Our expertise

Dominic Beckett Legal & Consulting has broad legal and policy expertise, with particular experience in relation to native title and Aboriginal land rights, environment and heritage, land use and development, organisations and governance, administrative law and community development projects.

Please contact us to discuss how we may be able to help.

Native title & Aboriginal land rights

We have many years of experience, and are recognised experts, in advising and acting in relation to Aboriginal land rights and native title.

We have worked in these areas in each mainland State and the Northern Territory, conducting claims and proceedings, providing legal, policy and strategic advice and negotiating agreements. We have made significant contributions to the development of law and policy, including extensive involvement in several reviews of the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983 (NSW).

DBLC provides advice, assistance and representation in relation to:

native title claimant and non-claimant applications in the Federal Court
statutory Aboriginal land claims and land claim appeals
the complex legal and policy interface between native title and statutory land rights schemes
the operations and statutory functions of Aboriginal Land Councils, native title representative bodies and prescribed bodies corporate
native title “future act” negotiations, including mining and resources negotiations,
Aboriginal land agreements and Indigenous land use agreements
strategic planning, including community, land and business plans
the management, use and development of Aboriginal land (including approvals under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983 (NSW)), and
community and economic development projects and benefits schemes.

Dominic is a panel member of the Federal Court's Native Title External Mediator Panel List.

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Land, heritage and environment

We have extensive experience providing advice and assistance in relation to a broad range of matters concerning land and resource use, heritage and environmental protection and environmental planning and assessment.

The sorts of projects we have been involved in and that we work on include:

national park and protected area management, including Indigenous joint-management arrangements
biodiversity stewardship and other forms of voluntary conservation agreement
management of contaminated land
protection of Aboriginal cultural heritage
environmental planning issues
development assessment and consent
easements, and
land access and use arrangements.

DBLC capability in these areas is further augmented by our alliance with well respected environment and planning law firm Bick & Steele.

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Organisations & governance

Sound organisational structuring and governance are crucial to the success of businesses, not-for-profit organisations and community initiatives alike.

We have considerable experience and expertise advising commercial and not-for-profit entities on corporate establishment, structuring and governance arrangements.

We provide advice and assistance in relation to:

corporate structuring
establishment and registration
strategy development and strategic planning
effective organisational governance, and
risk management and compliance.

Dominic holds a Graduate Diploma in Applied Corporate Governance and Risk Management and is a Fellow of the Governance Institute of Australia.

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Administrative law & regulation

We have extensive experience in matters involving public administration, official decisions and actions, and regulation.

A significant number of present and former clients (and past employers) are or have been statutory corporations, independent regulators and government agencies.

DBLC provides advice and other services in relation to:

judicial review proceedings
merit review appeals
complaints and investigations
statutory compliance
policy development
public inquiries and hearings
access to government information
organisational reviews.

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Policy development & law reform

We have particular skills and experience in relation to policy development and law reform projects. Our thorough grasp of the context of our work, together with clear thinking and writing skills, have made us effective and highly valued in this type of work.

We have provided law reform and policy development advice to bodies including government agencies, statutory Aboriginal Land Councils and independent regulators. We have made particularly significant contributions to several reviews of the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983 (NSW).

We are passionate about helping to develop sound and useful policy and legal regimes. This is a significant focus of our work for statutory bodies.

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Communities & development

For Indigenous communities and groups, maximising economic and community development outcomes is usually a vitally important purpose of land use and other commercial projects.

Designing and planning for the delivery of sound economic and community development programs is often crucial to the ultimate success of income generating activities such as land use and development projects.

We have extensive experience providing advice and assistance in relation to a wide range of economic and community development projects.

We have advised on projects such as:

home ownership programs
employment, training and procurement
scholarships
social housing, and
cemeteries and crematoria.

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