Dr Alan Davidson

Senior Lecturer

School of Law
Faculty of Business, Economics and Law
a.davidson@law.uq.edu.au
+61 7 336 52294

Overview

Dr Alan Davidson is a solicitor and barrister of the Supreme Court of New South Wales and of the High Court of Australia. He practiced law for more than a decade before moving into academia full time. He was engaged as an Assistant Professor at Bond University, lecturer at Queensland University of Technology including acting Head of School, and Associate Dean at James Cook University before commencing at the University of Queensland in 1997.

Since 2011 Dr Davidson has participated in UNCITRAL Working Group IV in Vienna and New York biannually, and in 2014 was invited to join its Panel of Experts to assist with the future directions of the Working Group.He is a Director and Fellow of UNCCA (UNCITRAL National Coordination Committee Australia) and is its Education Director arranging for students nationally to attend Working Group sessions (64 students to date). Dr Davidson's PhD is in the field of international banking law, specifically Letters of Credit Transactions. He is a Fellow of the Institute of International Banking Law and Practice and a member of the Asia Advisory Council and the Council of International Standby Practices of the Institute. He regularly speaks at the conferences for the Institute in Hong Kong, Singapore and New York. He presents courses at the TC Beirne School of Law in International Trade Law, International Trade Finance Law, Banking Law and Electronic Commerce Law. He has been a visiting academic in the USA, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore and China.

His book Social Media and Electronic Commerce Law has been published in 2 editions by Cambridge University Press. He has also published The Internet for Lawyers and The Internet for Accountants and numerous interactive computer based workbooks and teaching manuals. He was joint author of two editions of the monograph Company Meetings. His publications have appeared in the Australian Law Journal, the Journal of International Banking and Finance Law, the Journal of Commonwealth Law and Legal Education and the International Trade Law Annual. For nine years he authored over 100 articles for Queensland Law Society Journal, Proctor on CyberLaw.

Research Interests

  • International Trade Finance Law
  • Electronic commerce law
  • Law and technology
  • Privacy
  • Artificial Intelligence and the Law

Research Impacts

Dr Davidson has been a member of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Working Group IV (Electronic Commerce) since May 2014. The Working Group meets twice per year for 5 days alternating between New York and Vienna. The Working Group drafts and completes texts including Conventions, Model laws, Legislative texts, and commentaries. The Working Groups comprises 72 elected nations (including Australia) and Observers from other nations and NGOs. In my time with the Working Group we have completed: the UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Transferable Records (2017), Notes on the main issues of cloud computing contracts (2019), the UNCITRAL Model Law on the Use and Cross-border Recognition of Identity Management and Trust Services (2022) and the Taxonomy of legal issues related to the digital economy (2023). We are currently working on a Model Law on Artificial Intelligence and Autonomous Contracting. I represent Australia at the Woking Group and since 2022 have been the Vice Chair of the Working Group. During this time, I have made multiple contributions to the drafting, enhancing concepts, principles and have propose specific text for incorporation into the works; the majority of which have been incorporated into the final texts. In turn, the texts have been adopted and incorporated into the law of several nations. The legislation in several nations clearly includes the input and wording of Dr Davidson, in the laws. Dr Davidson’s contributions in this forum have impacted the actual laws on the countries that have incorporated these texts and will continue to do so for countries which subsequently adopt these texts, and future texts.

UNCITRAL has requested that I attended contribute to conferences, and seminars on their behalf to assist in the dissemination of UNCITRAL work and principles. For example The 60th anniversary UNCITRAL Conference and Celebration held in Delhi, India in 2017 (Speakers included the President of India and the Chief Justice of India; and Dr Davidson. Trade Seminars in South Korea (2014), the Philippines (2017), online during COVID (2021) and Hong Kong (2023).

In 2023, Dr Davidson was requested by the UNCITRAL to provide Technical Assistance to the Government of the nation state Tuvalu in the field of Electronic Commerce legislation. Having attended all UNCITRAL Electronic Commerce Working Groups sessions since 2014, I have made contributions and gained insights into the latest texts of the Working Group. I assisted in drafting the Tuvalu Electronic Transactions legislation incorporating all earlier UNCITRAL texts. The UNCITRAL texts are considered to be the prevailing global legislative model. It was a privilege to represent UNCITRAL in this project in presenting the legislation and Explanatory Memorandum to the Tuvalu Government in July 2023. The adoption of Tuvalu of the legislation of the UNCITRAL Convention will have impact on their international trade well into the future

Qualifications

  • Doctor of Philosophy, The University of Queensland
  • Masters (Research) of Law, The University of Queensland
  • Bachelor of Arts, University of Wollongong
  • Postgraduate Diploma, The University of Queensland

Publications

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Supervision

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Available Projects

  • International Trade Law covers a diverse range of topics. Potential projects include:

    • the practice and regulation of the finance of international trade;
    • commercial letters of credit in international trade;
    • the role of the banks in the financing of international trade;
    • a comparative analysis of the UN Convention on International Sales of Goods;
    • the use of trade terms in international trade – Incoterms

    For further information contact Dr Alan Davidson, e: a.davidson@law.uq.edu.au

View all Available Projects

Publications

Featured Publications

Book

  • Davidson, Alan (2015). Social media and electronic commerce law. 2nd ed. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/9781316182796

  • Davidson, Alan (2009). The law of electronic commerce. Melbourne, Australia: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/CBO9780511818400

  • Alan Davidson, Myles McGregor-Lowndes and Robert Craig (1998). The Internet for Accountants. 1st ed. Sydney: LBC Information Services.

  • Davidson, Alan and McGregor-Lowndes, Myles (1997). The Internet for Lawyers. 1st ed. Sydney: LBC Information Services.

Book Chapter

  • Davidson, Alan (2023). The law of electronic commerce. Australian commercial law. (pp. 529-552) Sydney, Australia: Law Book Company.

  • Davidson, Alan (2023). Electronic Commerce Law. Australian Commercial Law. (pp. 377-398) Sydney, NSW Australia: Law Book Co.

  • Davidson, Alan (2021). Implementation and Implications of the UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Transferable Records in Trade Finance. Trade Finance: Technology, Innovation and Documentary Credits. (pp. 217-230) edited by Christopher Hare and Dora Neo. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.

  • Davidson, Alan (2021). Implementation and implications of the UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Transferable Records in Trade Finance. Trade finance: technology, innovation and documentary credits. (pp. 217-229) Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.

  • Davidson, Alan (2021). The law of electronic commerce. Australian Commercial Law. (pp. 497-520) Sydney, NSW Australia: Law Book Company.

  • Davidson, Alan (2019). Electronic commerce. Australian commercial law. (pp. 425-446) edited by Clive Turner and John Trone. Sydney, NSW, Australia: Lawbook Co..

  • Davidson, Alan (2017). Application of the Electronic Communications Convention to the CISG. The Electronic CISG: 7th MAA Schlechtriem CISG Conference (International Commerce and Arbitration). (pp. 21-41) edited by Ingeborg Schwenzer and Lisa Spagnolo. Netherlands: Eleven International Publishing.

  • Davidson, Alan (2016). Electronic commerce law. Australian commercial law. (pp. 315-336) edited by Clive Turner and John Trone. Sydney, NSW Australia: Lawbook Co..

  • Davidson, Alan (2015). Electronic Commerce Law. Australian Commercial Law. (pp. 305-326) edited by Clive Turner and John Trone. Sydney, Australia: Lawbook Co..

  • Davidson, Alan (2013). Electronic Commerce Law. Australian Commercial Law. (pp. 289-310) edited by Law Book Co. Sydney, Australia: Lawbook Co..

  • Davidson, Alan (2013). Electronic commerce law. Australian commercial law. (pp. 289-310) edited by Clive Turner and John Trone. Pyrmont, NSW, Australia: Thomson Reuters.

  • Davidson, Alan (2013). Fraud, the prime exception to the autonomy principle in letters of credit. International Trade and Business Law Annual. (pp. 23-55) edited by Roger Jones and Gabriël A. Moens. London, United Kingdom: Cavendish Publishing. doi: 10.4324/9781843145165

  • Davidson, Alan (2011). The Law of Electronic Commerce. Australian Commercial Law. (pp. 289-310) edited by Clive Turner. Pymont, NSW, Australia: Thomson Reuters.

  • Davidson, Alan (2009). The Law of Electronic Commerce. Australian Commercial Law 27th Edition. (pp. 249-267) edited by Clive Turner. Pymont NSW: Thomson Reuters.

  • Davidson, A (2006). Law of Electronic Commerce. Australian Commercial Law. (pp. 239-258) edited by Clive Turner. Sydney: Thomson Lawbook Company.

  • Davidson, A. (2004). The law of electronic commerce. Australian Commercial Law. (pp. 293-316) edited by Clive Turner. Sydney: Lawbook Co.

Journal Article

Conference Publication

Other Outputs

PhD and MPhil Supervision

Current Supervision

  • Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

    Other advisors:

Completed Supervision

Possible Research Projects

Note for students: The possible research projects listed on this page may not be comprehensive or up to date. Always feel free to contact the staff for more information, and also with your own research ideas.

  • International Trade Law covers a diverse range of topics. Potential projects include:

    • the practice and regulation of the finance of international trade;
    • commercial letters of credit in international trade;
    • the role of the banks in the financing of international trade;
    • a comparative analysis of the UN Convention on International Sales of Goods;
    • the use of trade terms in international trade – Incoterms

    For further information contact Dr Alan Davidson, e: a.davidson@law.uq.edu.au