Alan Millhouse

Background

Millhouse's documented career developed in Queensland, where he studied at the University of Queensland before entering legal practice in Brisbane. The university was established by a 1909 act of the state parliament and formally founded in April 1910, making it the first university in Queensland.

The idea of a university in Queensland predates the institution by several decades. Proposals began in the 1870s, and a royal commission in 1891 recommended a new university with five faculties, including Law.

Education

Millhouse completed a Bachelor of Commerce and a Bachelor of Laws with Honours at the University of Queensland. In its early years the university created its first teaching faculties in 1910, and its supporters had emphasised the practical value of university study for Queensland's commerce.

He also completed a Master of Laws at the University of London, a federal university in England.

He was admitted to the Queensland bar in 1977, a step that marked his formal entry into legal practice in the state.

Career

Millhouse's professional career was centred on Brisbane. He became a partner of Feez Ruthning, a Brisbane firm dating back to the nineteenth century. In July 1987 Feez Ruthning joined the Australian Legal Group, an alliance that also included Allen Allen & Hemsley, a Sydney practice whose predecessor was founded in 1822 by George Allen. Feez Ruthning merged with Allen Allen & Hemsley in 1996.

Arthur Robinson & Hedderwicks, a Melbourne firm formed in 1984 from Arthur Robinson & Co. and Hedderwick Fookes & Alston, merged with Allen Allen & Hemsley on 1 July 2001 to create Allens Arthur Robinson, which later became one of the largest law firms in the Asia Pacific region. Millhouse remained a partner of Allens Arthur Robinson for about thirty years, retiring in 2009. He continued afterwards as a consultant to the firm.

Millhouse worked in finance, commercial and infrastructure law. He became significantly involved in numerous major infrastructure projects in Australia during the two decades before 2011, and he was a key legal adviser to the State of Queensland for many years. He also advised other Australian and Asian governments on a range of issues.

He has written and published extensively on foreign investment, infrastructure and joint ventures law. By 2011 he was also a director of SunWater Limited and Queensland Motorways Limited.

He served as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Queensland's TC Beirne School of Law for two decades, lecturing on foreign investment law, joint ventures law, project financing, infrastructure law and water law.

Achievements

• Conceived the Law Scholarship Endowment Appeal in 2004 as a fundraising initiative through which members of the legal profession could support academically meritorious but financially disadvantaged students studying law at the University of Queensland.

Works

• article

  • PPP Lessons to be Learnt - Cubic Transportation System Inc v State of New South Wales & 2 Ors

    (Co-authored with Clare Lennox and published in the Austra...)

    2003

  • NSW Governments' New PPP Framework

    (Co-authored with Kylie Weston-Scheuber and published in t...)

    2005

  • Partnerships Victoria - Should Queensland Embrace a Similar Model?

    (Article by Alan Millhouse in the Australian Construction ...)

    2001

Membership

Millhouse has held leadership roles in Australian infrastructure and banking law bodies. He was a past chair of the Infrastructure Association of Queensland and a past chair of the Banking and Financial Services Law Association of Australia, a professional association for lawyers practising in banking and financial services law. He was also previously an executive member of Infrastructure Partnerships Australia, an organisation concerned with infrastructure partnerships between government and the private sector.

His university involvement includes membership of the University of Queensland Law School Advisory Board and the Law Scholarship Selection Committee, which support the law school's strategic direction and the selection of scholarship recipients.

• Past chair

  Infrastructure Association of Queensland , Australia

• Past chair

  Banking and Financial Services Law Association of Australia , Australia

• Former executive member

  Infrastructure Partnerships Australia , Australia

• University of Queensland Law School Advisory Board , Australia

• University of Queensland Law Scholarship Selection Committee , Australia

References

• Citation - Mr Alan Millhouse The University of Queensland citation for his honorary Doctor of Laws, summarising his legal career, advisory work for Queensland, and contribution to the university.
  2011
• Alan Millhouse - Allens Professional profile describing his three decades as a partner of Allens and his retirement in 2009.