According to Joe Lederman, the founder and managing principal of Melbourne-based firm Food Legal, it is one seriously complex and specialised area, crossing into numerous different practice areas and requiring close working arrangements with professionals from various different fields, including food technologists, biochemists and toxicologists, to name a few.

Originally a tax lawyer, Lederman identified food law as a burgeoning practice area and made it his mission to establish himself as a leading food lawyer in both Australia and abroad.

"It's an area that I developed while I was doing succession planning and tax structuring for some private businesses, and I acquired a greater interest in the legal side of food businesses," he says.

"I investigated and eventually set up a website and started tracking what was going on in food law. Everything was in its infancy, then [in 1998] Halsburys approached me to write and edit the food law chapter of Halsburys Laws of Australia and it just grew from there."

Lederman has built up the practice to the extent that three full-time food law specialists are kept busy working on a broad spectrum of matters, including governmental policy, representing food companies in litigation matters, brand management and intellectual property, marketing laws, the Trade Practices Act, applications for novel foods, health claims and dossier preparation.

On top of this, Lederman notes that politics is also at the forefront of practicing food law.

"Food law aspects of policy are in a state of flux, both nationally and internationally. It is a very, very political field," he says. "There are basically two competing influences on food law: one is international trade, and a desire for greater free trade and liberal movement of products between countries, and [the other] is the emphasis on food safety."

According to Lederman, the latter point has somewhat evolved, thanks to the growing prevalence of health concerns - including the obesity epidemic - across the globe.

"Food safety is now venturing beyond immediate danger areas. Instead of telling people to eat safe food, people are being told to eat healthy food," says Lederman.

"Governments are being pressured to adopt, or have adopted, international treaties through the World Health Organisation to make their foods healthier and get their populations eating healthier food."

But it is this evolution, and room for innovation, which keeps Lederman interested in this area of law.

"Food law does have a resemblance to tax in the mid-70s: there are some aspects which are still sufficiently interesting that they allow for a bit of creative endeavour to solve problems," he says.

"And while that is always challenging, it makes life interesting."

- Claire Chaffey

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