Joe Lederman

Joe Lederman is an Australian commercial lawyer and is the Managing Principal of FoodLegal, Australian Lawyers & Consultants. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Law at Deakin University specializing in Food and Nutrition Law. He heads up a successful team of lawyers and consultants at FoodLegal to represent participants in the food industry and other clients with an involvement in food or allied fields (for example, complementary medicines, life sciences, water and agricultural legal issues).

Joe and his team act for many local and international food companies. FoodLegal handles Australian food compliance and risk management for the market entry of a large range of domestically-produced and imported food products as well as providing Compliance Training courses tailored to specific issues and individual product categories. FoodLegal regularly engages in discussions with government agencies, and in submission-preparation and negotiation with or for government agencies.

FoodLegal also is involved in multi-disciplinary consultancy work such as its report for the Federal Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry concerning aspects of the Management of Food and Grocery Distribution in the event of a Human Influenza Pandemic. Joe Lederman has also advised a State Parliamentary Economics Standing Committee in relation to Food Labelling and Constitutional Law issues and another State’s Auditor-General in relation to food law compliance by municipal councils. He also conducted a preliminary workshop for the members and senior staff of a government agency conducting an inquiry into food industry deregulation.

After graduating in law from the University of Melbourne in 1977, Joe’s work for many years centered on commercial law and revenue law. He was recognized and accredited by the Law Institute of Victoria as an Accredited Specialist in Business Law and as an Accredited Specialist in Taxation Law. In 1986, he founded the Australian law firm Baldwins.

With his background in advising on revenue law and commercial law for food companies, Joe established the original Australian food law websites “Australian Food News” and “Food Law and Policy Australia” (Australian Food News is now operated through an associated company as an independent commercial business and is now available as a free on-line news service to all).

In 1998, Joe was appointed as the principal author and contributing editor for the “Food Law” section of “Halsburys Laws of Australia”, which is published by law publishers Lexis-Nexis (formerly Butterworths) and considered to be Australia’s main encyclopedia of Australian law. Joe also edited CCH Australia’s “Food Safety Guide”. He has also recently contributed a chapter on Australian food laws in a text book on comparative international food laws for publication and translation into Mandarin by Shantou University in China.

For many years, Joe Lederman has written papers and spoken to numerous industry seminars on a wide range of food industry topics. He has been a keynote speaker at the annual Food Regulations & Labelling Standards Conference in Sydney for the past three years. In November 2008, the subject of his presentation was Legal Impediments and Opportunities in Food Marketing, and his presentations for the previous conferences have been on Health and Nutrition Claims Standards (2007) and the then new Country of Origin Labelling Standard (2006).

In January 2009, Joe presented a research paper to the inaugural International Food Law and Policy Symposium organized under the auspices of Deakin University. His paper focused on the legal implications for consumers of mandatory fortification food standards in the event of a shift in scientific consensus.

In May 2008, Joe spoke at the inaugural Australian Genetically Modified Crops Summit, providing legal analysis of the issues surrounding GM crop co-existence and segregation, and GM food marketing legal issues. In January 2008, Joe presented an on-line paper in Paris on the legal interface between functional foods, special-purpose foods, complementary medicines, dietary supplements and therapeutic goods from the Australian perspective.

In March 2007, Joe made an online presentation to an international food lawyers network foundation meeting in Cologne, Germany on the subject of the law of health claims and nutrition claims in Australia. Joe Lederman has spoken elsewhere on numerous other topics in the respective areas of food labelling laws; food composition compliance issues; changes to packaging laws; food safety laws; changes to the Food Standards Code standards on GM food labelling; responsibilities of municipal councils in food law enforcement; and legal liability issues for restaurant owners.

Joe has written and spoken extensively in different media and forums, such as the Food Industry Association Inc of Western Australia, the Western Australian Farmers Federation, the Australian Industry Group, the Australian Food Marketing Centre (Victoria University), the Australian Society of Certified Public Accountants in Tasmania and Victoria, and he has written for publishers including: Yaffa Publications’ “Food and Drink” (Food Management News); Thompson Legal; CCH Australia; Lexis-Nexis-Butterworths; and Australian Packaging News.

Many people receive “FoodLegal Bulletin” (edited by Joe Lederman and now distributed through Lawmedia Pty Ltd) in relation to topical food issues. One can subscribe to the FoodLegal Bulletin database here.