Melbourne Law School News

Melbourne students to represent Australia in moot competition.

Two Melbourne Law School students will represent Australia in the 10th Red Cross International Humanitarian Law Moot to be held in Hong Kong in March.

Georgia Boyce and Eamonn Kelly last year became national champions when they won the Australian Law Students’ Association Red Cross International Humanitarian Law Moot Championship. The then second-year JD students were pitted against highly skilled teams from across Australia, defeating the University of Tasmania to win the competition.

Deputy Dean of Melbourne Law School, Professor Andrew Kenyon, congratulated the students on their success.

“Georgia and Eamonn join an exceptional group of Melbourne Law students who won a range of mooting competitions in Australia and overseas last year. While Melbourne’s outstanding result in 2011 bears out the importance placed on mooting at the Law School, it is also deserved recognition of individual talent and hard work,” said Professor Kenyon.

The International Humanitarian Law Moot is held annually by the Red Cross in the Asia Pacific region. Student teams of two present an oral submission to a mock international tribunal in the competition, which aims to raise awareness of international humanitarian issues. For students, it is an opportunity to hone their legal skills while increasing their understanding of the importance of international humanitarian law in protecting people during times of armed conflict.

This year the moot problem comprises a hypothetical case before the International Criminal Court involving alleged war crimes by a commander in a cross-border armed conflict of mixed international and non-international character. The case is complicated by issues relating to the role of truth and reconciliation commissions. Georgia and Eamonn will be appearing for the defence throughout the competition.

This is not the first time Georgia and Eamonn have represented Melbourne Law School on an international stage. In February last year, they competed in the 12th DMH Harish Memorial Government Law College International Moot Court Competition in Mumbai. They finished third overall and were the highest placed international team in the competition.

Photograph by Aimee Nguyen

Tue 10-Jan-12.

Andrew Godwin comments on the recent alliance of Mallesons with a top Chinese legal firm.

Senior Lecturer and Associate Director of the Asian Law Centre, Mr Andrew Godwin, comments on the recent alliance of Australia's Mallesons Stephen Jaques with China-based firm King & Wood to create the largest law firm in the Asia-Pacific.

View the full article Law Firms' Tie-Up Causes A Stir by Eric Ng, South China Morning Post.

Mon 16-Jan-12.

First Melbourne students at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Two Melbourne Law School students are going to Hong Kong to undertake one of the world's only postgraduate programs in Chinese business law taught in English.

Candice (Wanxuan) Tan and Alistair Robertson will be the first students to earn a combined degree in law from Melbourne Law School and the Chinese University of Hong Kong Faculty of Law (CUHK). The two third-year JD students will travel to Hong Kong later this year to study for the Master of Laws in Chinese Business Law (CBL LLM).

For Candice the opportunity to study with the next generation of Asian legal and business leaders in the business centre of Hong Kong was not to be missed.

“I chose to apply to this dual degree program because of the geographical and economic significance of being in Hong Kong. CUHK also has a growing reputation for being at the cutting-edge of commercial law,” said Candice.

“I am looking forward to meeting practitioners from Hong Kong and around the world, as well as the exciting legal and cultural exchange opportunities that will arise.”

The CUHK Faculty of Law was established in 2004 and its graduate school is based in the central business district on Hong Kong island, within walking distance of the Hong Kong High Court, the Court of Final Appeal, the Legislative Council and major international law firms.

Since 2009 Melbourne Law School has given students access to the world’s top academic programs, with the chance to earn combined degrees in law from premier law schools in Asia, Europe and North America. Melbourne students are currently studying combined degrees at the University of Oxford and New York University, and now the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The degree partnerships program gives students the opportunity to earn two elite graduate law degrees and to gain experience in global legal issues.

For Alistair Robertson, this was an opportunity to pursue his interest in Asian law. Alistair has worked with Melbourne Law School’s Asian Law Centre as a research assistant in the China program, and was last year a recipient of the Malcolm DH Smith Memorial Scholarship which assisted him to maintain his language skills and links with China.

“I applied for the JD looking to focus on Asia and Chinese legal studies, and with this opportunity to study at CUHK have far exceeded those expectations. In Hong Kong, the CBL LLM offers a firm grounding in aspects of relevant Chinese law, followed by a research component to allow the pursuit of your particular interests. I do not have a clear picture yet of where it might take me, but am confident it will leave me well prepared,” said Alistair.

More of the degree partnerships program

Fri 20-Jan-12.

2012 Commencing Student Survey: Win a MacBook Pro!.

Survey opens 9 am Monday 23 January 2012 and closes 5 pm Friday 2 March 2012.

Visit the survey website

The University of Melbourne is running a survey for all newly enrolled, first year undergraduate, undergraduate honours and graduate coursework students to better understand your decision to study at the University of Melbourne, your views about some of our promotional material and also other questions related to different Faculties.

It will take around 15 minutes to complete and will help the University of Melbourne plan for a range of activities.

All newly enrolled students who complete this survey have the opportunity to go in the running to win a 15” MacBook Pro or a 16GB iPad or one of five $100 University Bookshop vouchers.

To reduce the length of the survey we will be asking you to provide your student number so that we can use some of your personal information (e.g. age, gender, etc.) in our analysis. Your participation means that you give consent for us to use your student record for this purpose. Students will need to have completed their enrolment and received a student number to participate.

Your participation in this research is voluntary and you can choose to withdraw at any time by closing your browser window. Any information you provide will be used purely for research purposes, and all responses will be de-identified and reported in aggregate only.

If you have any queries regarding the survey process please contact Anne-Maree Butt on market-research@unimelb.edu.au

View the 2012 Commencing Student Survey Competiton Terms and Conditions (.pdf)

Mon 23-Jan-12, 9:00AM.

Melbourne Law School alumni awarded top honours.

The Governor of Victoria and Melbourne Law School alumnus, The Hon. Alex Chernov AC QC has been appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia in an Australia Day honours list that recognised a host of notable legal figures.

The former Supreme Court Judge and University of Melbourne Chancellor was awarded Australia’s greatest civic honour in recognition of his distinguished career in law and his significant role in legal education in Australia.

From Melbourne Law School via the Victorian Bar to Melbourne’s Government House, Mr Chernov is a former chairman of the Victoria Bar, vice president of the Australian Bar Association and president of the Australian Law Council. In 2009 he became Chancellor of the University of Melbourne. Last year Mr Chernov, who arrived in post-war Australia as a 10-year-old boy with his Russian parents, was inaugurated as the 28th Governor of Victoria.

Mr Chernov was just one of 10 Melbourne Law School alumni and community members recognised this year for their diverse contributions and service to their fellow citizens. Melbourne Law School would like to congratulate the following alumni on their honours:

Companion in the General Division of the Order of Australia (AC)

His Excellency the Honourable Alex Chernov AO QC (LLB(Hons) 1967)
For eminent service to the people of Victoria, to the advancement of higher education, particularly the development of academic and administrative programs at the University of Melbourne, through the establishment of the Australia India Institute, and to the judiciary.

Officer in the General Division of the Order of Australia (AO)

The Honourable Justice Diana Bryant AO (LLB 1969)
For distinguished service to the judiciary and to the law, particularly to family law policy reform and practice, through the establishment of the Federal Magistrates Court, and to the advancement of women in the legal profession.

Member in the General Division of the Order of Australia (AM)

The Honourable Rosemary Anne Balmford AM (LLB(Hons) 1955)
For service to the judiciary, the practice of law in Victoria, and to the study of ornithology.

Mr Bryan Andrew Keon-Cohen AM QC (LLB 1973, LLM 1975)
For service to the law, and to the legal profession, through the advancement of social justice and the protection of human rights, particularly in the areas of environmental and Indigenous law reform.

Mr Ian Andrew Renard AM (LLB(Hons) 1970, LLM 1972, LLD 2009)
For service to the tertiary education sector, particularly in the area of governance policy development, to business and commerce, and to a range of arts and cultural institutions

Mr Robert Stewart AM (LLB(Hons 1972)
For service to the community through fostering collaboration between business and the tertiary education sector, to health and technology organisations, and to the sport of rowing.

Medal of the Order of Australia in the General Division (OAM)

Mr John B Arthur OAM (LLB 1968)
For service to Catholic Religious Congregations and to Indigenous education through advisory and leadership roles.

Mr Brian Stirtevant Barrow OAM (LLB 1980)
For service to the law in Victoria as a magistrate, and to youth.

Melbourne Law School community

Melbourne Law School also congratulates former professorial fellow, Professor Geoffrey Lindell and former advisory board member and chair, the Hon. Peter Heerey QC, who were both appointed Members of the Order of Australia.

The Honourable Peter Cadden Heerey AM QC
For service to the judiciary through the Federal Court of Australia, to the development of legal principle in the areas of intellectual property, trade practices and military law, and to the community.

Professor Geoffrey John Lindell AM
For service to legal education as an academic, particularly in the area of Australian constitutional law and through a range of professional associations.

Fri 27-Jan-12.

Books for Burma: Call for donations.

The Burma/Myanmar Studies Network is seeking second-handbooks to help set up a library at a law firm in Yangon, Burma, for lawyers who would otherwise not have access to such resources.

To view the flier, please click here

Drop-off location/ enquiries:

Ms Melissa Crouch
Room 832, Melbourne Law School
m.crouch@unimelb.edu.au
+61 3 9035 6580

Donations will be accepted until 31 May 2012

Tue 31-Jan-12.

Professor Anne Orford to be awarded honorary doctorate.

The Faculty of Law at Lund University in Sweden has voted to award Professor Anne Orford the Michael D. Kirby Professor of International Law, an honorary doctorate in law. Two honorary doctorates are awarded by the Faculty each year, with President of the Supreme Court of Sweden, Marianne Lundius receiving the second award for 2012.

The degrees will be awarded at a ceremony in Lund Cathedral on 25 May. Professor Orford will be awarded the honorary doctorate 'for her research that releases international law into its full intellectual, political and emancipatory complexity'.

More information on Lund University Faculty of Law.

Wed 1-Feb-12.

International Bar Association Scholarships for Energy and Natural Resources Law Studies.

Following the success of the inaugural scholarship initiative in 2011, the International Bar Association (IBA) Section on Energy, Environment, Natural Resources and Infrastructure Law (SEERIL), and its Academic Advisory Group (AAG), are delighted to announce that they are again accepting applications from students and institutions requiring funding for advanced studies or research in the fields of energy and natural resources law.

The SEERIL Scholarship for Energy and Natural Resources Law Studies is open to all qualifying academic institutions and their students free of charge. A ‘qualifying academic institution’ is one where at least one member or adjunct member of the faculty is a member of the IBA and a SEERIL committee. The Law School’s members include Professor Michael Crommelin and Professor Lee Godden, Directors of Studies, Environment, Energy and Resources Law and Mr Matthew Bell, Co-Director of Studies, Construction Law.

The scholarships and research grants total up to £18,000 a year.

Download an application form with complete details about the application process (.pdf).

Please click here (.pdf) for a list of known qualifying institutions.

All applications received by Friday 16 March 2012 will be submitted to the Scholarship Committee. Please note that applications should be submitted to the IBA directly.

Conference Scholarship

SEERIL will also again be awarding a scholarship to a young lawyer who wishes to participate in the 2012 IBA Annual Conference in Dublin, but may find financial difficulties in doing so. It requires young lawyers to write an essay about the legal consequences of oil spills. The scholarship award for 2012 includes the conference registration, contribution towards travel costs and accommodation, two year’s free membership of the IBA, LPD and PPID including membership of one committee within the awarding section and one free PPID committee and a waiver of either the next IBA Annual Conference registration fee or the registration.

For full information of the application procedure, please download the Scholarship application form (pdf). All applications received by Monday 9 April 2012 will be submitted to the Scholarship Committee.

Mon 6-Feb-12.

Professor Anne Orford to be awarded honorary doctorate.

More information on Lund University Faculty of Law

Mon 6-Feb-12.

Kirsty Gover asks ?The Treaty of Waitangi: What?s in it for Australia?.

Tue 7-Feb-12.

Joo-Cheong Tham calls for urgent reform to Australia's political funding laws.

Wed 8-Feb-12.

Cheryl Saunders argues that we can?t afford to water down the proposals for indigenous recognition.

Wed 8-Feb-12.

Malcolm Fraser awarded honorary Doctor of Laws.

When Melbourne Law School graduates attended the University’s final graduation ceremony for 2011, they shared their celebration with one of Australia’s great statesmen, The Rt Hon. Malcolm Fraser AC CH.

In the ceremony, Mr Fraser was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws by the University of Melbourne, an honour he said he valued more highly than any other he’d received over his distinguished career.

“His contributions to both national and international affairs have been characterised by a staunch commitment to human rights, an abhorrence of racism, and a determination to secure and preserve the rights of minority groups,” stated the citation.

Over 250 law students graduated at the ceremony on Thursday 22 December, including some of the first law students to graduate with the Melbourne Juris Doctor.

“I am particularly delighted to be receiving the doctorate at a graduation of law graduates,” said Mr Fraser.

“In today’s world I can think of no profession more important, more vital to a sane, humane and secure world.

“A knowledge of and respect for the law is something that will stand you in good stead no matter what you may ultimately do. As I see today’s world, the rule of law and due process, equal access to the law, represent values of great significance.”

Professor Carolyn Evans, Dean of Melbourne Law School, said the Law School welcomed the honouring of Mr Fraser.

“Without a doubt, Mr Fraser has made a substantial contribution to public life in Australia and beyond. The legal reforms instituted by the Fraser government include the passage of significant laws including the Aboriginal Land Rights Act (NT) and Australia’s first Freedom of Information Act,” said Professor Evans.

“The Fraser government also established important and enduring legal institutions including the position of Commonwealth Ombudsman and the Human Rights Commission, and since leaving government, Mr Fraser has played a significant role in international affairs, particularly in the Commonwealth.”

Speaking at the ceremony, Mr Fraser inspired graduates with an ardent reminder of the responsibilities and challenges that will face those who dedicate their lives to law in the modern world.

“The law, its application not only of meaning but of intent, provides guidance for civilised societies both at home and abroad. The degrees you have so justly earned over years of hard work will have equipped you well to use the law, and where dilemmas exist, exercise rational judgement.”

Read the 2012 graduation address by the Rt Hon. Malcolm Fraser AC CH

Fri 10-Feb-12.

ALC Research Seminar - Saiban-in Seido in Japan, by Professsor Kent Anderson (ANU/ Uni of Adelaide).

Registration is essential

(Registration closes Thursday 9 February 2012)

Please click here to view the seminar flyer

Please click here to register online

Mon 13-Feb-12, 3:00PM.

ALC Brown Bag Seminar - Family Law in Japan, by Justice Kiyoko Okabe.

PLEASE NOTE: Registrations are essential

To view a copy of the seminar flyer, please click here

To register, please click here

Wed 15-Feb-12, 10:30AM.

'The WTO and International Investment Law: From Separation to Engagement'.

(Convenor: Associate Professor Jürgen Kurtz, Director, International Investment Law Research Programme, Institute for International Law and the Humanities, Melbourne Law School.)

Professor Andrew Mitchell of Melbourne Law School will act as a commentator to the two presentations.

Abstract: Modern international law protections for foreign trade and investment were born of roughly the same period. Yet the post-Second World War inception of these sub-disciplines of international economic law was grounded in distinct strategic imperatives. Their evolution too has been marked by institutional divergence and often, at least among certain commentators and even within separate government departments, a perception of the other as irrelevant (at best) or deep distrust (at worst). In recent years however, there has been a growing engagement between the World Trade Organization and bilateral/regional investment treaties rooted in a series of complex political, economic and sociological phenomena. This seminar aims to assess these shifts and trace doctrinal and normative trajectories.

Dr Tomer Broude is the Sylvan M Cohen Chair in Law, Senior Lecturer at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in the Faculty of Law and Department of International Relations and the Academic Director of the Minerva Center for Human Rights in Jerusalem. His fields of research are in public international law, with a focus on international economic law, international human rights, and migration and refugee law. In 2007-09, he served as Co-Chair of the International Economic Law Interest Group of the American Society of International Law; he is one of the founders of the Society of International Economic Law and a member of its Executive Council, and a Member of the International Law Association's Committee on the International Law of Sustainable Development. In 2011 he was appointed to the WTO’s indicative list of governmental and non-governmental dispute settlement panelists.

Giorgio Sacerdoti is Professor of International Law and European Law (Jean Monnet chair) at Bocconi University, Milan, Italy, since 1986. From 2001 to 2009 he was a Judge at the World Trade Organisation’s Court in Geneva (the WTO “Appellate Body”) and its Chairman in 2006-7. Professor Sacerdoti has been Vice-Chairman of the OECD Working Group on Bribery in International Business Transactions until 2001, where he chaired the drafting committee of the OECD Anticorruption Convention of 1997. He has been a member of the Milan bar since 1969 and is currently of Counsel at Eversheds Bianchini in Milan. He frequently serves as arbitrator in international commercial disputes and has chaired various arbitral tribunals at the World Bank’s Investment Arbitration Centre (ICSID), hearing disputes between States and foreign investors under Bilateral Investment Treaties.

FLYER.

Date:
Wednesday, 15 February 2012

Time:
12.45 – 2.00pm (light lunch at 12.45pm)

Venue:
Room 104, Level 1, Melbourne Law School (185 Pelham St, Parkville)

Register here:
LINK

Contact details:
Vesna Stefanovski, IILAH (03) 8344 6589 or law-iilah@unimelb.edu.au

Wed 15-Feb-12, 12:45PM.

The Rome Statute Ten Years On: Where to from here for the ICC?.

2012 Peter Brett Memorial Lecture

Mrs Fatou Bensouda of the Gambia, currently Deputy Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), has been elected to succeed Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo when his nine-year term expires in the middle of 2012. She will visit Melbourne Law School to discuss the challenges of her new role.

Mrs Bensouda will assume the role of Prosecutor of the ICC at a critical stage of the Court's history.
“[I am]....committed to the goals of the Court and the legal mandate entrusted to the Prosecutor to end impunity for those responsible for the gravest offenses, bringing justice to their victims, and preventing future crimes.”

In her lecture she will discuss some of the challenges she expects to face in consolidating the current cases before the Court, all seven of which involve African countries, gaining custody of indicted accused still at large and in extending the Court's caseload to other regions of the world.

Registration is essential for this free public lecture.

About Mrs Fatou Bensouda
Previous to her current appointment (2004) to the ICC, Mrs Bensouda held a number of senior government positions in the Gambia. Between 1987 and 1993, she was successively Public Prosecutor, Senior State Counsel, and Principal State Counsel. Subsequently she served as Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions, and Solicitor-General and Legal Secretary of the Gambia before her appointment as Attorney-General and Minister of Justice of the Gambia (1998–2000).

She also acted as Senior Legal Adviser and Head of the Legal Advisory Unit of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (2002-2004)

Click here to register

Fri 17-Feb-12, 6:00PM.