2024 Harold Ford Memorial Lecture

Melbourne Law School hopes you can join us for this special lecture event presented by The Honorable Justice Mark Leeming. Please join us from 5:15 pm for networking with drinks and light refreshments prior to the lecture commencement at 6:00pm.

Company directors have long been subjected to duties by statute and pursuant to the constituent corporate documents – originally royal charters, later deeds of settlement, still later memoranda and articles of association, and now for most Australian companies, corporate constitutions pursuant to federal statute.

On its face, these are unpropitious foundations for equity. This lecture will inquire into various accounts of how “modern” company law came into existence, with an emphasis on how directors were regarded as, or analogous to, trustees, and considers how and when decisions connecting directors and trustees are used in litigation, using the example of claims to recover company property improperly disposed of by directors.

It is suggested that the relationship between director and trustee is more subtle and more complex than is sometimes appreciated.

Justice Mark Leeming has been a Judge of Appeal of the Supreme Court of New South Wales since 2013. Before then, he was a barrister for 18 years, including as Senior Counsel since 2006. He has also taught at the University of Sydney, part-time, since 1995, where he is Challis Lecturer in Equity. He has written or co-written 11 books and numerous academic articles on law and legal history.

He is a member of the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Equity, the Australian Bar Review and the Contract and Commercial Law Review, a member of the Advisory Committee of the Francis Forbes Society, and an Honorary Bencher of Lincoln’s Inn.

This lecture is named in honour of Melbourne Law School’s distinguished alumnus, Professor Harold Ford, who passed away in September 2012. Professor Ford spent almost his entire career at Melbourne Law School following his appointment to the Law School in 1949. He was Dean of the Law School in 1964 and from 1967 to 1973. He is remembered as a gifted teacher by several generations of law students.

Professor Ford also made many important contributions to law reform and co-authored a leading text titled Principles of the Law of Trusts and other influential books. The Harold Ford Memorial Lecture celebrates the many contributions of Professor Ford to Melbourne Law School, the legal profession, and to the development of corporate law and trusts law.

The Harold Ford Memorial Lecture is proudly sponsored by Clayton Utz.

Host or Publisher Melbourne Law School