Gehan Gunasekara
Senior Lecturer
Department:
Address: Owen G Glenn Building
12 Grafton Road
Auckland
Faculty: Business & Economics
Phone: +64 9 373 7599 Ext. 85218
Email: g.gunasekara@auckland.ac.nz

Gehan Gunasekara specialises in the areas of franchising law and information privacy law. He has published widely in these areas both locally and overseas. He is currently researching the need for a paradigm for whistle-blowing at the international level as an alternative to WikiLeaks, is also interested in the issue of business compliance with privacy laws and the issues that arise when personal information is transferred from one country to another. He has also researched privacy issues connected with applications such as online social networking and the Internet.
Gehan is a regular commentator in national media (see "Other Contributions" below) on issues concerning both privacy and franchising and is a member of the academic reference committee for the Review of Privacy by the Law Commission. He has led research, in New Zealand, on legal issues affecting franchising and especially the incidence and areas of franchise litigation in New Zealand. Gehan is a contributor to several books including the texts Law in Business and Government in New Zealand (Palatine Press, fourth edition 2006) and The Law of Business Organisations (Palatine Press, fifth edition 2009).
Qualifications:
1994 LLM (Hons) Auck
1987 LLB Well
1986 BA Well
Special Interests:
Franchising law
Privacy and Whistle-blowing
Teaching:
2012 COMLAW 101 FC Law in a Business Environment
2012 COMLAW 304 FC Business Structures for Enterprises
2012 LAWCOMM 758 Franchising Law
Selected Publications:
Refereed Journal Articles
2011 GUNASEKARA, G.,  VAN KLINK, A.,  ‘"Out of the Blue?" Is Litigation under the Privacy Act 1993 Addressed Only at Privacy Grievances?‘, Canterbury Law Review Vol 17, 229-250.
2011 VETTORETTI, M.,  GUNASEKARA, G.,  ‘Ministerial Free Speech and the Privacy Act‘, New Zealand Business Law Quarterly Vol. 17, 284-301.
2011 GUNASEKARA, G.,  A.TOY,  ‘Principles or Rules: The Place of Information Privacy Law‘, New Zealand Universities Law Review Vol 24, 525-549.
2010 GUNASEKARA, G.,  DABEE, N.,  ‘Franchising and Misleading or Deceptive Conduct: An Analysis of Litigation‘, New Zealand Business Law Quarterly Vol 16, 1, 68-93.
2010 SIMS, A.,  GUNASEKARA, G.,  ‘privacy and the Spam Act in online competitions‘, University of Auckland Business Review vol 12, 1, 1-7.
2009 FUSSEY, L.,  GUNASEKARA, G.,  ‘Rounding Square Holes for Round Pegs: Better Accommodating Franchising Within the Current Regulatory Framework‘, The Canterbury Law Review Vol 15, 295-316.
2008 GUNASEKARA, G.,  TOY, A.,  ‘"MySpace" or Public Space: The Relevance of Data Protection Laws to Online Social Networking‘, New Zealand Universities Law Review Volume 23, 191-214.
2008 GUNASEKARA, G.,  E.DILLON,  ‘Data Protection Litigation in New Zealand: Processes and Outcomes‘, Victoria University of Wellington Law Review Volume 39, 457-486.
2007 GUNASEKARA, G.,  SIMS, A.,  ‘Franchising: A case for regulation‘, University of Auckland Business Review Volume 9, 48-55.
2007 GUNASEKARA, G.,  TOY, A.,  ‘Lifting the Veil on Pooling Orders Under Section 271 of the Companies Act 1993‘, New Zealand Business Law Quarterly Volume 13, 13-33.
2007 GUNASEKARA, G.,  ‘Standard Form Commercial Contracts, Unilateral Variation and the Legal Response: the Case of Franchising‘, New Zealand Business Law Quarterly Volume 13, 263-271.
2007 GUNASEKARA, G.,  ‘The "Final" Privacy Frontier? Regulating Trans-Border Data Flows‘, International Journal of Law and Information Technology Volume 15, 362-393.
2006 GUNASEKARA, G.,  WATSON, S.,  ‘Regulating Business Format Franchising: Familiar Solutions for Novel Problems‘, New Zealand Business Law Quarterly Volume 12, 174-197.
2005 GUNASEKARA, G.,  ‘News Media Exposure, Corporate Insiders and the Dilemmas of Whistle-blowers‘, New Zealand Business Law Quarterly Volume 11, 3-10.
2005 GUNASEKARA, G.,  SIMS, A.,  ‘Statutory Trends and the "Genetic Modification" of the Common Law: Company Law as a Paradigm‘, Statute Law Review Volume 26, 82-102.
2003 GUNASEKARA, G.,  ‘Whistle -blowing: New Zealand and English Solutions to a Common Problem‘, Statute Law Review, Vol 24, 39-62.
1993 GUNASEKARA, G.,  ‘Judicial Reasoning by Analogy with Statutes: The Case of Contributory Negligence and the Law of Contract in New Zealand‘, Statute Law Review, Vol 14, 84-110.
Sections in Books
2009 GUNASEKARA, G.,  ‘Agency‘ In: Susan Watson (ed.), The Law of Business Organisations, Auckland, Palatine Press (5th ed), 8-43.
2009 GUNASEKARA, G.,  WATSON, S.,  ‘An Overview of Business Organisations‘ In: Susan Watson (ed.), The Law of Business Organisations, Auckland, Palatine Press, (5th ed), 1-7.
2009 GUNASEKARA, G.,  ‘Distributorships and Franchises‘ In: Susan Watson (ed.), The Law of Business Organisations, Auckland, Palatine Press (5th ed), 681-710.
2009 GUNASEKARA, G.,  ‘The Formation of Partnerships‘ In: Susan Watson (ed.), The Law of Business Organisations, Auckland, Palatine Press (5th ed), 44-59.
2009 GUNASEKARA, G.,  ‘The Legal Regulation of Partnerships‘ In: Susan Watson (ed.), The Law of Business Organisations, Auckland, Palatine Press (5th ed), 60-91.
2006 GUNASEKARA, G.,  PRASAD, M.,  ‘Statutory Interpretation‘ In: Longdin (ed.), Law in Business and Government in New Zealand, Palatine Press, 4th ed
2000 GUNASEKARA, G.,  ‘Health Information Management and Individual Privacy: Application of New Zealand's Privacy Legislation‘ In: Armoni, A (ed.), Health Care Information Systems: Challenges of the Next Millennium, Idea Group Publishing, 80-95.
2000 GUNASEKARA, G.,  ‘Protecting Personal Privacy in Cyberspace: The Limitations of Third Generation Data Protection Laws Such as the New Zealand Privacy Act 1993‘ In: Lech Janczewski (ed.), Internet and Intranet Security Management: Risks and Solutions, Hershey USA & London, Idea Group Publishing, 271-295.
1999 GUNASEKARA, G.,  ‘Protecting Personal Privacy in Cyberspace: Principles and problems with the New Zealand Privacy Act 1993.‘ In: Felix Tan, P.S. Corbett, Y.Y Wong (ed.), Information Technology Diffusion in the Asia Pacific: Perspectives on Policy, Electronic Commerce and Education., Hershey PA, Idea Group Publishing, 174-192.
Conference Paper
2008 GUNASEKARA, G.,  BUCHAN, J.,  ‘Vulnerable Creditors: should franchisees have rights on the insolvency or re-structuring of their franchisor? CLTA Conference, Sydney, 5 February 2008‘, 1-10.
2004 GUNASEKARA, G.,  SIMS, A.,  ‘Teaching ICANZ and Elective Commercial Law Papers at the University of Auckland: Some Observations as to Teaching Methodology and Content, Accounting and Commercial Law Teaching Conference, Victoria University of Wellington, 24 August 2004‘, 1-27.
Non-Refereed Journal Articles
2008 GUNASEKARA, G.,  ‘Privacy rights for companies?‘, New Zealand Law Journal Volume [2008], 30-32.
2007 GUNASEKARA, G.,  ‘Strengthening Franchising Through Regulation‘, Franchise New Zealand Volume 16, 04, 103-107.
2005 GUNASEKARA, G.,  ‘Protection for small business: the case of franchisees‘, New Zealand Law Journal Volume [2005], 457-460.
2002 GUNASEKARA, G.,  ‘Good Faith, Repudiation and Franchise Agreements‘, New Zealand Law Journal Volume [2002], 453-455.
2002 GUNASEKARA, G.,  ‘Whistle-blowers and the Ombudsman‘, New Zealand Law Journal Volume [2002], 11-13.
Other
2010 GUNASEKARA, G.,  ‘Protect those who risk it all for truth‘, NZ Herald, 28 October, 2010
2009 GUNASEKARA, G.,  ‘Franchise Sector a "Wild West" in Need of Safeguards, Says Expert‘, TVNZ One News Interview, Monday June 15, 2009



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