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 ‘The Position of Religious Schools Under International Human Rights Law’ (2023) The Australian Journal of Law and Religion (forthcoming)
• 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)

Lawyer – Elizabeth Linneman

Elizabeth (Liz) Linneman has a background in corporate and commercial law, having worked for the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (the corporate regulator), on secondment to a law firm based in Brisbane, and as an in-house counsel for an ASX 200 listed company. Elizabeth has had a long-running involvement in the not-for-profit sector, having worked in a non-legal capacity for a not-for profit organisation and having started her legal career as a paralegal in a specialist charity law firm. This assists her understanding the practical needs of clients in that sector and has given her an abiding interest in charity law.

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.