1. Reforming Law Reform, p 29.

2. Ibid, p 30.

3. Ibid, p 259.

4. Ibid.

5. Ibid, p 58.

6. Ibid. The chapter concerns the Hong Kong Law Reform Commission, of which Stoker was a former Secretary.

7. Ibid.

8. Ibid, p 59.

9. Ibid, p 87.

10. Ibid, p 46. Wong was former Secretary for Justice in Hong Kong and, in that capacity, also Chairman of the Hong Kong Law Reform Commission.

11. Ibid, p 58.

12. Ibid, p 70.

13. Ibid.

14. Ibid, p 71.

15. Ibid.

16. Ibid: Dr Stephen Cretney and Brenda Hoggett (now Lady Hale).

17. Ibid, p 88.

18. Ibid, pp 88–89.

19. Ibid, p 90.

20. Ibid.

21. Ibid, p 92.

22. Ibid, ch 6.

23. Ibid, p 27.

24. He also sees it as ‘coming into fashion again’ in Australia: ibid, p 28.

25. Ibid, pp 46–47.

26. Ibid, p 47.

27. Ibid, p 46.

28. Ibid, p 72.

29. Ibid, p 73.

30. Ibid, p 59.

31. Ibid, p 128.

32. There are other disadvantages that relate to the way in which the research output of a law reform body is evaluated in university research assessment models, which are extremely relevant to issues of funding: ibid, p 129.

33. Ibid, p 130. ‘Cosmetic tokenism’ is a phrase used by Kirby in ch 2, p 30.

34. Ibid, p 84.

35. Ibid, p 99.

36. Ibid.

37. Ibid, p 80.

38. Ibid.

39. Ibid, p 84.

40. Ibid, p 103.

41. Ibid, p 104. M Neave ‘The ethics of law reform’ (11 August 2004). At the time, Professor Neave was the Chair of the Victorian Law Reform Commission. In 2006, she was appointed as a Judge of Appeal, Court of Appeal, Supreme Court of Victoria.

42. Reforming Law Reform, p 104.

43. Ibid, pp 104–105.

44. Ibid, p 127.

45. Ibid, p 260.

46. Ibid, p 84.

47. Ibid, p 103.

48. Ibid, p 87.

49. Ibid, p 111.

50. Ibid, p 107.

51. Ibid, p 263.

52. Ibid, p 107.

53. Law Commission Act 2009 (UK) and see Protocol between the Lord Chancellor (on behalf of the Government) and the Law Commission (Law Com No 321, 29 March 2010, HC 499), available at http://lawcommission.justice.gov.uk/docs/Protocol_Lord_Chancellor_and_Law_Commission.pdf/, at [1] (‘Protocol’; accessed 26 June 2014). The protocol came into force on 29 March 2010.

54. Protocol, at [5]–[9].

55. Ibid, at [11], [12].

56. Ibid, at [13].

57. Ibid, at [18].

58. Ibid, at [19].

59. Ibid, at [21].

60. Law Commissions Act 1965 (UK) s 3A. At the time of publication, there were four such reports, available at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/implementation-of-the-law-commission-proposals (accessed 26 June 2014).

61. Reforming Law Reform, p 81.

62. Ibid, p 109.

63. Ibid.

64. Ibid, p 82.

65. Ibid.

66. Ibid, p 124. Warner refers to OpeskinBr ‘Measuring success’ in OpeskinBr and WeisbrotDr (eds) The Promise of Law Reform (Sydney: Federation Press, 2005) pp 202, 216.

67. Reforming Law Reform, p 64.

68. Ibid, p 264.

69. Ibid, pp 264, 265.

70. Ibid, p 265.

71. Ibid, p 110.

72. Ibid, p 125.

73. Law Commissions Act, above n 60.

74. These are included as an appendix to Reforming Law Reform, ch 3, pp 49–50.

75. Ibid, p 65.

76. Ibid, p 85.

77. Ibid.

78. Ibid, p 106.

79. Ibid, p 6.

80. Munby Lj ‘Shaping the law – the Law Commission at the crossroads’, the Denning Lecture for 2011 (29 November 2011). Lord Justice Munby was then Chairman of the Law Commission.

81. The present legislation is the Australian Law Reform Commission Act 1996 (Cth).

82. The report is on the Australian Parliamentary website, available at http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Legal_and_Constitutional_Affairs/Completed%20inquiries/2010-13/lawreformcommission/report/~/media/wopapub/senate/committee/legcon_ctte/completed_inquiries/2010-13/law_reform_commission/report/report.ashx (accessed 26 June 2014).

83. Reforming Law Reform, p 36.

84. The opening remarks are included in the transcript of the hearing on 11 February 2011 (at 49) and on the ALRC website, available at http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Legal_and_Constitutional_Affairs/Completed%20inquiries/2010-13/lawreformcommission/hearings/~/media/wopapub/senate/committee/legcon_ctte/completed_inquiries/2010-13/law_reform_commission/hearings/110211.ashx (accessed 26 June 2014).

85. And in the ‘we’, I include myself and the Executive Director of the ALRC, Ms Sabina Wynn.

86. The Federal Court of Australia's submission to the Senate's inquiry into the Australia (sic) Law Reform Commission (2 February 2011) at 1. The submission is included as number 22 in the online records of the Senate Committee, available at http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Legal_and_Constitutional_Affairs/Completed%20inquiries/2010-13/lawreformcommission/submissions (accessed 26 June 2014).

87. Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee Inquiry into the Australian Law Reform Commission (8 April 2011), at 6.26.

88. The Response was tabled on 8 July 2011.

89. Available at http://www.finance.gov.au/sites/default/files/strategic_review_ag.pdf (accessed 26 June 2014).

90. Reforming Law Reform, pp 38–39.

91. Ibid, p 37.

92. Ibid.

93. The estimation was based on hourly rates, extrapolated from those advised to the ALRC by certain participants, and included both expenditure for appearances at the meeting itself and a small allowance for time to prepare and comment outside the meeting time. Travel time for inter-state participants has been excluded.

94. Wong Yan Lung identifies this as an important aspect of the functioning of the HKLRC, in which the members of the Commission and its sub-committee members are volunteers. He refers to the importance of wider pro bono support: ‘we are indeed fortunate to have strong goodwill and support from the legal fraternity and those in other sectors who are ready to contribute their expertise and time for the public good’: Reforming Law Reform, p 46.

95. See above n 89, at 124, para 10.14 (b).

96. Munby, above n 80, at 6.

97. Ibid, at 6.

98. Due to a desire for the inquiries to commence quickly, the appointments were not made through an advertised selection process. While advertised processes create transparency – something that Martin Partington identifies as a good thing (Reforming Law Reform, p 70) – the process necessarily needs to be different where standing full-time Commissioners are not the norm and inquiries are to start as soon as possible.

99. Reforming Law Reform, p 37.

100. Available at http://www.alrc.gov.au/news-media?inquiry-tid=All&topic=All&type=277&year=All (accessed 26 June 2014).

101. Kirby Md Reform the Law – Essays on the Renewal of the Australian Legal System (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1983), p 19.

102. Reforming Law Reform, p 101, re the Law Commission of Ontario. Warner notes the use of interactive social media by some law reform bodies and that developments in online media ‘present creative and intensive ways for the consultation process to be carried out’, but suggests ‘they can be beyond the reach of the small under-resourced agencies’: ibid, p 127.

103. JamesN Writing at Work: How to Write Clearly, Effectively and Professionally (Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin, 2007) p 52.

104. The ALRC considers that a report is substantially implemented when the majority of the report's key recommendations have been implemented by those to whom the recommendations are directed. Partial implementation refers to implementation of at least some recommendations of an ALRC report.

105. Federal Court of Australia, above n 86, at 1–2.

106. When I was working on my PhD, I found the reports of the UK Real Property Commissioners of the 1830s just the most wonderful resource. Each law reform commission report not only reviews the past, but it also maps the present.

107. Munby, above n 80, at 19–20.