Speaker: David Heilpern
About: The drug laws are not being applied in an even handed manner – nothing new in that. However, as the authorities strike back at every minor law reform, police discretion, legislative intention and enforcement bias are ever present and increasing. We can see this in everything from cannabis cautions, psychedelic assisted therapy and perhaps most telling in sentencing law.
People often ask me “why keep fighting for drug law reform when it is such a peripheral and recreational issue”? The answer is because it is not – it strikes at the heart of human rights, racism, classism and the environment. It is only by assessing the drug war in that context that it is clearly a crucial front in improving equity and fairness in our society.
Bio: David Heilpern was appointed as a Magistrate in 1998, and was at the time the youngest magistrate in Australia. He ‘retired’ in May 2020. He sat in the criminal, mining, family, industrial, coronial and children’s jurisdictions of the Local Court, and was the Senior Civil Magistrate for five years. During his time on the bench, David was the principal educator for new magistrates throughout Australia and the Pacific and made several important reported decisions on criminal, environmental and evidence law.
Prior to his appointment, David was a litigation lawyer on the North Coast where he co-founded the law school at Southern Cross University in 1992, subsequently teaching in a range of subjects including constitutional law, criminal law and procedure and contracts. At the time, it was the first non-metropolitan law school in Australia.
David maintained a litigation practice throughout this time, representing a wide range of defendants including high profile clients North East Forrest Alliance and Nimbin Hemp. During this time David graduated with a Masters in Law from SCU and was pronounced the Alumni of the Decade for the University in 2005.
David has authored or co-authored four published books, refereed journal articles on a range of legal and judicial topics, and is a prize-winning short story writer and poet. He regularly speaks at practical law conferences in Australia and internationally on advocacy, criminal law and courtcraft.
In August 2022, David was appointed as Dean of Law at SCU and his writing and research is now focussed on victim’s rights, drug law reform, aboriginal over-representation in the criminal justice system and environmental activism.
