Rate My Professor Paul Akon

S. Paul Akon is a Lecturer in the School of Law at the University of New England, where he joined in 2006 and has since coordinated and lectured in key units such as LAW480: Remedies and Advanced Legal Skills (including moots), LAW157: Alternative Dispute Resolution, LAW336: Local Government Law, and LAW321: Conveyancing. Previously, he taught LAW398: The Local Court Internship Program, GSB749: The Law of Commercial Associations, LS281: Property Law, and tutored LS160: Criminal Law. He holds a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws from the University of Sydney, was admitted as a legal practitioner in 1971, and qualifies as a Senior Solicitor of the Supreme Court of New South Wales and an Associate Member of the Resolution Institute. Akon is a member of the Law Society of NSW and the Resolution Institute.

Akon brings over 50 years of experience as a certified legal practitioner, including 35 years in general legal practice across New South Wales with an emphasis on litigation in the Sydney CBD, suburban Sydney, and regional areas, spanning private and public sectors. His career includes early work as an articled clerk and commercial lawyer at Sly & Russell in Sydney, 21 years at the rural firm Palmer Maccallum and Akon in Forbes primarily in litigation, roles at NSW Police Legal Services managing the Special Projects Unit—earning him the distinction as the first civilian recipient of the NSW Police Commissioner’s citation for representing the Commissioner in the PIC Inquiry (Operation Malta)—a stint at the Department of Environment, and a six-month locum at the Aboriginal Legal Service in Tamworth. He successfully supervised an agricultural law PhD candidate on pleadings, practice, and procedure in the Land and Environment Court for a moot presided over and assessed by The Hon Keith Mason QC. Akon co-authored Alternative Dispute Resolution: A Custom Publication for the School of Law, University of New England (3rd edition, with Fiona Burns, published by LexisNexis). His research interests include designing a sound carbon trading register, mediation in the criminal law, and comparing legal aid funding policies for Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.