Ben Clarke Senior Lecturer LLB ( Tasmania), LL M ( Bristol) Email: bclarke@nd.edu.au
Phone: 9433 0951
Ben teaches Criminal Law, Public International and Comparative Law, Environmental Law and Human Rights Law. He has published journal articles in a range of areas of law including public international law, Human Rights Law, Terrorism, Law & Religion, criminal law, confiscation law and the law of armed conflict, and monographs on International Law and Terrorism. He is chair of the School of Law Research Committee. Prior to his appointment at Notre Dame in 2001, Ben practised as a criminal defence lawyer for six years, he is a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Courts of Western Australia and the Australian Capital Territory, a Practitioner of the High Court of Australia, Solicitor of the Supreme Courts of Queensland and New South Wales, and a Barrister of the Supreme Court of Tasmania. Ben is a committee member of the WA Red Cross International Humanitarian Law Unit and is a member of the WA Criminal Lawyers Association. He is currently writing a PhD thesis entitled: Occupation, Resistance & Jus ad Bellum. It examines the right of national self-defence during foreign occupation and whether the UN Security Council has the authority to override this right.
Tharpuntoo Legal Service Aboriginal Corporation, Queensland
Solicitor (Criminal Law)
1995
Legal Aid Commission,
Western Australia
Legal Officer (Immigration)
1993 - 1994
Mark Balfour & Associates, Western Australia
Articled Clerk
Education
LLB Tasmania, 1990
LLM Bristol, 1992
Practise Management Certificate, Queensland Law Society, 1999
Teaching
Current
Criminal Law (Procedure)
Criminal Law (Defences)
Environmental Law
Human Rights Law
Public International and Comparative Law
Previous
Law of Torts
Law and Social Justice
Supervision & Examination
Honours
LLM
PhD
Other Responsibilities
Chair, School of Law Research Committee, 2006 - Present
Coach, School of Law Moot Team, Red Cross International Humanitarian Law Moot, 2006
Secretary, Western Australian Branch of the International Commission of Jurists, 2002-2003
Vice-President, Western Australian Red Cross International Humanitarian Law Committee, 2003
Committee member, Western Australian Criminal Lawyers Association, 2001-2003
Current research
PhD Thesis: Occupation, Resistance and Jus ad Bellum:An Appraisal of the Legality of Armed Resistance to Coalition Occupation of Iraq (2003-2004) (University of Melbourne) (Submission Date: March 2008).
Conference paper: Freedom of Religion and the Punishment of Apostasy: The Challenge of Harmonizing State Practice and Universal Human Rights Norms (Conference: Terrorism in the Digital Age, July 2008, Jordan).
International Law (Nutshell) 2nd ed (Thompson)
Publications
Monographs
Clarke, B. International Law (LBC Nutshell Series) 2003.
Clarke, B. Imre, R, Mooney, B. Responding to Terrorism: Legal, Philosophical and Political Perspectives (Ashgate 4/2008).
Clarke, B. & Maogoto, J. International Law (Thomson Reuters, 2009, manuscript accepted for publication and in production).
Articles
Ben Clarke, ‘Freedom of Speech and Criticism of Religion: What are the Limits?’(2007)14 eLaw Journal, 94.
Ben Clarke,. ‘The juridical status of civilian resistance to foreign occupation under the law of nations and contemporary international law’ (2005) 7 University of Notre Dame Australia Law Review 1.
Ben Clarke,‘A Man’s Home is his castle - or is it? How to take peoples’ homes without convicting them of anything: the Criminal property Confiscation Act 2000 WA’ (2004) 28 Criminal Law Journal 263.
Ben Clarke, ‘An Ethics Survey of Australian Criminal Law Practitioners’ (2003) 27 Criminal Law Journal 142.
Ben Clarke,‘Confiscation of ‘Unexplained Wealth’: Western Australia’s Response to Organised Crime Gangs’, (2002) 15 South African Journal of Criminal Justice 61-87.
Effective Counter-Terrorism Policy: A Human Rights Based Approach’ Tafila Technical University International Conference on Human Development and Security in a Changing World, Jordan 10-12 July 2007)
"Freedom of Religion and the Punishment of Apostasy: Recent State Practice in Islamic Democracies " (Conference: Terrorism in the Digital Age, July 2008, Jordan)
‘Normative Conflict in Occupied Iraq: Reconciling Jus Cogens and Chapter VII Mandates of the Security Council in Territory Occupied through the Unlawful Use of Force ’ (Conference paper: International Conference on Security Democracy and Human Rights, Mut’ah University, Jordan, July 2006.)
‘Legal Obstacles to the Establishment of an International Tribunal for the East Timor’ Justice for East Timor International Conference, Memorial Hall, Dili, East Timor 23 September 2004
‘The Concept of International Commission of Experts’ Justice for East Timor International Conference, Memorial Hall, Dili, East Timor 24 September 2004
‘Ethical Dilemmas: Hypothetical for Criminal Lawyers’ Criminal Lawyers Association of the Northern Territory, 8th Biennial Conference , B ali, 23 - 29 June 2001
Other Conference Papers
‘Law, Religious Crime and Extremism: A Human Rights Based Approach to Curbing Religious Violence in Islamic States and Societies’, Research Unit for the Study of Society, Law and ReligionRoundtable Workshop, 13 November 2008, University of Adelaide.
Publications in Professional Journals
‘The Defence of Duress: Telephone Threats and ‘Telescopic Targets’’, Brief (Journal of the Law Society of Western Australia) Vol. 29 No. 4 May 2002.
‘Queensland's First Drug Court?’ Proctor, (Journal of the Queensland Law Society) Issue 11 Vol. 19 December 1999.
‘WA Confiscation law – 16 th Century Justice?’ The Western Australian Juridicial Quarterly No. 16 September 2003 p10
‘The Writ of Habeus Corpus and the US Supreme Court: The plight of Hicks and Habib’ The Western Australian Juridicial Quarterly No. 16 September 2003 p8
‘International Humanitarian Law’ Brief (Journal of the Law Society of Western Australia) June 2003
Memberships and Affiliations
Member, American Society of International Law
Member, Australian and New Zealand Society of International Law
Member, International Commission of Jurists ( Western Australian Branch)
Committee Member, Red Cross International Humanitarian Law (Western Australia)
Member, Western Australian Criminal Lawyers Association
Member, Research Unit for the Study of Society, Law and Religion (University of Adelaide)
Member, Centre for Muslim States and Societies (University of Western Australia)
Other Publications
Clarke, B. ‘The trial of Saddam Hussein – triumph or tragedy for international law?’ (2006) 19 Quasimodo 20-21.
Consultancy Reports
McCormack, T.L.H. and Ben Clarke, ‘Aspects of the Jurisdiction Ratione Materiae of the Military Commission for the Proposed Trial of David Hicks’, filed as an Expert Opinion in the Motions Phase of Proceedings Against David Hicks, Guantanamo Bay, November 2004, pp. 1-5
Expert Evidence
Testimony & Submission to Joint Parliamentary Committee on Treaties
Inquiry into the 1998 Statute for an International Criminal Court Joint Standing Committee on treaties. (Report 45 JSCT The Statute of the International Criminal Court 2001.)
