Read Professor David Dixon's welcome letter to Law ... - UNSW Law

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UNSW Law Page 3 of 4from Children’s Rights to Public Law. Most of our centres are based in the Centres Precinct, which you canfind off the first floor corridor which leads to KLC (and the Roundhouse). You will have opportunities to beinvolved both as a volunteer and for course credit as an intern. There are also a number of researchfocused initiatives – on climate change, international law, private law. (For details of all of these, seewww.law.unsw.edu.au/centres)I would strongly encourage you to get involved in at least one of the many activities which take placeoutside the classroom. As well as the centres, there is mooting, the UNSW Law Journal, mentoring, and awide range of activities organised by the UNSW Law Society. Think about getting involved in somethingnew, something different, something challenging. If you haven’t been overseas, go on exchange. If you areset on working in a merchant bank, try working in a community law centre. If you always wanted to be aninternational human rights lawyer, check out commercial litigation. Stretch yourselves, and your minds.While I know that you have very busy lives, it’s vital not to let law school mean just turning up at classes.Take time to find out about what goes on in your Law School. Many students seem to think that we spendall our time on holiday when you aren’t here. Nothing could be further from the truth. Since last semester,some highlights of a mass of activity have been a research symposium with colleagues at the University ofHong Kong; the Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law’s constitutional Law conference; a human rights clinicalprogram in Johannesburg; and an international workshop on surveillance and counter-terrorism.Less visible is the mass of research being produced by your lecturers - which won us top rating in theAustralian Research Council’s assessment - published in books, journal articles, book chapters, conferencepapers, and submissions to official inquiries. We have more senior research fellowships than any other lawschool. For more details of the Faculty’s research, have a look at the book case and the recent publicationsboard opposite the reception counter on level 2, or www.law.unsw.edu.au/research.There are many new faces around the Law School: more than half of your lectures have joined UNSW in thelast 6 years, during which we have been able to pick the best academic talent. Recent appointments includeJustine Rogers (teaching Law, Justice & Etics); Lucas Lixinski (teaching Law in Global Contexts); Vicki Sentas(teaching criminal law and the new police powers clinic at Redfern Legal Centre); Amrita Kapur (teachingcriminal law and international criminal justice); and Bronwen Morgan, a Future Fellow, researchingregulation). Finally, I’m delighted to announce the appointment of Ronald Sackville and Margaret Stone asVisiting Professorial Fellows. Two very distinguished judges of the Federal Court, they join Michael Kirby(previously Justice of the High Court) and Keith Mason (formerly President of the NSW Court of Appeal.Ronald and Margaret will contribute to the Faculty in a number of ways, including writing, teaching andmentoring.From 1971 to 2013Of course, much has changed in the years since UNSW Law’s establishment, and it has changed. Law ischanging, with international perspectives, regulation and dispute resolution becoming central. Moregenerally, international experience in legal practice (public or private) has become much more common, sothat employment or further education overseas has become normal for many graduates. Our concerns withthe socially marginal now include those elsewhere in the world, notably in our region, including TimorLeste, Myanmar and Vietnam, with which we have long relationships. This is a great time to be coming toUNSW, as we launch our new LLB and JD curricula which will set a new benchmark for progressive legaleducation.However, much of the UNSW Law tradition established by Hal Wootten remains very relevant. A vitalelement of it involves a commitment to collegiality and civility in how we treat each other. When I firstcame here many years ago, this was one of the characteristics which I found attractive - and very differentfrom what I experienced at law school in England. It includes good relations between staff (of all kinds) andstudents, and a willingness to respect and learn from those with whom we disagree. Both of these are, of