Qualifications 

Bachelor of Economics - Monash University 

Bachelor of Laws - Monash University 

Masters of Laws - Monash University 

Dr Lockie is an internationally recognised authority in carbon market integrity. Damien
practices as a barrister and mediator at the Victorian Bar. His areas of expertise
include clean energy and revenue laws, property planning and environment laws and
administrative law. Damien is the author of Clean Energy Law in Australia (LexisNexis,
2012), and the general editor of Inhouse Counsel (LexisNexis). 

Damien is an Adjunct Professor of Law and the Director of Clean Energy Research in the
Centre for Law, Governance and Public Policy at Bond University. Damien’s most recent
courses include Clean Energy Law and Environmental Legal Issues. He is also a visiting
lecturer in climate law, emissions trading and environment laws at the University of
Witwatersrand and the University of Melbourne. 

Damien received the Bond University Faculty of Law 2010 Research Student of the Year
award. His PhD thesis is titled Closing Pandora’s Box: A case for carbon market integrity
after the global financial crisis: conditioning ownership of the right to emit greenhouse
gases in an Australian emissions trading scheme. 

Dual qualified in law and accounting, Damien is formally a partner in the leading legal
and accounting firms of Ernst & Young, Baker & McKenzie and Freehills. Damien is
admitted to legal practice in the High Court of Australia, Federal Court, Victoria, New
South Wales, Queensland, and Western Australia. 

Damien is an authority on the legal implications of and issues arising from emissions
trading and carbon pricing, and he is one of Australia’s leading experts in clean energy
law. At the bar, Damien’s specialities include: 

• registration and reporting under the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act 2007;
• liability and technical issues under the Clean Energy Act 2011; • assistance under the
Jobs and Competitiveness Program; • reporting, disclosure and carbon neutral claims; and
• contracts and administrative reviews, greenhouse and energy audits and disputes. 

Damien has been involved in Commonwealth Government consultations on the introduction of
a carbon price, including the specific design details of an Australian emissions trading
scheme. 

Over the course of his 25 year practicing career, Damien built expertise in revenue law,
with a focus on income tax and state taxes. He has expertise in the revenue law
implications of: 

• corporate business planning and transactions; • international and domestic business
restructures, mergers and acquisitions; • complex financial and derivatives arrangements;
• government privatisations and infrastructure transactions. 

Damien is a Nationally Accredited Mediator. His litigation and dispute resolution
services include: 

• litigating on behalf of clients in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal,
Supreme Court and Appeal Court of Victoria, Administrative Appeals Tribunal, Federal
Court of Australia and High Court of Australia; • acting as a mediator; and • negotiating
in (environmental and revenue) audits and disputes. 

Damien is Chartered Tax Advisor. He is a Life Member and member of the Climate Change
Committee of the Taxation Institute, a member of the Climate Law Working Group of the Law
Council of Australia. He is a member of the International Bar Association and the
American Bar Association. Damien is a Fellow of Leadership Victoria and a reserve officer
in the Royal Australian Air Force.

Articles

A new determination of an interest in a superannuation fund, The tax specialist (2009)

New provisions introduced into the Superannuation (Unclaimed Monies and Lost Members) Act 1999 (Cth) (SUMLMA)...

 

PDF

A citizen's guide to Australia's carbon pollution reduction scheme: Understanding the legal framework for our carbon constrained future, The National Legal Eagle (2009)

Extract:

One of the most important and hopefully widely debated of all Government legislation...

 

PDF

Because Parliament Can (with Jim Corkery and Anthea Gerrard), Revenue Law Journal (2008)

Comment on the drafting of arbitrary taxation and the large variety of taxes levied in...

 

Theses

PDF

Closing Pandora's Box : a Case for Carbon Market Integrity after the Global Financial Crisis : Conditioning Ownership of the Right to Emit Greenhouse Gases in an Australian Emissions Trading Scheme, Theses (2011)

This thesis argues the credibility of an Australia ETS depends on design rules that create...