OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE STUDENTS OF MELBOURNE LAW SCHOOL

DE MINIMIS
MONDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2012 Established 1948; Revived 2012 VOLUME 2, ISSUE 9
The Melbourne Law School has come under intense scrutiny from the student body over the elective, research and masters subject selection process. Students have complained that there is not enough information available about the subjects, that the process is disorganised, and that it is illthought out.

Subject Selection Provokes Ire Amongst Students

Information on the available electives was released 12 days before the close of selections, and did not include lecturer details. Legal research subject information was available 9 days before the close of selections, and closed before elective application results were released. "Approval for particular elective subjects can affect the decisions you make about research topics or even masters subjects," said Ben Sturrock (2nd Year). The elective planning process lacks transparency, and the opportunity for student input. Bec Pickering (2nd Year), formerly LSS Education Director and now Third Year Representative, sat on the JD Committee in 2012 and said the topic had not been discussed. "I have raised it with the Student Centre, and flagged that I plan on taking the matter further," said Pickering. "I was basically told in no uncertain terms that it is how it is, and it's not going to change." Popular subjects have long waiting lists while other niche subjects are either undersubscribed, or cancelled altogether in the case of Business and International Tax. "We try and provide a range of different types of electives to meet different interest groups," said Associate Dean Elise Bant. "We have, for diversity reasons, a commitment to offering certain subjects no matter how many students express interest; for example, Encounters: Indigenous Peoples and the Law. Popular subjects are offered where possible on a multiple stream basis." This is subject to teacher availability.

The JD Elective Subjects and Diversity Policy, released in November 2011 and available online, acknowledges 'there can be tensions between the Law Schools budget constraints and pedagogical values in deciding which combination of elective subjects is offered each year and within each two year planning cycle for JD electives.' Deputy Dean Andrew Kenyon has released a provisional list of 2014 electives, which is also available on the JD webpage. Students were not given selection criteria for legal research subjects. 'With a 15-person cap, and only one IP subject elective, the possibility of more than 15 people wanting to do the IP topic was clear, yet there seems to be no flexibility on numbers,' said Lewis Cohen (2nd Year), the newly-elected LSS Vice-President. This makes it difficultfor students to choose subjects they are interested in, and likely to get in to. Some have been given their third preferences, despite being asked to give reasons only for their first two. 'I provided a long and passionate plea to do either of my first two preferences, as I have a real interest in those areas of the law,' said Cohen, who was disappointed to receive his third preference. Some students have been placed in subjects they did not even apply for. "I'm not one to complain, but last year I was told that I had been accepted into Media Law, only to have Medical Law appear on my study plan," said Jono McCoy (2nd Year), "It ended well for me, but I imagine it could be a inconvenient for a student placed in a subject in which they had no interest whatsoever." Continued page 2.

Vale Jill Meagher

As we grieve, we must reflect on what we can do now. We can blame Adrian Ernest Bayley for his cowardly, atrocious crime. We can praise the police force for catching him. As future lawyers, we can uphold the legal system that stands as a check against crime like this. We can do all these things, but they wont bring Jill back. Nor will they rid us of our fear, the fear that were no longer safe. As lawyers we can uphold the law, but we cannot guarantee that it will never be broken. If we are to learn from this, if we are to prevent such a crime from befalling ourselves or those we care about, the simplest thing we can do is protect and watch out for one another. The best, most genuine strength and defense we truly have is our compassion and empathy. Our capacity for vigilance and kindness. Our willingness to ensure our friends are not alone in the howling dark. Times such as these caution us to the horrors our streets can offer. But as ten thousand people marched down Sydney Rd on Sunday to demonstrate, Melbourne will not be defined by fear. Jills legacy ennobles all of us, and will not be forgotten. Andrew Michaelson

Last week our gravest fears were realised with the confirmation of the rape and murder of 29 year old Brunswick woman Jill Meagher, assaulted as she walked home from Sydney Rd. Our thoughts go out to Jills family and friends. A victim of a cruel and pitiless attack she did not deserve nor invite, Jills tragic, unnecessary death serves as a chilling, all too close to home reminder of the capricious evil humans are capable of, and our own fragility. As Melbourne University students, regular frequenters of Brunswick, the inner suburbs and CBD, we are all no doubt gripped with the haunting truth: this could have happened to any of us. Death so often appears in abstraction, something you only read about in the papers or see in the movies - an aberration divorced from our everyday lives and concerns. But, as the last few weeks have demonstrated with the passing of Daniel Wright, death can strike at any moment, taking our friends and loved ones, without cause and without warning, with devastating effect. These tragedies are the purest reminder that our lives are precious, fragile flames that can be extinguished at a moments notice.

Monday, October 1, 2012

Subject Selection Provokes Ire continued from page 1.

[VOLUME 2, ISSUE 9]
Amongst Students,

Students who began in 2012 were only informed by email, sent a day before the process closed, that Mergers & Acquisitions could now only be taken after completing Corporations Law as a prerequisite, rather than as a co-requisite as the subject guide indicated. "I wanted to do Mergersnext year, because I may accelerate or go on exchange in third year," said Yi Long Li (1st Year), "Initially, I applied for it, but when that email came out I changed. I asked for a waiver, but got no reply. It was very frustrating." Students who began in 2011 and are accelerating, or going on exchange in final semester, have not been given the opportunity to study intellectual property. "I came into the JD with a keen interest in studying IP law, with the hope it would culminate in a research project and post-study professional experience; without being able to study a single IP elective I am unable to fulfill this wish," said Charles Hopkins (2nd Year), "As a law school that prides itself as the best in Australia, I find this utterly surprising, disappointing and embarrassing." Associate Professor David Brennan, who is teaching Property in Invention and Creationin second semester, has agreed to take a second stream in the subject, doubling the intake from 60 to 120 students.

Christine Holmes, the Academic Programs Manager, knows the system is not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. "It's an enormous project," she said on Friday, "and it's incredible, you'd have to come sit and watch us do it to get an understanding of the process." It involves 5,0006,000 data entries into a complex excel spreadsheet system, which is struggling to handle the growing student body. "Complaints [from the student body] are a bit disappointing. We don't make the rules, we just try and implement them as fairly as possible. A lot of it is out of our control."Holmes said that the priority pick system complicated the process. She raised concerns that allowing students to register in classes themselves would be inequitable, and said that the Student Centre was open to suggestions on how the process could be improved. Generally, Id say [the JD Elective Subject Selection system] is run well, said Bill Stephenson (1st Year), LSS Education Director for 201213, Places and diversity are a big issue. Electives are designed to allow you to explore an area of interest in depth, and with truncated options, that purpose doesnt get served as well as it could. Dan Osvath (1st Year), the other new Education Director, concurred. The attempts to make it as fair and equitable as possible are a huge plus, but there are some improvements that can be made. Nicholas Baum

Little pieces of assessment

Anything that is inherently crap, should not be divvied up into smaller pieces of crap to be dealt with over a longer period of time; it should be dumped in one big lump. Like poo itself. Before you criticise that simile, recognise that it is a poojoke, simile and multi-sentence word-play all excreted into one bundle of pooey goodness. It also conveys the contention: for assessment formats, my number one preference is a one-off, stressful exam, rather than little bits of assessment that precede an exam that will be stressful anyway thats the number twos option. Im sorry, this is just shit writing (GET IT?). This week, I return to law school to face a 10% Corporations Law test. This weighting of assessment is big enough to be annoying, but so small that its hard to give a shit (STILL ON IT, though I will stop now). At one point, my lecturer described it as a pop quiz. I have real problems with this. Not since year 8 have I had a pop quiz, and back in those days, I was too busy on MSN Messenger to stress over assessment that in no way affected my life or future. Also, it reads a lot like poo quiz (Im not to be trusted). On the other hand, many of the law students I chat with to enjoy interpersonal banter (not to garner ideas for this column) have been bemoaning the test as weighted heavily enough to make

L IS FOR...

it worth earning the extra mark or two (not that I record every one of my conversations so I can quote them verbatim). And yet again, we arrive at the inherent problem with law school: law students are crazy. The point at which you invest entiredays of your semester break revising for a test so that you can potentially gain one more mark for a subject that is only relevant to clerkship applications, which have already taken place, is the point at which you reevaluate whats important in lifeand call your mum to tell her you love her even though you havent spoken since taking the subject Legal Method and Reasoning. If you ask me (which you are implicitly doing by continuing to read the drivel that comes out of my arse mouth), Id rather a 100% exam. If Im going to invest every hour of my swot vac life studying for an exam, it may as well be weighted accordingly. That way, I can spend my semester delaying doing my homework by watching re-runs of Summer Heights High on ABC because it is,like, so random. To this argument, or series of barely-connected claims attempting to persuade of something unimportant as my articles have become known amongst the literati of university-based publications, faculty would say that it encourages students to keep up-to-date. In reality they wont issue a response, because they dont read this, just as the literati of university-based publications dont read it if, in fact, such a thing exists. To this non-existent hypothetical response to my non-argument I say: you are probably right, but I dont like it, so poo you. Charles Hopkins will appear on Embarrassing Bodies because he defecates a lot. Like, a lot.

De Minimis

Monday, October 1, 2012

[VOLUME 2, ISSUE 9]

INTERVIEW WITH PROFESSOR AND NEW ILLAH DIRECTOR DI OTTO

Law students interested in public international law, like human rights, and who have sought critical takes on law, will be familiar with Professor Dianne Otto. Di teaches JD subjects, such as International Human Rights Law and Current Issues in Gender, Sexuality and Law, and has recently become the Director of the Institute for International Law and the Humanities (IILAH) at MLS. De Minimis sat down with this dynamic professor for a broadranging and insightful interview. EARLY INTEREST IN THE LAW Coming to law was 'an afterthought' for Di, who used to help homeless young people, and children and women fleeing domestic violence as a community worker in the 1970-80s. 'There was a hopefulness that community-based change and local empowerment could revolutionise society and bring about egalitarianism', Di said. 'We used to see law as part of the problem, with homeless young people at risk being harassed by the police and victims of domestic violence receiving no assistance from the law, she added. Her attitude shifted in the 1980s, as community groups found it increasingly difficult to obtain government support. Di found that community groups 'had to implement government policy rather than have the freedom to implement creativity'. As a result, Di pursued her LLB at MLS, ending up near the top of her class. Di found the law degree gave her 'a different set of tools' to approach social issues of equality and understand the power of the law to effect positive change. 'It wasn't until I sat in my international law class, and then later my international human rights law class, that I found something I was looking for', Di said. Those classes provided 'a political context for the law', she noted, that allowed her 'to see how communities and local organisations could play a role in shaping the law'. After finishing law school, Di worked for Amnesty International for a year, until she applied - successfully - for a position at MLS. WORKING WITH THE LAW TODAY Di said her role at MLS is in part to find 'human-derived solutions' to problems of human rights and equality. Di has found academia 'a great place to engage with public international law and with interested people'. As the new director of IILAH, appointed this year following founder Ann Orford's five years as director, Di has high hopes for the interdisciplinary approach IILAH seeks to promote in public international law. According to Di, IILAH 'highlights the importance of interdisciplinary thinking and how necessary it is for understanding the laws effects'. She noted the importance of thinking of the law 'not as an autonomous field'. Instead, 'legal tools and the conceptual framework of law need to be reflected through other lenses', she said. 'Otherwise the conclusions reached appear inevitable and no one questions them'. Among IILAH's focuses are helping to give voice to those in the Global South and encouraging legal thinking enhanced by interdisciplinary thinking. IILAH organises many events each year, including lunchtime and evening seminars, and larger symposia and conferences. Dean R.P. Edwards

ASK AGONY AUNT

Dear Agony Aunts Although Im enjoying studying, and going out to get to know so many great new people, I was shocked when I realised Ive put on over 10kgs since I started! I feel like all I do is eat while studying, which would be fine if I wasnt spending the majority of my time studying. Does this happen to everyone? What can I do? Please help! Swollen Studier Dear Swollen Studier (although Im sure you look just lovely) Its not at all uncommon to put on weight while youre studying, especially with tasty treats being your only reward for all those hours studying (minus knowledge and the degree at the end). None of this will be new advice, but changing what and how much you snack on will drastically help. Adding some exercise will obviously be important to shed some kilos, but will also help with concentration and sleeping better. You never know it could even reduce the amount of time spent studying if it sharpens your concentration enough, thereby reducing the amount of snacks needed- genius! Sincerely Aunt Myrtle

QUIZ ANSWERS. 1. Anna Karenina, Tolstoy 2. Icarus 3. He scattered people across the world and gave them different languages 4. 8,848 metres or 29,029 feet 5. Forced labour camp; run by the Soviet Union 6. Earthquake 4 of the 7 7. 60 years since her ascension to the thrones of the British Empire, including England 8. Prague 9. The Americas 10. The White Terror

De Minimis

Monday, October 1, 2012

[VOLUME 2, ISSUE 9]

AFRICA, THE ICC AND A PIONEERING WOMAN

Fatou Bensouda, who gave a public lecture at Melbourne Law School in February, became the first woman and the first African to head the International Criminal Court (ICC) in June. Bensouda, a Gambian national, has acceded to the position of chief prosecutor at a critical juncture in the ICCs existence.While the US was initially hostile to the ICC, it now acknowledges the courts importance. At the same time, the initial enthusiasm for the court among Africans has waned dramatically.The symbolism of an African prosecutor serving as chief legal officer and representative for the ICC sends a clear message about the legitimacy of the courts activity in Africa, where many now dismiss the court as a puppet of the west. in, for example, Syria, North Korea, Honduras, Afghanistan, Iraq, Colombia and Georgia. Moreover, the ICC has focused exclusively on Africans at the same time as the international criminal tribunal for Rwanda and the special court for Sierra Leone have been operating. As New African magazine writes: The focus on (some say targeting of) Africa by the ICC, [is] creating the impression that Africa is the only place in the world where crimes against humanity are committed. Bensoudas recent attendance at an African Union summit might indicate an improvement inAU-ICC relations.

While the public relations benefits of having an African take the reins at the ICC are obvious, to consider Bensouda a token figure would be a mistake. She is a highly experienced prosecutor, formerly public prosecutor in the Gambia attorney generals office, The Hague-based tribunal was established a decade ago with a Gambian minister of justice, legal advisor at the international brief to bring those accused of genocide, war crimes and crimes criminal tribunal for Rwanda, and deputy prosecutor at the ICC against humanity to justice.Proceedings before the ICC may be since 2004. initiated by a state party, the chief prosecutor or the UN Security Council. However, three P5 members - Russia, China and the USA She claims to have developed her strong sense of justice growing - have declined to sign the Rome statute, its founding document, up in a polygamous family, with her father providing equally, and whereas there are 33 African signatories. Like all states parties, with scrupulous fairness, for both of his wives and their respective these African jurisdictions are prohibited from taking steps that children. would defeat the object and purpose of the statute; without the In addition to repairing the courts reputation in Africa, Bensoudas cooperation of its African members, the ICC could not exist. priorities include ensuring that sex and gender crimes are reflected The African Union (AU) has, on three occasions, urged its in prosecutions and improving the quality of investigations. Above members to cease cooperating with the ICC. The anger and all, she is driven by a desire to help the victims: Thats where I get suspicion arise from the fact that each of the 25 persons my inspiration and my pride. investigated or prosecuted by the ICC has been African, while the Bronwen Ewens court has declined opportunities to prosecute human rights abuses

QUIZ
Which novel opens with the line: Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. 2. Who in Greek mythology died after ignoring instructions not to fly too close to the sun? 3. According to the Bible, how did God punish man for building the Tower of Babel? 4. How tall is Mt Everest? 5. What is a Gulag and who ran them? 6. What was the most common cause of destruction of the wonders of the ancient world? 7. This year Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her Diamond Jubilee what does this mark? 8. Citizens of which city protested Communist rule by jingling their keys as part of the Velvet Revolution in 1989? 9. From where did chillies (or chilli peppers) originate? 10. Following The Reign of Terror in the French Revolution was a brief counter-revolution in 1794 what is it commonly called? Answers on Page 3. 1.

THIS WEEK IN LEGAL HISTORY

October 1, 1989 First Same-Sex Civil Union On this day in 1989, Denmark became the first country in the world to introduce laws providing for same-sex civil unions. Falling short of legalizing same-sex marriage, the law recognised same-sex couples as registered partnerships, which conferred legal rights and obligations identical to heterosexual marriages bar two exceptions: 1) laws which expressly referenced the sexes of a married couple did not apply to registered partnerships; and 2) regulations by international treaties did not apply to registered partnerships unless expressly agreed to by all the signatories. Significantly, the Church of Denmark recognised the civil union by allowing vicars to perform blessings of same-sex couples in their church, although the law does permit vicars to decline to do so by personal choice. This reflected a policy decision to respect the differing theological interpretations within the Church. While some held the view that the Church blesses people and not institutions, others believed that the Church did not recognise traditional marriage blessings for gay couples. In any case, the legislation paved the way for the introduction of Denmarks gay-inclusive, gender-neutral marriage laws which came into effect earlier this year in June, replacing the registered partnership laws. Almost 4,100 Danish couples registered under the previous laws were automatically granted equal marriage status. Annie Zheng

DE MINIMIS CHALLENGE!
PLAY SLENDER MAN DURING CLASS.

De Minimis