Barely Legal: rules for a meaningful life’ (Mark Swivel in conversation with Nicole Anderson)
Date: 6 pm, 28 November 2025
Manning Clak House - 11 Tasmania Circle, Forrest, ACT
Nicole Anderson engages in conversation with Mark Swivel who runs Barefoot Law - a disruptive firm whose aim is to provide effective affordable advice to clients and to minimise the suffering caused by the legal system and its processes. Barefoot Law is based on the Northern Rivers, with offices in Byron Bay and Lismore but has cases in court from Cairns to Melbourne. The firm began at Mullum Neighbourhood Centre in 2018 and is a ‘side hustle’ that got well out of hand. Barefoot Law has won key reported cases in the Federal Court, Fair Work Commission and NCAT, and helped save the ‘Feros’ aged care village in Byron Bay and successfully sued Bluesfest for not refunding stallholder fees during the Pandemic. Mark is a director at Spaghetti Circus and was once chair of Legs on the Wall. Also a creative Mark had his play Water Falling Down produced by QTC and B Street (US) and was MC of genuine faux Russian choir Dustyesky. Philip Adams once gave Mark a Koala Stamp on Late Night Live after their chat about ‘How Deep Is Your Love?’ probably the only comedy festival show on Microfinance in Bangladesh.
Professor Nicole Anderson
Nicole Anderson is Professor at Macquarie University, Sydney; affiliate (adjunct) faculty at Arizona State University; and Honorary Professor at the University of Canberra. She has published over 50 articles and books on animals, ethics, culture, democracy, and philosophy, all of which have been informed by her scholarship on French Philosopher Jacques Derrida. In regards to the latter she has published Derrida: Ethics Under Erasure, and is currently writing a second book on Derrida and animals (forthcoming 2026). She is the founding editor of the Derrida Today Journal (based on the work of Jacques Derrida), published by Edinburgh University Press, and which has been running since 2007. Aligned with the journal is the Derrida Today International Conferences (Home ), of which Nicole is the founding Executive Director. The conferences have been held in Britain, UK, USA, Europe and Australia, and provides a forum for academics from around the world to discuss and apply the thinking of Derrida to contemporary world events and issues.
Nicole has also co-produced with Julian Knowles a podcast series with PBS called the ‘Futures of Democracy’ (A podcast series ), which has been ranked number 5 out of 10 for 3 years in a row 2022 – 2025 for best Political Podcasts in Arizona, USA by Feedspot: 10 Best Arizona Political Podcasts You Must Follow in 2025. She has won a prestigious Australian Research Council Linkage Grant with John Potts, and as part of the grant co-curated a six month exhibition at the NSW Art Gallery, Sydney, on the philanthropist John Kaldor’s extensive art collection.
Light Refreshments will be provided.
The Meaning of Life and Other Inconveniences - Mark Swivel