Living the Law

One of Australia's most brilliant legal minds, Emeritus Professor Hal Wootten, will discuss how to live a worthwhile life as a lawyer, in a public lecture at UNSW on Thursday (16th Oct.)

The public address, Living in the Law, will mark a return to UNSW for its founding Law Dean, who will deliver the lecture created in his own name.

Professor Wootten has forged a long career in the law while maintaining an active involvement in community life and a strong moral compass.

He has said publicly that one of his proudest achievements was helping to create the Law Faculty at UNSW.

His lecture is fashioned as a response to a question posed by US Supreme Court Judge Oliver Wendell Holmes: "How can the laborious study of a dry and technical system, the greedy watch for clients and the shopkeepers' arts, and the mannerless conflicts over sordid interests, make out a life?"

Professor Wootten will discuss the perennial challenges that face everyone who chooses a career in the law, drawing on a lifetime's experience that began when he became a law student over 60 years ago, and includes 20 years practice at the NSW Bar, 11 years as a Supreme Court judge, three as a Royal Commissioner and three as a deputy president of the National Native Title Tribunal.

Professor Wootten's passion for justice led him to research in a remote New Guinea village, and to service as secretary-general of LawAsia, founding president of Australia's first Aboriginal Legal Service, chairman of the Australian Press Council and president of the Australian Conservation Foundation. In 1991 he was made Companion of the Order of Australia for services to human rights, conservation, legal education and the law.

What: The Hal Wootten Lecture 2008 - delivered by Hal Wootten When: Thursday 16th October 2008. 6.15pm for a prompt 6.30 start. Where: The Law Theatre, Faculty of Law, UNSW's Kensington campus RSVP: Register online

Contact: Steve Offner | 9385 8107 | s.offner@unsw.edu.au