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Allison Silink
Barrister, Level 22 Chambers, and Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law, University of Technology Sydney.
Allison Silink is a distinguished legal professional with a rich professional background in academia and legal practice.
She has served as an Associate Professor at UTS Faculty of Law, bringing her expertise and knowledge to the academic realm.
With a background as a Barrister at Law at Level 22 Chambers, Allison Silink has honed her legal skills and experience in the courtrooms.
Her contributions to legal education extend beyond UTS to also include roles as a Senior Lecturer at UNSW Faculty of Law and as a Senior Lecturer at UTS Faculty of Law.
Highlights
I’m happy to share that I have started a new position in 2024 as an Associate Professor in the UTS Faculty of Law. This builds on a very rewarding and enjoyable chapter of my academic career as a Senior Lecturer in the School of Private and Commercial Law at UNSW. I look forward to continuing to work with colleagues across private practice and academia in exploring current legal issues in private and commercial law.
Yesterday, 12 September 2023, the Crimes Amendment (Corrupt Benefits for Trustees) Bill 2023 [NSW] passed both houses of parliament without amendment. It will now be presented for assent by the Governor of New South Wales, Her Excellency the Hon Margaret Beazley AC KC.
Section 2 of the Bill provides that the Act will commence upon assent. The Act will replace s 249E of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) with a new offence which requires that the relevant conduct is engaged in “corruptly”. It will also have retrospective effect so that any relevant conduct engaged in before the commencement of the Act, which might have fallen within the scope of s 249E prior to its replacement, will not constitute an offence unless it was engaged in corruptly.
Whilst this is welcome reform in New South Wales, the counterpart trustee offences under s 180 of the Crimes Act 1958 (Vic), s 442F of the Criminal Code 1899 (Qld) and s 535 of the Criminal Code Act Compilation Act 1913 (WA) (which are in substantially identical form) still lack a requirement that the conduct was engaged in corruptly.
On 4 September at the Annual Conference of the Banking and Financial Services Law Association in Queenstown, I presented a session together with Associate Professor Scott Donald on the risks that remain for trustees in these states. In Diversa Trustees Limited in its capacity as Trustee for the Future Super Fund [2023] VSC 279 in the Supreme Court of Victoria, Delany J followed Stevenson J’s reasons in Application of MLC Investment Limited [2022] NSWSC 1541 to find that the mens rea of s 180 of the Crimes Act 1958 (Vic) is simply the specific intent to offer, give, receive or solicit any valuable consideration as an inducement or reward for appointing or authorising any person to be appointed as trustee, and does not require a corrupt purpose. Accordingly, significant risks remain for trustees operating across these jurisdictions.
