Professor Edwin Tanner

Edwin Tanner commenced his career at Victoria University as a researcher and teacher in 1991, having previously performed the same role at the University of Melbourne.

In 1980 he was admitted to practice as a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of Victoria and the High Court of Australia. Having served articles of clerkship, he established his own firm of solicitors in North Melbourne. During that period, he became one of the founders of the North Melbourne Legal Service (now called the Inner Melbourne Community Legal Service). He became the North Melbourne Legal Service coordinator prior to signing the Victorian Bar and NSW Bar Rolls. As a barrister, he acted in civil and criminal trials and appeals as well as in the Victorian Coroners Court and Melbourne Children’s Court.

Prior to becoming an academic, he was a secondary school teacher at St John's College, Braybrook. In that role, in 1977, he was awarded an Australian Schools Commission Research Grant of $17,770 to 'Analyse the Special Language Needs of LOTE speaking students at a Victorian Secondary School'. The research for, and the administration of this grant, led to his interest in plain language in the law. His research led to the Law Reform Commission of Victoria being given the task of investigating the usefulness of plain English in legislative drafting. Their Reports led to major changes in legislative drafting in Victoria.

In 2016, Edwin Tanner retired, but was immediately appointed to an adjunct position so he could continue supervising research students.