Rate My Professor Celeste Black

Associate Professor Celeste Black serves in the Law faculty at the University of Sydney Law School, where she holds the position of Program Director for Taxation Law. She obtained her Bachelor of Arts from Harvard University, Juris Doctor from the University of Pennsylvania, and Master of Laws with honours from the University of Sydney. Black has been teaching taxation law at Sydney Law School for over 20 years, instructing in subjects including Income Tax Law, International Tax Law, State Taxes, Commercial Law, and Tax Administration. Her long-standing career at the institution spans from lecturer roles documented as early as 2002 to her current associate professorship, during which she has shaped tax law education for generations of students.

Black's research specializations encompass income tax, state taxes, withholding tax, climate law and taxation, and the development of tax administration. She is a key co-author of the widely used textbook Principles of Taxation Law, with recent editions in 2024, 2025, and 2026, alongside collaborators such as Kerrie Sadiq, Jared Clements, Rami Hanegbi, Sunita Jogarajan, Richard Krever, Wes Obst, and Sonali Walpola. Prominent publications include 'Taxation of Cross-Border Transfers of Carbon Emission Allowances under Linked Emissions Trading Schemes' (Transnational Environmental Law, 2017), 'Approaches to the Taxation Treatment of Carbon Emission Allowances' (2016), 'Testing the Interaction of Domestic Taxation Laws and Tax Treaties: Lessons from Australia' (2017), and contributions to Animal Law in Australasia. Black has also addressed interdisciplinary topics through public lectures, such as 'Fish, Welfare and the Law' in 2015, and maintains an active presence in tax policy discourse as a Fellow of The Tax Institute. Her scholarship bridges taxation with environmental concerns, analyzing tax treatments in emissions trading and carbon farming initiatives.