You got a gong for WHAT??

My friend and colleague, Deputy Dean of Law at Bond University (Queensland, Australia) Professor Laurence Boulle has been appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia.

The official blurb says it is 'for service to the law, particularly in the fields of mediation, alternative dispute resolution and education, and as a contributor to legal publications.'

The unofficial version is that Laurence is a good bloke and has worked bloody hard in the Australasian mediation community for 3 decades - he has inspired many of us in New Zealand over the years despite the fact that he is a) South African b) but now really Australian, and c) both those countries have quite unfairly denied NZ two World Rugby Cups.

He has taught and worked at universities in Europe, Africa, North America and Australasia and his books on constitutional law, employment law, mediation and dispute resolution have been published in seven countries. Laurence served as Chair of the Federal Government's National Alternative Dispute Resolution Advisory Council from 1999 until 2003.

Here is what some of my Malaysian students thought of Laurence's book Mediation Skills and Techniques when I taught over there a while back;

Of the award, Laurence says "I was rather embarrassed actually, I wanted to find the nominator... however, it's a great recognition of the place of mediation in Australia's justice system today."