CEREL Friday Seminar Series

Friday 26 September 2025 from 1–2pm

Government accountability, corporate responsibility and human rights compliance. In this seminar, Justice Brian Preston will address recent decisions from both national courts and international courts and tribunals on climate change.

Presented by Justice Preston, Chief Judge of the Land and Environment Court of New South Wales.

Join the Climate litigation: cases and trends seminar on Teams.

Bio for The Hon. Justice Brian J Preston AO FRSN SC

Justice Preston is the Chief Judge of the Land and Environment Court of New South Wales. Prior to being appointed in November 2005, he was a senior counsel practising primarily in New South Wales in environmental, planning, administrative and property law. He has lectured in post-graduate environmental law for over 30 years. He is the author of Australia’s first book on environmental litigation and 164 articles, book chapters and reviews on environmental law, administrative and criminal law.

Justice Preston is an Official Member of the Judicial Commission of NSW, Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law, Fellow of the Royal Society of NSW and Honorary Fellow of the Environment Institute of Australia and New Zealand. He was awarded a Doctor of Letters (honoris causa) by Macquarie University in 2018 and a Doctor of Laws (honoris causa) by Western Sydney University in 2022. He is Vice President for Oceania of the Global Judicial Institute on the Environment and Chair of the Environmental Law Committee of the Law Association for Asia and the Pacific (LAWASIA).

Justice Preston was recognised with the Award for Excellence - Outstanding Contribution to Environmental Law by the Law Council of Australia’s Legal Practice Section in 2021. In 2023, he was awarded the Medal of Honour by the World Jurist Association at the United Nations in New York and was granted Life Membership by LAWASIA. He was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in the Australia Day Honours List 2025.

Justice Preston is currently a Visiting Professor at Durham University (UK), an Adjunct Professor at three Australian universities, the University of Sydney, Western Sydney University and Southern Cross University, and a former Visiting Fellow at Corpus Christi College and Magdalen College at Oxford University (UK).

Friday 28 November 2025 from 1–2pm

The seminar will focus on the changing role of lawyers in a time of environmental crisis, discussing what lawyers and law students needs to know about sustainability issues.

Presented by Professor Achinthi Vithanage, Associate Director of Environmental Law Programs, Elizabeth Haub School of Law, Pace University.

Feeding the world at least cost to the planet

Professor Trevor Daya-Winterbottom FRSA FRGS
Director
Centre for Environmental, Resources, and Energy Law – Te Piringa Faculty of Law, University of Waikato, Private Bag 3105 Hamilton, New Zealand

Email: trevor.daya-winterbottom@waikato.ac.nz