University of Tasmania, Australia

Ms Phillipa McCormack

PhD Candidate

BA/LLB (Hons)

Contact Details

After graduating from UTAS in 2007, Phillipa worked in Melbourne as an articled clerk and then solicitor in the Government and Environment group at international law firm Blake Dawson (now Ashurst Australia). She was admitted to practice in 2009 as a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of Victoria and the High Court of Australia.  In 2010 she took a position as senior associate to the Hon. Justice Lex Lasry at the Supreme Court of Victoria.  While in Melbourne, Phillipa held the positions of Assistant-Secretary of the Victorian Chapter of the International Commission of Jurists; and Co-Chair of the Green Practice Project with the Law Institute of Victoria.  Phillipa commenced her PhD candidature at UTAS in February 2013.

PhD Topic

'Do Australia’s legal frameworks for biodiversity conservation and natural resource management facilitate or hinder adaptation to climate change?'

This thesis examines the regulatory framework for biodiversity conservation and natural resource management in Australia, in the context of significant historical biodiversity decline and potentially catastrophic impacts as a result of projected climate change. The thesis proposes that legal frameworks should operate to enable and enhance biodiversity adaptation and, themselves, be adaptive to change. Given the threat to biodiversity from climate change and the clear resulting conservation imperative, this thesis argues that, at the very least, legal frameworks should not hinder adaptation to climate change.

Supervisors

• Prof. Jan McDonald (Faculty of Law, UTAS)
• Dr Michael Lockwood (School of Geography and Environmental Studies, UTAS)
  
• Ms Louise Gilfedder (DPIPWE, Tasmanian Government)
  

Conference Presentation

Presentation at the National NCCARF Conference in Sydney from 24-27 June 2013.