Dr Steven Churches

After graduating BA from Sydney University and LLB from the University of Tasmania, Steven was admitted to practise in NSW and worked for governments for the next decade plus: the NSW, SA, Kenyan and WA Governments. Along the way he graduated PhD from Adelaide University with a thesis on an aspect of Governmental immunity from the law, which gave him a first opportunity to argue in the High Court: Bropho in 1990.

Steven had gone to the Bar by then and has since appeared in appellate courts in WA, NSW and SA as well as the High Court. His practice focuses on public law (the relationship of individuals and community to the State) and statutory interpretation, and his High Court arguments reflect that bias: for example Webster v Lampard (1993), Teoh (1995), Wilson v Minister for Aboriginal Affairs (1996), Judamia (1996), Minister for Immigration v B (2004, the Bakhtiyari children case) and McNamara v CCCT and RTA (2005).

Steven has published in law journals and newspapers around Australia and the UK, and delivered papers similarly, and in Ireland, South Africa and Hong Kong. He has taught part time at the University of NSW, and full time at the University of Adelaide, and is now a 40% appointment at University of SA.

• Steven hopes to inspire student interest in Statutory Interpretation, as he sees that as the most pressing area of practical need for lawyers in the future, and a skill that, for historical reasons, has not been taught in the past. He also looks forward to being involved in teaching advocacy and the training of moot teams.

1990: PhD, University of Adelaide (Thesis on Crown Immunity from the operation of Statutes)

1976: LLB, University of Tasmania

1972: BA, University of Sydney

Case note on lack of judicial perception of the unreality of the corporate veil (1978) 52 ALJ 284 (2,300 words).

Article on the necessity for reform of the law regarding exempt proprietary companies (1978) 48 (August) Australian Accountant 426 (2,000 words).

‘The Presumption of a Yearly Term in a General Contract of Employment and the Plight of the Modern Manager: or the Black Death and the Malady lingers on’ (1978) 10 University of Queensland Law Journal 195 (8,000 words). Cited: J Macken et al The Law of Employment 3rd ed, 1990, p155, fn70.

‘Hocus Pocus, No Locus Standi: An Initial Attack on ACF v The Commonwealth’ (1980) 5 Legal Service Bulletin 68 (2,000 words).

Case note on recent High Court decisions bearing on the relationship of statutes to the Crown in a Federation (1980) 54 ALJ 362 (1,500 words). Cited: [2000] PL p18, fn54 G Taylor “Devolution and the Applicability of Statutes to the Crown”. (2000) 24 Melb ULR p83, fn25 G Taylor “The Presumption that Statutes do not apply to the Crown”

Case note on recent High Court cases relating to Statutes and the Crown in a Federation and the passing of Crown immunity to third parties (1980) 7 Adel LR 389 (2,700 words).

Book Review of Barwick by David Marr (1980) 7 Adel LR 409 (1,600 words).

'“Bona Fide” Police Torts and Crown Immunity: A Paradigm of the Case for Judge Made Law’ (1980) 6 University of Tasmania Law Review 294 (8,500 words).

‘Natural Justice and Executive Discretion in Australia’ [1980] Public Law 397 (13,000 words).

Book review of Justice by Kamenka E and Tay A E-S (1981) 7 Adel LR 541 (1,000 words).

Case note on Church of Scientology v Director-General of ASIO dealing with Commonwealth executive power (1981) 12 Melb ULR 97 (2,000 words).

Book review of Law and Social Control by Kamenka E and Tay A E-S (1981) 8 Adel LR 112 (1,200 words).

‘Aboriginal People and Government Responsibility and Accountability’ (1990) 2 (47) Aboriginal Law Bulletin 6 (1,800 words).

‘The Trouble with Humphrey in Western Australia: Icons of the Crown or Impediments to the Public?’ (1990) 20 UWALR 688 (8,000 words).

‘Aboriginal Heritage in the Wild West’ (1992) 2 (56) Aboriginal Law Bulletin 9 (4,300 words).

‘Mabo: A Flexible Sinew of the Common Law’ (1993) 20 pt 11 ‘Brief’ (Law Society of Western Australia) 8 (4,000 words).

‘Can a liquidator waive a company’s legal professional privilege?’ (1995) 69 ALJ 252 (800 words).

‘WA’s Section 70: Imperial Promises, Colonial Breaches’ (1995) 3(74) Aboriginal Law Bulletin 8 (1,500 words).

‘Australian Civilization reflected in the Law: The Limits of Parliamentary Sovereignty’ in In the Name of Lionel Never Give in Press, 2000 (ed) V.G. Venturini, 75 (8,500 words) (1995 Lionel Murphy Memorial Lecture].

‘Seven Little Australians and Government Over-reaction’ [Teoh and proposal to over-ride the High Court decision] (1995) 33 (September) Law Society Journal 51 (1,100 words).

‘Better Not Be a Victim of Government Torts in New South Wales’ (1998) 36 (May) Law Society Journal 60 (2,800 words).

‘Courts and Parliament Dysfunctional in Review: Forest Management as a Case Study of Bureaucratic Power’ (2000) 7 Aust Jnl Administrative Law 141 (10,000 words).

‘Government as a Public Trust: Crown Mystique, Unequal Laws and Modern Democracy’ in Beyond the Republic (ed) C. Sampford and T. Round, Federation Press, 2001, 173 (3,500 words) [based on paper given to the Fulbright Symposium conducted by KCELJAG, Griffith University, Brisbane, October 1999].

‘Crown Immunity: A Bad Deal all Round’ (2001) 39 (March) Law Society Journal 60 (950 words).

‘State Bodies not obeying the Law’ Australian Financial Review 15 June 2001 p57 (900 words).

Book review of The Australian Judiciary by E Campbell and HP Lee Australian Financial Review 10 May 2002 (700 words).

Book review of The Fabrication of Aboriginal History vol 1 by K Windschuttle (2003) 24 Adel LR 113 (4,500 words).

“‘Tragic’: the High Court decision in the indefinite mandatory detention case of Al-Kateb” (2004) [October] 26(9) Bulletin of the Law Society of SA 30 (3,000 words).

“The Northern Territory Power Generation case: Government owned businesses required to comply with Trade Practice Act standards of competition behaviour” (2004) 23 ARELJ 289 (4,500 words).

“The Public Record on the Bakhtiyaris” Eureka Street, vol 15, no 3, April 2005, 14 (3,000 words). [August 2005 NSW Law Society Jnl p20, article on McNamara v RTA and the Parliamentary manoeuvre attempted by the RTA.]

‘Aboriginal Customary Law in the Context of Western Australian Constitutional Law’ Background Paper No 14 for WALRC, April 2005 (7,500 words).

‘Put not your faith in princes (or courts) - agreements made from asymmetrical power bases: The story of a promise made to Western Australia’s Aboriginal people’ in What Good Condition? Reflections on an Australian Aboriginal treaty 1986 – 2006 (ed) P Read, G Meyers and R Reece 2006 (8,000 words) [based on a paper given in July 2002 to the Murdoch University Aboriginal Treaty conference].

‘Flow on from Findings of Lack of Legislative Reach or Invalidity: Migration Detention as False Imprisonment’ (2008) 16 Aust Jnl Administrative Law 12 (2,500 words).

‘Courts and Parliament’ in Appealing to the Future: Michael Kirby and his Legacy (ed) I Freckelton and H Selby, 2009 (10,000 words)

‘Governmental Illegality in Elizabethan England’ Law and History Conference, La Trobe University, May 1986.

‘Crown Immunities and Reform of the Law’ LAWASIA Conference, Hong Kong, October 1989.

‘Crown Immunities - Bropho and Beyond’ Law Society of WA Continuing Legal Education Lecture, February 1991.

‘Tangling with the Crown: Aspects of Theory and Practice’ Piper Alderman, Adelaide, April 1992.

‘Estoppel and Government’ Administrative Law Conference, Sebel Town House, Sydney, August 1995.

‘Proportionality: Concept Without Substance?’ Administrative Law Section, NSW Bar, February 1996. [Published in Matters of Opinion Collected Papers of the NSW Bar Association vol. 1, 1996].

‘Law Reform: Bringing Order to Evolution’ Society of Labor Lawyers, Canberra Conference, October 1996.

‘Treaties and their impact on the Practitioner’ Conference on The Impact of International Law on Australian Law, Sydney University Law School, November 1997.

‘Can There Be Environmental Justice While The State Remains An Outlaw?’ Environmental Law Conference, University of Cape Town, April 1998.

‘An Imperial Promise to the Indigenous of Western Australia: Broken but now revived?’ La Trobe University Law and History Conference, July 1998.

‘Public Sector Accountability for Senior Executives’ AIC 7th Administrative Law Summit, Canberra, September 1999.

‘Government as a Public Trust: Crown Mystique, Unequal Laws and Modern Democracy’ Fulbright Symposium conducted by KCELJAG, Griffith University, Brisbane, October 1999.

‘The Common Law and the Impact of Personality and the Zeitgeist: Slavery, Native Title and the Concept of Property’ ANZLHS Conference, ANU, Canberra, July 2000.

‘Indigenous Underdogs v The Uber-Crown’ KCELJAG Conference, Griffith University, Brisbane, July 2001.

‘Agreements made from Asymmetrical Power Bases: The Story of the s.70 Case in WA’ Indigenous Treaties Conference, Murdoch University, Perth, June 2002.

‘Privative Clauses: The Latest Word’ Seminar on Judicial Review of Migration Decisions, SA Law Society seminar for public lawyers, March 2003.

‘The Perspectives of Historical Heritage and Written Constitutions in dealing with Crown/State Immunities’ Irish Association of Law Teachers Conference, Galway, April 2003.

‘Judicial Review in Refugee Law: What a Difference a Written Constitution can make’ Anglo-Australasian Lawyers Society (UK Branch), London, April 2003.

‘What errors by a Commonwealth decision maker allow for review as errors going to jurisdiction under s.75(v) of the Constitution? (And why this matters since Plaintiff S157 explained away the Migration Act’s Privative Clause)’ SA Law Society seminar, May 2003.

‘The Jurisdiction and Nature of Administrative Review’ SA Law Society workshop on Representation and Procedure in Tribunals, February 2004.

‘Human Rights, Burdens of Proof and Proving the Mental Element’ University of Melbourne Institute of Criminology seminar on “Antiquity in Exile” February 2005.

‘The Ethical Foundation for the Conduct of Government Business: Can the Structure be made to match the Foundations?’ Government Contracting Law Summit, Canberra, November 2005.

‘The use of Treaties in domestic law: the fate of Teoh in Australian Jurisprudence’ Trade and Human Rights in Southern Africa Conference, Cape Town, April 2006.

‘Where to from here? The Recognition Process’ Aboriginal Customary Law Forum, SA Law Society forum, July 2006.

‘Unwritten commands of the common law: the survival of natural justice in the face of apparently hostile statutory provisions, in particular provisions regarding criminal or security intelligence’, Administrative Law Seminar on the Golden Thread, SA Law Society, March 2007.

‘Statutory Interpretation in Succession Law’, Australian Succession Law Conference, Adelaide, October 2007.

‘Human Rights legislation and the non-Government sector’, Human Rights Day Conference at Uni SA, Adelaide, December 2008.

‘Secret Police Evidence in Courts and No Bill of Rights: How is the Rule of Law travelling in SA?’ SA Law Society, April 2009.