Prominent lawyer appointed to Swinburne Council

Prominent Melbourne lawyer, William Lye OAM QC, has been appointed to Swinburne Council.

Mr Lye is a barrister practising at the Victorian Bar and is admitted to practice in all Australian states and territories. His areas of legal practice include general commercial and corporate law, copyright and trademarks, computer and internet related matters, cross border disputes, and international commercial arbitration.

He will replace Alan Schwartz AM, the Managing Director of the Trawalla Group and President of Philanthropy Australia, on 1 July 2019. Mr Schwartz has been a member of Swinburne Council since January 2014.

Mr Lye has a Bachelor of Science (Computers), Bachelor of Laws and Master of Laws (specialising in Intellectual Property) from Monash University. He also has a Master of Entrepreneurship and Innovation from the Australian Graduate School of Entrepreneurship at Swinburne.

He is an accredited mediator and an arbitrator on the foreign panel of the Shanghai International Arbitration Centre, which acts as an independent arbitration institute to resolve commercial disputes. He is also on the panel of arbitrators of the Czech Arbitration Centre dealing with disputes under the Uniform Domain Name Disputes Resolution Policy (UDRP) established by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).

Mr Lye serves as a national board member of The Order of Australia Association Limited, and is also on the Victoria Branch of The Order of Australia Association.

He is a founding member and the Immediate Past National Vice-President of the Asian Australian Lawyers Association. He is also one of the Patrons of the North American Australian Lawyers Alliance Incorporated.

On Australia Day 2017, Mr Lye was awarded the Order of Australia Medal for ‘service to the law, to business, and to the promotion of cultural diversity’.

In the same year, at the 2017 Australian Law Awards, Mr Lye won the Barrister of the Year Award and the Lawyers Weekly Excellence Award.

Last year Mr Lye was the first barrister of Malaysian Chinese descent appointed senior counsel in Australia.

Mr Lye says he is looking forward to the opportunity to work with the Chancellor, the Vice-Chancellor and fellow Council members towards achieving Swinburne’s 2025 Vision and Strategy.

“It is a privilege for me to contribute to Swinburne in this way,” he says.

Mr Lye is married to Cheri Ong, and together they have two sons.

Swinburne Vice-Chancellor, Professor Linda Kristjanson AO, welcomed Mr Lye’s appointment to Swinburne Council and thanked Mr Alan Schwartz for his service and generosity to Swinburne over the past five and a half years.

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