Inside Commercial Law

Fortunes being made and lost as the world changes are very much front of mind today as AI continues its march. Yet, as Dr Lucie O’Brien tells Matthew Bell in this episode of Inside Commercial Law, financial precarity potentially leading to bankruptcy has a very long history in Australia. Giving a taste of her Rare Books Lecture at Melbourne Law School, she takes us back to the gold rush time in colonial Victoria through the lens of literary portrayals of bankruptcy; especially, the remarkable series of novels by Ethel (Henry Handel) Richardson collected as The Fortunes of Richard Mahony.
 
A recording of Lucie’s lecture (29 July 2026) is here: https://youtu.be/0bk2Vbpc8nE?si=kfBd3ohefiAwxR8w
Further information about the Melbourne Centre for Commercial Law can be found here: https://law.unimelb.edu.au/centres/mccl

In this special crossover episode, we bring you a conversation from the new Asian Law Voices podcast hosted by our colleagues at the Asian Law Centre and the Centre for Indonesian Law, Islam and Society at Melbourne Law School, The University of Melbourne.

In this episode, the Asian Law Centre’s Director, Sarah Biddulph, talks to Ben Hopper about fan fiction and legal issues in China. They discuss: what is fan fiction; why fan fiction poses challenges for China’s copyright laws and laws protecting personality rights; China’s first (and thus far only) fan fiction copyright lawsuit between renowned Chinese action fantasy (wuxia) author, Jin Yong, and fan fiction writer, Jiang Nan; the “227” incident that broke out on February, 27 2020 in which a fan fiction writer posted a serialised novel that contained a fictionalised romance between two actors in the TV show, The Untamed. 
 
Ben would like to thank Jiacheng Gong, Tina Yao, and Alice Boer-Endacott for helpful discussions on fan fiction in the lead-up to the recording of this podcast. 

If you enjoyed this podcast, we encourage you to subscribe to Asian Law Voices wherever you get your podcasts.

Recommended further reading: 
Gladys Mac, Chinese Fanfiction is Entering Into (and Upsetting) the Mainstream (Online article, 10 December 2020) <https://radii.co/article/chinese-fanfiction>, archived at <https://perma.cc/JR5P-R78B>. 

Xu Xinming, Settlement Reached in Landmark “Jin Yong v. Jiang Nan Fanfiction Case” (Online article, 13 October 2025) <https://www.ciplawyer.com/articles/157722.html>, archived at <https://perma.cc/ZCS5-8M2D>. Note that this settlement took place, and this article was published, after this episode of Asian Law Voices was recorded. 

 
Asian Law Voices presents interviews with an array of expert voices on legal issues throughout Asia, covering the law and its myriad connections with politics, culture, art, society and the everyday.  

The theme music is by Melbourne Community Gamelan. 
 
We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung peoples of the Kulin Nation as the Traditional Owners of the land on which we record, learn, and live.

Construction law and the arbitration of construction disputes is now one of the most sophisticated areas of commercial legal practice in many places around the world. Yet, this development has only happened in the past few decades. In this episode, Matthew Bell speaks with three leaders in the global field of construction law and arbitration: Melbourne Law School Professorial Fellows Doug Jones AO and John Sharkey AM, and Professor Janet Walker CM of Osgoode Hall Law School. 
Our discussion covers the development of construction law as an area of practice, the importance of international professional associations including the International Bar Association, the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and the Societies of Construction Law. We also discuss the potential for a symbiotic relationship between the practice and scholarship of construction law and how that potential can be realised when universities are able effectively to harness the goodwill and expertise of practitioners as teachers and researchers. 
Further information about Doug’s Public Lecture at Melbourne Law School on 4 August 2026 can be found here.
Further information about the Melbourne Centre for Commercial Law can be found here.

In this episode, Matthew Bell is joined by Phillip Greenham and Rebecca Dickson. Phillip and Rebecca bring their wealth of experience in construction law practice and research to our Melbourne Law Masters classroom in the subject ‘Rethinking Construction Contracting Risk’. They give insights into how the subject offers construction professionals and lawyers the opportunity to step back from ‘business as usual’ practice to think about what our contracts should - and, should not - focus on. 
Information about the subject, and how you can join us for its next offering in June 2026: https://handbook.unimelb.edu.au/2026/subjects/laws90229
Melbourne Centre for Commercial Law: https://law.unimelb.edu.au/centres/mccl

In this episode, Matthew Bell speaks with Sharon Vogel and Shona Frame during their week at Melbourne Law School teaching ‘International Construction Law’ in the Melbourne Law Masters, with a special guest appearance by Dr Donald Charrett.
They cover a smorgasbord of topics, from Indigenous consultation to security of payment, standard forms to the elusive ‘lex constructionis’, and give tips, from their extensive experience in project procurement, dispute avoidance and resolution, to students and others thinking about a career in construction law around the world. 
 
Find out more:
Melbourne Centre for Commercial Law
Melbourne Master of Construction Law