Professor John Farrar

LLB (Hons) LLM LLD London PhD Bristol

Professor Farrar served as Dean of Law at the University of Waikato from October 2004 until August 2008. Professor Farrar was previously Professor of Law at Queensland's Bond University, and Professorial Fellow of the University of Melbourne.

He is currently Professor of Corporate Governance at the University of Auckland Business School, and Joint Director of the New Zealand Governance Centre. These are part-time roles and the remainder of his time is spent as Emeritus Professor of Law at Bond University, Queensland.

Professor Farrar has had extensive experience in commercial law reform, having, for example, acted as a consultant to the New Zealand Treasury, the Law Commission, the Business Council of Australia and the UK Department of Trade and Industry. He is English-born but a New Zealand citizen and has worked extensively in New Zealand, having spent ten years at Canterbury University, including three years as law dean in the 1980s, and as Professor of Law at Victoria University in the early 1990s. He was a partner in the law firm Bell Gully Buddle Weir in the early 1990s before moving to Australia to posts at the University of Melbourne and Bond University. He was director of Australia's Institute for Corporate Governance and a member of the Legal Committee of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

As Acting Vice-Chancellor at Bond University in 1995-6, he organised a successful defence of the university against takeover bids by the University of Queensland, Griffith University and Monash University. The university retained its private status and now owns its campus. It is, however, a full member of the Australian Vice Chancellor's Committee.

Professor Farrar is a member of the editorial boards of a number of journals dealing with corporate and commercial law and is the author of many books and articles in this field in New Zealand, Australia and the UK. In 2005 he was appointed to the Legislation Advisory Committee chaired by Sir Geoffrey Palmer.

Professor Farrar, who is also a Professorial Fellow of the Law School of the University of Melbourne, has recently been made an Honorary Life Member of the Australasian Law Teachers' Association "in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the promotion of Legal Education both in New Zealand and Australia".

Recent Publications:

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