Shane is Special Counsel at Simpsons Solicitors, a firm specialising in the arts, entertainment, cultural property and copyright. He was the founder of the Arts Law Centre of Australia and Prelude (a national network of composer houses). He is chairman of the Sydney Youth Orchestras and Studio A (NSW’s only supported studio for artists with intellectual disability), a director of the UNSW Foundation, on the Council of the National Library of Australia and is the independent director on several private foundations.
He was formerly chair of the Bundanon Trust; the Advisory Council of the Faculty of Art + Design, UNSW; the Aboriginal Benefits Foundation; the Peggy Glanville Hicks Composers’ House Trust; the NSW Film and Television Office and Museums and Galleries NSW. He has also been a non-executive director on numerous boards in the cultural industries including: the Australian Maritime Museum; the New Zealand Film Commission; the Australian National Academy of Music; the National Association for the Visual Arts; the Crafts Council of Australia; the Music Council of Australia and the Copyright Agency.
He was appointed Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for “service to the law and to the arts through leading roles in intellectual property and entertainment law, and as a contributor to a range of cultural organisations.” In 2019 the University of New South Wales awarded him an honorary Doctorate of the University.