive founding member of the now internationally renowned Griffith University Innocence Project.

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Jason was admitted to practice law in 1997 after completing his Bachelor of Laws at the Queensland University of Technology having obtained his specialist training in criminal litigation from Mr Nyst and some of the best criminal defence minds in the country including the Late W J Cuthbert Esq, Cedric Hampson QC and Mr N J Macgroarty. Prior to his specialist training in criminal defence, Jason achieved his journalism qualifications having completed his journalism cadetship with Fairfax.

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In 2007, together with Chris Nyst, Jason extended his practice to entertainment law and was the Executive Producer of Chris Nyst’s second feature film “Crooked Business.” Jason is also the Artistic Director of the successful Nyst Gallery which has developed a reputation as one of the country’s avant-garde exhibition spaces showcasing some of Queensland’s and the country’s finest young artists.

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Jason is a member and mentor to the Indigenous Law Association of Queensland (ILAQ) working closely with ILAQ President, Queensland barrister Mr. Joshua Creamer to develop strategies to increase the number of Queensland indigenous law graduates.

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Jason has featured in numerous print, radio and television articles and is regularly called upon by the media to provide comment on a range of law, justice, cultural and social issues.

 

Dr Duane Ostler, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Queensland

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Duane Ostler is currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Queensland.

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His research interests include bills of rights, acquisitions, property law, constitutional law and legal history. Prior to obtaining his PhD from Macquarie University, he practiced law in the United States for 11 years, in the state of Utah.

During his years of legal practice he served as city attorney for the Town of Springdale and was a senior associate at the firm of Snow, Jensen & Reece. He also taught labor law at the University of Phoenix. Duane obtained his Juris Doctor of Law degree and a Masters in Public Administration from Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah.

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Duane has published a number of articles in both American and Australian law journals, including an article in the Utah Bar Journal about legal research and writing.

 

Professor Helen Partridge, Coordinator, Library and Information Program, Queensland University of Technology

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Professor Helen Partridge is the coordinator of library and information science (LIS) education at the Queensland University of Technology.

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From 2009 to 2011 she led an Australian Learning and Teaching Council funded project aimed at re-conceptualising the nation’s LIS education for the twenty-first century.

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Involving 11 institutions representing the broad spectrum and diversity of LIS education the project established a framework for the education of the information professions in Australia.

 

Karen Sampford, Team Leader, General Distribution Research Team, Queensland Parliamentary Library & Research Service

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Karen has qualifications in economics, law, and library and information science and has worked for the Queensland Parliamentary Service for more than 20 years.

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Currently, as Team Leader of the General Distribution Research Team, Karen is responsible for oversight of the Library’s Research Publications on Bills before Parliament and other topical issues.

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Milagros Santos-Ong, Director, Supreme Court of the Philippines Library

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Milagros Santos-Ong is the Chief of the Supreme Court of the Philippines – Library Services for the past 27 years since August 1983. She is also a part-time Professorial Lecturer in Legal Research and Bibliography in four Philippine Law Schools, namely: the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila College of Law; the Manila Law College; the Centro Escolar University College of Law; and De La Salle University. She is also part-time Senior Lecturer at the University of the Philippines – School of Library and Information Science. Prior to her career with the Philippine Judiciary, she was a librarian at the University of the Philippines – College of Law from 1973 to 1983.

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She has written numerous books and legal articles, notable of which is Philippine Legal Research which can be found at the New York University College of Law (http:/www.nyulawglobal.org/globalex). The printed version is published by Central Books of the Philippines and the second edition is entitled Philippine Legal Research and Bibliography (2009).
Her dedication as a public servant was recognized with three distinguished awards, namely: the Chief Justice Awards for Outstanding Service in the Judiciary (2005); 2005 Outstanding Librarian, Professional Regulations Commission Outstanding Professional Award; and Presidential Citations Awards (2010).

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Colin Sheehan, Coordinator, Connection Unit, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Land Services, Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Mines

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Colin Sheehan began his career as a Librarian at the National Library of Australia in Canberra, where he was known as a reader of Sanskrit manuscripts. Colin has a passionate, yet natural talent for history and research. He moved to the Queensland State Library, where he worked as a Librarian in the John Oxley Library. After proving himself to be a first-rate historical service provider and researcher, Colin Sheehan was promoted to Chief Librarian of John Oxley Library, a position which he held until 1993.

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During this time, he was seconded to work on the Mabo case in 1989, a landmark case where Indigenous people’s rights to native title were finally recognized under Australian law in 1992. In 1993, Colin was again seconded to work on the Wik case, another landmark case for Aboriginal land rights, where the Wik people of Cape York won their claim in 1996, that native title could coexist with current pastoral leases. They were joined by the Thayorre people who claimed the same of native title and Crown Land.

Colin Sheehan’s present position is the Coordinator of the Connection Unit in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Land Services which is part of the Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Mines. He provides the historical background for native title claims in Queensland.

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Michael Unwin, Liaison Librarian, QUT Law Library

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Since graduating from the QUT Graduate Diploma of Library and Information Studies course in 2003, Michael has worked as a librarian at the QUT Library. He has worked in teams supporting various faculties but for the past six years has been a member of the Law Library team.

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In May of 2011, Michael was asked to participate in a QUT Law Faculty AusAid project to provide assistance to the Bhutanese Office of the Attorney General. One of the identified areas of need was advice and support with the establishment of an information resource centre in the Attorney General’s new building. Michael travelled to Bhutan with other members of the Law Faculty team to assist with this task.