Triple BL Pty Ltd is an Indigenous company* delivering legal and consultancy services to government, industry and the community sector. Established in 2002, Triple BL offers an integrated professional culturally competent service to its clients.
Triple BL Legal provides legal services in intellectual property and Traditional Knowledge, and commercial law (including Benefit Sharing agreements, collaboration agreements, shareholder agreements and contracts) mainly to an Aboriginal client base.
Triple BL Consulting provides natural resource management services in research, project scoping and design, project resourcing, delivery support and reporting, with a focus on projects and services that deliver benefits to Aboriginal people.
* Triple BL is a 50% owned, Supply Nation registered company.
Triple BL Legal is a general legal practice which specializes in native title, water law, and commercial law (including Benefit Sharing agreements, collaboration agreements, shareholder agreements and contracts), intellectual property and Traditional Knowledge. We have a focus on the intersection between Traditional Knowledge systems and intellectual property regimes, particularly in relation to the commercialisation of traditional medicines and the associated Indigenous governance issues.
Dr Marshall is admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of NSW, the Federal Court of Australia and the High Court of Australia. Since October 2019, Dr Marshall has represented the Mirning Aboriginal respondents in the Far West Coast Sea Claim (SAD71/2016) as instructing solicitor. Her clients include the National Native Title Tribunal along with Aboriginal organisations, businesses and individuals.
In addition to her legal practice, Dr Marshall is a legal scholar who is in demand to present at national and international conferences and has been published on Indigenous legal issues in a range of journals such as the Australian Feminist Law Journal, Indigenous Law Bulletin, Australian Environment Review, Water Alternatives, Water International, Ecosystem Services and the Anthropocene Review.
Dr Marshall has contributed chapters to: ‘Akiba on behalf of the Torres Strait Regional Sea Claims Group v Commonwealth [2013] HCA 33’, in Indigenous Legal Judgements: Bringing Indigenous Voices into Judicial Decision Making, (2021, Routledge); ‘Indigenous Ontologies in ‘Caring for Country’: Indigenous Australia’s Sustainable Customs, Practices and Laws’, in Clan and Tribal Perspectives on Social, Economic and Environmental Sustainability, Indigenous Stories from Around the Globe, (2021, Emerald Publishing), and she wrote the seminal book Overturning Aqua Nullius: Securing Aboriginal water rights in Australia published in 2017 by AIATSIS Aboriginal Studies Press, with a foreword by former High Court of Australia judge, the Hon. Michael Kirby AC CMG.
Dr Marshall is a guest lecturer for various colleges and schools across the Australian National University, as well as the Melbourne Law School, Sydney Law School, University of New England, the Australia and New Zealand School of Government and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Terms of Engagement and Cost Agreement
Triple BL Legal does accept new clients. Depending on the nature of your enquiry the initial 30-minute consultation is free of charge.
Since each matter may require a different approach an estimate of costs will be provided. Where the matter falls within our expertise and there is no conflict of interest, we will provide you with our costs and terms of engagement. If we take on your matter, we will ask you to provide a brief that outlines the scope of the work required, your priorities, timeline and budget.
Paul Marshall, Director of Triple BL Consulting, has a background ecology and environmental science. Triple BL Consulting offers services in Natural Resource Management and Aboriginal Community Development. To date we have focussed on NRM project design and implementation, stakeholder engagement, the integration of training and work experience programs into NRM and Aboriginal Ranger programs. A particular strength is riparian zone rehabilitation design and implementation. Other services offered are strategic and business planning for natural resource management. He is a PhD scholar at the Australian National University School of Regulation and Global Governance (RegNet).
With extensive experience in community NRM sector governance, serving on NGO governing bodies at the local, regional, state and national levels, including on the Board and Advisory Committee of Landcare Australia Limited, the board of the peak body Queensland Water and Land Carers, and as Treasurer, Vice-Chair and Chair of the Mary River Catchment Coordinating Committee in SEQ (2009 Annual Report) These roles give Paul deep insights into the Landcare sector. For over a decade Paul managed of one of Queensland’s largest and most active Landcare groups, Gympie & District Landcare, and was listed on the Landcare Hero Honour Roll in 2014 by Landcare Australia in recognition of his 25+ years’ service to the Landcare sector. Paul also has 7-years’ experience as a local government Bushcare Coordinator with Wingecarribee Shire Council in the NSW Southern Highlands.
As the Kimberley Program Officer for the Australian Conservation Foundation during 2009-2011, Paul was engaged to promote culture and conservation economies, including bush foods and traditional medicines, cultural tourism, National Heritage listing for culturally and environmentally important parts of the Kimberley, and raising awareness of the unique environmental and cultural values of the Kimberley at the national level. In 2010 Paul facilitated establishment of the Fitzroy River Aboriginal Tourism Association to increase promotion of Aboriginal cultural tourism in the Fitzroy River basin.
His work with Kimberley Aboriginal organisations and communities spans three decades, since he served as CEO of the Kimberley Land Council (KLC) in the mid-1980s. He wrote the award-winning Aboriginal oral history book ‘Raparapa’, published in 1988 by Broome-based Aboriginal-owned Magabala Books. A revised edition of Raparapa was published in 2011 with a FOREWORD by the Hon. Michael Kirby AC CMG and a cover endorsement by former Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. Malcolm Fraser AC CH.
Over the last 35 years Paul has worked closely with Senior Elder John Watson and Traditional Owners, coordinating the Mudjala Aboriginal Medicine Research and Development Project in partnership with Griffith University. Aspects of this work includes distribution and abundance studies and wild harvest trials by a field ecologist, a draft Sustainable Wild Harvest Management Plan, establishment of a native plant production nursery at the Jarlmadangah Community and horticulture training for community members.
Recent work by Triple BL Consulting • 2023: ‘Expanding the First Nations protected lands estate: Opportunities & Challenges’, Report prepared for the National 30 x 30 Working Group (25 pp). • 2023: ‘Lay of the Land Report: Strategic review of Aboriginal land and water management programs in NSW’, prepared for the NSW Department of Planning and Environment, (217 pp).
Recent Projects:
PhD (Law), LLM, LLB, GDLP, GCCrimPrac, BA (Hons), BvocEd & Training
Email: virginia@triplebl.com.au
Mobile: 0421 567701
MEnvSc (Research), ADLM (Distinction), Cert IV Small Business Management
Email: paul@triplebl.com.au
Mobile: 0408 925725