The Legal Practice Section's Charities and Not-for-Profit Committee, the Charity Law Association of Australia and New Zealand (CLAANZ) and the University of Sydney Law School will host the fourth John Emerson Oration and CLAANZ Annual Lecture in Sydney on 29 November 2023.

The Oration will be delivered by the Hon Justice Mark Leeming, New South Wales Court of Appeal and Challis Lecturer in Equity Sydney Law School, on ‘Statutory Eucalypts in the Law of Charity’. The address will focus on the often hidden interaction between statute law and equity as it relates to the law of charity.

The John Emerson Oration is in honour of John Emerson AM. John has retired from Herbert Smith Freehills, where he was a partner for almost four decades. He remains recognised as an expert in the tax laws applicable to charities in Australia. John was also a member of the Board of Taxation and a number of other legal and public sector committees. He was a key contributor to the reform of laws which led to the establishment of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission. John is a Member of the Order of Australia for services to law and to the community, particularly through the provision of advice to charities and not-for-profit organisations and the development of public administration reform to encourage philanthropy in Australia.

In promoting its objective of charity law education, CLAANZ holds an Annual Public Lecture, which is open to anyone with an interest in charity law and the not-for-profit sector. The Annual Lecture addresses key, contemporary legal issues in the charity and not-for-profit sectors in Australia and New Zealand.