Principal – Mark Fowler

Mark Fowler’s specialist areas of advice include the law applying to schools, international aid organisations, retirement villages, aged care facilities and religious organisations. Mark also has a breadth of experience in property and commercial law, with a particular focus on the affordable, community and social housing sectors. Mark has advised many leading national and international charities across these fields.

Prior to establishing Fowler Charity Law Pty Ltd in 2019, Mark was a Partner in leading national charity and not-for-profit law firms located in Sydney and Brisbane. He is an Appeals Panel member for the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID), the peak body for Australian non-government organisations (NGOs) involved in international development and humanitarian action. He is a member of the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission Professional Users Group and has served as a member of the Queensland Law Society’s Human Rights Working Group. Mark is also an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Notre Dame, School of Law, Sydney, and an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Law School at his alma mater, the University of New England. He is also a Research Scholar at the Centre for Public, International and Comparative Law, University of Queensland.

Research publications

• Fowler, Mark,‘Can a Faith-Based Public Benevolent Institution Have a Purpose of “Advancing Religion”?’ (2023) 1 Third Sector Review 65.
• Fowler, Mark ‘The Position of Religious Schools Under International Human Rights Law’ (2023) 2 The Australian Journal of Law and Religion 36.
• Fowler, Mark ‘Judicial Apprehension of Religious Belief under the Commonwealth Religious Discrimination Bill’, in Michael Quinlan and A. Keith Thompson (eds) Inclusion, Exclusion and Religious Freedom in Contemporary Australia, (Shepherd Street Press, 2021).
• Fowler, Mark ‘Attaining to Certainty: Does the Expert Panel’s Proposal for Reform of the Charities Act Sufficiently Protect Religious Charities?’ (2020) 2 Third Sector Review.
• Fowler, Mark, ‘Identifying Faith-Based Entities for the Purpose of Anti-Discrimination Law’ in Neville G. Rochow and Brett G. Scharffs Paul T. Babie (eds), Freedom of Religion or Belief: Creating the Constitutional Space for Fundamental Freedoms (Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, 2020)
• Fowler, Mark ‘The Courts and the Marriage Debate’ Upholding the Australian Constitution, Proceedings of the Samuel Griffith Society August (Volume 27) (2017)
• Fowler, Mark ‘Charitable Housing – Update and Future Trends’ in Myles McGregor-Lowndes (ed) The Australian Nonprofit Sector Legal and Accounting Almanac 2014, Working Paper No. ACPNS 64, (The Australian Centre for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies, Queensland University of Technology Prints, 2015)
• Fowler, Mark ‘National Rental Affordability Scheme’ in Myles McGregor-Lowndes (ed), The Australian Nonprofit Sector Legal Almanac 2009, Working Paper No. CPNS 49, (The Australian Centre for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies, Queensland University of Technology, 2010)

Legal Executive Assistant- Aaron Alexander

Aaron Alexander is a Legal Executive Assistant who is in his final year of his Bachelor of Law. He has previously worked in compliance and investigations and has also volunteered in non-profit community legal centres. He brings a diligent and thorough approach and greatly enjoys using his research skills to assist others.

Legal Executive Assistant – Simaima Gordon

Simaima Gordon is a Legal Executive Assistant currently undertaking her Bachelor of Laws and Business Management degree. She has experience in various domestic and international mooting competitions, and also volunteers as a coordinator in the Australian Law Students Association and UQ International Law Society.