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Welcome to the sixth edition of the Melbourne LLB Newsletter for 2009. 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.
Melbourne Law School is currently investigating how we can enhance the LLB experience – and we want to know what you think!
We invite all LLB students to participate in a Survey. The purpose of the Survey is to find out what the Law School can do to make the LLB degree, and the time you spend in the Law School, the best experience possible - particularly during this period of change for the Law School.
Participation in the Survey is, of course, entirely voluntary. We encourage you though to take this opportunity to have your say on a series of topics, ranging from optional subjects to social events.
Go online to access the LLB Student Survey
Click here to find out more about the Survey and to answer its questions.
The Survey is open now and will remain open until midnight on Friday 22 May 2009. All Survey responses are completely anonymous.
Sign-up to win one of seven Readings gift certificates
At the end of the Survey, you will be directed to a separate website where, if you choose to, you can enter your name to go into a draw for one of seven Readings gift certificates. Please note that your name cannot be correlated with your Survey responses, so your responses will remain anonymous whether or not you choose to enter the draw.
Any queries or concerns about the Survey can be directed to Carrie McDougall on 8344 8140 or at c.mcdougall@unimelb.edu.au.
meeting with associate dean (undergraduate)
In the final week of this teaching semester, Associate Professor Maureen Tehan, Associate Dean (Undergraduate), will be available to answer questions and discuss any issues students may have in relation to any aspect of the LLB at the last of her regular informal meetings which were held during Semester 1, 2009. The date, time, and venue for the meeting will be made available shortly.
You are encouraged to take advantage of this opportunity to obtain information on your course, discuss difficulties, make suggestions, and generally contribute to ensuring the LLB program works well and meets your needs.
101 Things to do with a Law Degree
Speaker: Ms Susanna Lobez, Writer, Co-Author Gangland Australia (Melbourne University Press)
When: Tuesday 26 May 2009 at 12:45 to 1:45pm
Where: G08, Melbourne Law School
The Guest Lecture Series is a series of weekly lectures in law and legal practice for Melbourne Law School students. All LLB students are invited and strongly encouraged to attend all lectures in the Melbourne Guest Lecture Series.
Notes from some previous guest lectures are available on the Melbourne Law School Careers Office website (follow the link for the Guest Lecture Series).
melbourne conversation (professor peer zumbansen)
Limited places available. Don't miss out!
Join a discussion with a prominent lecturer and author from York University, Canada. Professor Peer Zumbansen holds the Chair for the Transnational and Comparative Law of Corporate Governance at Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, Canada. He is founder and Director of the Comparative Research in Law and Political Economy Network at Osgoode Hall and of the collaborative urban research laboratory. Professor Zumbansen is also the Associate Dean for Research, Graduate Studies and Institutional Relations. He has authored books and articles on private and corporate law, international law and legal theory. His current research focuses on comparative corporate governance, comparative law, and legal education reform, and he is co-founder and co-editor in chief of the German Law Journal.
When: Wednesday 27 May 2009 at 5:00pm
Where: Graduate Lounge, Level 6, Melbourne Law School
Associate Professor Cally Jordan will host the discussion.
Places are limited. If you wish to attend, please RSVP Helen Green, Careers Office.
Conversations are open to Melbourne Law School students only.
key thinkers seminar series 2009
Key Thinkers is a series of public lectures held every Thursday evening during the teaching semester. Academics from the University of Melbourne, with occasional guests, will give an hour-long talk on internationally well-known thinkers whose works have inspired their own. This will be followed by thirty minutes of questions and discussion. This is a cross-faculty initiative and the thinkers are chosen from very diverse fields and disciplines. The lecturers are all highly experienced presenters and the content of the lectures will be aimed at a lay audience but with enough complexity to also appeal to more specialized listeners.
Further details and a schedule are available in the flyer.
transnational law and transnational legal pluralism: methodological observations
Institute for International Law and the Humanities Seminar
Speaker: Professor Peer Zumbansen, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, Canada
Convenor: Professor Anne Orford
Today, as governments and civil society actors work through the challenges of a continually unfolding economic crisis, the relative historical and socio-economic embeddedness of various proposed ‘responses’ must be understood as starting points, not as obstacles in the search of remedies. While the global dimension of the crisis suggests the need of global responses, such efforts should not come at the price of disregarding particular local regulatory experiences and normative trajectories.
A comparative perspective on law and political economies allows us to more adequately assess the evolution of embedded regulatory responses and their contestations: seen through a legal pluralist lens, law and regulation appear as part of a continuing transformation of national legal orders and political economies, both as sociological objects and as discursive practices. In order, however, to grasp the increasingly transterritorial nature of public and private spaces in which particular instantiations and developments of ‘law’ and ‘regulation’ are recognized, it is necessary to complement the comparative law and political economy perspective with a distinctly transnational dimension. It is on the transnational level, that the proliferation of public, private and increasingly hybrid, quasi-political transnational actors that seek to regulate and to influence human affairs, is both lauded and criticized with regard to numerous open questions concerning these actors’ legitimacy, authority and accountability. While lawyers tend to address these concerns by attempting to re-embed transnational governance actors into traditional concepts of the state or of civil society, non-lawyers offer intriguing perspectives on the normativity challenges of transnational governance that both build on and reach beyond learned state-society distinctions. Against this background, the concept of ‘transnational legal pluralism’ [TLP] goes beyond Philip Jessup’s 1956 proposal of complementing and challenging Public and Private International Law with the idea of ‘transnational law’: TLP brings together insights from legal sociology, comparative law and legal theory with research on ‘global justice’, ethics and regulatory theory. Such a concept might allow us to illuminate and assess the methodological premises of contemporary investigations into transnational or, global governance.
Professor Peer Zumbansen holds the Chair for the Transnational and Comparative Law of Corporate Governance at Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, Canada. He is founder and Director of the Comparative Research in Law and Political Economy Network at Osgoode Hall and of the collaborative urban research laboratory. Professor Zumbansen is also the Associate Dean for Research, Graduate Studies and Institutional Relations. He has authored books and articles on private and corporate law, international law and legal theory. His current research focuses on comparative corporate governance, comparative law, and legal education reform, and he is co-founder and co-editor in chief of the German Law Journal.
When: Wednesday 3 June 2009 at 5:30pm (refreshments), 6:00pm (seminar)
Where: Room 920, Melbourne Law School
RSVP: law-iilah@unimelb.edu.au or register online.
national human rights institutions workshop - call for papers
Creating Change? NHRIs (In)Action in the Asia-Pacific Region
The Institute for International Law and the Humanities (IILAH) and the Postgraduate Law Students Association (PLSA) will co-host a National Human Rights Institutions (NHRI) Workshop, entitled Creating Change? NHRIs’ (In)Action in the Asia-Pacific Region, at the Melbourne Law School on Wednesday 22 July 2009.
Convenors: Professor Dianne Otto, Melbourne Law School and Ms Megan Brodie, PhD Candidate, Melbourne Law School
Since the 1990s NHRIs have been promoted as a possible bridge between international human rights standards and their domestic implementation. The international community, through the UN, has seen these institutions as part of a long-term strategy to advance sustained human rights change. In the Asia-Pacific region, NHRIs have an important role to play in the absence of a regional human rights mechanism. As scholarship about the experiences of particular Asia-Pacific NHRIs develops, and in the context of practical efforts to found new institutions across the region and support existing ones, the NHRI Workshop presents an opportunity to further collective efforts in this area.
The NHRI Workshop is seeking scholarly papers that provide an in-depth analysis of specific achievements or particular challenges which NHRIs in the Asia-Pacific region face. In looking at achievements participants may wish to focus on NHRI strategies, positive regional developments, or instances where a NHRI has taken a stand on a controversial human rights issue. Challenges may include NHRI independence, operating under different systems of government, or facing the imposition of new constraints following criticism of government. The Workshop aims to assess the extent to which these achievements and challenges have facilitated change in the promotion and protection of human rights.
Academics, practitioners, and students are invited to submit a 400 word abstract by 22 May 2009.
All applicants should email their proposal to vesnas@unimelb.edu.au with NHRI Workshop Proposal in the subject line.
Please email all questions regarding the NHRI Workshop to Professor Dianne Otto or Ms Meg Brodie.
australian american leadership dialogue - volunteers wanted
Expressions of interest are sought from later year students interested in acting as volunteers at the Australian American Leadership Dialogue to be held in Melbourne from 13 to 15 August 2009. Volunteers will be self-starters with strong organizational skills, a demonstrated interest in leadership, excellent communication skills, and preferably a demonstrated interest in the American-Australian relationship.
The Australian American Leadership Dialogue brings together a high level group of Americans and Australians drawn from politics, business, civil service, academia, and the media to engage on strategic issues and social issues facing the two countries. The Dialogue aims to broaden and deepen understanding between the USA and Australia in order to advance the intellectual, cultural, and economic well-being of American and Australian citizens.
Past attendees have included Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, Kevin Rudd, Peter Costello, and Kim Beazley.
Volunteers will need to be available during the Dialogue from 13 to 15 August 2009 inclusive. Students interested in volunteering for this unique opportunity should submit their resume to the Dean, Melbourne Law School, via Vanessa Shaw, Manager Student Affairs, Law Student Centre, along with a short statement in support (no more than one page) by Friday 29 May 2009.
new internship opportunity - refugee and immigration legal centre
New Internship Opportunity for LLB, JD, and Masters students
Refugee Law and Policy: Internship at Refugee and Immigration Legal Centre (RILC)
The Refugee and Immigration Legal Centre (RILC) in Melbourne is offering a six week full-time internship for a penultimate or final year law student. The intern will work in the recently-established RILC Special Projects and Policy Unit - the first of its kind in Australia - researching the operation of refugee and immigration law and policy in Australia, with a focus on the rights of asylum seekers within the refugee status determination process and the implementation of immigration detention policy. The internship provides a unique opportunity to undertake practice-based research within a legal centre which is a leader in the provision of free assistance and advocacy for refugees, asylum seekers and disadvantaged immigrants in Australia.
The internship may be undertaken as a six week block during university holidays (June/July 2009 or January/February 2010) or 2-3 days per week throughout the semester. Students interested in applying for the internship should contact Charlie Powles who is the Senior Policy Officer of the RILC Special Projects and Policy Unit and/or the relevant staff members of Melbourne Law School, Michelle Foster or John Tobin.
All coursework students (LLB, JD, and Masters) are eligible to apply for this internship.
As the Internship is full-time, applicants who are studying full-time will need to arrange completion of the Internship during the mid-year teaching break.
how to be a thinker not just a finder – when google is not enough
How to Evaluate Resources
This two hour workshop run by Natalie Wieland, Legal Research Skills Adviser, Melbourne Law School, focuses on understanding the different tools and resources available to you. Its objective is to assist students in evaluating what resource to use, and why, when conducting legal research.
It covers the following:
When: Friday 31 July 2009 at 11:00am to 1:00pm
Where: Large Computer Lab, Level 3, Law Library
You can book into this workshop online.
The Endeavour Awards is the Australian Government’s internationally competitive, merit-based scholarship program providing opportunities for citizens of the Asia-Pacific, Middle East, Europe, and the Americas to undertake study, research, and professional development in Australia. Awards are also available for Australians to do the same abroad.
Applications for the 2010 Endeavour Awards are now open and will close on 31 July 2009.
For more information regarding the Endeavour Awards, please refer to the 2010 Applicant Guidelines.
applications for cultural and community relations funds
Applications are now invited for funding assistance from the University's Cultural and Community Relations Advisory Group (CCRAG) during 2009.
The CCRAG is an advisory group to the Vice Chancellor on cultural and community relations matters, making recommendations for funding for University cultural and community activities and events. Funds are available to individuals and groups within the University and its community for projects of University-wide or broader public interest. Activities assisted in 2008 included conferences and seminars, athletic events, lunchtime concerts, student theatre, art exhibitions, community forums, public lectures, and student debating competitions.
For more information about the CCRAG and its activities, including application guidelines and application forms, please visit the CCRAG website.
Applications should be made on either the PDF application form or MS Word application form available on the CCRAG website.
The second round of applications for 2009 closes at 5:00pm on Friday 14 August 2009.
Further information can be obtained from the Secretary of the CCRAG, Lynda Gilbert, at l.gilbert@unimelb.edu.au or on 8344 9333.
assessment and progression course rules
As we are nearing the end of semester it is timely to remind you of the course rules relevant to assessment and progression. Please ensure that you are familiar with the course rules/polices on:
Students are asked to ensure that their contact details are kept up-to-date on the Student Information System (SIS). It is also helpful for students to provide a mobile number if possible. Please update your details here.
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.
