Melbourne Law School News

Law Dean Critical of Labor?s ?Pacific Solution?.

Professor James C. Hathaway, Dean of the Melbourne Law School and a leading expert in international refugee law, has argued that Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s recent appeal to Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to detain a boat-load of Sri Lankans off Krakatoa Island is reminiscent of the Howard government’s highly-criticised ‘Pacific Solution’ scheme.

To read Professor Hathaway’s article, ‘Labor’s subtler Pacific Solution is just as shameful’, published in The Canberra Times, 19 October, 2009, click here (The same article, published under the title ‘On one point, Ruddock is right’, appeared in the National Times, 19 October 2009).

For comments made by Professor Hathaway on ABC TV’s News Breakfast segment, ‘Asylum problem needs “Australian Solution”’, 29 October 2009, click here.

Professor Hathaway has also recently been interviewed as follows:

‘Debate mounts over asylum seekers’, Lateline, ABC TV, 2 November 2009

‘Indonesian Solution’, Australia Talks, ABC Radio National, 2 November 2009

Tue 20-Oct-09.

Law Dean to return to full-time academic work on refugee law.

Mon 2-Nov-09.

2010 WTO Moot Court Team Announced.

The Melbourne Law School is delighted to announce the 2010 WTO Moot Court Melbourne team. Congratulations to Dean Merriman (2nd year JD), Kathryn Tomasic (3rd year LLB), Brendan Fitzgerald (3rd year LLB) and Timothy Lau (3rd year LLB) on their selection. The team is coached by Rudi Kruse, and Associate Professor Andrew Mitchell is the academic supervisor.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) has a unique dispute settlement system, with compulsory jurisdiction, appellate review, and a heavy caseload. The cases that come before it are often highly sensitive politically.

The Melbourne WTO team will be competing in the European Law Students' Association Moot Court Competition on WTO Law. Competing teams represent both the complainant and the respondent in a simulated case by preparing written submissions and presenting oral arguments before a mock WTO Panel. The regional round will be held in Adelaide in March 2010, and the international finals will be held in the Dominican Republic in June 2010. The 2009-2010 problem relates to national treatment in international trade, freedom of transit, and intellectual property, and the relationship between the WTO and regional free-trade agreements.

Melbourne Law School has a proud history of success in this competition, with previous teams achieving outstanding results, including winning the global competition in 2006-2007 and 2008-2009. Melbourne Law School wishes the 2009-2010 team the very best for the written submissions and regional oral round and thanks Telstra for its support.

Fri 6-Nov-09.

Dean announces degree partnerships with Oxford, NYU and CUHK.

Melbourne Law School has confirmed its place as Australia’s global law school by offering its students the chance to earn combined degrees in law from Oxford University, New York University and Chinese University Hong Kong, Dean Professor James Hathaway has announced.

From 2010, students in the Melbourne Juris Doctor (JD) will be able to earn an additional degree from any of these premier law schools – a first in Australia in terms of quality, variety and opportunity.

These degrees give Melbourne JD students access to the tradition and unquestionable calibre of Oxford, the cosmopolitan vibrancy and global reach of New York University and the opportunity to meet the next generation of Asian legal and business leaders at Chinese University Hong Kong.

“Ultimately, these programs give Melbourne JD students unparalleled access to the international job market and strengthen their ability to compete domestically - a critical advantage in these challenging times”, said Professor Hathaway.

Melbourne Law School will offer the following new programs next year:

Oxford University
Melbourne Juris Doctor (JD) + Oxford Bachelor of Civil Law (BCL) or Oxford Masters in Law and Finance (MLF).

Oxford BCL is the most highly esteemed masters-level qualification in the common law world.
Each combined program consists of 3.5 years study, 2.5 years at Melbourne and 1 year at Oxford.
Once enrolled at Melbourne, students may apply during their fourth semester to study Oxford’s BCL. Applicants will be assessed on four semesters of academic results.
Students will be eligible to apply for bursaries, scholarships and other available financial support, including the Myers Scholarship.

Read more about Oxford’s BCL or MLF programs

New York University
Melbourne Juris Doctor (JD) + NYU Master of Laws (LLM)

NYU is a Top 5 US law school.
Students will have access to NYU’s extensive legal career service, including placements and internships - 98% of students gain their first choice of job after graduating.
Combined program consists of 3.5 years of study, 2.5 years at Melbourne and 1 year at NYU.
Once enrolled at Melbourne, students may apply during their fourth semester to study NYU’s LLM. Applicants will be assessed on four semesters of academic results.
Students will be eligible to apply for bursaries, scholarships and other available financial support.

Chinese University Hong Kong
Melbourne Juris Doctor (JD) + CUHK Master of Laws in Chinese Business Law (CBL LLM)

The world’s only postgraduate program in Chinese Business law taught in English
This program brings together the top graduates and lawyers from across Asia.
Combined program consists of 3 years of study, 2.5 years at Melbourne and one academic term at CUHK.
Once enrolled at Melbourne, students may apply during their fourth semester to study CUHK’s LLM. Applicants will be assessed on four semesters of academic results.
Students pay tuition to Melbourne in the semester abroad. No additional tuition will be charged by CUHK.

Learn more about the opportunities that await you in the Melbourne JD.

Media release

Note: Further details of these programs will be available subject to pending ratification of University of Melbourne’s Academic Board.

Mon 9-Nov-09.

Billing Methods Focus of Landmark Report.

The first in-depth report of its type in Australia examining the current debate between hourly billing and alternative billing methods (ABMs) has been launched at the recent National Conference of the Australian Corporate Lawyers Association (ACLA).

Among the findings of the IKD Roundtable Report on Legal Billing in Australia, co-written by Melbourne Law School’s senior lecturer Andrew Godwin and senior fellow Dr Benny Tabalujan, is that, with increasing use of ABMs, there will be critical implications for law firms, as for many law firms, their remuneration and management structure is heavily dependent on hourly billing. Mr Godwin said that “With the increasing rise of ABMs, there will be pressure for law firms to review and modify these structures.”

The report was launched by Steven Stevens, president-elect of the Law Institute of Victoria, on 12 November 2009 at an event supported by the Institute of Knowledge Development (IKD) , ACLA and the Melbourne Law School.

For more information about the Report, please see the following release.

Thu 12-Nov-09.

ARC Funding Success.

The Australian Research Council grants results have been announced and the Melbourne Law School has again performed strongly in the recent round.

Eight Discovery Grants and two Linkage Grants amounting to approximately $2 million in funding, have been awarded for an array of projects which reflect the depth and breadth of talented researchers in the Law School.

The results constitute a success rate of 53% for Discovery Projects and 100% for Linkages this year. The Law School received over 30% of the Discovery grants and funding granted in the Law and Justice area in Australia.

This success is also mirrored in the University of Melbourne’s overall results, which see the University leading the national results.

To read about the Melbourne Law School projects which have successfully attracted funding, please click here (ARC Discovery Projects) and here (ARC Linkage Projects).

Thu 12-Nov-09.

Former Dean Michael Crommelin to lead Melbourne Law School in 2010.

Eminent legal scholar and academic administrator Professor Michael Crommelin has accepted the role of Dean of the Melbourne Law School at the University of Melbourne. Professor Crommelin’s appointment follows the recent decision of the current Dean Professor James Hathaway to return to full-time academic work on international refugee law.

The Zelman Cowen Professor of Law at the University of Melbourne, Michael Crommelin has served with great distinction as Dean of the School on two occasions - from 1989 to 2002 and, after a year as visiting professor at Georgetown University in the US, from 2003 to 2007. He has spent the last two years re-establishing his international academic career in energy and resources law and constitutional and comparative law, and teaching in the Melbourne JD and Melbourne Law Masters. Widely-respected as a scholar and leader, Professor Crommelin was made an Officer of the Order of Australia for service to the law and to legal education, particularly as a tertiary educator.

His appointment as Dean comes after an extensive consultation by the Vice-Chancellor Professor Glyn Davis with academic and professional staff of the Melbourne Law School who provided feedback on an appropriate process to select a new Dean. Professor Davis says there was a strong staff support for a two-step process – an interim appointment to the position now and a thorough search during 2010 to appoint a new Dean.

“I am delighted that Professor Crommelin has agreed to serve as Dean through 2010 and, if necessary, beyond until a new permanent Dean can take up the role.

“He is undertaking this task in the spirit of optimism and excitement for the future of the Melbourne Law School. He has immense faith in the capacity of his colleagues in the Melbourne Law School to develop original and imaginative programs, to teach with gusto and flair and to undertake exceptional research projects. His enthusiasm for the strength of the MLS is an infectious as ever.”

As the initial architect of the Melbourne Law School’s JD program, Professor Crommelin believes the MLS is well-placed to be the pre-eminent law school in Australia for both teaching and research and one that is highly-regarded internationally.

“In the Melbourne JD, law students study not only with those from diverse, multidisciplinary backgrounds, but also those who have firmly-decided that law is the right career choice for them - rather than being there simply because they got exceptional marks.”

While the implementation of the Melbourne JD is still in the transition stage (until 2011) it is successfully recruiting first-class students and Professor Crommelin believes it is giving clear signals to the community of the MLS’ strong commitment to continuing to be an innovative leader in legal education in Australia and abroad.

Wed 18-Nov-09.

Public Interest Law Careers Fair.

The inaugural Melbourne Law School Public Interest Law Fair, organised by the Careers Office, was held on the evening of Tuesday 13 October. Over 100 students took the opportunity to discuss their careers and aspirations with representatives from a variety of organisations working in the public interest law area, including the Aurora Project, Australian Conversation Foundation, Environmental Defenders' Office Victoria, Federation of Community Legal Centres, Friends of International Humanitarian Law, Lawyers Beyond Borders, Liberty Victoria, Office of Police Integrity, Public Interest Law Clearing House (PILCH), Tenants' Union of Victoria, Victoria Legal Aid, Victorian Government Solicitor's Office, Villamanta Disability Rights Legal Service, Welfare Rights Unit and Youthlaw.

The Fair was also an opportunity for these organisations to promote and engage the future legal leaders in the valuable work that they do.

The Public Interest Law Careers Fair, which it is anticipated will now be an annual event, is part of the Career Pathways program, the aim of which is to continually raise students’ awareness of the diverse range of careers open to law graduates.

Pictured above are students Pavel Sraj, Oliver Ramsay and Adelaide Rief at the Fair.

Thu 19-Nov-09.

Centre for Islamic Law and Society and National Centre of Excellence in Islamic Studies Postgraduate Conference 2009.

Conference Website

Mon 23-Nov-09, 9:00AM.

INTERNATIONALISATION OR ISOLATION: THE AUSTRALIAN CUL DE SAC? THE CASE OF CONTRACT LAW.

Justice Finn was appointed to the Federal Court of Australia in 1995, having previously been a Professor of Law in the Research School of Social Sciences at the Australian National University. He is a graduate of the Universities of Queensland, London and Cambridge and is the author and editor of a number of books. He is currently a Professorial Fellow of the University of Melbourne and has been appointed the Arthur Goodhart Professor of Legal Science at the University of Cambridge in 2010/11. Since his appointment to the Federal Court, Justice Finn has heard a number of very large long-term contract cases. He was a member of the Second Working Group and is currently a member of the Third Working Group on Unidroit¹s Principles of International Commercial Contracts.

Registration

Refreshments will be available from 5.00pm

Mon 23-Nov-09, 5:30PM.

ALC/CILS Research Seminar: Growing Together in Partnership: Women's Views of the Business Practices of an Islamic Savings and Credit Cooperative.

View the Seminar Flyer

Tue 24-Nov-09, 1:00PM.

Book launch by the Honourable Justice Kenneth Hayne.

Melbourne Law School’s Obligations Group is pleased to invite you to the launch by the Honourable Justice Kenneth Hayne of two books:

The Change of Position Defence, by Associate Professor Elise Bant; and
The Goals of Private Law, edited by Professor Andrew Robertson and Associate Professor Tang Hang Wu.

Both books are published by Hart Publishing, Oxford.

The Change of Position Defence, by Elise Bant
The aim of this book is to define and explain the operation of the defence of change of position in Anglo-Australian law. It is a widely accepted view that the defence is a modern development, the first express recognition of which can be traced in England to the seminal 1991 decision of the House of Lords in Lipkin Gorman (a firm) v Karpnale Ltd. Commentators have accordingly tended to focus on post-Lipkin case law in discussing the defence and its operation.This work takes a different stance, arguing that the defence is best understood by placing it within its broader historical and legal context. Part one commences this process by considering the law of estoppels, the agent’s defence of payment over and the doctrines of rescission, all areas which are shown to shed considerable light on the change of position defence. This analysis lays the foundations for the examination of the defence in a manner consistent with the law as a whole-the task of part two of the book. Here the features of the defence are identified, examined and clarified by reference to the authorities on the defence, considerations of policy and principle and the lessons derived from the doctrines and defences discussed in part one. The book concludes by assessing the ongoing relationship between change of position and other related defences in the light of the analysis in part two.
This work demonstrates that, properly understood, the change of position defence operates in a rational and justifiable manner within its broader private law context. The analysis thereby meets the concern that the defence operates in an unprincipled way or by reference to ‘that vague jurisprudence which is sometimes attractively styled “justice as between man and man” ’.

The Goals of Private Law, edited by Andrew Robertson and Tang Hang Wu
This collection contributes to a fundamentally important set of debates about the nature of private law. The essays consider whether private law should be seen as having goals and, if so, whether those goals are particular to private as opposed to public law. They consider the legitimacy of the pursuit of community welfare goals in private law and the place of instrumentalist thinking in private law scholarship. They explore the relationship between the pursuit of policy goals and the other influences that shape private law, such as the formal values of certainty, consistency and coherence and the need to do justice to the parties to particular disputes. The collection analyses the role that particular policy goals do and should play in particular private law doctrines, and contributes to debate about the relationship between community welfare goals and considerations of interpersonal morality arising from the interactions between individuals. The contributors are drawn from across the common law world and offer a diverse range of perspectives on the controversies under consideration.
Contributors include: Roderick Bagshaw (Oxford), Erika Chamberlain (Western Ontario), Hanoch Dagan (Tel Aviv), Anthony Duggan (Toronto), Matthew Harding (Melbourne), Steve Hedley (University College Cork), William Lucy (Manchester), Mayo Moran (Toronto), Donal Nolan (Oxford), Stephen Perry (Pennsylvania), Craig Rotherham (Nottingham), Emily Sherwin (Cornell), Stephen Smith (McGill), Robert Stevens (UCL), Yock Lin Tan (Singapore), Graham Virgo (Cambridge) and Charlie Webb (LSE).

To register please email mardi.richardson@unimelb.edu.au

Thu 26-Nov-09, 6:00PM.

CCCS: International and Comparative Perspectives on Constitutional Law.

This year the Centre for Comparative Constitutional Studies will mark its 21^st Birthday with a major Conference on 27 November.

The conference is a public event which we expect to be attended by constitutional law scholars from Australia and the region as well as leading practitioners and judges. Consistently with the Centre’s focus on Australian and comparative constitutional law, the Conference will provide a forum for reflection on major recent cases in Australian and foreign courts as well as the central themes of comparative constitutional law.

The conference will be followed in the evening with a dinner. I hope that the dinner will provide an occasion for a celebration of the Centre’s contributions to comparative constitutional studies and for some acknowledgment of the work of its founding Director, Professor Cheryl Saunders, and others associated with the Centre.

The program will feature a small number of leading scholars of constitutional law from Australia and overseas and one or two eminent judges. The Chief Justice of Australia, the Hon. Robert French, will be a keynote speaker and the program will also feature Professor Sujit Choudhry of the University of Toronto.

REGISTRATION NOW OPEN

PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR A PROGRAM AND TO REGISTER

Fri 27-Nov-09, 9:00AM.