The Future of Australian Legal Education Conference was held in August 2017 to mark the 10th anniversary of the Australian Academy of Law (AAL), the 90th anniversary of the Australian Law Journal (ALJ) and the 30th anniversary of the Pearce Report on Australian Law Schools. The conference provided a forum for an informed, national discussion on the future of legal study and practice in Australia, covering practitioners, academics, judges and students.

Clinical legal education (CLE) is potentially the major disruptor of traditional law schools’ core functions. Good CLE challenges many central clichés of conventional learning in law—everything from case book method to the 50-minute lecture. And it can challenge a contemporary overemphasis on screen-based learning, particularly when those screens only provide information and require no interaction. Australian Clinical Legal Education comes out of a thorough research program and offers the essential guidebook for anyone seeking to design and redesign accountable legal education; that is, education that does not just transform the learner, but also inculcates in future lawyers a compassion for and service of those whom the law ought to serve. Established law teachers will come to grips with the power of clinical method. Law students struggling with overly dry conceptual content will experience the connections between skills, the law and real life. Regulators will look again at law curricula and ask law deans ‘when’?

Featuring contributions from leading lawyers, historians and social scientists, this path-breaking volume explores encounters of laws, people, and places in Australia since 1788. Its chapters address three major themes: the development of Australian settler law in the shadow of the British Empire; the interaction between settler law and First Nations people; and the possibility of meaningful encounter between First laws and settler legal regimes in Australia. Several chapters explore the limited space provided by Australian settler law for respectful encounters, particularly in light of the High Court's particular concerns about the fragility of Australian sovereignty. Tracing the development of a uniquely Australian law and the various contexts that shaped it, this volume is concerned with the complexity, plurality, and ambiguity of Australia's legal history.

In Western culture, law is dominated by textual representation. Lawyers, academics and law students live and work in a textual world where the written word is law and law is interpreted largely within written and printed discourse. Is it possible, however, to understand and learn law differently? Could modes of knowing, feeling, memory and expectation commonly present in the Arts enable a deeper understanding of law's discourse and practice? If so, how might that work for students, lawyers and academics in the classroom, and in continuing professional development? Bringing together scholars, legal practitioners internationally from the fields of legal education, legal theory, theatre, architecture, visual and movement arts, this book is evidence of how the Arts can powerfully revitalize the theory and practice of legal education. Through discussion of theory and practice in the humanities and Arts, linked to practical examples of radical interventions, the chapters reveal how the Arts can transform educational practice and our view of its place in legal practice. Available in enhanced electronic format, the book complements The Moral Imagination and the Legal Life, also published by Ashgate.

Learning Law is an accessible and engaging introduction to Australian law for students considering a career in the legal profession. This text teaches students how to deal with legislation and cases, focusing on core topics and contextualisation. This second edition has been thoroughly updated and revised, with significant changes including: six new chapters – First Peoples and the law, research, the ethical lawyer, statutory interpretation, lawyers and clients, becoming a lawyer – more coverage of parliaments and courts, new Living Law boxes that showcase the diverse career paths available to law graduates and new Critical Perspective boxes to engage students with critical analysis. Written in a conversational style, Learning Law will leave students feeling more knowledgeable about, and confident in, their interactions with Australian legal institutions and legal professionals. This text is an essential resource that law students will refer to throughout their studies and in the early stages of their career.

What do constitutional interpretation and legal education have in common?For one thing, they share the same tension between theory and practice, between form and substance, between process and outcomes, between constancy and change, and between local and comparative perspectives. Each also has a substratum of fundamental underlying values that demand, but do not always receive, clear articulation.For another thing, they have both been the subject of illuminating examination by Michael Coper over the course of a long and distinguished career.An extraordinary group of authors, including Justice Stephen Gageler, the Hon Michael Kirby and Sir Anthony Mason, come together in this book to celebrate Coper's achievement, and take his various contributions as a jumping off point for their own further scholarly insights.From the gripping story of the revolution that swept away the old law on section 92 of the Constitution, to the endemic conflict in the judicial process between legalism and realism, to the never-ending controversy about the Dismissal, to perceiving the world and organising legal knowledge in new ways through biography and oral history, to the role of educators in shaping the views and values of newcomers to this knowledge, this book contains over a dozen sparkling essays by some of Australia's most renowned and respected lawyers, as well as a substantial reflective commentary by Michael Coper himself.An intellectual feast!

A History of Australian Legal Education examines the history and development of legal education in Australia by tracing the establishment of university law schools and other forms of legal education in the States and Territories from the time of European settlement in 1788 to the present day. While early Australian legal education was founded on historic practices adopted in England and Wales over many centuries, the circumstances of the Australian colonies, and later States, have led to a unique historical trajectory.The book considers the critical role played by legal education in shaping the culture of law and thus determining how well the legal system operates in practice. In addition, it examines a major challenge for legal educators, namely, the tension between 'training' and 'educating', which has given rise to a plethora of inquiries and reports in Australia. In the final analysis, it argues that legal education can satisfactorily meet the twin objectives of training individuals as legal practitioners and providing a liberal education that facilitates the acquisition of knowledge and transferable skills.

The Australian Law Dictionary is a key reference for those who need familiarity with, and knowledge of, Australian legal terms most commonly encountered when studying law and in the profession.

The second edition of this highly-regarded work provides extensive coverage of the ways in which the law and children interact. Topics such as criminal law, the internet, immigration law, family law, medical law, discrimination law, education and the legal process are included with contributions from expert authors in each area. Each chapter is contributed by an expert on that topic and is written to provide a clear, authoritative and accessible discussion suitable for a wide audience. This edition provides an extended socio-legal focus, ensuring the work is relevant for practitioners, non-legal professionals working in child-related areas, researchers and students in both law and non-law units at undergraduate and postgraduate level. It includes discussion on topical issues such as: surrogacy, youth rights, the internet and cyber bullying, international adoption, migration, international child abduction, the Royal Commission into Child Sexual Assault, and the impact of the Convention on the Rights of the Child on Australian Law. Features * Authoritative commentary by expert contributors * Includes socio-legal focus to ensure accessibility and relevance to a wide market * Includes traditional topics and areas of recent prominence Related Titles * Young, Sifris, Carroll & Monahan, Family Law in Australia, 9th ed, 2016

This book is about the legal environment of Australian universities. While their primary function today remains the provision of higher education and research, Australiaâs universities are now large commercial global corporations. Their operations involve the management of a diverse range of relationships, both internal and external, and the law plays a central role in these. This book first considers the legal framework of the higher education sector and the relationships universities have externally, particularly with government â their governance, their funding and accountability, and their maintenance of high standards and quality. It then traverses many of the areas where the law has a significant impact on the relationships universities have with their students and their staff. It covers matters from anti-discrimination and equal opportunity, transparency and due process in decision-making, employment and student matters, to property rights such as copyright and ownership of intellectual property. [Back cover, ed].