Pamela Hanrahan


Pamela Hanrahan is an Australian lawyer, author, and media commentator on corporate law and financial services regulation in Australia.

Education

Pamela Fay Hanrahan was born 24 May 1965 in Melbourne, Australia, and educated at Loreto Mandeville Hall and Presbyterian Ladies’ College Melbourne where she was a MacFarland Scholar in 1982. She attended the University of Melbourne and Case [Western Reserve University School of Law|CWRU Law School].

Career

Hanrahan began her legal career with Allens in 1989. In 2004, she was appointed as an associate professor of the Melbourne Law School. From 2008 to 2011, she served as a senior executive of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, including as ASIC Regional Commissioner for Queensland from 2010 to 2011. From 2013 to 2015 she was the Registrar of Community Housing for New South Wales. From 2015 to 2023, she was Professor of Commercial Law and Regulation in the UNSW Business School and in 2024 she was appointed an Emerita Professor of the University of New South Wales. In 2017 she was a member of the ASIC Enforcement Review Taskforce. In 2018 she was an adviser to the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and [Financial Services Industry#:~:text=The Royal Commission into Misconduct, Act 1902 to inquire into|Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry].
She was elected as a member of the executive of the of the Law Council of Australia#:~:text=The [Law Council of Australia, the legal profession in Australia.|Law Council of Australia] in 2017 and became Chair of the Business Law Section in 2023.
In May 2023, Hanrahan returned to private practice as a Consultant at Johnson Winter Slattery.

Publications

Hanrahan's books on Australian corporate law and financial services regulation include:
  • Securities and Financial Services Law  
  • Corporate Governance  
  • Managed Investments Law and Practice  
  • Funds Management in Australia: Officers’ Duties and Liabilities
  • Commercial Applications of Company Law  
  • Commercial Applications of Company Law in Malaysia
  • Commercial Applications of Company Law in New Zealand
  • Commercial Applications of Company Law in Singapore
  • ''Contemporary Issues in Corporate and Competition Law: Essays in Honour of Professor Robert Baxt AO''