Mark Hanna Lawyers

16/09/2026

Judging and speaking at the 21st LawAsia International Moot in Seoul. Always a pleasure to help develop better brighter lawyers for the future.

19/03/2026

Very saddened by the death of one of Australia's finest legal minds and jurists. Sir Anthony was instrumental in some of the most significant High Court decisions such as:
* Mabo v Queensland (No 2) (1992): where the doctrine of terra nullius (land belonging to no one) was overturned and native title for Indigenous Australians recognised for the first time.
* Church of the New Faith v Commissioner of Pay-roll Tax (Vic) (1983), Sir Anthony Mason (then Acting Chief Justice) co-authored the leading judgement that established the legal definition of religion in Australia and unanimously recognised Scientolology as a religion.
* Australian Capital Television v Commonwealth (1992): Established the existence of an implied freedom of political communication within the Australian Constitution, striking down laws that restricted political advertising.
* Church of the New Faith v Commissioner of Pay-roll Tax (Vic) (1983), Sir Anthony Mason (then Acting Chief Justice) co-authored the leading judgement that established the legal definition of religion in Australia and unanimously recognised Scientolology as a religion.
* Commonwealth v Tasmania (The Tasmanian Dam Case) (1983): Mason's majority judgement broadly interpreted the Commonwealth's external affairs power, allowing the federal government to stop the construction of the Franklin river dam and secured the protection of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage.
* For contract law fans, Waltons Stores (Interstate) Ltd v Maher (1988): is a foundational case in contract law that expanded the doctrine of promissory estoppel, preventing parties from backing out of "handshake" agreements if the other party relied on them to their detriment.
* Dietrich v The Queen (1992): Ruled that an accused person is entitled to publicly funded legal representation in serious criminal trials to ensure a fair trial.

10/02/2025

Pleased to announce that in addition to my position as a tribunal member at ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal and Principal at Mark Hanna Lawyers, the NSW Attorney General has just appointed me as a Tribunal Member at NCAT.

25/07/2024

Recently, this firm managed to get a child that had been effectively abducted to China not just returned to Australia to the care of his mother but measures put firmly in place to prevent it happening again.

The joy this created for this family is measureless.

12/03/2024

In a world where approximately half of all marriages end in divorce, this story of a 100 year old veteran's marriage stands as a beautiful counterpoint.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-03-12/us-world-war-ii-veteran-to-get-married-near-d-day-beaches/103576070



It was his daughter Joanne Schoscheim who introduced her to her now fiancee in 2021.

"She gave my dad such joy," Joanne said of Jeanne. "I didn’t want her to be lonely."

But it wasn't love at first sight.
Love at second sight

After Thelma's death, Harold wasn't interested in other women and barely noticed Jeanne.

"I didn’t even look at her. I didn't even talk to her," he said.

"I looked at him. He looked at me," Jeanne said, but "it was like nothing".

Even so, Harold's buddy Stanley Eisenberg took them to dinner the next night. He wanted to see who his friend had dismissed.

It was love at second sight.

"I had never seen him lit up like that," Stanley said.

Harold couldn't talk or eat, and that's not like him.

"I said, 'You're in love,'" Stanley said. "He said, 'I don't know. I've never had these feelings before.'"
World War II veteran Harold Terens, 100, right, and Jeanne Swerlin, 96 snuggle on the couch during an interview
The couple kiss, dance and hold hands like high school sweethearts. (AP Photo: Wilfredo Lee)

fter that date, Jeanne said Harold "didn't give me a chance" to turn him down. At 94, she also was in love.

"She got hysterical" with delight, he said.

"I thought I'd have to help him up, but he's so macho," she said.

The couple and their families will head to Paris in late May, where Harold and a handful of surviving World War II veterans will be honoured. Of the 16 million American World War II veterans, only 120,000 remain, the government says.

It will be Harold's fourth D-Day celebration in France. He received a medal from President Emmanuel Macron five years ago.

The families then will travel to the town of Carentan-les-Marais, where the couple plan to be married on June 8 by Mayor Jean-Pierre Lhonneur in a chapel built in the 1600s.

The mayor said because of the American sacrifice on D-Day, more US flags fly in the area than French.

"Normandy is the 51st state," he said.

He explained legally he is only allowed to marry town residents, but he thinks the local prosecutor will let him make an exception.

"It will be a pleasure for us," the mayor said.

AP

Harold Terens and his fiancee Jeanne Swerlin might be in their 100s and 90s but the couple kiss and hold hands like high school sweethearts.

26/11/2023

Judging at the 18th Annual LAWASIA moot in Bangalore India. This round, universities from Vietnam and India.

30/11/2022

Just a reminder to all company directors in Australia. Company Directors had until November 30 to apply for a new unique 15-digit Director ID identifier, with fines for board members, registered Australian charity organisations and foreign companies that failed to sign up to the anti-fraud system.

Whilst this has now been extended to 14 December, the process can be a little time consuming so if you have not yet started, get onto it immediately.

08/11/2022

My budgie has really taken to his new career in law...

01/09/2022

Brave and overdue words.
Violence is violence no matter where, black or white, male or female.

Justice Judith Kelly uses speech on Indigenous domestic violence to claim there’s a ‘culture in some communities that tolerates violence against women’