One of Australia's leading lawyers, Geoff Masel, who was in 1980 the founding President of the Victorian Branch of the Aviation Law Association of Australia (as it then was), died on 8th August 2004, aged 75. Although he was more widely and better known for his second to none expertise in other areas of the law, principally insurance, building and professional indemnity, he was a leading and experienced aviation law practitioner.
He joined Phillips Fox and Masel in 1952 and became a partner in 1955. After retiring as the senior partner of Phillips Fox (as it had become) in 1989, Geoff remained associated with the firm until his death, as a consultant, mentor and opinion writer as well as pursuing his long-time interests in legal education and writing. He became a sought after arbitrator and mediator (especially in insurance matters). Throughout his career, Geoff also authored 2 books and a myriad of learned legal papers. He was a must as a speaker at conferences of substance in his fields of expertise and addressed the Association's conferences on many occasions, the last being delivering the David Boughen Memorial Address at the conference held in Melbourne in 2002.
