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Dean’s External Advisory Group

The Group will serve as clearinghouse for advice, ideas, feedback for everything the Law School does and it will help the Law School to remain firmly grounded and to be aware of expectations and perceptions outside academia in the broader legal community. The group consists of:

The Hon Chief Justice Wayne Martin

The Hon Wayne Martin QC's long and eminent legal career began with his admission to legal practice in Western Australia in 1977. In 1984 he became Senior Litigation Partner with Keall Brindsden in Perth and in 1988 joined the Independent Bar. In 1993 he was appointed Queen’s Counsel. Between October 1996 and October 2002 he was a Member of the Law Reform Commission, and from 1997 to 2001 served as its Chairman. From 2001 – 2003, he took on the role of counsel assisting the HIH Royal Commission in Sydney. In 2006, he became the 13th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Western Australia. The Chief Justice also holds the position of Lieutenant Governor of Western Australia.

The Hon Justice Ralph Simmonds

Justice Simmonds is a graduate of the University of Western Australia (LLB Hons, 1972) and of the University of Toronto (LLM, 1976). He taught and published in law in Canada, first at the University of Windsor and then at McGill University (1976 to 1990), before returning to Western Australia, to become Foundation Professor of Law and later Foundation Dean of Law at Murdoch University (1990 to 2004). He was admitted to the practice of law in Western Australia (1974) and Ontario (1978). Since 2004 he has been a Justice in the Supreme Court of Western Australia.

The Hon Cheryl Edwardes

Hon Cheryl Edwardes, a former Attorney General for Western Australia and Minister for the Environment, provides government relations counsel, with particular expertise in the mining and environmental sectors.

Most recently, she served as Partner with an international law firm, providing clients with strategic government relations advice regarding environmental and government approvals. Prior to that, Cheryl was the Executive General Manager for External Affairs, Government Relations and Approvals at an Australian mineral exploration and extraction company. She also served as an alternate Director on the company’s Board.

Prior to her time in the private sector, Cheryl had a long and distinguished career in Western Australian politics, serving as the state's Minister for the Environment from 1997 to 2001 and also as Western Australia's first female Attorney General.

The Hon Carol Adams

Carol was elected as a Councillor to the then Town of Kwinana in May 1997, she served as Deputy from 2005-2006 before being elected as the first woman Mayor to represent the Council in May 2006. Carol was re-elected unopposed to the position of Mayor in 2011 and her term expires in October 2013.

Carol holds a law degree from Murdoch University, has practiced law since 1998, and was the Principle Solicitor at the WA Police Union up until June 2011. Carol is also a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Carol is currently the Local Government Representative on the WA Local Government Superannuation Trustee Plan Board, and the Planning Ministers nominee to the WAPC’s Statutory Planning Committee, the Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority and the Armadale Redevelopment Committee.

The Hon Alannah MacTiernan

Alannah graduated in arts and later law at the University of Western Australia. Alannah worked for the Commonwealth Government in Aboriginal Employment and Training around Western Australia. In 1987, Alannah began legal practice in the commercial law department of Dwyer Durack, becoming a partner in 1992.

Alannah was elected to the Perth City Council in 1988 and served as a Councillor until 1994. She was first elected to Parliament in 1993 as member of the Legislative Council and in 1996 as the member for Armadale in the Legislative Assembly. Alannah served as WA Minister for Planning and Infrastructure from 2001 – 2008. After 17 years in State Parliament, Alannah resigned in 2010 to contest the Federal election. Despite a good swing, she was unsuccessful. Alannah was elected as the Mayor of the City of Vincent in October 2011.

Mr Chris Shanahan

Chris Shanahan SC has been a practicing barrister for 20 years and is a member of the WA Bar Association, of which he was Vice-President between 2005 and 2007, he was appointed silk on 1 December 2004.

Before going to the bar Chris taught at Murdoch University and was primarily responsible for the creation of the Clinical Legal Education program at SCALES. Chris was the head of the Education Committee that introduced a Bar Readers’ Course to WA in 2004 and continues to be involved in education through the Australian Bar Association’s Advocacy Training Council (2008-cont).

He is an experienced advocacy trainer and has taught in the South-Eastern Circuit's Advanced Advocacy Course at Keble College in Oxford in 2005 and 2010, the first ABA Appellate Advocacy Course in 2012, the Australian Bar Association's Advanced Advocacy Courses in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2012 and in the WABA Bar Readers' Course in various capacities since 2004.

Mr David Stewart

Dave is a practitioner-director of Wrays Lawyers in Perth. He is a lawyer, trade mark attorney, and public notary. Dave has worked in Australia, Japan and Hong Kong, and from 2000-2003 practiced in intellectual property through-out East Asia.

Dave has lectured at Murdoch University (in 2000, 2007 and 2012) and the Australian Graduate School of Management (2000-2003 in Hong Kong). Dave is the current coordinator of the Murdoch Law Alumni group.

Mr Glen McLeod

Glen McLeod is an Adjunct Professor in the Murdoch University Law School.
He is an independent town planning, environmental and infrastructure consulting lawyer who in his 35 year legal career has been a partner in major Australian and International law firms.

He is Senior Vice Chairman of the International Bar Association’s Environment, Health and Safety Committee, and a member of various Government boards and community organisations.

Justice James Edelman

James Joshua Edelman was appointed to the Supreme Court of Western Australia on 25 July 2011. He obtained his degrees of Bachelor of Economics (1995), Bachelor of Laws (first class honours 1996) from the University of Western Australia, a Bachelor of Commerce from Murdoch University (1997). He was Associate to his Honour Justice Toohey, of the High Court of Australia, in 1997 and completed his articles with Blake Dawson Waldron. He was admitted to practice in Western Australia in 1998.

Justice Edelman was awarded a Rhodes scholarship in 1998 and obtained a Doctor of Philosophy in Law (2001) from the University of Oxford. Justice Edelman took up a teaching position at Keble College, Oxford University in 2005, and was appointed Professor of the Law of Obligations at Oxford (2008). At Oxford he taught the subjects of restitution, commercial remedies, trusts, torts, contract and Roman law. He practised as a barrister at the Chambers of Mr Malcolm McCusker QC in Perth from 2001, and at One Essex Court at the English Bar from 2008.

Paul Evans

Paul D Evans has held the position of State Solicitor in the State Solicitor’s Office since August 2011.

Prior to this period Paul was a senior partner in the Perth office of Herbert Smith Freehills. His focus lies in dispute resolution with particular interests in the areas of corporations law, competition and economic law and complex disputes.

Paul brings to his role in advising clients in large commercial disputes the benefits of 29 years practice experience, 24 of them as a litigation partner of Herbert Smith Freehills, a great diversity of practice experience across several areas and in most of the States of Australia, experience in the conduct of many substantial cases, in a diversity of industries and areas of law and a history of involvement in management and commerce, as a past board member of the Freehills and public companies.

John Paulsen

John Poulsen is the Australian Managing Partner of Squire Sanders, formerly Minter Ellison Perth.

John is recognised as a leading finance lawyer in Western Australia and has acted for Australia's pre-eminent financiers such as the four major banks, Macquarie Bank and Babcock & Brown.

John also acts for project sponsors (such as Alcoa) in project finance transactions. He has been involved in the project financing of power stations, gas pipelines, oil and gas projects and mining projects in Western Australia and also has considerable experience in securitisation of different types of receivables.

Since combination with Squire Sanders, John is focusing his practice on international finance and project finance transactions.

He was State President of Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) Western Australia and a member of the National Board of CEDA from 2004 to 2011. He is also a member of the Serco Asia Pacific Advisory Board, Deputy Chair of Volunteering WA, member of the Leukaemia Foundation Advisory Board, Chair of the Corporate Volunteer Council, a Board member of the International Skills & Training Institute in Health and a member of the Murdoch University School of Law - External Advisory Board.

John also mentors a number of people on both a professional and personal basis.

Joseph McGrath

Joseph McGrath SC was appointed to the position of Director of Public Prosecutions for Western Australia

in February 2010. Formerly a Senior Assistant Director at the Commonwealth DPP, he was appointed a Senior Counsel in 2011.

From 2001 until his appointment as the DPP, he practiced as a barrister at Francis Burt Chambers. He was counsel assisting both the Royal Commission into the Finance Broking Industry and into the Western Australian Police, and is a former Commissioner of the Law Reform Commission of Western Australia.