Dr Timothy McEvoy

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Fulbright Professional Scholarship in Australia-U.S. Alliance Studies sponsored by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

“There are currently no treaties, whether bilateral or multilateral, by which judgments of Australian courts can be easily enforced in the U.S. and judgments of U.S. courts can be easily enforced in Australia. The absence of formal arrangements for the mutual recognition and enforcement of judgments sits uncomfortably with the close political and economic relationship that exists between Australia and the U.S. It is time to take reform of this area of the law out of the too-hard basket.”

Dr Timothy McEvoy, a member of the Victorian Bar, will spend the Fall Semester of 2011 in the School of Law at the University of Virginia and at Georgetown University in Washington D.C. through one of two 2011 Fulbright Professional Scholarships in Australia-U.S. Alliance Studies sponsored by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. DFAT sponsored a second scholarship for 2011 as part of the celebrations for the 60th Anniversary of the Fulbright Program.

“There is increasing recognition that the absence of formal arrangements between Australia and the U.S. for the recognition and enforcement of judgments is a major impediment to the developing trade relationship between the two countries. By increasing the uncertainties associated with enforcing legal rights, the absence of formal judgment recognition and enforcement arrangements impacts adversely on investment decisions. It has a chilling effect on the expansion of trade relations and ultimately the economic growth and prosperity of both countries”, Dr McEvoy said.

“The Australia US Free Trade Agreement is alive to the problem which the absence of formal arrangements for the mutual recognition and enforcement of judgments represents. It expresses a bilateral commitment to exploring the possibility of greater mutual recognition and enforcement of judgments obtained by the regulatory authorities of both countries in consumer protection cases.”

Dr McEvoy’s research will assess the desire for greater mutual recognition and enforcement of judgments expressed in the AUSFTA, and consider the potential form of a bilateral treaty for the recognition and enforcement of judgments between Australia and the U.S. An important part of his research will be consultation with key US stakeholders on the desirability and possible structure of a judgments recognition and enforcement convention with Australia.

Dr McEvoy has an LL.B (Hons) and an LL.M from the University of Melbourne, together with a BA in politics and history. In 1999 he received an SJD (Doctor of Juridical Science) from the University of Virginia. From 1998 to 2001 he was a member of the Australian delegation of experts to the Special Commission of the Hague Conference on Private International Law which drafted a global jurisdiction and judgments convention. He has been a Visiting Professor in the School of Law at the University of Virginia annually since 2001, and is currently the Senior Tutor in Law at Ormond College in the University of Melbourne. He sits on the board of the Parenting Research Centre and is married to fellow 2011 Fulbright Scholar Elizabeth Maynard. They have two daughters.

The prestigious Fulbright program is the largest educational scholarship of its kind, created by U.S. Senator J. William Fulbright and the U.S. Government in 1946. Aimed at promoting mutual understanding through educational exchange, it operates between the U.S. and 155 countries. In Australia, the scholarships are funded by the Australian and U.S. Governments and corporate partners and administered by the Australian-American Fulbright Commission in Canberra.

Dr McEvoy is one of 26 talented Australians to be recognised as a Fulbright Scholar in 2011. Applications for Fulbright Scholarships in 2012 open on 1 June, visit www.fulbright.com.au

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