At a meeting on 11 July 2024, 22 lawyers and academics voted to form the Australasian Association of Private International Law (AAPrIL).  Professor Mary Keyes (Griffith University) was elected the inaugural President and the Honourable Dr Andrew Bell, Chief Justice of New South Wales, has agreed to be AAPrIL’s patron.

The AAPrIL’s first elected officers are as follows:

• President: Professor Mary Keyes (Griffith University, Queensland)
• Secretary: Professor Reid Mortensen (University of Southern Queensland)
• Treasurer: Ms Cara North (Corrs Chambers Westgarth, Melbourne)
• Australian Vice-President: Dr Michael Douglas (Bennett, Perth)
• New Zealand Vice-President: Mr Jack Wass (Stout Street Chambers, Wellington)

AAPrIL has been established to promoted understanding, awareness and the reform of private international law in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, and to provide a regional organisation for cooperation with similar private international law associations across the world.  It plans to hold an annual conference, support regular seminars and roundtables, engage with governments in Australasia on private international law issues and reform, publish a regular newsletter on events and legal developments in the region, and encourage cooperation with the Hague Conference on Private International Law and other private international law inter-governmental organisations.

More details about AAPrIL can be found on its website.  Any enquiries can be made to AAPrIL’s Secretary, Professor Reid Mortensen: reid.mortensen@unisq.edu.au.