50th Anniversary: Celebration with Monash Alumni in Hong Kong

The Honourable
Dr Peter Costello AC

“The best law schools in the world have meaningful relationships with their alumni at home and abroad,” Professor Bryan Horrigan, Dean of the Monash Law Faculty said.

More than 60 people attended a Monash alumni dinner in Hong Kong in April with the Vice-Chancellor and President, and the Dean of Law, amongst many other prominent guests.

The dinner celebrated the Monash Law Faculty’s 50th anniversary and laid the foundations for some key local fundraising initiatives. Guests in attendance were alumni from the region, who occupy high level positions in government, business and law including judges, law firm partners, CEOs and other senior professionals.

This dinner was generously hosted by Monash Law alumnus and Group Chief Executive of Dairy Farm International, Mr Graham Allan and his wife Judy and we thank Mr and Mrs Allan for their kind and generous support in hosting this special event.

50th Anniversary: Eleventh Fiat Justitia Lecture: The Honourable Chief Justice Marilyn Warren AC

Left to right: Professor H P Lee, the Dean,
the Honourable Chief Justice Marilyn
Warren AC, the Honourable
Michael Black AC,
Professor Marilyn Pittard.

In our 50th anniversary year, the Faculty was honoured to have the Honourable Chief Justice Marilyn Warren AC of the Supreme Court of Victoria deliver the Eleventh Fiat Justitia Lecture.

Held in March at the Monash University Law Chambers, the Chief Justice gave us an eloquent, enlightening and highly relevant presentation on ‘The Access to Justice Imperative: Rights, Rationalisation or Resolution?’ with a speech entitled ‘How has the legal field and market changed?’.

This landmark address has already attracted considerable national publicity and we encourage you to view the presentation online.

50th Anniversary: The Great Law Week Debate - "The more laws, the less justice" (Cicero)

Mr Sam Whitney, Mr Tim Rankin,
Ms Elizabeth King, the Honourable
Justice Christine Thornton,
Associate Professor Adam McBeth,
the Honourable Professor Nahum Mushin,
Ms Catherine Dunlop, Associate Professor
Paula Gerber, Mr Richard Attiwill QC,
Ms Melinda Scaringi,
Professor Marilyn Pittard.

Our annual Great Law Week Debate was recently held during National Law Week. This year, a team of prominent Monash Law alumni competed against a team of current Monash Law staff on the highly controversial topic “The more laws, the less justice” (Cicero).

The Monash Law alumni team, arguing the affirmative case, consisted of Mr Richard Attiwill QC (BA 1992, LLB(Hons) 1992), a Queen’s Counsel since 2013, followed by Ms Catherine Dunlop (BEc 1993, LLB 1995), a highly regarded Partner at Maddocks and a lifelong member of the Monash Association of Debaters (MAD), and as third speaker, Ms Elizabeth King (LLB 1994), a well renowned barrister and academic.

Student enrichment: Linking to Industry – Clerkship Masterclass

As part of our career support program, the Monash Law Faculty piloted a day-long ‘Clerkship Masterclass’ for high achieving students about to start summer clerkships at law firms.

Our librarians assisted students in honing their practical legal research skills. Senior practitioners from the legal profession were also invited to share their insights, strategies and tips on working in a law firm. Monash Law alumni, Ms Nancy Collins and Ms Meagan Grose from Arnold Bloch Leibler, presented on Memo Writing, and Ms Jade Rowarth, a partner at Maddocks and a Monash Law alumna, outlined the nature of her work in mergers and acquisitions in her presentation: Getting the Deal Done.

Student enrichment: Maddocks Welcomes Students to High Achievers Program for 2014

Associate Professor
Kathy Laster, guest speaker
the Honourable Justice Kevin Bell,
and the 2014 Monash Law Faculty’s
High Achievers.

The 2014 Maddocks High Achievers Program began with a dinner at the offices of our sponsor, Maddocks, in March. The top 25 fourth-year LLB students and top 10 second-year JD students are selected each year to participate in this enrichment program.

The Honourable Justice Kevin Bell was the distinguished speaker. His Honour spoke of his experiences in practice, at the Bar, and eventually on the bench. Human rights and reconciliation through amendments to the Constitution provided a stirring call to legal arms for this talented group of future leaders in the legal community.

Also part of the Maddocks High Achievers Program in Semester 1 is the ‘Greet the Greats’ Program. Students are given the chance to meet distinguished members of the legal profession informally, in small groups, to gain valuable insight into what makes for a successful career in the law. We are grateful for the involvement of the following ‘Greats’ this year, including Supreme Court Justice the Honourable Justice Lex Lasry, barrister Dr Bryan Keon-Cohen AM QC and Victorian Government Solicitor Mr Peter Stewart, who all shared their knowledge and experience of professional life with our students.

Thank you to Maddocks for its sponsorship of this valuable program and to Associate Professor Kathy Laster who is responsible for running this program.

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.

Get involved

General

We provide a range of opportunities for alumni to remain engaged and for the legal industry to become involved with the Monash Law Faculty and encourage an ongoing relationship with the Faculty.

Current opportunities for your involvement include our regular events, lectures and seminars (some with CPD accreditation available), and networking activities.

To find out more about these opportunities please visit our websites:

• Monash Law Alumni
• Monash Faculty of Law events
• 50th Anniversary Events

Research centres and groups

The Faculty of Law also has several internationally renowned dedicated research Centres and Groups with their own distinct area of expertise. These Centres and Groups run events and provide opportunities for alumni and legal industry involvement. Please visit the relevant websites below to find out more about the work of our Centres and Groups and their upcoming events.

• Castan Centre for Human Rights Law
• Australian Centre for Justice Innovation
• Commercial Law Group
• Centre for Regulatory Studies

Pathways to Oxford and Cambridge

Our relationships with the Law Schools at The University of Oxford and The University of Cambridge are strengthening and we are interested to hear from Monash Law alumni who have undertaken postgraduate studies at these institutions and who could assist interested Monash Law students to transition to these institutions for further study.

We are also in the process of collating a record of all dual Monash/Oxford and Monash/Cambridge graduates.

If you have experience with postgraduate studies at Oxford or Cambridge and would like to be part of our network to assist us with these endeavours, please email us at law-alumni@monash.edu.

 

Ideas and support

We value your ongoing connection to and support of the Faculty and believe this is essential to ensuring that our graduates will remain of the highest calibre and our Law Faculty will continue to be amongst the best.

If you are interested to explore opportunities to become involved with us or have any ideas about engagement, please contact our Alumni Relations Manager, Elana Pose at Elana.Pose@monash.edu or on +61 3 9905 6883.

Alumni engagement: International Alumni Advisory Groups to the Dean

As part of the Faculty’s desire to deepen its engagement with the international alumni and legal industry community, the Dean travelled to Asia mid last year with Professor Edward Byrne (Vice-Chancellor and President), Mr Damien Farrell (Executive Director, External Relations, Development and Alumni) and Ms Nikkie Gazenbeek (Director, External Engagement). They met with a number of prominent legal and business leaders in the region and received an overwhelmingly warm and hospitable response from those with whom they met. They sensed a significant and genuine interest and enthusiasm to be involved with the Faculty from these representatives of the Monash Law alumni community in Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia.

Alumni engagement: The Great Sports Debate

From left: Mr Arthur Charlaftis,
GM Sales and Marketing
Operations REA Group,
Mr Peter Moore and
Professor Bryan Horrigan,
Dean of the Faculty of Law

Professor Bryan Horrigan was involved in a University-wide event late last year which promoted debating, acknowledged our dual Law and sports alumni and students, and raised awareness and support for a new University initiative. He chaired the Monash University Great Sports Debate at the Sofitel, Melbourne. This debate along with a dinner and the induction of two athletes into the Monash Sport Hall of Fame was a fundraising event to assist the University and Vice-Chancellor’s Professorial Fellow, Paul McNamee AM launch the Enhanced Elite Athletes Friendly Program.

The program is designed to supplement regular coaching and training to support Monash students who have the ability to compete at international level with their sporting endeavours by providing additional daily training under a technical director.