Dr Suzanne Le Mire

Biography/ Background

Dr Suzanne Le Mire is a senior lecturer at the Adelaide Law School. Prior to moving to academia, Suzanne practiced law at Adelaide Law firm, Piper Alderman.  She previously taught in the Faculty of Law at Monash University. Suzanne currently teaches legal ethics, corporate law, and corporate governance. Suzanne's interest in teaching legal ethics was recognised when she was selected as a 2012 Fellow of the National Institute for Teaching Ethics & Professionalism (NIFTEP). (This institute is a consortium of The Louis Stein Center for Law & Ethics at Fordham University, The Mercer University School of Law Center for Legal Ethics and Professionalism, The Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough Center on Professionalism at the University of South Carolina, The Stanford Center on Ethics, The W. Lee Burge Endowment for Law & Ethics at Georgia State University.)

 

Suzanne’s research demonstrates a strong theoretical and practical understanding of the particular pressures involved in governance and legal representation.  She has written widely on lawyers’ ethics and corporate governance. Her doctoral thesis examined the regulation of independent directors in large public corporations. Most recently Suzanne has been interested in the ethical challenges faced by in-house counsel. She is currently engaged in an empirical study of the independence of in-house counsel, especially with respect to privilege claims. 

In addition to her teaching and research, Suzanne is the First Year Programme Coordinator at the Adelaide Law School.  In 2012 she is also coordinating the Adelaide Law School’s seminar series for the continuing professional development of members of the profession.  She is a regular contributor to ethics sessions presented by the Law Society of South Australia. Suzanne is the legal member of the University of Adelaide’s Human Research Ethics Committee. 

 

Qualifications

PhD, Monash University

BA, University of Adelaide

LLB( Hons), University of Adelaide

GDLP, South Australia Institute of Technology

Barrister and Solicitor Supreme Court of South Australia

Barrister and Solicitor High Court of Australia

Teaching Interests

Corporate Law and Legal Ethics.

Research Interests

Suzanne's research interests fall into two main areas:

1. Corporate law, governance, and ethics;
2. The legal profession, its regulation, and ethics.

Suzanne would be happy to supervise masters and doctoral students in these areas.   She is currently supervising Heath Evan's doctoral thesis on corporate social responsiblity in small to medium enterprises.

Publications

Refereed:

Striking off: Criminal Lawyers and Disclosure of their Convictions (2005) 79 Australian Law Journal 461-468.

Non-Executive Directors: Problem or Solution?(2006) 2(3) Monash Business Review 14, (with Katherine Hall).

Document Destruction and Corporate Culture: A Victorian Initiative (2006)19(3) Australian Journal of Corporate Law 304.

‘The Case Study: James Hardie and its Implications for the Teaching of Ethics’, in Bronwyn Naylor and Ross Hyams (eds), Innovation in Clinical Legal Education: Educating Lawyers for the Future, (Melbourne, Legal Service Bulletin Cooperative Ltd, 2007) 25-33).

‘Keeping it In-house: Ethics in the Relationship between Large Law Firm Lawyers and Corporate Clients through the Eyes of In-house Counsel’ (2008) 11(2) Legal Ethics 201-229 (with Parker).

‘The Ethical Infrastructure of Legal Practice in Larger Law Firms: Values, Policy and Behaviour’, (2008) 31(1) University of New South Wales Law Journal, (with Parker, Evans, Haller & Mortensen) 158-188.

‘Playing for Keeps? Tobacco Litigation, Document Retention, Corporate Culture and Legal Ethics’, (2008) 34(1) Monash University Law Review (with Dr Matthew Harvey) 163-189

‘Testing Times: In-House Counsel and Independence’ (2011) 14(1) Legal Ethics 163-189

Conference Papers:

Unreasonable Expectations of Independent Directors, presented at CLTA, Sydney, February, 2005, published online at http://www.law.usyd.edu.au/~parsons/CLTA/AbstractsandPapers.htm#lemire (accessed 16/05/05).

The Case Study: James Hardie and its Implications for the Teaching of Ethics, presented at Flowers in the Desert Conference: Clinical Legal Education, Ethical Awareness and Community Service, Melbourne, July, 2005.

The Independent Director: The Regulatory Technique that Unifies the Theorists, presented at PhD Symposium, University of Sydney, 25th-26th November, 2005.

Document Destruction and Corporate Culture: A Victorian Initiative, presented at the Corporate Law Teachers Association Conference, Brisbane, February, 2006.

The Embedded Regulator: The Independent Director in the Line of Fire, Frontiers of Regulation: Assessing Scholarly Debates and Policy Challenges, University of Bath, UK, September 2006.

The Great White Hope: The Independent Director as a Mechanism for Controlling Corporate Behaviour, Corporate Responsibility Research Conference Dublin, September 2006

Other Presentations:

Should Lawyers try to give Corporations Ethical Advice? Staff Seminar, Monash University, Faculty of Law, 26th May, 2005.

The Corporation, the Lawyers, its Scheme and their Ethics, Leo Cussens Institute, Melbourne, 5th August, 2005.

The Independent Director: Board Composition in the Shadow of the State? HDR Reporting Seminar, Monash University, Faculty of Law, 31st August, 2005.

Costs Agreements: Just One Word?, presented at the Launch of the Legal Profession Act, Monash University City Campus, 12th December 2005.

Managerialism and Legal Practice, Leo Cussens Institute, Melbourne, August, 2006.

Professional Associations

Member, Corporate Law Teachers Association.

Member, Law Society of South Australia.

Member, Monash Governance Research Group.

Member, Legal Ethics Teachers Network 

Entry last updated: Tuesday, 31 Jul 2012