2009 Annual Report - Faculty of Law - Monash University
2009 Annual Report - Faculty of Law - Monash University
2009 Annual Report - Faculty of Law - Monash University
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6. Curriculum<br />
6.1 Undergraduate<br />
Courses<br />
<strong>Monash</strong> <strong>Law</strong> School enrolled 2866<br />
undergraduate students in <strong>2009</strong>.<br />
Double degrees were a popular option<br />
for school leavers as well as internal and<br />
external transfers. Below are the courses<br />
which were available to students in <strong>2009</strong>,<br />
including the Bachelor <strong>of</strong> <strong>Law</strong>s and<br />
various double degrees.<br />
Bachelor <strong>of</strong> <strong>Law</strong>s<br />
Bachelor <strong>of</strong> Aerospace Engineering/<br />
Bachelor <strong>of</strong> <strong>Law</strong>s<br />
Bachelor <strong>of</strong> Arts/Bachelor <strong>of</strong> <strong>Law</strong>s<br />
Bachelor <strong>of</strong> Biomedical Science/<br />
Bachelor <strong>of</strong> <strong>Law</strong>s<br />
Bachelor <strong>of</strong> Business (Banking and<br />
Finance)/Bachelor <strong>of</strong> <strong>Law</strong>s<br />
Bachelor <strong>of</strong> Commerce/Bachelor <strong>of</strong> <strong>Law</strong>s<br />
Bachelor <strong>of</strong> Engineering/Bachelor <strong>of</strong> <strong>Law</strong>s<br />
Bachelor <strong>of</strong> Music/Bachelor <strong>of</strong> <strong>Law</strong>s<br />
Bachelor <strong>of</strong> Performing Arts/<br />
Bachelor <strong>of</strong> <strong>Law</strong>s<br />
Bachelor <strong>of</strong> Science/Bachelor <strong>of</strong> <strong>Law</strong>s<br />
Bachelor <strong>of</strong> Medicine/Bachelor <strong>of</strong><br />
Surgery/Bachelor <strong>of</strong> <strong>Law</strong>s<br />
6.2 Clinical Legal<br />
Education<br />
The <strong>Monash</strong> <strong>Law</strong> <strong>Faculty</strong> Clinical Program<br />
was the first clinical legal education<br />
program <strong>of</strong>fered in Australia. Over its<br />
40-year history, the program has enriched<br />
the education <strong>of</strong> thousands <strong>of</strong> <strong>Monash</strong><br />
law students (including distinguished<br />
alumni) and helped provide much needed<br />
legal support to tens <strong>of</strong> thousands <strong>of</strong><br />
clients in the community.<br />
The clinical legal education program<br />
consists <strong>of</strong> four separate clinical units<br />
<strong>of</strong>fered at several community locations<br />
outside <strong>of</strong> <strong>Monash</strong>. The program <strong>of</strong>fers<br />
students the opportunity to engage in<br />
supervised legal practice in a community<br />
legal service with clients whose needs<br />
cannot be dealt with by legal aid or the<br />
private pr<strong>of</strong>ession.<br />
The program engages students by its<br />
innovative approaches to learning and<br />
enhances their university experience. It also<br />
develops core vocational skills, including:<br />
• Client interviewing and legal diagnosis<br />
skills;<br />
• Oral and written legal negotiation skills;<br />
• Accountability and time-management<br />
skills; and<br />
• Mediation and court advocacy skills.<br />
Clinical Legal education in the <strong>Law</strong><br />
<strong>Faculty</strong> has evolved from a program<br />
involving a small number <strong>of</strong> student<br />
volunteers providing only telephone<br />
advice in the 1970s into a renowned<br />
clinical program involving over a dozen<br />
staff and approximately 175 law students<br />
annually.<br />
The four clinical units may be taken as<br />
stand alone electives or in sequence:<br />
(1) Pr<strong>of</strong>essional Practice – LAW5216.<br />
This unit is undertaken by around 40<br />
students per semester. Students must be<br />
available for 4 months for several days per<br />
week (notwithstanding normal <strong>University</strong><br />
vacation periods) to look after low-income<br />
clients’ legal problems.<br />
(2) Family <strong>Law</strong> Assistance Program –<br />
LAW5217. This unit requires students to<br />
conduct litigious family law dispute files.<br />
Students also provide a “duty lawyer<br />
service” one day a week at the Federal<br />
Magistrates’ Court at Dandenong,<br />
attending to immediate case matters and<br />
facilitating the making <strong>of</strong> court orders.<br />
(3) <strong>Law</strong> Reform and Community<br />
Development – LAW5218. This unit<br />
provides students with the opportunity to<br />
experience and to understand the impact<br />
<strong>of</strong> the law on disadvantaged members<br />
<strong>of</strong> the community. Students strengthen<br />
particular communities by working with<br />
marginalised groups through law reform,<br />
advocacy and community legal education.<br />
(4) Advanced Pr<strong>of</strong>essional Practice –<br />
LAW5149. This unit is open to students<br />
who have completed LAW5216 to an<br />
acceptable level and wish to specialise in<br />
a particular area <strong>of</strong> socio-legal service. It<br />
contains the following clinics embedded<br />
in “partner” organisations:<br />
• Joint Sexual Assault Clinic (with the<br />
South-East Centre Against Sexual<br />
Assault), <strong>of</strong>fering legal services to<br />
victims <strong>of</strong> sexual assault.<br />
<strong>Annual</strong> <strong>Report</strong> 23
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