Geoff Monahan

Associate Professor

BA (Macq), LLB (Syd), LLM (UNSW), GradCertHEd (UTS), Solicitor of the Supreme Court of NSW & the High Court of Australia, Notary Public (NSW)

Academic Profile

Geoff Monahan is a former legal practitioner who joined UTS in 1990. He has taught and researched in various areas including family, child law, legal ethics and contract law. He was the Foundation Director, Practical Legal Training Program (1996-1999) and Director, Undergraduate Law Program in 2003. Geoff is currently a Deputy Chair of the Academic Board.

Geoff has taught courses and/or been a visiting academic at a number of other universities and colleges including Law Society of Upper Canada Practical Legal Training Course (Toronto, Canada), Law Society of British Columbia Practical Legal Training Course (Vancouver, Canada), NSW College of Law, Santa Clara University (California, USA), University of Sydney, University of Western Sydney, University of the West of England (UK), Widener University (Delaware, USA) and the University of Wollongong. He has also been a visiting scholar at Cambridge University (UK).

Geoff is also a member of various professional committees including the Family Issues Committee (Law Society of NSW) and the Specialist Accreditation Children's Law Advisory Committee (Law Society of NSW) and the Examinations Committee (NSW Legal Profession Admission Board). In addition he is co-chair of the Academic and Professional Development Committee of the International Bar Association and the convenor of the Family Law Interest Group of the Australasian Law Teachers Association.

Current Research Activities

Geoff is the co-editor of the following journals:

Current Family Law (Thomsons Law Book Co 2008-)

Child Law e-Journal (LexisNexis Butterworths 2008- forthcoming)

Recent Publications

Books

Children and the Law in Australia, (co-edited with Lisa Young), Lexis Nexis Butterworths, 1st edition, Sydney, 2008 (ISBN 9780409323900)

Nutshell: Family Law, (co-authored with Ross Hyams), Thomson Law Book, Sydney, 3rd edition, 2008 (ISBN 9780455224626)

Essential Contract Law, (co-authored with Susan Carr-Gregg), Routledge-Cavendish, Oxon and New York, 3rd edition 2007 (ISBN 10:187690531X; ISBN 13:9781876905316)

Essential Professional Conduct: Legal Ethics, (co-authored with David Hipsley) Routledge-Cavendish, Oxon and New York, 2nd edition 2007 (ISBN 10:1876905271; ISBN 13:978187905279)

Family Law in Australia, (co-authored with Lisa Young), Lexis Nexis Butterworths, 6th edition, Sydney, 2006 (ISBN 9780409319903)

Refereed Journal Articles

"Roads and Traffic Authority of NSW v Dederer: Negligence and the Exuberance of Youth", (co-authored with Pam Stewart) (2008) 32(2) Melbourne University Law Review (forthcoming)

"Opportunities knock or opportunities lost? Reviewing the consequences of relationship contributions by a de facto partner" (2008) 13(3) Current Family Law (forthcoming)

"Time after Time: The discretion to allow the late commencement of financial proceedings following relationship breakdown", (2007) 81(6) Law Institute Journal 42

"Facilitating International Co-operation in Parenting Disputes: The Hague Child Protection Convention", (2003) 22 University of Tasmania Law Review 94

Refereed Conference Paper

" Future Needs Strikes Back? Assessing the Consequences of Contributions to a De Facto Relationship", Australasian Law Teachers Association (ALTA) Conference, Victoria University, Melbourne, July 2006

Invited Articles

"Allegations of Child Sexual Abuse in Family Court Cases" (2005) 43(7) Law Society Journal 66

"A Matter of Principles: The Development of Guidelines for Representing Children and Young People in State Courts" (2005) 27(8) Bulletin (Law Society of South Australia) 17.

"A Matter of Proof: Allegations of Sexual Abuse in Parenting Disputes" (2005) 2 (1) Australian Student Law Reporter 29, Cavendish Publishing Australia

"Principles for Representing Children and Young People" (2004) 42(2) Law Society Journal 76

"Back to the Future: The Use of Accrued Jurisdiction in the Family Court" (2004) 1 (1) Australian Student Law Reporter 28, Cavendish Publishing Australia

"Child Protection - Hague Convention Facilitates International Co-operation in Family Law Matters" (2003) 41(9) Law Society Journal 56

Conference Papers

"Adoption Law: Recent Developments and Cases", Annual Advanced Family Law Weekend, NSW College of Law, Sydney, August 2008

"Embracing the Child Support Scheme: Version 2.0", (co-authored with Lisa Young) LexisNexis Family Law Essentials Conference, Sydney, November 2007


"The discretion to allow the late commencement of financial proceedings following relationship breakdown", Australasian Law Teachers Association (ALTA) Conference, University of Western Australia, Perth, September 2007

"Reforming Child Support Laws: Where to Now?" (with Lisa Young), Australasian Law Teachers Association (ALTA) Conference, University of Western Australia, Perth, September 2007

"Reforms to the Child Support Scheme: Progress to date and what lies ahead", (co-authored with Lisa Young) LexisNexis Family Law Master Class Conference, Sydney, NSW, May 2007 

"Planning for the Future: Clinical legal education for contemporary law students" (with Kay Maxwell), Australasian Law Teachers Association (ALTA) Conference, Victoria University, Melbourne, July 2006

"Being Clinical about Clinical Legal Education - Is the Case for Good Law Too Hard?" (with Frank Astill), Australasian Professional Legal Education Council (APLEC) Conference, Law Society of South Australia, Adelaide SA, November 2005

"Getting Clinical about Clinical Legal Education (with Frank Astill)", International Bar Association (IBA), Prague, Czech Republic, September 2005

"Professional Guidelines for Lawyers Representing Children in the Criminal and Civil Jurisdiction", Continuing Legal Education, Law Society of South Australia, Adelaide, August 2005

"Lip Service - Not Another Client-Centred Seminar!" (with Frank Astill), Australasian Professional Legal Education Council (APLEC) Conference, Centre for Legal Studies, Hobart Tasmania, November 2004

"The Human Client - with Rights: Implications for Legal Education" (with Frank Astill), International Bar Association (IBA), Auckland, NZ, October 2004

The Hague Family: a conventional approach to facilitating international co-operation in protecting the rights of children, Annual Advanced Family Law Weekend, NSW College of Law, Sydney, August 2004

"The Hague Intercountry Child Adoption Convention and Australian Adoptions 2002-03", Australasian Law Teachers Association (ALTA) Conference, Charles Darwin University, Darwin NT, July 2004

"The Representation of Children and Young People in Legal Proceedings - A Matter of Principles?" Australasian Law Teachers Association (ALTA) Conference, Charles Darwin University, Darwin NT, July 2004

"Representing Children: A New Direction for Legal Skills, Advocacy and Professional Responsibility", Australasian Professional Legal Education Council (APLEC) Conference, Queensland University of Technology, November 2003

"Alternatively Teaching Dispute Resolution" (with Frank Astill), International Bar Association (IBA), San Francisco, USA, September, 2003

"Representation Principles for Children's Lawyers", Law Asia Children and the Law Conference, Brisbane, June 2003