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Welcome to the second edition of the Melbourne LLB Newsletter for 2008. The purpose of this publication is to inform you of key issues and events related to your studies. If you need any further clarification on anything, please contact the Melbourne Law School Student Centre on 8344 4475, or the contact listed.
The Doctor as Meat in the Legal Sandwich: Conflict between State and Federal Legislation
Speaker: Dr John McBain, Director, Melbourne IVF, Royal Women’s Hospital
When: Tuesday 11 March 2008 at 12:45 to 1:45pm
Where: GM15, Melbourne Law School
Topic to be confirmed
Speaker: The Hon Justice Michael D Kirby, AC, CMG, High Court of Australia
When: Tuesday 18 March 2008 at 12:45 to 1:45pm
Where: GM15, Melbourne Law School
Details of all forthcoming guest lectures for Semester 1, 2008, are available here.
university of melbourne human rights forum: public lectures
Torture Doesn't Happen in Australia, Does It? Views from the United Nations Committee against Torture
The University of Melbourne Human Rights Forum Lunchtime Lecture Series for 2008 will begin on Wednesday 12 March.
Ben Schokman from the Human Rights Law Resource Centre will discuss his recent experience appearing before the UN Committee Against Torture in Geneva.
In May this year, the UN Committee against Torture will consider how the Australian Government is complying with its obligations under the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Last year, lawyers from the Human Rights Law Resource Centre travelled to Geneva to provide written and oral submissions to the Committee. The issues raised before the Committee included serious concerns in relation to Australia's counter terrorism laws, the mandatory detention of asylum seekers, the state of Australia's prisons and particular issues affecting Indigenous Australians. Ben Schokman will be speaking about how issues of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment relate to law, policy and practice in Australia, as well as stories from Geneva and his experience before the UN Committee against Torture.
Ben is a lawyer with the Human Rights Law Resource Centre based in Melbourne. The Human Rights Law Resource Centre is Australia's first specialist human rights legal service and aims to promote and protect human rights through the practice of law. Ben's work at the HRLRC includes undertaking and supporting the provision of legal services, litigation, education, training, research, policy analysis and advocacy regarding human rights. Ben previously worked as a commercial litigator with Allens Arthur Robinson and has experience with a range of national and international NGOs. He recently undertook studies in Geneva with the International Service for Human Rights on how domestic NGOs can engage with international human rights mechanisms.
When: Wednesday 12 March 2008 at 1:00 to 2:00pm
Where:
Room 316, Alice Hoy Building, University of Melbourne
Defending Human Rights
The University of Melbourne Human Rights Forum presents a public lecture on the issue of Defending Human Rights by the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on Human Rights Defenders, Ms Hina Jilani.
Hina Jilani is the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on the situation of Human Rights Defenders. She is an advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and was a founding member of the Women’s Action Forum, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, and the first legal aid centre in Pakistan. Ms Jilani was a member of both the International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur established by the UN Security Council, and the United Nations Expert Group on Darfur.
Ms Jilani is the recipient of a number of awards, including the Human Rights Award of the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, the Millennium Peace Prize for Women, and the Human Rights Litigation Award of the American Bar Association.
Human rights defenders play a crucial role in protecting human rights. In this lecture Ms Jilani will explore the role that human rights defenders play in promoting the international framework and the need for mechanisms to protect their work. Ms Jilani is the 2008 international visitor of the University of Melbourne Human Rights Forum.
The lecture will be introduced by The Hon Justice Lex Lasry of the Supreme Court of Victoria.
When: Tuesday 1 April 2008 at 6:00pm (refreshments), 6:30 to 7:30pm (lecture)
Where: Melbourne Law School
Please RSVP to human-rights@unimelb.edu.au by Thursday 27 March 2008.
graduate careers fair: big fair out
Careers and Employment's Graduate Careers Fair has 170 employers participating. They will be available to talk with University of Melbourne students about their graduate employment opportunities.
The Fair is open to all students, particularly those in their final year of undergraduate or postgraduate studies. 63 employers have indicated they will consider international students.
When: Wednesday 12 March 2008 at 12:00 to 4:30pm
Where: Royal Exhibition Building, Carlton Gardens
Enquiries: Toni Waugh, tel 03 8344 6555, email toniw@unimelb.edu.au
the co-operative constitution? inter-institutional ‘dialogue’ and the separation of powers after the human rights act 1998
The Centre for Comparative Constitutional Studies is pleased to invite you to a seminar by Roger Masterman.
Roger Masterman is a Lecturer in Law at the University of Durham, UK. He is a graduate of King’s College London and has worked previously at the Constitution Unit, University College London. He is author, with Ian Leigh, of the forthcoming Making Rights Real: The Human Rights Act in its First Decade and editor, with Helen Fenwick and Gavin Phillipson, of Judicial Reasoning under the UK Human Rights Act. During 2007-2008 he is conducting research on an AHRC funded project examining the separation of powers doctrine in the British constitution.
When: Thursday 13 March 2008 at 1:00 to 2:00pm
Where: Room 920, Level 9, Melbourne Law School
RSVP: Dr Madeline Grey by Tuesday 11 March 2008, tel 03 8344 1011 or email law-cccs@unimelb.edu.au
legal conceptualization of security council 'sanctions'
IILaH Seminar
Speaker: Ms Devika Hovell
In recent times, the Security Council has come under significant criticism for its failure to ensure procedural fairness in its decision-making process on sanctions. Cases such as Kadi and Yusuf in the European context have highlighted the alarmingly arbitrary nature by which individuals have been placed on Security Council “blacklists”, leading to a world-wide freeze on their assets and travel bans. As a precursor to the development of normative standards applicable to the Security Council, it is necessary to consider the nature and role of sanctions under international law – are they criminal measures, administrative measures, emergency measures? The paper will draw on analogies from domestic jurisdictions (including criminal, administrative and preventive measures such as ASBOs and terrorist control orders), together with theories of legal punishment and censure, to arrive at a conceptualization of international sanctions.
Devika Hovell is writing a DPhil at the University of Oxford on UN Sanctions, Security Council Decision-Making and Procedural Safeguards. Previously, she was a Lecturer and Director of the International Law Project at the University of New South Wales. She has worked as a judge’s associate at the International Court of Justice and the High Court of Australia
When: Thursday 3 April 2008 at 12:45 to 2:00pm (light lunch provided)
Where:
Room 920, Melbourne Law School
Enquiries: Ms Vesna Stefanovski, tel 03 8344 6589, email law-iilah@unimelb.edu.au
RSVP by 1 April 2008.
ilss careers dinner and international careers guidebook
The inaugural International Law Students Society Careers Dinner will provide students with an invaluable opportunity to dine with top tier firm representatives and senior academic staff. It will also serve as the official launch of the International Careers Guidebook and be a fitting conclusion to International Careers Week.
When: 10 April 2008 at 7:00pm
Where: Studio 3, Crown Entertainment Complex
Tickets: $60, available from the ILSS Office
Dress Code: Corporate Cocktail
aurora project native title legal internship information session
There will be a student-run lunchtime information session about the Aurora Project Native Title Legal Internship on Tuesday 11 March 2008 at 1:00pm in Room 222.
Two students who undertook placements with a Native Title Representative Bodies (NTRBs) based in Melbourne and Perth and over the summer break will talk briefly about their experiences. There will be an opportunity for students who are interested in applying for an Aurora Project Legal Internship over the winter break to ask questions about the application process and what to expect when undertaking an internship.
The Aurora Project provides law students with experience working within the Native Title system. It recognizes that many Native Title Representative Bodies are under-resourced and it aims to support these bodies and other Indigenous institutions through capacity building and raising awareness of the work that they do. Through student placements, students have the opportunity to gain insights into the dynamics of the legal structures around native title as well as the practical aspects of working within it.
For more information about the Aurora Project, visit their website.
For more information about undertaking the subject Legal Internship for credit, please refer to the Legal Internship subject page.
Applications for Winter 2008 internships will be open from 3 March to 28 March 2008.
victoria law foundation legal policy internship
This internship is for law students studying at Victorian universities with a career interest in legal research, policy development, community legal education (including legal publishing) and legal and community sector capacity-building and development.
If successful you will undertake a 20 day placement during university holidays or by arrangement. Placements will be made with public sector agencies, community groups, government, the judiciary and other legal institutions.
The internship is a pro bono commitment, although a lump-sum honorarium of $400 is paid to interns on completion of the internship. The honorarium is intended to cover out of pocket expenses.
Please note that the internship cannot be undertaken for credit toward a university subject.
How do I apply?
Applications should be forwarded to internship@victorialaw.org.au or by post to:
Internship Manager
Victoria Law Foundation
Level 5
Hardware House
43 Hardware Lane
MELBOURNE VIC 3000
Tel (03) 9604 8100
Group interviews will be conducted in early May 2008. A decision will be made in late May or early June for both mid-year and summer placements.
Applications must be received by close of business on 18 April 2008.
For further details and selection criteria see our website.
A reminder for all law students that the Law Students Society Living Book Scheme is open for applications. The LBS is intended to provide financially disadvantaged students with required books and printed materials. If you believe you may be eligible to participate in the LBS, please download the application form and submit the completed form to Student Financial Aid (on main campus in the Baldwin Spencer building), and send us an email to notify us that you have applied.
Successful applicants will be able to use required books from the LBS library throughout the semester, as well as receive their printed materials free of charge.
Applications close at 5pm on Friday 14 March 2008.
For further details, email Jess and Jenny (LSS Equality Vice-Presidents).
Please send any feedback/comments or suggestions you have about this newsletter to Tom Hewitt-McManus.
previous editions of LLB newsletter
Previous editions of the newsletter are available on the Melbourne LLB website.
