Research highlights

Victoria’s first Mental Health Complaints Commissioner

Ms Lynne Coulson Barr, a current doctoral candidate in the Faculty of Law, has been appointed Victoria’s first Mental Health Complaints Commissioner. See details of the new role. Ms Barr is currently enrolled in a Doctor of Juridical Science (SJD) program under the supervision of Associate Professor Bronwyn Naylor. Her research concerns the efficacy of decision making on the suitability of disputes for statutory conciliation.

In 2013, Ms Barr was awarded a Weinstein International Fellowship from the JAMS Foundation in the United States to undertake a study of alternative dispute resolution practices, one of only 12 people selected from around the world.

Ms Barr will apply the insights gained from this study tour, together with the findings from her current doctoral research on conciliation, to develop specialist approaches to complaint resolution in the mental health sector, with a focus on promoting effective access and outcomes for people with mental illness and their families.

Celebrating achievement: Future Fellowship Award for Associate Professor Anne-Maree Farrell

Associate Professor
Anne-Maree Farrell

For the first time in its 50 year history, the Faculty of Law at Monash has received a Future Fellowship. Associate Professor Anne-Maree Farrell was one of only three recipients of the fellowship awarded to Law for her project: Regulating Human Body Parts: Principles, Institutions and Politics.

Advances in scientific research and technological innovation have led to a huge growth in the use of human body parts in research and medicine, whether on their own or as part of a range of technologies. Adopting a predominantly legal analysis, this project considers whether a common approach to regulating across a range of human body parts is desirable for the purposes of managing risk, promoting innovation and enhancing legitimacy. In line with such purposes, new regulatory models and strategies will be formulated which will make a significant contribution to theoretical development on the topic in health law and regulation, as well as Australian and international policy and practice in the field.

Upcoming events

Commercial Law and Practice Seminars

The Faculty is very proud in its 50th anniversary year to be collaborating with both the Supreme Court and the Federal Court, together with other arms of the Victorian legal profession, in providing continuing professional education through a series of landmark seminars of topical relevance to commercial law and practice.

To that end, the Faculty's pre-existing involvement in the successful Commercial CPD Seminar Series continues this year under the chairmanship of Justice Clyde Croft from the Supreme Court of Victoria, with organising assistance from the Faculty and its Commercial Law Group, the Victorian Bar Association, the Law Institute of Victoria, and the Judicial College of Victoria.

The Faculty is also newly involved in a national seminar series on commercial matters within the jurisdiction of the Federal Court of Australia, in a collaboration between the Federal Court, the Commercial Bar Association of Victoria, and the Faculty and its Commercial Law Group.

Professional know-how

Public Interest Law Careers Guide

The Public Interest Law Careers Guide (which was created with the assistance of the Castan Centre for Human Rights Law) may be of interest to you if you are looking for job opportunities in this field.

• Castan Centre Careers guide website

Further study

The Faculty of Law offers a number of options for further study of the law to assist you with your legal practise, to improve your understanding of a particular area of law, to further develop your research and writing skills or to assist you in completing the mandatory CPD requirements of legal practice.