ALTA Newsletter OCTOBER 2011

EDITION TWO ALTA Newsletter OCTOBER 2011

This newsletter is being written during a brief visit to the United Kingdom, where I am visiting a law school with similar teaching and research interests to my home university. It is one of the privileges of being an academic that we are members of an international community of scholars through our teaching and research.

When we visit another university in our region or even further afield, so much is the same – the reassuring familiarity of a law library, the complexity of university IT help systems, the learning needs of our students, the paucity of research time and the collegiality of academics.

To visit a university at another jurisdiction – for example to research or study or while attending the ALTA Annual Conference – is an opportunity for staff development – and something to consider planning for, as personal and institutional circumstances permit.

One insight that I have gained while overseas is that that Australia is not alone in undergoing a review of legal education. There is a Legal Education and Training Review under way in England and Wales. It is a joint project of the Solicitors Regulation Authority, the Bar Standards Board and the Institute of Legal Executives Professional Standards. The Review plans to publish its final recommendations in December 2012.

As their web site (http://letr.org.uk) advises, the review ―constitutes a fundamental, evidence- based review of education and training requirements across regulated and non-regulated legal services in England and Wales.‖ It is responding to an ‗unprecedented degree of change in the legal services sector and is intended to ensure that ‗the future system of legal education and training will be effective and efficient in preparing legal services providers to meet the needs of consumers‘. The use of terms such as ‗legal services providers‘ and ‗consumers‘ shows that dynamic issues around regulation of the legal profession are also not unique to Australia.

In fact, I found the following flag on the Solicitors Regulation Authority web site (http:// www.sra.org.auk) fascinating - ―11 days to go before outcomes-focused regulation‖ - but paucity of research time has not permitted me to explore further! Meanwhile, some interesting recent statistics on the review web site about legal education and the legal profession in England and Wales include the following:

 In 2009 there were 29,211 applicants to study for a first degree in law in England and Wales; slightly over two-thirds of these were accepted;

 13,433 students graduated with Qualifying Law Degrees in the summer of 2009;

 Over half (56.6%) of the Qualifying Law Degree graduates in 2009 received first or upper second class degrees;

 In 2009/2010, 11,370 full time and 3,140 part-time Legal Practice Course places were available;

 There were 4,874 new solicitors training contracts registered in 2009/10, a decrease of 16% on the previous year;

Australasian Law Teachers Association – ABN 99 015-138-294 ISSN 1833-3052 ALTA Newsletter

 460 ‗First Six‘ pupillages (barrister‘s equivalent to a solicitor‘s training contract) were registered in 2009/10, a decrease of 0.6%; 1,432 students had passed the Bar Professional Training Course in 2008/09; and

 In 2009/10 there were 117,862 solicitors and 15,270 barristers in practice, together with some 22,000 trainee and practising legal executives in England and Wales.

Following the Australian Learning and Teaching Council‘s Discipline Scholar Project looking at the Threshold Learning Outcomes for an Australian Bachelor of Laws (and ongoing work on the Juris Doctor), it is interesting to see the research questions being examined by the Review:

1. What are the skills/knowledge/experience currently required by the legal services sector?

2. What skills/knowledge/experience will be required by the legal services sector in 2020?

3. What kind of legal education and training (LET) system(s) will deliver the regulatory objectives of the Legal Services Act?

4. What kind of LET system (s) will promote flexibility, social mobility and diversity?

5. What will be required to ensure the responsiveness of the LET system to emerging needs?

6. What scope is there to move towards sector-wide outcomes/activity-based regulation?

7. What need is there (if any) for extension of regulation to currently non-regulated groups?

All of this leads on to some comments on the July ALTA Annual Conference held in Brisbane and the observation that the topic (the complex and changing regulatory environment in which we operate) chosen by the host university QUT proved to be very timely - also, to note that the University of Sydney‘s 2012 conference theme around a Global Community, resonates well with the times.

Some of the questions underpinning the LET Review were reflected in the 2011 ALTA Conference key note sessions on the first day. I refer not only to the inspiring and amusing address by the Chief Justice of Australia, extracts from which are reported on by Scott Kiel-Chisholm (QUT) later in the newsletter - but also to Australia‘s Law Admissions Consultative Committee (LACC) Discussion Paper on Reconciling Academic Requirements and Threshold Learning Outcomes outlined by his Honour Justice Byrne of the Queensland Supreme Court and Acting Chair of LACC. (This paper is accessible via http://www.lawcouncil.asn.au/lacc/documents/discussion_papers.cfm). Justice Raynor Asher of the High Court of New Zealand also presented a paper outlining themes in New Zealand legal education for the purposes of professional practice. (A summary of Justice Asher‘s paper is included later in the newsletter and the full paper is available on the ALRS site via http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/ALRS/).

On the second day key, Dr Carol Nicoll, Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Learning and Teaching Council, provided a personal perspective on legal education, having studied a Bachelor of Laws as one of her undergraduate degrees. She then went on to provide a lucid overview of the dynamic environment for tertiary education in Australia. Since the conference, it has been announced that Dr Nicoll has been appointed to be the first Chief Commissioner of the federal Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA). Chair of the ALTC Board, Professor John Hay AC, stated at the time that Dr Nicoll ―has already won the respect of the sector and I have no doubt that she will continue to act with intelligence, fairness and diplomacy in her new role as Chief Commissioner of TEQSA.‖ Having heard her address at ALTA and appreciating something of the extent of work that was achieved during her leadership of ALTC, I can only agree.

Next Professor Margaret Sheil, Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Research Council, spoke about the challenging environment in which Australian law academics now operate whereby the quality of members‘ research outputs is assessed under the Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) initiative. (This is something that New Zealand members have been coping with since 2003 under their Performance-Based Research Fund.) While it is a relief that the ARC‘s explicit ranking of journals has been abandoned, I am still concerned that there will be an implicit ranking by university research hierarchies and research quality assessors and that as a result, much excellent research with real community and professional impact carried on by law academics will not be acknowledged appropriately. Thus as a discipline we must still be vigilant that research and scholarship which is disseminated through professional channels and which is well regarded by the judiciary, practitioners and law reformers is still valued.

On the final day, Professor Sally Kift and Professor Richard Johnstone provided valuable insights as members of the academy on current issues including building a culture that assures legal and education standards in teaching and in research. Their commentary was a useful reflection on topics raised during the course of the conference and encouraged us to think about the implications for us each as individuals and as members of our own schools once we returned to our universities.

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In order to coincide with the conference, the Australian Academy of Law held a seminar on Trends in Legal Education for Practice: Competing Tensions. This provided an additional opportunity for the local legal community to benefit from the presence of academics and to open up channel of communication around recent developments in legal education.

During the conference, the Executive held its meeting and has prioritised the redevelopment of the web site as well as exploring additional avenues for communicating with and between members. ALTA appreciates the importance of individuals interacting in person – hence the recently ALTA School Representatives appointed within institutions that are ALTA members – and the Annual Conference. However, we also acknowledge that people are interacting through a range of new technologies – and Kate Galloway, who has kindly contributed a piece to this newsletter, has also provided the following additional resource on the 2011 ALTA Conference:

Having tweeted the conference, Kate collected her tweets and those of others and storified them - as a sort of narrative of the conference that others can look over and see what was happening. These links can be found at:

 http://storify.com/katgallow/australasian-law-teachers-association-conference-2

 http://storify.com/katgallow/alta-conference-2011-day-3

 http://storify.com/katgallow/alta-conference-2011-day-2

Thank you to the members of the General Executive who have contributed so well during the 2010-2011 term and for their willingness to continue to serve in 2011-2012. Welcome back also to Professor Michael Adams who has been appointed ALRS Editor following Associate Professor Terry Hutchinson‘s secondment to the Queensland Law Reform Commission.

Finally, thank you to Nat Poludniewski, who we are pleased to report is continuing as ALTA Administrative Coordinator, and without whose expertise as Editor this newsletter would not be arriving on your desk or in your e-mail in-box.

Professor Rosalind Mason ALTA Chairperson

Edition Two 2011 3 ALTA Newsletter In This Issue 2009-12 ALTA Business Plan: Mission Statement, Objectives & Strategies ...... 5 66th Annual ALTA Conference at Queensland University of Technology Recap ... 8

The University of Sydney to host 67th Annual ALTA Conference…………………..10

New Zealand Executive Update………………………………………………...... 11

Notice to Members- Tax Practitioners Board...... 12

Events News…………………………………………………………………………….. 13

LexisNexis-ALTA Award for Excellence and Innovation in the Teaching of Law ... 14

CCH-ALTA Best Conference Paper Award ………………………………………….. 16

Legal Education Standards in New Zealand (Abridged) ……………………………. 17

Conceptualising Capstone Experiences in Legal Education………………………...19

Law Associate Deans‘ Network………………………………………………………….21

Setting Standards in Legal Education: Discipline Scholar Update………………….22

2011 ALTA Institutional Members……………………………………………………....24

ALTA School Representatives Initiative………………………………………………. 25

Staff Profile: Ms Kate Galloway………………………………………………………... 29

Staff Profile: Ms Feona Sayles…………………………………………………………. 31

Publications included in your ALTA Membership; ALTA Law Research Series (ALRS)…………………………………………... .. 33 Journal of the Australasian Law Teachers Association (JALTA)…………... .. 34 Legal Education Review (LER)…………………………………………………...35 Legal Education Digest (LED) …………………………………...... 36

ALTA Key Agency Reports; Council of Australian Law Deans...... 40 Law Council of Australia...... 41 Australian Academy of Law...... 42 Australian Law Students Association...... 43 Association of American Law Schools ...... 44 International Association of Law Schools ...... 45

Interest Group Conveners 2011-12...... 47

Convener Reports from the 2011 Conference...... 48

The 2011-12 ALTA Executive...... 54

Edition Two 2011 4 ALTA Newsletter 2009-2012 ALTA Business Plan: Mission Statement, Objectives & Strategies

On the 2nd July 2006, at the ALTA Executive Planning Meeting, Victoria University, Melbourne, the ALTA Executive drafted a three year Business Plan. This included creating a Mission Statement and Objectives, and of course, what good are objectives without Strategies, so strategies were developed to achieve these objectives, in accordance with the ALTA mission. In July 2009, the ALTA Executive held a Strategic Planning meeting in order to revise the 2006 business plan, including the previous Mission Statement and Objectives. This business plan is a revised version of the 2006 plan, and is outlined below. MISSION STATEMENT: The Australasian Law Teachers Association (ALTA) is a professional body which represents and promotes the interests of law academics in Australia, New Zealand, and the South Pacific.

Its overall focus is to promote excellence in the areas of: (a) research and scholarship; (b) teaching and learning; (c) professional development and networking; (d) engagement with professional stakeholders and the community; (e) representation on developments in government policy and law reform

OBJECTIVES: ALTA has as its objectives:

1. To develop closer collaboration between the ALTA Executive Committees in Australia & New Zealand

Strategies: (a) Organise and support joint committee meetings; (b) Enable closer collaboration using email and other technologies.

2. To build professional development and networking opportunities for members

Strategies: (a) Appoint representatives within each School; (b) Develop a welcome pack for new members for distribution by School Representatives; (c) Publish biannual newsletter each semester; (d) Review and improve ALTA Website

3. To support and promote legal research and scholarship.

Strategies: (a) Research and promulgate information on government initiatives such as the Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) and the Performance Based Research Fund (PBRF) in New Zealand; (b) Explore how we can support legal academics in using such schemes effectively; (c) Increase the academic rigour of research papers delivered at the annual conference; (d) Publish a refereed journal, the Journal of the Australasian Law Teachers Association (JALTA), based on papers

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4. To support and promote legal education and the scholarship of higher education in law.

Strategies: (a) Research and promulgate information on government initiatives such as the Australian Learning and Teaching Council; (b) Publish a refereed journal, the Legal Education Review (LER), on the scholarship of legal education; (c) Supply the Legal Education Digest (LED) to members; (d) In conjunction with LexisNexis, award the LexisNexis-ALTA Awards for Excellence and Innovation in the Teaching of Law (e) Inform the government and pertinent public agencies as to the nature and discipline specific aspects of legal education; (f) Where appropriate provide representative advocacy to encourage better linkages between the profession, academics and other stakeholders in legal education; (g) Investigate the degree of interest in organising specialist law teaching forums or workshops.

5. To liaise with key Australasian academic, government and professional organisations by publicising pertinent information to ALTA members for example through the ALTA Newsletter, while also providing written information about ALTA to these organisations for dissemination to their members.

Strategies: Compile strategic information on ALTA and its work and communicate this to key agencies, for example: (a) Australasian Legal Information Institute (AustLII); (b) Australasian Professional Legal Education Council; (c) Australia and New Zealand Education Law Association; (d) Australian Academy of Law; (e) Australian Bar Association; (f) Australian Law Students Association; (g) Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC); (h) Continuing Legal Education Association of Australasia; (i) Corporate Lawyers Association of New Zealand; (j) Council of Australian Law Deans; (k) Institute of Professional Legal Studies; (l) International Legal Services Advisory Council; (m) Law Council of Australia; (n) New Zealand Bar Association; (o) NZ Society for Legal and Social Philosophy.

6. To liaise with key international stakeholders by publicising pertinent information about their functions to ALTA members for example through the ALTA Newsletter, while also providing written information about ALTA to these organisations for dissemination to their members.

Strategies: Compile strategic information on ALTA and its work and communicate this to key agencies, for example: (a) Association of American Law Schools; (b) Association of Law Teachers; (c) Canadian Association of Law Teachers; (d) Commonwealth Lawyers Association; (e) Commonwealth Legal Education Association; (f) European Law Faculties Association; (g) International Association of Law Schools; (h) International Bar Association;

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delivered at the annual conference; (e) In conjunction with CCH, award the CCH-ALTA Best Conference Paper Awards; (f) Inform the government and pertinent public agencies as to the nature and discipline specific aspects of legal research; (g) Where appropriate provide representative advocacy to encourage better linkages between the publishers‘ requirements and government and university driven academic research imperatives such as peer review of research.

7. To actively engage in the planning and organisation of the annual ALTA Conference, so as to maximise the promotion of the ALTA mission and objectives.

Strategies: (a) Meet with the Conference Committee at least once prior to the annual Conference; (b) Ensure that key sessions promoting ALTA‘s role are included in the conference program; (c) Organise a convener and School representative social event at the annual conference.

8. To expand our membership and representation to all Law Schools and Business Law Schools across Australasia and increase institutional support for membership in Australasia.

Strategies: (a) Co-opt ALTA members from each law school and business law school in Australia and New Zealand to act as ALTA liaison persons within the schools; (b) Provide the liaison members with timely information so that they are able to effectively brief and advise the respective law schools management and staff of ALTA‘s activities and therefore encourage institutional support for membership.

Edition Two 2011 7 ALTA Newsletter 67th Annual ALTA Conference- Queensland University of Technology

The Brisbane floods and the Christchurch earthquakes failed to prevent close to 200 legal practitioners and academics attending the 66th Annual ALTA Conference during 3-6 July 2011. The conference was hosted by the Queensland University of Technology School of Law and was held at the Stamford Plaza Hotel in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The theme of the conference was ―My Lawyer Rules: Assuring Legal and Education Standards‖.

The welcome reception at the Stamford Plaza on the evening of 3 July 2011 launched the Confer- ence participants on a journey of excellence in presentations, functions and intellectual interaction. Rarely can delegates return to their universities and say they had drinks with the Chief Jus- tice of the High Court of Australia and a Justice of the High Court of New Zealand. Delegates who attended the welcome reception had such an opportunity.

The Conference opening day commenced with a Welcome to Country by Uncle Des Sandy, an Indigenous Australian elder. He recounted many lessons taught on and around the lands on Photo A which the Stamford Plaza exists today. Those lessons reinforced the importance of the ALTA delegates ―coming together‖ as a group of friends to share, learn and enjoy.

Professor Peter Coaldrake AO, Vice-Chancellor of QUT and Immediate Past Chair of the Uni- versities Australia Board of Directors, formally opened the Conference and introduced, Chief Justice Robert French AC of the High Court of Australia. The topic of the Chief Justice‘s presentation was ‗Legal Education in Australia – A Never Ending Story‘ and this can be accessed from the High Court website. His Honour said:

―The objectives and content of legal education and how it should be undertaken have been much discussed in Australia and in other countries with which we share our legal heritage. A lot of that discussion in recent times has focussed upon the relative emphasis to be given to Photo B such elements as the contents of the positive law, its social and historical context, the dy- namics of its change, the skills and ethical sensitivities needed for legal practice, and the role of the lawyer in society as agent of the rule of law and social justice. Related to that discussion are concerns about the effect of legal education upon law students. An incidental and important question is the extent to which the diversity of law jobs makes generalisations about the desirable outcomes of legal education more difficult.‖

His Honour provided a comprehensive overview of legal education and said:

―I will conclude by setting out what I would like to see as some of the attributes of the law graduate today. Like all lists in legal papers, this is not exhaustive. The law graduate, in my opinion, should have at least:

 Basic knowledge of the principles and doctrines of important areas of the law.

 Basic knowledge of the ways in which law is made and interpreted and applied.

 Basic skills, transferable across subject areas, which enable the graduate to identify, define and analyse legal problems, to formulate options for their resolution, to advise clients, and to use negotiation, alternative dispute resolution or litigation, if necessary, for their resolution.

 Awareness of and sensitivity to ethical issues and the ability to respond ethically to them.

 A commitment to legal practice as a species of public service.

 An awareness of the ongoing need for reform of the law and a readiness and ability to contribute to reform.

Those are among my desiderata for legal education. They are necessarily aspirational. No curriculum plan can be expected to produce perfectly formed, deeply knowledgeable Photo C and competent ethical lawyers with a highly developed sense of social justice. Many influences converge to yield such people. They include the influences of family, community and the wider university environment, together with continuing legal education and practical experience. The ongoing efforts of the legal academy to shape and improve legal education are impressive. It is a great endeavour you all undertake and I take this opportunity to wish you well with it.‖

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The issues of national standards for legal education and the legal profession were discussed by all of the plenary speakers who followed Chief Justice French including Justice John Byrne of the Supreme Court of Queensland and Justice Raynor Asher of the High Court of New Zealand, Auckland who engaged in a discussion of ‗Assuring Legal and Education Standards: Some Perspective from Admitting Authorities‘.

During the first day of the Conference, Chief Justice French launched the text book Excellence and Innovation in Legal Education edited by Professor Sally Kift, Dr Michelle Photo D Sanson, Jill Crowley and Penelope Watson, and published by LexisNexis. His Honour acknowledged the valuable contribution the publication would make to legal education.

The Conference formal dinner took place on the evening of Monday 4th July at The Strand at Rugby Quay, a spectacular restaurant overlooking the Brisbane River. Barrister-at-law, Andrew Boe, who is a criminal law specialist, addressed participants at the formal dinner. He has been involved in some matters which attracted public attention including, R v Ivan Milat (NSW) (notorious serial killer); R v Pauline Hanson & David Ettridge (alleged political corruption); R v Robyn Kina (bicultural competence/domestic violence murder); Cornack v Fingleton and Gribbin v Fingleton (judicial bullying and independence) as well as the several cases surrounding the Palm Island death in custody of Cameron Doomadgee. Andrew‘s presentation reinforced the need for lawyers to have a passion for the work they do and a determination to seek change where the law appears to have facilitated an unjust outcome.

During the second day, delegates had the opportunity to hear and question prominent people in the area of legal and education standards. Dr Carol Nicoll, CEO of the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (and CEO-elect of Australia‘s new Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency) spoke on ‗Assuring Legal Education Standards‘ while Professor Margaret Sheil, CEO of the Australian Research Council, addressed ‗Assuring Legal Research Standards‘.

The ALTA Annual General Meeting, chaired by Professor Rosalind Mason, was also conducted on this day.

During the second and third days of the conference delegates attended many interest group workshops in Legal Education, Company Law, Law for Non-Law Students, Practical Legal Training, Law and Social Justice, Dispute Resolution, Labour Law, Commercial Law and Consumer Protection, Law and Medicine, Indigenous People and the Law and Constitutional Law and International Law. A number of posters were also on display in a specially designated poster room and this provided another avenue for high level intellectual engagement with the conference themes. Photo E The Conference casual dinner was held at the Stamford Plaza alongside the Brisbane River in the Brasserie. Great food, music and dancing provided the right ingredients for a fantastic evening.

Wednesday morning saw Professor Sally Kift of QUT and Professor Richard Johnstone of Griffith University conduct the final plenary session, ‗Assuring Legal and Education Standards: Views from the Academy‘. After interest group workshops in Legal Education, Revenue Law, Company Law and Criminal Law, delegates gathered for the final lunch.

This year‘s ALTA Conference will be remembered as a collegial, engaging and stimulating gathering. We look forward to the 67th Annual ALTA Conference in Sydney next year.

Photo F

Scott Kiel-Chisholm ALTA 2011 Organising Committee Member

Photo A: Justice Raynor Asher (High Court NZ) and Professor Rosalind Mason (Head of School, QUT and ALTA Chairperson) Photo B: Professor Peter Coaldrake (QUT Vice-Chancellor ), Chief Justice French (High Court of Australia) and Professor the Hon Michael Lavarch (Executive Dean, QUT) Photo C: Justice Asher (High Court NZ), Justice Byrne (Supreme Court of Queensland) and Professor Jill McKeough (Dean, UTS and Chair, CALD) Photo D: Book Launch of 'Excellence and Innovation in Legal Education' : Jill Crowley (UNSW); Professor Sally Kift (QUT), Dr Michelle Sanson (UWS); Chief Justice French and Penelope Watson (Macquarie) Photo E: Key note speaker, Professor Margaret Sheil (Australian Research Council), Professor the Hon Michael Lavarch, (Executive Dean, QUT) and Professor Rosalind Mason (Head of School of Law, QUT and ALTA Chairperson) Photo F: Hugh Carter (QUT); Rachael Field (QUT and Conference Secretary), after dinner Guest Speaker Andrew Boe (Barrister) and Professor Sally Kift (QUT)

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Edition Two 2011 10 ALTA Newsletter New Zealand Update

The past year, has been a challenging for ALTA in New Zealand with the aftermath of the earthquakes in Canterbury continuing to impact upon the effective running of the organisation. However, as life in Christchurch has slowly begun to return to normal, the New Zealand executive has also been able to function more effectively.

For the University Canterbury Law School, life has begun to take on a degree of normality. The school returned to its building in July albeit in a slightly smaller part of the building than previously occupied due to the necessity of sharing with less fortunate colleagues (some large buildings will remain out of commission for a year or more). As a result, tutorials have resumed, as have research seminars and, most importantly, access to a law library. Nobody is under any illusions as to the challenges that lie ahead but being able to work on campus once again has made a big difference to the confidence of the staff and students in facing them.

Staying with events in Canterbury, the Canterbury Law Review has been relaunched in the aftermath of the quakes with the two issues of volume 16 (2010) about to hit the shelves. This will shortly followed by this year's volumes. The editorial team wishes to thank all those across Australia and New Zealand for their patience and support in this matter.

Other events of note in New Zealand in 2011 included the University of Auckland Faculty of Law's public law symposium organised by Hanna Wilberg in June of this year. The event, made possible by funding from the Auckland Faculty brought together public lawyers from across New Zealand in an informal environment, with the presentation of papers across a wider range of subject areas. Rarely have New Zealand legal academics been brought together in such an environment and, following on from the hugely successful 2010 ALTA Conference in Auckland (and the NZ legal academics' lunch) it can only be hoped that such collegiate events continue to be a feature of the NZ academic landscape.

In terms of forthcoming events there are a number across the faculties in New Zealand planned in the coming months. The Legal Issues Centre at the University of Otago Faculty of Law is hosting the Australia and New Zealand Legal Ethics Colloquium in Dunedin, on 9 and 10 February 2012. The topic will be "Is Adversarialism Dead? New Foundations for Legal Process and Lawyers‘ Ethics‖. This colloquium will explore the need for new ethical frameworks, beyond adversarialism, to support new and emergent forms of legal work, particularly those currently being opened up by increasing deregulation of the legal services market. Proposals for papers are invited. For further information, email: [email protected]

The Otago Faculty is also pleased to host international expert in the Law of Ecocide Polly Higgins, at an Open Forum and a Public Lecture on Thursday 1 September 2011.

Finally, the New Zealand Governance Centre at the University of Auckland Business School is holding a conference on 28 October 2011 on "Revisiting the State and the Market". The relationship between the State and the Market is in the spotlight again in New Zealand. The particular issues surrounding the proposals around partial privatisation and public-private partnerships are examined in this one day conference by international and New Zealand speakers drawn from a range of disciplines. Speakers include Mai Chen, Adrian Noon and Jane Kelsey. Contact Pam Kam at [email protected] for more details.

Nga mihi,

John Hopkins Honorary Secretary ALTA NZ Executive

Edition Two 2011 11 ALTA Newsletter Notice to members: Tax Practitioners Board

If you teach taxation law or are responsible for external approval of your School‘s curriculum in commercial or taxation law, the following information has been sent to ALTA for circulation to members:

The Tax Practitioners Board registers and regulates tax agents and Business Activity Statement (BAS) agents nationally, including the definition and approval of the course requirements within agents‘ educational qualifications.

Before the Board commenced on 1 March 2010 there were approximately 26,000 registered tax agents in Australia. At the end of 2010/11 the number of registered tax and BAS agents was approaching 55, 000. There is likely to be continuing interest over time from students who will want to undertake Board approved courses to meet the relevant education criteria to apply for agent registration. For that reason, the Board has circulated documents and further information about Board approved courses, including various guidelines and relevant course approval request forms to assist course providers to apply for approval of their units or subjects as Board approved courses.

Copies of all of these documents and further information are available on the Board‘s website at www.tpb.gov.au . If you would like any further information or assistance in relation to the Board‘s education requirements, please contact Dale Boucher, Chair of the Tax Practitioners Board at [email protected] .

Edition Two 2011 12 ALTA Newsletter Event News

Legal Education with an Edge: CLEAA Conference Hobart October 2011 ALTA members interested in the latest developments in legal education may be interested in CLEAA‘s annual continuing legal education conference being held in Hobart on October 27-28 2011. This year‘s theme is ―Elevating the E in CLE‖ with topics of academic and practical interest. Speakers include, Dr Natalie Brown and Dr Gary Williams Co-Heads of the Centre for Advancement of Learning and Teaching, University of Tasmania. Other speakers and topics include

 Keynote address by the Hon Peter Underwood, Governor of Tasmania and former Chief Justice

 ‗Constructive alignment‘ of teaching and learning activities in continuing legal education by internationally renowned educators John Biggs and Catherine Tang

 The ‗Learning Conference‘ technique in action with John Hanley, Legal Aid Queensland

 Quality Online Learning – Challenges and Opportunities with Dr Gary Williams, UTAS

 Competency Frameworks – Help or hindrance in CLE? with Dr Natalie Brown, UTAS

Other topics include Mandatory CLE, Use of Social Media and streamed sessions for in-house and external providers on practical issues in developing and marketing programs

For further details see www.cleaa.asn.au

Date Claimer CAPSTONES IN LEGAL EDUCATION FORUM 13 February 2012, 9am – 4.30pm QUT Gardens Point Campus Brisbane

To register, please email Sally Kift [email protected]

Keynote Speaker Professor Clark Cunningham W. Lee Burge Professor of Law and Ethics, Georgia State University College of Law, Atlanta, Georgia

Edition Two 2011 13 ALTA Newsletter LexisNexis-ALTA Award for Excellence and Innovation in the Teaching of Law

The Australasian Law Teachers Association‘s (ALTA) annual conference in Brisbane was an opportunity for members to reflect on legal and education standards. LexisNexis Australia, a major sponsor of the event, demonstrated its commitment to standards by supporting academics to achieve excellence in teaching law.

At the conference dinner on 4 July 2011, LexisNexis Australia announced the winners of the LexisNexis–ALTA Award for Excellence and Innovation in the Teaching of Law. There are two categories for the Award:

- Major Award ($4000 AUD) - Early Career Law Teacher Award ($1000 AUD)

Now in its fourth year, the LexisNexis–ALTA Award showcases some of the best teaching being undertaken in law faculties across the region. The judging panel comprises ALTA teaching delegates, the previous major category winner and LexisNexis representatives. They determine the winners by considering performance in the following areas:  Teaching approaches that inspire learning;  Assessment and feedback that encourage independent learning, respect and support;  Curricula development that reflects teaching innovation and leadership;

Scholarly work that enhances learning and teaching activities.

―The judges were very impressed at the high quality of the submissions,‖ said Nanda Kumar, Head of Academic, LexisNexis Australia who jointly presented the Award with Professor Rosalind Mason, ALTA Chairperson.

This year the Major category was won by a team from Melbourne University Law School. Associate Professors Tania Voon, Andrew Mitchell and Dr Bruce Oswald have developed an Institutions in International Law program designed to provide students with authentic, first hand exposure to the institutions they study on their course . Seminars are undertaken in Geneva where students have the opportunity to engage with representatives of significant international bodies. Based on the success of this program the team have launched a second program called Global Lawyer. They explain how ―within the frameworks of legal ethics, professional regulation, comparative law, and public and private international law, students completing this subject have a clear understanding of their future opportunities and obligations as lawyers in a globalised world and can explain and critique the various accountability mechanisms that govern the practice of law in an international context.‖ Photo A

Michael Blissenden, Senior Lecturer from the School of Law at the University of Western Sydney was highly commended for his submission. He set out to ―actively engage, stimulate, motivate and inspire his students to embrace lifelong learning.

―They are encouraged to study Taxation Law cases from a human story perspective to stimulate their emotional and intellectual responses,‖ he said.

Merran Lawler from Griffith Law School was the Early Career winner. There were two high commendations in this category to Dr Wendy Bonython from Canberra University‘s Faculty of Law and Lidia Xynas from Deakin University‘s School of Law.

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As well as the Award, LexisNexis Australia‘s new title Excellence and Innovation in Legal Education was launched at the conference by Chief Justice Robert French AC. The book is edited by Professor Sally Kift, Dr Michelle Sanson, Jill Cowley and Penelope Watson. It is a compilation of writing by, what David Weisbrot AM in his foreword to the book describes as, ―dedicated legal academics in Australia who have put in an enormous effort to promote excellence and innovation in teaching and learning.‖ The book is a rich resource of scholarly thinking and practical suggestions.

In celebration of its centenary year, LexisNexis Australia also announced a significant book award: a prize of $30000 for the best book proposed by September 2012. Award details can be found on www.lexisnexis100.com.au.

LexisNexis Australia is proud of its tradition of working in a supportive partnership with members of the academy, who engage students in understanding the importance of the law.

Photo B

Photo C Photo D

Photo A: Professor Rosalind Mason (QUT Head of School and ALTA Chairperson), Lidia Xynas (Deakin, Highly Commended in Early Career category) and Nanda Kumar (Head of Academic, Lexis Nexis) Photo B: Lexis Nexis display at 2011 ALTA Conference Photo C: Chief Justice French at Book Launch of 'Excellence and Innovation in Legal Education' Photo D: Jill Crowley (UNSW); Professor Sally Kift (QUT); Dr Michelle Sanson (UWS); Penelope Watson (Macquarie) and Chief Justice French.

For information on the 2012 LexisNexis-ALTA Awards visit www.lexisnexis.com.au/en-au/academic/sponsorships

Edition Two 2011 15 ALTA Newsletter CCH Best Conference Paper Award

Congratulations the winners of the 2010 CCH-ALTA Best Conference Paper Awards, who were announced at the 66th Annual ALTA Conference at Queensland University of Technology. They are:

Best Overall Conference Paper

Winner Mr Christopher Hare The University of Auckland Connected Lender Liability in New Zealand

Highly Commended Professor Des Butler Queensland University of Technology Entry into Valhalla: Contextualising the Learning of Legal Ethics Through the Use of Second Life Machinima

Best Early Career Academic Conference Paper

Winner Mrs Lucinda Noonan University of New England Changing the Definition of Refugee in the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees

Highly Commended Ms Samantha Taylor Monash University Closing Loopholes but Creating Uncertainty: The Unintended Effects of the Duties Amendment Act 2009 (Vic)

Best Conference Paper Presented to the Legal Education Interest Group

Winner Ms Tracey Carver Queensland University of Technology Peer Assisted Learning and Generation Y: A Case Study

The winner of each award has received $500 AUD. Submissions to the 2011 CCH – ALTA Best Conference Paper Awards are now closed and winners will be announced at the 67th Annual ALTA Conference at The University of Sydney.

Further details on the CCH-ALTA Best Conference Paper Awards are available on the ALTA website at http://www.alta.edu.au/Awards.htm

Edition Two 2011 16 ALTA Newsletter Justice Raynor Asher: Legal and Education Standards in New Zealand (Abridged)

Background After the establishment of the University of New Zealand in 1870, the practical implementation of the admission requirements was progressively delegated by the Judiciary to the University.

In 1925, a Royal Commission which had been commissioned to examine a number of matters relating to University education in New Zealand, recommended that – ... a Council of Legal Education representative of the Judges, the leaders among practising barristers and solicitors, and the University teachers of law is the most satisfactory method for providing and for watching over a course of legal education which shall comply with the requirements of a good professional education, and at the same time satisfy the demand for a training which is strong enough on the practical side.

Accordingly in 1930 the Council of Legal Education was established. The Council was given recommendatory powers for the purpose of enabling the University to discharge its functions, which concurrently with the establishment of the Council had been given the responsibility for prescribing and conducting the necessary legal qualifications and examinations.

In order to preserve uniformity across law degrees, to maintain standards, and to secure input from representatives of all, rather than one particular category of stakeholder in legal education, the Council of Legal Education was reconstituted in 1961 as an independent statutory body to take over the role of defining, prescribing and arranging for the provision of courses of study, including practical training, for those persons (from New Zealand and overseas) wishing to be admitted as barristers and solicitors, and generally to supervise legal education in New Zealand.

Provision of Courses The Council prescribes the core curriculum for the bachelor of laws degree and monitors these subjects through a moderation system.

During 1997 the Council introduced a requirement for all law students who completed their bachelor of laws, or bachelor of laws with Honours degrees after 31 July 2000 to pass a university course in legal ethics as a further requirement for admission. On 1 August 2008 the requirement was extended to all applicants for admission regardless of the completion date of their degree.

All New Zealand law graduates who wish to be admitted to the profession must also undertake a university course in legal ethics.

Internal credits In the case of the Council‘s overseas credits system an overseas graduate or admitted practitioner applies to the Council to have an overseas qualification assessed, the Council examines the core law degree subjects undertaken by that person. If a person‘s degree subject is found to adequately cover the common law principles in the subject, the applicant is given a credit in that particular subject. However, the applicant will almost certainly have to undertake the Council‘s New Zealand Law and Practice Examination in the equivalent Part, which tests understanding of the New Zealand law.

A potential difficulty arose because if the Universities granted credit in the core law subjects without any further requirements being imposed, those undergraduates who commenced their undergraduate degree overseas, but transferred, or wished to transfer to a New Zealand LLB degree, were significantly advantaged over their graduate/admitted compatriots, who would have to undertake the New Zealand Law and Practice Examination prescribed by the Council.

Provision of Courses The Council prescribes the core curriculum for the bachelor of laws degree and monitors these subjects through a moderation system. The five compulsory subjects which are moderated are –  Law of Contracts

Edition Two 2011 17 ALTA Newsletter

 Law of Torts  Criminal Law  Public Law  Property Law (or Land Law and Equity and Succession where Property Law is not offered)

There is concern in some quarters that this list of core subjects is too narrow. It was much broader but in 1987, at a time when everything was being deregulated in New Zealand, the core subjects were greatly reduced.

The course which was prescribed and moderated by the Council, has as its broad principles –  an introduction to ethical analysis including an examination of various theories of ethics;  the applicability of ethical analysis to legal practice;  the concept of a profession and the ethical professional duties of practitioners (which includes, among other topics, conflicts of interest, confidentiality, duties to the Court, duties of loyalty and fidelity);  the wider responsibilities of lawyers in the community.

The course was introduced in response to a report which had recommended that courses in legal ethics be required at three levels of legal education: academic, vocational training and continuing education after admission to the profession. In New Zealand this was implemented by the Council by the introduction of the undergraduate university course in legal ethics which, while not a compulsory degree subject, is required for those students wishing to be admitted to the profession. The requirement was further implemented by the introduction of Ethics and Professional Responsibility components into the Council‘s Professional Legal Studies Course

Professional legal studies course The Council is also responsible for providing practical legal training for New Zealand law graduates, and overseas graduates and practitioners as required.

In 1986 a review commissioned by the Council of Legal Education and the New Zealand Law Society recommended the establishment of a full-time practical skills-based training course which would complement the experience which a law graduate gained while working in a legal environment, and would replace the fifth professional year at university where students had previously been trained in practically oriented legal subjects.

In order to provide the course the Council established the Institute of Professional Legal Studies in 1987.

The Institute is the Council‘s provider arm for the delivery of the Professional Legal Studies Course. The Council has a statutory duty to arrange the provision of such a course, and must ensure that it has the ability to do so to ensure that the course is accessible to all students.

In 2003 the Council licensed the Institute of Professional Legal Studies to provide a 13-week face to face, full-time course, and a 19-week part face to face, part distance delivered course. The Council has also licensed another provider, originating in Australia, the College of Law New Zealand. The College was licensed, by the Council, to provide an 18-week part face to face, part distance delivered course. Both organisations were licensed for a period of two years. It operates in competition with the Institute. At present it attracts slightly more than 50% of those enrolling in professional courses. The licensing of a second provider added a significant new dimension to the Council‘s operations. Since then both providers have been relicensed twice, each time for three years.

A special regime applies to Trans-Tasman admission. It is covered by the Trans-Tasman Mutual Recognition Admission Regulations 2008. Australian practitioners on application are able to practice in New Zealand in the same way New Zealand practitioners can practice in Australia. The assessment of any application is carried out by a Registrar of the High Court.

A full paper version can be found at : http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/ALRS/

Edition Two 2011 18 ALTA Newsletter Conceptualising Capstone Experiences in Legal Education1

A Project Team, lead by Queensland University of Technology in collaboration with Griffith University and The University of Western Australia, is currently investigating an Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) funded research project that aims to improve capstone experiences in Australian legal education through final year curriculum renewal. The project‘s work is further supported by members of a national and international expert reference group.

The current literature suggests that Australian universities, and law schools in particular, are not engaging final year students effectively in genuine capstone experiences that intentionally support the integration, synthesis and extension of program learning, the development of professional identity, and a successful transition out of university. Durel2 defines ‗capstone‘ as ―a crowning [subject] or experience coming at the end of a sequence of [subjects] with the specific objective of integrating a body of relatively fragmented knowledge into a unified whole‖. Capstones provide an opportunity for final year students both to look back over their years of tertiary study in an effort to make sense of what they have accomplished, and to look forward to a professional existence that builds on that foundation. It is during the capstone experience that students complete the transition from their primarily ‗student‘ identity to embrace their beginning professional identity.

In the Australian context, capstones have recently surfaced as particularly important given the sectoral focus on discipline standards and the associated requirement to demonstrate student acquisition of whole-of-program learning outcomes. It is also the case that students in their final year face significant transition issues that are just as challenging as those facing commencing first year students.3 However, the 2010 Australasian Survey of Student Engagement data report that, across all disciplines, only 2.7% of later year students in Australasia identify as having had a ―capstone experience‖ in their university course, compared to 36.8% in United States.4

In response to these various incentives, the ALTC ―Curriculum renewal in legal education‖ project aims to enhance and support the final year of legal education by articulating a set of final year curriculum principles to aid the design of effective capstone experiences and by developing a transferable final year model (a ‗toolkit‘) to exemplify possible capstone approaches.

As regards the first of these outcomes, the project‘s action research methodology has overseen iterative development of the final year curriculum principles. These research- and evidence-based organising principles have been drafted following an extensive literature review, feedback from sectoral disseminations, consultation with the project‘s Reference Group and a first round of student and recent graduate feedback. The current iteration is as follows:

1. Transition

An effective capstone experience supports transition by:

 Drawing on students' self-management and other legal skills to deal successfully with uncertainty, complexity and change;  Assisting students in beginning to develop a sense of professional identity; and  Supporting students to manage their career planning and development.

2. Closure

An effective capstone experience provides closure by:

 Supporting students to integrate, synthesise and extend their learning in the program; and  Enabling students to attain a sense of completion and an understanding of what it means to be a law graduate and a global citizen.

3. Diversity

An effective capstone experience responds to diversity by:  Enhancing students‘ capacity to engage with diversity in professional contexts; and  Being inclusive of all students.

Edition Two 2011 19 ALTA Newsletter

4. Engagement

An effective capstone experience promotes student engagement by:

 Requiring students to assume active roles, to apply their learning in realistic and unfamiliar contexts and to take responsibility for their own work; and  Providing opportunities for reflection to enable students to make connections between their learning and professional contexts and to assist the development of their professional identity.

5. Assessment

An effective capstone assessment recognises the culminating nature of the experience by:

 Aligning assessment practice to the capstone principles; and  Requiring students to make appropriate use of feedback and to reflect on their own capabilities and performance.

6. Evaluation

An effective capstone experience:

 Should be regularly evaluated to ensure its relevance, coherence and alignment with the program;  Contributes to the whole of program evaluation; and  Contributes to the demonstration of student attainment of the discipline learning outcomes.

In February 2012, the project will host a final year forum to showcase the project, present project outcomes and facilitate the sharing of practice around desirable capstone design in legal education. All interested colleagues are invited to attend.

Sally Kift, Catherine Brown, Des Butler, Rachael Field, Judith McNamara and Cheryl Treloar Queensland University of Technology

1 http://www.ljrc.law.qut.edu.au/research/projects/capstone/ Support for this work has been provided by The Australian Learning and Teaching Council Ltd, an initiative of the Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations. The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of The Australian Learning and Teaching Council. 2 Durel, R. J. (1993). The capstone course: A rite of passage. Teaching Sociology, 21(3), 223-225 at 223. 3 Jervis, K. J., & Hartley, C. A. (2005). Learning to design and teach an accounting capstone. Issues in Accounting Education, 20(4), 311-339. 4 Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER). (2010). Doing more for learning: Enhancing engagement and outcomes. Australasian Student Engagement Report. Melbourne, Australia: ACER. Retrieved August 21, 2011, from http://www.acer.edu.au/research/ausse/reports at 25.

Edition Two 2011 20 ALTA Newsletter

Law Associate Deans’ Network

In mid-2010, Professors Sally Kift and Mark Israel convened a national meeting of associate deans teaching and learning for law (or their equivalent), as part of their law discipline standards project for the ALTC. It was very well attended and was the first time that such a group had met. In addition to the group‘s contribution to the discussion around the then draft discipline standards, it was agreed that the group would seek to establish itself permanently as a forum to advance teaching and learning in law. Vicki Waye, Claire Macken and I became the first co-convenors and Sally Kift provided an incredible level of support.

A second meeting was held at the end of 2010 again with the support of the Law Discipline Standards project. By this stage, we had canvassed some models for the group and sought a preliminary indication from CALD that it might support the group, subject to formal consideration at its meeting. Scott Beattie replaced Vicky Waye as co-convenor. CALD subsequently confirmed its support of the Network as a subcommittee focusing on teaching and learning. It will support the Network financially in terms of a secretariat and one key meeting a year with a ‗significant outcome‘. We are grateful for this support, and are presently working out the details.

The convenors, led by Claire Macken, were successful in an application for ALTC funding to firm up the Network as a sustainable discipline-focussed organization. The application was supported by Jill McKeough for CALD, and Sally Kift as Law Disipline Scholar. Administrative arrangements are now being put in place before the project begins in earnest. We anticipate applying the grant funds to set up a web presence for a repository of sharing Network outcomes with the sector and publish hard-copy Good Practice Guides on Threshold Learning Outcomes for both the LLB and JD.

The Network‘s first standalone meeting preceded the ALTA conference in Brisbane in July – again with a focus on the threshold learning outcomes that arose out of the Discipline Standards project. By this time, the Network had facilitated the commission of ‗Good Practice Guides‘ covering six aspects of the Threshold Learning Outcomes for law and authors or their proxies met with the Network to get feedback on their work to date. We expect to have the guides in final form later this year, and will distribute through the Network upon publication. Many thanks again to Sally Kift for supporting this initiative through grant funds. At this meeting, Claire Macken and Scott Beattie stood down and Kate Lindsay and Fiona Kumari-Campbell replaced them as co- convenors.

Our aim is to hold two meetings a year. Meetings will revolve around a ‗hot topic‘ in legal education: one that accords with the network‘s current interests, reflecting contemporary issues. The aim of each meeting will be to provide networking opportunities for Law AD‘s, but also for each to take away new knowledge about contemporary issues in legal education. It is expected that people holding the Associate Dean Teaching and Learning (or equivalent) appointment for each law school will attend in person (ie not by proxy) to facilitate relationships within the Network.

This is a really exciting project and one that we hope will be sustainable through its relevant support of contemporary best practice in legal education.

Kate Galloway Co-convenor Law AD Network [email protected]

Edition Two 2011 21 ALTA Newsletter Setting Standards in Legal Education: Discipline Scholar Update

As has been previously reported in this Newsletter, following a concerted and collaborative effort over 2010 involving law schools, the judiciary, the legal profession and students, the Threshold Learning Outcomes (TLOs) for the Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree were developed in anticipation of the federal government‘s new Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA). The TLOs for the LLB, together with a statement as to the ‗Nature and Extent of Law and Legal Education‘ and ‗Notes on the Threshold Learning Outcomes‘ to aid TLO interpretation, were endorsed by the Council of Australian Law Deans (CALD) in November 2010.

The LLB Standards Statement is available on the ALTC‘s website at http://www.altc.edu.au/system/files/ altc_standards_LAW_110211.pdf and has been widely disseminated nationally and internationally. Reviewing the ―never ending story‖ of Australian legal education at the recent ALTA Conference held in Brisbane in July, Chief Justice French referred to the TLOs observing particularly their overlap with the requirements of the 1971 English Ormrod Committee on Legal Education.

Drawing on national and international precedents, the six TLOs that have been identified via this extensive consultation process are: knowledge; ethics and professional responsibility; thinking skills; research skills; communication and collaboration; and self- management.

In a letter to The Australian‘s Higher Education Supplement (HES, 06/04/11), Professor Jill McKeough, Chair of CALD and Dean, UTS Faculty of Law, observed that ‗Since their publication, the Law TLOs have been accorded international accolades from, among others, law school review panels, and have been enthusiastically endorsed by leading members of the business world. In particular, the ethical and self-management aspects have been embraced as significant enhancements to existing requirements.‘

At a time when business leaders are calling on universities to produce graduates with the sorts of skills Australia needs (eg, ‗Business takes a dim view of academe‘: HES, 30/03/11), Professor McKeough notes that while embedding and assessing the TLOs may be a ‗challenge for some institutions‘, the TLOs will lead to ‗a closer match between graduates of university law schools and the needs of our society and economy‘.

‗The professionalism and competence of a sound and ethical lawyer with the threshold skills the TLOs enshrine adds value and is an important investment in Australia‘s future,‘ she said.

The Benefit of Notes on the TLOs

In particular, the provision of accompanying ‗Notes on the TLOs‘ has been well received in feedback from the sector. In the Law Standards Statement, each TLO is accompanied by explanatory material regarding the Background of the TLO – setting out the precedents for, and the development of, the endorsed TLO – and the Terminology of the TLO – providing guidance on the language used in the TLO and general points that may need to be considered in designing learning, teaching and assessment approaches.

As one academic has commented: ‗I think you have captured succinctly, but with sufficient guidance telegraphed in the notes, the essence of what we should be doing to foster legal education.... I think [this] will become a very important framework for legal educators’.

Further Work – 2011-12

Despite the announcement of the closure of the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC), work is continuing on the Learning and Teaching Academic Standards (LTAS) Law Project over 2011-12, lead by Discipline Scholar Sally Kift (Queensland University of Technology).

Under the auspices of Law Assistant Deans (Learning & Teaching) Network formed out of the LTAS Project in 2010 (‗Law AD Network‘), six Good Practice Guides have been commissioned, via a competitive process, to facilitate Law Schools‘ implementation of the TLOs as follows:

Edition Two 2011 22 ALTA Newsletter

TLO 1 Ms Judith McNamara and Ms Catherine Brown Queensland University of Statutory Interpretation Technology TLO 2 Ms Maxine Evers, Ms Leanne Houston & Professor University of Technology Ethics and Professional Paul Redmond Sydney Responsibility TLO 3 Associate Professor Nick James The University of Queensland Thinking Skills TLO 5 Ms Sharon Wesley University of Technology Communication Sydney TLO 5 Professor Elizabeth Handsley Flinders University Collaboration TLO 6 Ms Judith Marychurch University of Wollongong Self-Management

The Guides are due for completion by 30 September 2011 and were considered by members of the Law AD Network at its meeting on 3 July 2011 in Brisbane with a view to providing feedback and input on them prior to their finalisation. With the support of further funding now secured from the ALTC for 2012, three further Guides will be commissioned next year around other TLO areas of identified interest.

Over 2011, work is also proceeding on the development of TLOs for the Juris Doctor (JD) degree, which the Australian Qualifications Framework has recently designated a Level 9 qualification – Masters Degree (Extended). This project is being driven by a group of Assistant Deans from Law Schools currently offering or proposing to offer the JD and is being lead by Professor Andrew Kenyon, The University of Melbourne.

New funding secured from the ALTC for 2012 will also see legal educators from several Law Schools pursue a pilot project entitled Assuring Achievement in the LLB: Inter-institutional Peer Review of Law TLO inputs and outputs. Leveraging the work and findings of the current ALTC Project Inter-University Moderation & Standards (lead by Professors Kerri-Lee Krause (Griffith University) and Geoff Scott (University of Western Sydney)), this pilot initiative in law will identify a common, final year LLB subject and focus on collegial peer review of subject inputs (eg., subject outlines, learning objectives and assessment items), together with peer review of some samples of student outputs (ie, assessment submissions) for the purpose of gauging demonstration of law TLO achievement at the subject level and within a whole-of-program context.

Law AD Network

The Law AD Network, which has been lead over 2010-11 by Associate Professor Claire Macken (Deakin University), Ms Kate Galloway (James Cook University) and Dr Scott Beattie (Victoria University), has secured $96,000 in ALTC Network funding to support that group‘s work on into the future – a significant outcome and resource for legal educators in the current dynamic tertiary environment. At its July 2011 meeting held in conjunction with ALTA, Claire and Scott stood down from the AD Network organizing committee and were thanked for their important work in establishing the group and leading the ALTC grant application. The 2011-12 Network convenors are Ms Kate Galloway (continuing, James Cook University); Ms Kate Lindsay (University of Newcastle); Associate Professor Fiona Kumari-Campbell (Griffith University).

Sally Kift ALTC Discipline Scholar: Law ALTC Senior Fellow Queensland University of Technology

Edition Two 2011 23 ALTA Newsletter 2011 ALTA Institutional Members Thank you for your support!

 The University of Auckland – Department of Commercial Law  RMIT University – School of Accounting & Law

 The University of Auckland – Faculty of Law  University of South Australia – School of Commerce

 The Australian National University – ANU College of Law  University of Southern Queensland – School of Law

 Bond University – Faculty of Law  Southern Cross University – School of Law & Justice

 Charles Darwin University – School of Law  The University of Sydney – Faculty of Law

 Curtin University of Technology– School of Business Law and  The University of Sydney – Law Extension Committee Taxation.

 The University of Sydney – Faculty of Economics &  Deakin University – School of Law Business

 Griffith University – Griffith Law School  University of Tasmania – Faculty of Law

 James Cook University – School of Law  University of Technology, Sydney – Faculty of Law

 La Trobe University– School of Law  Victoria University – School of Law

 Manukau Institute of Technology – Manukau Business School, Accountancy & Law Division  Victoria University of Wellington – Faculty of Law

 Monash University – Department of Business Law & Taxation  Victoria University of Wellington – School of Accountancy & Commercial Law

 The University of Newcastle – School of Law  The University of Western Australia – Faculty of Law

 The University of New England – School of Law  The University of Western Sydney – School of Law

 The University of New South Wales Australian – School of Taxation and Business Law  The University of Waikato – Law School

 The University of Queensland – TC Beirne School of Law  University of Wollongong – Faculty of Law

Edition Two 2011 24 ALTA Newsletter ALTA School Representatives Initiative

As you may be aware, the ALTA Executive has recently implemented its ALTA School Representative initiative where one or two members within each of ALTA‘s institutional member schools have become a representative of ALTA. These Representatives are able to provide an interface between the ALTA Executive and their individual schools and promote the interests of ALTA within their local law academic communities.

The ALTA Executive sees this as an opportunity to collaborate more closely with its member institutions and to continue to find ways in which to meet the needs of its membership. Representatives also play an important role in ensuring that new Academics become aware of ALTA as an organisation which can assist them in their career development, as well as ensuring that current ALTA members have an opportunity to enjoy an active participation in the activities of the Association.

The role of ALTA Representatives is to:

a. Promote and represent ALTA activities and membership within their individual school. b. Disseminate ALTA information through: i. Emails to their school‘s law academics ii. Distribution of ALTA Membership Packs to new members/staff iii. Distribution of conference, prizes and awards information to their Dean/Head of School with a view to encouraging participation by staff within their school c. Communicate to the ALTA Executive any particular concerns of the membership located in their school. d. Produce a biannual report incorporating ALTA activities affecting their individual School and any other activities which may be relevant to ALTA, which is published online and in the ALTA Newsletter. e. If possible, attend the ALTA Conference, including the Convener and School Representative Cocktail Function, which serves as a ―thank you‖ for undertaking the role and importantly provides a formal opportunity for Representatives to meet with the ALTA Executive.

We currently have 38 School Representatives, to whom we would like to extend our sincere thanks for their ongoing support. It was a pleasure for the Executive to meet with the Representatives at the 2011 ALTA Conference Cocktail Function and they look forward to future collaboration.

We are currently seeking School Representatives from non-member Schools. If you would like to express your interest or would like any further information, please contact the ALTA administrator at [email protected]

Edition Two 2011 25 ALTA Newsletter Current ALTA School Representatives

Bond University The University of Notre Dame Faculty of Law School of Law Leisha Browning & Louise Parsons Claire Kaylock & Teresa Somes

University of Canberra The University of Queensland Faculty of Law TC Beirne School of Law Sarah Ailwood Qiao Liu & Nick James

Charles Darwin University University of South Australia School of Law & Business School of Commerce David Price Jennifer McKay

University of Southern Queensland School of Law Curtin University of Technology Pauline Collins & Suzanne Donnellan School of Business Law and Taxation Colleen Mortimer Southern Cross University School of Law & Justice Jennifer Nielsen & Angela Adrian Deakin University School of Law Lidia Xynas & John Hannagan The University of Sydney Faculty of Law Arlie Loughnan & Rita Shackel Griffith University Griffith School of Law Edward Mussawir & Merran Lawler The University of Sydney Business School Patty Kamvounias James Cook University School of Law Stephen Graw & Malcolm Barrett University of Tasmania Faculty of Law La Trobe University Rick Snell & Jeremy Prichard School of Law Ann Wardrop & Keith Kendall University of Technology, Sydney Faculty of Law Monash University Marilyn Scott Department of Business Law & Taxation Paula Gerber Victoria University School of Law Charles Giacco & David Parker The University of Newcastle School of Law Nicola Ross The University of Western Australia Faculty of Law Tracey Atkinson The University of New England School of Law Belinda Eastgate The University of Western Sydney School of Law John Juriansz & Elfriede Sangkuhl The University of New South Wales Australian School of Taxation and Business Law Jenny Buchan & Fiona Martin

Edition Two 2011 26 ALTA Newsletter Reports from ALTA School Representatives

Curtin University, School of Business Law and Taxation Colleen Mortimer Ms Lisa Goldacre has won an ALTC award for teaching large classes. Lisa is the Unit Co-ordinator of Business Law 100 which during a year has over 3,000 students enrolled both on and off-campus. Judy McGowan is developing a "business needs" focus in the development and teaching of Competition and Consumer Law in the Curtin Business School. The students work as graduate employees of a fictional business. Each topic is introduced by way of a work task they are requested to undertake , by their (legally ignorant) manager. Impacting law is then addressed in learning activities. Student tutorials and assessments reflect business practices such as meetings, Board papers and reports and memos . The overarching outcome is to get students to recognise law in a business context and become aware of the far reaching legal consequences of the law on them, the business, the directors and managers. This will help create a sense of purpose for learning the law and a responsibility for using it! Research will ascertain the impact in terms of engagement and graduate attribute development of this approach.

University of New South Wales, Australian School of Business Jenny Buchan (Business Law) and Fiona Martin (Taxation) The Australian School of Taxation (ATAX) formerly within the UNSW Law Faculty merged with the School of Business Law and Taxation (of the Australian School of Business) in 2011. The new school, called the School of Taxation and Business Law (incorporating ATAX) is located in the Australian School of Business at UNSW. The Head of School is Professor John Taylor.

Upcoming events  The ATAX Professional Seminar: 28 September 2011 details at http://www.atax.unsw.edu.au/news/event-detail.asp?id=4347  The ATAX International Conference on Tax Administration: 2 and 3 April 2012.  The ATAX Annual GST Workshop: 12 and 13 April 2012.

The University of Queensland, TC Beirne School of Law Associate Professor Nick James The TC Beirne School of Law at the University of Queensland offers a single undergraduate degree – the Bachelor of Laws – and a suite of postgraduate degrees including the Master of Laws and the Master of Applied Law. The LLB continues to attract the brightest students in the state; in 2011 the School accepted approximately 430 new students, all with OPs of 1 and 2 or equivalent. The LLM was relaunched in 2011 with a wide range of new courses grouped into specialist areas including commercial law, corporate law, litigation and natural resources. Most of the School‘s postgraduate courses are now offered intensively to meet the needs and expectations of legal practitioners. Teaching and learning issues presently being explored by the School include preventing and dealing with plagiarism and academic misconduct; the appropriate use of external academics as course coordinators; appropriate grade distributions in courses; the use of pre-requisites; the embedding of Threshold Learning Outcomes across the LLB program; the online submission and marking of assessment; the impact of lecture recording upon class attendance; and the use of optional assessment in law courses.

Edition Two 2011 27 ALTA Newsletter

Southern Cross University, School of Law & Justice Dr. Angela Adrian The EARTH LAWS network is a proposed multidisciplinary research cluster at Southern Cross University based upon four main pillars:  Interdisciplinarity. Earth Jurisprudence has a strong multidisciplinary approach. Other schools and interested individuals within Southern Cross University have been contacted and are enthusiastically supporting the development of this cluster.  Theory. The School of Law and Justice has been researching extensively in the philosophy of emerging environmental humanities and in their legal articulation.  Cross-cultural perspectives. The second Australian conference held at the University of Wollongong in 2010 established an ongoing dialogue with multiple cultures around the conceptualization of rights of/for nature. Indigenous elders lead the discourse, transforming it into a platform for meaningful and appropriate intercultural exchanges.  Community engagement. The nature of the research and the concerns raised by Earth Jurisprudence allow for an immediate and pervasive community outreach. The local Environmental Defenders Office has already been contacted and a number of other institutions will be shortly.

University of Southern Queensland, Faculty of Business and Law Pauline Collins and Suzanne Donnelly A number of USQ staff presented papers at the Conference this year:  Eola Barnett and Noeleen McNamara - the verity of multiple choice questions as assessment tools in law degree courses.  Pauline Collins (with Mandy Shircore, Nichola Corbett-Jarvis, Anne Schillmoller) - Getting it right: Transparency, Moderation and Benchmarking across the first year curriculum  Andrew Hemming - Impermissibly importing the Common Law into Criminal Codes: Pollock v The Queen  Nicky Jones - Wrongs and Rights: Indigenous people‘s economic, social and cultural rights in a new century The following staff also attended the Conference at various times: Lynda Crowley-Cyr, Anton La Vin, Richard Mahler, James Mayanja and Katie Sutton.

Victoria Law School, Victoria University, Business & Law Mr David Parker and Mr Charles Giacco Following last year‘s 10th anniversary of the Victoria Law School (VLS) and in response to an invitation from the Council of Legal Education (COLE), the VLS is currently working with the its Program Advisory Committee to review the Priestley 11. A comprehensive course structure review is also underway in liaison with the Sir Zelman Cowen Centre who provide post graduate and professional development law studies for the University. The VLS Speaker Series continues to receive good attendance with the next seminar by Vice Chancellor, Prof. Peter Dawkins and Prof. Bhajan Grewal on the topic of 'Regulation and Commonwealth State Relations: The Case of Education'. The VLS will also welcome Legal Services Commissioner, Michael McGarvie, as a guest speaker later in the year. For the first time ever, two law students were panellists at the prestigious LIV Practice Support Conference held in June. VLS student, Noah Obradovic, and recent VLS graduate, Nussen Ainsworth, received national media attention for their work promoting the importance of mobile technology in the workplace. Student related events this year include clerkship and graduation program presentations from several leading law firms and information sessions from the Leo Cussen Centre for Law. A new contract law moot competition will run in September. Former High Court judge the Hon. Michael Kirby, a close associate and strong supporter of VLS, has very kindly agreed to be the patron of this competition and will judge the finals. Prospective students can also look forward to the VLS Open Day on 25 September 2011 which is combined again this year with the VCE lecture.

Edition Two 2011 28 ALTA Newsletter

Staff Profile: Ms Kate Galloway

What is your current position? I am presently senior lecturer in the School of Law at James Cook University. I am seconded for a 50% appointment until mid 2012 as curriculum scholar in my Faculty – a role in which I am supporting the refresh of our faculty curricula, including the LLB.

What is your area of legal specialty? My primary area of interest is property law. While my teaching focuses on land law, I also look at theoretical approaches to property.

When and how did you come to be an academic? I started as a sessional lecturer in 2004 while working also at the Cape York Land Council, having just left 14 years of private practice in property law. I was initially employed to teach land law after the sudden departure of another sessional lecturer. I stayed on, teaching land law and teaching also in two first year foundation subjects. I was employed as a permanent staff member in 2008.

What have been your main academic career steps? After two years as a sessional lecturer, I became full time associate lecturer in 2006 on contract, with a substantive appointment in 2008. I was promoted to senior lecturer from 2011. I have been the director of teaching and learning for the school of law for a couple of years now, and am half way through my part time secondment as faculty curriculum scholar.

What are your thoughts on teaching? My academic identity including my philosophy of teaching is firmly rooted in my identity as a lawyer, and my teaching practice is informed by a commitment to empowerment of my students as developing professionals. While many of my students will not practise law, my teaching practice is predicated on a belief that the role of the lawyer and a critique of lawyering is an essential part of understanding the law. I therefore strive to facilitate students‘ development of a professional persona or identity through exploration of the discipline. I seek to achieve this through modelling an ongoing passion for learning about the law and its context, and a relational approach to teaching.

What are your thoughts on research? My teaching and research are part of a continuum of practice – each informs the other and in one respect, my teaching is in fact also my research. I am presently learning more about legal education through my own experience, research and writing and this in turn informs my own teaching. Likewise, each time I teach a subject a particular legal issue will arise, inspiring a new line of inquiry that in turn informs my teaching. In both examples, my experience in the profession underpins my understanding of an issue or avenue of inquiry. This more wholistic approach suits me better than becoming the deepest of all experts in a narrow field of inquiry: I like to make connections and prefer a range of stimuli to achieve this.

What are your thoughts on university involvement? I like being involved in university life. Our law school is very small and our campus in Cairns is smaller than that in Townsville. Being involved in the wider university offers the opportunity for collaboration and creative endeavour with a greater number of people in a variety of disciplines. I find this network generates a warm sense of community and offers me many more opportunities to learn.

What are your thoughts on community engagement? Community engagement is integral to the profession, and my involvement in community organisations has continued since joining the university. I sit on the Queensland Law Society‘s Equalising Opportunities in the Law committee, and am co-convenor of the Law Associate Deans (teaching and learning) Network. I enjoy contributing to the Law School‘s involvement in school debating, constitutional conventions and careers talks.

Edition Two 2011 29 ALTA Newsletter

What do you like most about your job? I love working with like-minded colleagues engaging in big ideas and solving problems. I find it incredibly rewarding to see how our students grow from their first lecture to graduation.

What do you like least about your job? I dislike mind-numbing rules and processes with no apparent purpose or whose effectiveness is questionable, and meetings with no plan of action or no action taken.

If you were starting out again now, what would you do differently? I‘m pretty happy with the way things have gone.

What strategies do you use to maintain work life balance? I row. Except when I travel, I train on the water six days a week, and aim for three gym sessions. I train primarily in a double scull, but also in a quad and a four. I compete locally, nationally and my crews were competitive at the World Masters Games in 2009, making the finals for our age group in the women‘s coxless four and women‘s double. My crew won bronze in the mixed double. Getting up early and training hard both gives me energy to engage more effectively with work and ensures I go to bed at a reasonable hour. Rowing gets me close to nature and is a form of active meditation that clears my mind and improves my focus. I try not to think about crocodiles.

Edition Two 2011 30 ALTA Newsletter Staff Profile: Ms Feona Sayles

What is your current position? I am a lecturer in business law within the School of Accountancy at Massey University in Palmerston North, New Zealand. I am also a member of the College of Business Board and the College of Business Learning and Teaching Committee.

What is your area of legal specialty? The main areas that I am involved in as a teacher are commercial law and sports law. However my special interests lie in social issues and criminal law. I am currently undertaking a PhD in criminology so this combines my areas of special interest very well.

When and how did you come to be an academic? In mid-2002 I was working through an LLM at Canterbury University when I was contacted by Associate Professor Lindsay Trotman to assist with marking 2nd year business law assignments. I knew Lindsay through having obtained a Diploma in Business Law from Massey University. This was the first step to beginning my career as an academic.

What have been your main academic career steps? I began as a casual marker in 2002. I was then employed as a research assistant for two months in late 2002-early 2003. In early 2003 I was appointed as an assistant lecturer. In 2005 I was appointed as a lecturer.

What are your thoughts on teaching? I am passionate about teaching. I adhere to a reflective teaching model which means I constantly evaluate whether different teaching strategies have worked or not. One of the biggest things that I have learnt out of the practice of reflective teaching is that ‗one size does not fit all‘ when it comes to teaching. Students will vary as to their skills, motivations, learning styles and learning needs. These variations can occur within one course in a particular year and can also be different from year to year. As teachers we need to ensure we do not get ‗stuck in a rut‘ of teaching ‗what worked last time‘. Instead we need to look at our current situations and strive towards creating a learning environment that is relevant to the needs of current students and the ways in which they will engage with the law in their future careers.

What are your thoughts on research? As Boyer (1990) commented; ‗Scholarly investigation, in all the disciplines, is at the very heart of academic life‘. Research and publication of research is not just a matter of gaining funding, it is an essential part of building a knowledge community. One of the hardest parts of fulfilling this aspect of academic life, especially for an early academic with a full teaching load, can be getting the time to do research. One piece of advice that I was given as an early academic was to ensure that I write each day – even if it is only for ten minutes. This builds a ‗research habit‘ and it is surprising what can be achieved by the end of the week even if only a small amount of writing is done each day.

What are your thoughts on university involvement? When I was first employed by the university I focused on my immediate surroundings (the courses I taught and my research). After a period of time I realised that these were part of a much larger picture and that to influence how these ‗immediate surroundings‘ continued or developed required involvement in the various decision making bodies. One of the highlights of my membership of the College of Business Board has been involvement in the process of gaining a particular accreditation for the College, which took a number of years to achieve and required adopting several measures designed to improve the standard of teaching within the College.

Edition Two 2011 31 ALTA Newsletter

What are your thoughts on community engagement? Universities should not be seen as institutions where knowledge is only shared amongst the ‗elite‘. One way of breaking down this view is through community engagement. Knowledge that is valuable to the community or a section of the community should be shared. I am currently working on a project that will assist in sharing knowledge about consumer law with the local business community.

What do you like most about your job? Some students have asked me why I would choose to be an academic rather than practise the law. My answer has generally involved telling the students about the joys associated with the freedom that academics have to inquire and be critical of the law. I would also have to say that my colleagues play a large part in my job satisfaction. It has been their help and involvement in my academic life that has made my job so enjoyable.

What do you like least about your job? Administrative paperwork!!! It seems as though every time I have completed one lot of paperwork I am confronted with another that is asking the very same questions. I realise that it is important but it can be frustrating. if you were starting out again now, what would you do differently? I would focus on a particular area of law and make that my area of expertise very early so I could build a career as an expert in area ‗X‘. This does not mean I would have altered my exploration into different areas of law before finally finding an area of interest in which to create expertise. Instead, if I were to do anything differently it would be to speed up (rather than eliminate) the process of finding an area to focus on.

What strategies do you use to maintain work life balance? I work a lot from home which can be a problem as it can be difficult to separate work/life. My home office is separated from the rest of the house which helps a lot. I make an effort to not bring work into the other living areas – if I want to work I go to my home office. This means that when I am in other areas of the house I am ‗off work‘. Whether the separation is ‗time‘ or ‗space‘ (as in my case) this separation is needed to create a distance between work and life.

Edition Two 2011 32 ALTA Newsletter ALTA Legal Research Series

(ALRS)

It is over a year since the ALTA Law Research Series (ALRS) was launched at the 2010 annual conference. ALTA is very grateful for the Australasian Legal Information Institute (or as it is more often called ―AustLII‖) for hosting the ALRS service. There are now a range of papers, journal articles, conferences and working papers covering a range of topics. By the end of September 2011 it is hoped there will be over 100 items and growing. Articles cover the time period 1997 until 2010 – although I believe a few 2011 articles are soon to be up-loaded. It is possible to find papers by either the year it was published or by the author(s)‘ name.

Each item that is published on the ALRS database is allocated a unique identifier, in a similar way as each court case is referenced. Thus, the article by Professor Michael Coper (Dean of the College of Law, ANU) entitled ―On building a successful career as an academic lawyer‖ is referenced as [2006] ALRS 11. This citation means the paper was published in 2006 and it is the first paper published in the ALRS database for that year. Another example is the former Dean of the Faculty of Law at UTS, Emeritus Professor David Barker, whose article ―Reflections on Law Deans – Leadership‖ is found at [2009] ALRS 13 2.

These two examples from prominent professors of law were originally presented as conference papers. In Professor Coper‘s example at the 2006 ALTA annual conference and for Professor Barker, at the International Association of Law Schools conference, held in Canberra. In other cases, ALTA members, such as Noel Cox have submitted articles that have been published elsewhere. In Noel‘s case, his article, ―The Theory of Sovereignty and the Importance of the Crown in the Realms of The Queen" was originally published in Oxford University Commonwealth Law Journal 3 and then allocated an ALRS reference of [2002] ALRS 6 4.

So why would ALTA academics wish to publish on the ALRS database?

Although a number of Universities in Australia and New Zealand are creating digital libraries and depositories for their academics‘ work – there are many that do not, as yet provide for this facility. ALTA wanted to support the research endeavours of its members by providing a facility that is provided to only some Law Schools currently. Also, if the ALTA member is the copyright holder, they may wish to publish in more than one place – this does not count as multiple publications (there is no double-dipping) but merely different depositories. If a journal is only in hardcopy, it may be hard to track down for other researchers and scholars in the future. As the example with Noel Cox, there are two references to his article, the official journal and the technology neutral citation.

Another advantage to adding an article to ALRS is that it is electronically coded and tagged, so that there are automatic hyper- links to any cases or legislation or articles or Government reports, if they are already included in any of the AustLII databases. Thus, in the article by Associate Professor Terry Hutchinson of QUT Faculty of Law, ―Educating the Transnational Lawyer – Globalisation and the Effects on Legal Research Training‖ [2006] ALRS 55 at footnote 41, there is a cross-reference to the article by Robyn Carroll and Helen Wallace ―An Integrated Approach to Information Literacy in Legal Education‖ in the Legal Education Review. This is automatically hyperlinked to the AustLII database at [2002] LegEdRev 86.

It also means that if a case, such as the James Hardie litigation (ASIC v Macdonald (No 12) [2009] NSWSC 714), is reviewed and on the AustLII database the researcher clicks on LawCite, it will list academic articles which include this case. For example, two articles would be shown, including Vicky Comino‘s ―The challenge of corporate law enforcement in Australia‖ [2009] UQLRS 3 and Professor Michael Adams‘ ―James Hardie final outcomes‖ [2009] ALRS 3 7

How do I use the ALRS database?

It is best to look at the existing articles and papers that are on the database, by going to the webpage: http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/ALRS/

Then you will note there is a direct link to the ALTA Law Research Series ―Guidelines‖ which lists the types of works that may be up-loaded and what should not be included. There is an easy submission process, by clicking on the Submission Form button on the same page as the ALRS database. The file needs to be in rich text format (this is simple to create by just saving your word document as ―rtf‖). If you have any problems please email the ALRS administrator at: [email protected]

Professor Michael Adams Dean, UWS Law School Convenor of the ALRS Steering Committee

1 http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/ALRS/2006/1.html 2 http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/ALRS/2009/13.html 3 (2002)(2) Oxford University Commonwealth Law Journal 237 4 http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/ALRS/2002/6.html 5 http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/ALRS/2006/5.html 6 http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/LegEdRev/2002/8.html 7 http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/ALRS/2009/3.html

Edition Two 2011 33 ALTA Newsletter

Journal of the Australasian Law Teachers Association (JALTA)

JALTA was established by the Australasian Law Teachers Association (ALTA) in 2008 as a double-blind refereed journal that publishes scholarly works on all aspects of law. JALTA represents an important initiative which supports the research endeavours of its members, in addition to ALTA‘s highly regarded Legal Education Review (LER) and the Centre for Legal Education‘s Legal Education Digest (LED), which is included in ALTA membership. The journal also appropriately reflects the prestige, maturity and development of ALTA as an organisation which now represents well over 1,000 members. Following the publication of our inaugural ―bumper‖ issue in 2008, the response to the subsequent issues has continued to be very strong. In 2009 we published 23 articles (out of 34 submitted) and in 2010 we published 19 articles (out of 24 submissions). All submissions underwent a rigorous double-blind peer review before being published. We are now busy working on the 2011 issue of JALTA following the recently held ALTA conference and papers are under the review process as I write this note. I look forward to seeing the 2011 issue which I am sure will contain the same level of high quality papers that previous issues did. I also look forward to meeting you at a future ALTA conference and would be happy to answer any queries that you might have about publishing in JALTA. In closing, and most importantly, I need to extend my sincere thanks to a number of people whose collective efforts have made this journal possible. First, in addition to all members of the ALTA Executive, I would like to thank my Editorial Board colleagues for their counsel and support. Second, I must thank ALTA Interest Group Convenors and all referees who assisted us with the double-blind refereeing process. I would also like to offer my thanks to WritWrite and Kaushalya Mataraaratchi for their exceptional work in proofreading, David Brennan for his efforts in typesetting, and to CCH Australia Ltd for their generous sponsorship and continued support of the journal. Lastly, I need to record a special thanks to Nathalie (‗Nat‘) Poludniewski who is tireless in her work on all aspects dealing with JALTA and is always supremely organised and efficient. I can safely say that without Nat‘s contributions JALTA would not be produced in a timely and professional manner. ALTA looks forward to continuing to contribute to the legal profession through this journal.

JALTA is now available for viewing at: www.alta.edu.au/JALTA.htm

Professor Dale Pinto Editor-in-Chief, JALTA Nathalie Poludniewski JALTA Administrator and ALTA Administrative Coordinator

Edition Two 2011 34 ALTA Newsletter

Legal Education Review

(LER)

At the Legal Education Review we are progressing well with Volume 21, with some excellent articles currently in the refereeing process for both our General Issue and our Special Issue on student wellbeing. We are grateful to referees who give their time without reward to support our publication. We are planning to publish on time for Volume 21 in December – especially important for our New Zealand authors this year with their PBRF cut offs! ALTA members should receive their PDF copy in January.

We have received generous sponsorship from Palgrave MacMillan, which ensures the ongoing viability of the journal, ensuring we can continue our contribution to legal education scholarship and excellence. We‘re also pleased about the move to disband the journal rankings system and hope the system going forward will be not only transparent, equitable and accountable but also readily comprehensible.

I am honoured to be joined on the Editorial Committee by Dr Nick James (UQ), Dr Allan Chay (QUT), Dr Wendy Larcombe (Melb), Ms Sonya Willis (USyd), Assoc Professor Donna Buckingham (Otago), Ms Anne Hewitt (Adel), Professor Patrick Keyzer (Bond) and Ms Penelope Watson (Macq). Our administrator Alysia Saker will complete her law degree at the end of 2011 but has agreed to stay on with us, which we very much appreciate.

We are also fortunate to have a strong Editorial Advisory Board, who support the bigger picture direction of the Review and often serve as referees. They are, in alphabetical order: Professor Michael Adams (UWS), Professor David Barker AM (UTS), Professor Larissa Behrendt (UTS), Professor Michael Coper (ANU), Mr Nigel Duncan (City University, London), Professor John Farrar (Waikato), Professor Richard Johnstone (Griffith), Professor Sally Kift (QUT), The Honourable Michael Kirby AC CMG, Visiting Associate Professor Marlene Le Brun (Griffith), Professor Erica McWilliam (QUT), Professor Carl Monk (International Association of Law Schools), The Hon Justice Marcia Neave (Monash), Dr W. Wesley Pue (University of British Columbia), Associate Professor Simon Rice OAM (ANU), Professor Elizabeth Sheehy (Ottawa), Professor William Twining (University College, London), and Professor David Weisbrot AM (Macq).

If you have any questions about the Review please visit our website www.ler.edu.au or contact our administrator at [email protected]. Submissions for Volume 21 are now closed, and submissions for Volume 22 are open until 30 April 2012. In 2012 we will have, in addition to our General Issue, a Special Issue on the teaching-research nexus.

Regards

Dr Michelle Sanson Editor-in-Chief

Edition Two 2011 35 ALTA Newsletter Legal Education Digest (LED)

Volume 19 (2) Editorial

Already this year there have been some educational conferences that forecast what will be the important topics for the future of legal education. At the Association of American Law Schools‘ (AALS) January Conference and Annual Meeting held in Washington DC, the theme centred around academic freedom and academic duty – including threats to tenure and academic freedom. At the Annual Meeting, Professor Lauren K. Robel took over from Professor Michael A Olivas as the new AALS president. In Australia Professor Jill McKeough succeeded Professor Bill Ford as the new Chairperson of the Council of Australian Law Deans, finalising the support of CALD for the Australian Learning and Teaching Council‘s research project for the setting of minimum standards in the form of threshold learning outcomes for law graduates. In the United Kingdom the Easter Conference of the Association of Law Teachers was held in Cardiff where the theme was: Crossing Borders: Legal Education United.

Another event worthy of note in the Digest has been the publication by the Melbourne University Law Review Association and the Melbourne Journal of International Law of the third edition of the Australian Guide to Legal Citation (‘Guide’). In her foreword Professor Hilary Charlesworth of the Australian National University and a former Editor of the Melbourne University Law Review in 1979, states that this event: deserves celebration. She quite rightly adds that: This volume mirrors the increasing significance of both comparative and international law in Australian legal scholarship. This a sentiment with which the editorial staff of the Digest fully agree.

In this edition the book review is of another introductory text for potential and current law students. Entitled What About Law? Studying Law at University by C Barnard, J O‘Sullivan and G Virgo, it is the second edition of what has been recognised as a highly successful approach to introducing young people to the study of law at university.

Although not a topic which is of major appeal to law academics, assessment is inevitably part of everyday life in the law school and not surprisingly there are usually at least one or two articles on this topic in each edition of the Digest. In this edition the first article digested under Assessment Methods is a report by Field and Jones of reforms introduced into the law program at the University of Brighton in the United Kingdom relating to assessment of a 100 per cent seen examination incorporating blended learning activities. The finding of the accompanying research project demonstrated that blended learning was capable of supporting shifts in assessment practices, with the seen examinations appearing to work well as a halfway house between assessment by coursework and the traditional unseen examination. In the second article Phillips, Clarke, Crofts and Laycock relate their experiences within the Law and Criminology Department at the UK‘s Greenwich University in attempting to obtain a close alignment between teaching, learning outcomes and assessment firstly in a new legal method course and subsequently the law school‘s land law and human rights courses. The law school is currently conducting long-term research into the effectiveness of these new assessment strategies.

There are four articles considered under Individual Subjects/Areas of Law. The first by Dietrich expresses concern as to the relationship between statutes and the common law when teaching torts law, and the challenges posed for the law academic of the predominance of statute when teaching, researching and learning the law. The second article under this heading by Douglas focuses on how the law teacher may promote non-adversarial practices when teaching stand-alone ADR courses and those combined with civil procedure courses. In the third article Epstein returns to the teaching of torts and how students may be stimulated in their studies when torts involving the outcomes of sporting activities are incorporated into the subject. The author expresses the view that introducing students to the relationship between torts and sports can have a positive impact on the students‘ learning environment. The final article by Gerber under this subject heading expresses concern that whilst most major US and Australian law firms promote construction law as one of their major areas of expertise, this is not reflected in the law school programs in these two jurisdictions. In the author‘s view a course on construction law would address concerns regarding the criticism of legal education for separating theory from practice and for failing to prepare law students for the practice of law.

Practical Training is the subject heading for the article by Thies who considers the effect that the pyramid/large firm model has had on legal education whereby there has been little incentive for law schools in the USA to ensure that their graduates have sufficient practical training on graduation. In the view of the author the current economic recession has presented a unique opportunity for legal education to seek a new way to train students in practical skills.

For Skills Wardell adapts a catchy title for the article under this heading to consider the issue of the authority of legal information now available in digital form to legal research practitioners and educators. As in the earlier article by Field and Jones, Wardell also considers the development of blended or converged learning models with law programs, focusing particularly on those being implemented within the School of Law & Justice at Southern Cross University, New South Wales.

Students involves two articles. In the first Galloway and Bradshaw reflect on the pastoral care exercised by the School of Law at James Cook University in North Queensland, in an effort to counteract high attrition rates and an unacceptably high failure rate during the first year of the LLB program. The Law School‘s pastoral care support program involves a Law School Peer Assisted Learning (‗PAL‘) program and the ongoing social presence of academic staff. The authors argue that the importance of the ‗care factor‘ needs to be recognised as an integral part of the teaching role. The other article under this heading expresses the

Edition Two 2011 36 ALTA Newsletter concerns of the authors, Kelk, Medlow and Hickie as to the impact of attending law school upon students‘ mental health. They report on the outcomes of research studies designed to discover whether or not law students differ significantly from the general population and other undergraduate students prior to entering law school and whether or not their well-being deteriorates during their time at law school. This article is of obvious interest to all law academics and also publicises the public activities of the Tristan Jepson Memorial Foundation in raising awareness within Australia of the problem of depression among law students.

Under Teachers Pattison, Hale and Gowens report on their use of critical incident technique methods to identify the teaching behaviours that will guide law professors in connecting with their students. They conclude that the four principal categories of behaviour which identify excellent law teachers are affirmation of students, taking time, the teaching task and communication techniques.

Teaching Methods & Media contains an unusual but compelling article by Morris and Lewis which observes that New Zealand fictional and visual media portray the vital motives identified by Debra Schleef, of ‗ambivalence, default, parental influence or class maintenance‘ for attending law school.

The final article by Donahoe in this edition under the heading of Technology is an account by the author of her attempt to counter the problems presented by student laptop usage in the lecture room. She did this by developing an interactive electronic book which attempted to overcome the linear fashion approach of a law professor as compared to the three dimensional thinking of the digital focused law student. This is an ideal article with which to conclude this editorial illustrating as it does the manner in which a law academic has endeavoured to adapt her teaching technique to bridge the perceived digital divide between the law teacher and the law student.

Emeritus Professor David Barker AM Editor Legal Education Digest

Edition Two 2011 37 ALTA Newsletter Legal Education Digest (LED)

Volume 19 (3) Editorial

It is quite encouraging to return from the recent (3 to 6 July) 2011 Australasian Law Teachers‘ Asso- ciation (ALTA) Brisbane Conference hosted by the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) Law Faculty, knowing that it has been regarded by all the participants as another outstanding success. Much of this was due to the additional events which surrounded the Conference which this year included not only meetings of the Council of Australian Law Deans and the Legal Education Review Editorial Committee but also, for the first time, an Australian Academy of Law Roundtable Sympo- sium on the topic – Trends in Legal Education for Practice: Competing Tensions. This was chaired by the Hon. Justice John H Byrne RFD, with Professor Michael Coper, Dean of the ANU College of Law, Noela L‘Estrange, Chief Executive Officer, Queensland Law Society and Rachael Field, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law, QUT as the principal speakers. It was also a special occasion for the editors and authors of Excellence and Innovation in Legal Education launched at the Conference by the Hon. Chief Justice Robert French AC of the High Court of Australia, who was also the Conference‘s opening plenary speaker. The book, published by Lexis Nexis, is the subject of this edition‘s book review.

It is also appropriate to note in this editorial of the closing of the United Kingdom Centre for Legal Education (UKCLE), yet another victim of government spending cuts. During its 10 years existence the Centre has had a profound effect on the development and quality of law teaching in the United Kingdom, and its influence on legal education, not only there but world-wide, will be sadly missed.

Moving on to the articles digested in this edition of the Digest, the first is categorised under Ethics. Here Wiley and Burke adopt what they describe as a constructivist approach to business ethics whereby they seek to develop a student code of professional conduct.

Under the rarely used heading of History, Chester recounts the saga of the founding of Boston‘s Portia Law School for women in 1908, intertwining the story of its increasing expansion during the 1920s and 1930s until its demise in 1944 with that of its founder and mentor Arthur Winfield MacLean. However this is not the end of the story as readers learn that the law school was re- established subsequently in Boston as the New England School of Law.

Individual Subject/Areas of Law covers an article by Danov which explains some successful techniques which were adopted for the teaching of international commercial arbitration to postgraduate students who had obtained their first degrees overseas prior to their coming to the United Kingdom. The author explains that the research outcomes of the project carried out during the teaching of the postgraduate program concluded that a ‗deep [learning] approach required the adoption of a mix of teaching methods which took account of each individual students‘ interests, needs and abilities‘.

Legal Education Generally incorporates three contrasting articles. The first by Johnson challenges the prevailing attitude of most law academics that ‗learning the law‘ must not be made ‗too easy for our students‘. The main thrust of the article is an argument for the re-introduction of the textbook in contrast to the casebook. It is for the reader of the article to judge the effectiveness of the author‘s group study outline entitled the ‗wypadki‘. This is a most stimulating and evocative article. In contrast Ribstein examines the developments which have taken place in the history of legal education arguing that law schools are increasingly subject to the effect of market forces. The author argues that the increasing competition placed on large law firms leaves them with less time to focus on the training of young lawyers thereby increasing the law schools‘ overall training burden. The final article under this heading is by Coper, a highly respected Australian law professor. Anyone who is seeking to gain an insight into contemporary developments in Australian legal education is well-advised to read his article.

Practical Training is the heading for the review by Evers, Olliffe and Petit of the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) Law Faculty‘s practical legal training program introduced in 1996, when this Editor was the Associate Dean of the Faculty. A distinctive feature of the UTS Law degree at that time was the introduction of an option to include the practical legal training programme in the final year of law study. The article incorporates the results of a survey made incorporating three groups of PLT students who had studied in the UTS law programme since its introduction in 1996.

Magat under Research deals with a problem being faced by an ever increasing number of students undertaking assignments and more in-depth research as to how to facilitate the proper use of footnotes as a form of referencing.

It is difficult to avoid the influence of the Carnegie Foundation when considering any facet of legal education, particularly its practical application. Within the heading of Skills Cunningham and Alexander explain the techniques adopted by their law school in developing professional judgement as a response to the Carnegie Foundation‘s critique of American legal education. Under the same heading Kowalski describes the methods adopted for the teaching of legal writing in law school clinics.

Students encapsulates the approach adopted by Corbin, Burns and Chrzanowski in seeking to challenge law students, both in respect of class attendance and their engagement when in the classroom situation. This response is based upon a study that examined student attendance across the law degree taught at the authors‘ law school.

The next article digested in this edition is by Collins, Brackin and Hart, which although it involves assessment, is placed within the

Edition Two 2011 38 ALTA Newsletter wider setting of Teaching Methods & Media. The authors express their concern in respect of the difficulties placed on law academics by the introduction in Australia of increasing numbers of students at tertiary level, and the way in which ‗academics are therefore tasked with overcoming this problem by engaging students through the use of ever-changing new technologies‘. They stress that this involves the importance of affording students the opportunities for ‗active‘ learning with both the time for student reflection and the ability to manage their own learning processes

Technology is the appropriate heading for the final and challenging article by Jones who explains that: ‗In the online environment [whereby] the students and instructor are virtually, but not physically, present in the same environment‘, stating that this is just as, or even more effective, than the conventional professor/student physical classroom relationship. In the view of the author the online environment creates greater pressure on the instructor ‗to create an effective learning environment in a virtual setting‘.

The articles digested in this edition are yet again illustrative of the amount of care and innovation which law academics exercise in order to ensure that their teaching can be effective within the modern learning environment, particularly where there are con- straints of large numbers of students or lack of funding.

Emeritus Professor David Barker AM Editor Legal Education Digest

Edition Two 2011 39 ALTA Newsletter Council of Australian Law Deans

Members of ALTA will be interested to hear that, with Sally Kift, I met with Alison Johns to discuss the new arrangements for replacing the ALTC within the DEEWR structure. Ms Johns is Head of Leadership, Governance and Management for the Higher Education Funding Council for England and has been hired as a consultant to advise on ALTC transition issues. The restoration of $50m out of $88m in the forward estimates is welcome news but obviously efficiencies have to be found. Ms Johns indicated that the present award and citation scheme will be streamlined to allow for greater savings as teaching awards have been shown to serve little function in improving educational outcomes.

We discussed how credibility is to be restored to the Government‘s support for the value and status of teaching and learning in higher education. In the view of CALD and other Dean‘s Councils it is very important to maintain the character and momentum of the work of the ALTC. Importantly, the national role of ALTC in bringing together people from across disciplines is something to be valued and maintained. We are concerned that the restored ALTC project and program funds are not reduced to ALTC-predecessor (eg AUTC or CAUT) style competitive grant schemes directed at uncoordinated individual initiatives, however excellent.

We explained that the work of the ALTC has been characterised by:  Strategic long-term vision for incremental system wide innovation and development in teaching and learning  Capacity building in organisational change and leadership  Collaboration rather than competition across institutions and disciplines, and for the first time with external stakeholders (e.g. employers and professional bodies)  Significant networking across institutions and private providers, as a key means of achieving collaborative national outcomes

We are concerned to see the resulting developments and momentum continue, and not be abandoned in any restructure of the ALTC‘s role via the new DEEWR branch.

Among the most significant and recent examples of the ALTC approach at work is the Learning and Teaching Academic Standards (LTAS) project. It has generated:  Grass roots review and ownership of discipline based academic standards,  Reviews that are re-evaluating teaching and learning goals in light of the Government‘s expanded participation and low SES targets.  A renewed vision of organisational leadership in teaching and learning necessary to effect such changes  Discipline academic standards and evidence in forms that have huge potential to provide new international competitiveness for Australian Higher Education,  A basis for greater learning and closer collaboration at a national level through new international relationships (eg. UK Higher Education Academy and Europe‘s Tuning arising from the Bologna Process)  A basis for new dialogues with professional and employer bodies, TAFE and private providers.

LTAS and projects on other themes such as assessment, learning spaces, pedagogy, new media, etc have caused existing teaching and learning networks to reinvent themselves, and generated new ones such as the law associate deans teaching and learning network.

Professor Jill McKeough Chair of CALD Dean, UTS

Edition Two 2011 40 ALTA Newsletter Law Council of Australia Legal Education Committee

A meeting of the Committee took place by teleconference on the 29 July 2011.

Much of the earlier discussion at the meeting involved a report by Professor Jill McKeough of the Federal Government‘s decision not to use journal ranking in the next research assessment exercise. This was followed by reports on recent developments relating to the Juris Doctor (JD) Law Programs and the finalisation of the Threshold Learning Outcomes (TLOs) for the Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree. With regard to the latter the Committee was informed that the TLOs had been endorsed by CALD in November 2010 and the LLB Standards Statement was now available on the ALTC‘S website. It was confirmed that the Legal Admissions Consultative Committee (LACC) had recommended these TLOs as requirements for admission to legal practice and that whilst it was accepted that embedding and assessing the TLOs would be a challenge for some institutions, it was expected that they would lead to a closer match between graduates of university law schools and the needs of our society and economy.

Reports were also received relating to the continuation of the LTAS Law Project during 2011 in respect of the Law Associate Deans (Learning & Teaching) Network which had resulted in the commissioning of six good Practice Guides to facilitate law schools‘ implementation of the TLOs covering areas such as: communication, collaboration, ethics and professional responsibility, self-management, critical and creative thinking, and statutory interpretation. Information was also given in respect of the development of TLOs for the Juris Doctor (JD) degree and the ALTA Conference keynote address by Professor Sally Kift introducing the concept of a design for a capstone experience for Australian legal education.

Progress reports were received in respect of Law Council/LEC support for both the ANU Law Graduates Careers Destination Survey and the UNSW ARC Discovery Project, ‗Legal Culture, Work Stress and Professional Practice: A Study of Australian Lawyers‘.

A report was also given on the recommendations from the Senate Select Committee on the Reform of Australia‘s Federation and the intention to establish a university centre for the study of federalism.

The Committee was also given updates on the recent Australian Academy of Law Brisbane Roundtable, the future ILSAC symposium on better equipping Australian law graduates for international and transnational legal practice and the establishment of a steering committee of the Commonwealth Legal Education Association to consider the formation of a Commonwealth Law Students Association.

A question was raised by the new Continuing Legal Education Association of Australasia (CLEAA) representative on LEC regarding the Law Council‘s position with regard to the Draft National Law and CPD rules. The acting chair of the Legal Education Committee indicated that this question would be taken on notice.

Emeritus Professor David Barker AM ALTA Representative

Edition Two 2011 41 ALTA Newsletter

Australian Academy of Law

Incorporated into this Report is an account of the Australian Academy of Law (AAL) Roundtable which took place during the ALTA Brisbane Annual Conference 2011. Other matters of note relating to the Academy are that the membership now exceeds 100 Fellows. It has to be emphasised that membership is by invitation only. Arrangements are now proceeding in respect of a further symposium and the AGM to be held in Sydney in late November 2011.

Emeritus Professor David Barker AM Company Secretary and Public Officer – Australian Academy of Law Australian Academy of Law : Brisbane Roundtable

On Monday 4 July 2011, some 40 members of practice and academia gathered at the Banco Court of the Supreme Court of Queensland in Brisbane for a late afternoon seminar on ―Trends in Legal Education for Practice: Competing Tensions‖.

Following a welcome to the event by Professor Rosalind Mason, Chair of the Australasian Law Teachers Association and a Member of the Australian Academy of Law, the Seminar was chaired by The Honourable Justice John H Byrne RFD, Senior Judge Administrator, Supreme Court of Queensland and Acting Chair, Law Admissions Consultative Committee.

The first speaker was Professor Michael Coper, Robert Garran Professor of Law and Dean, ANU College of Law, Australian National University and Vice-President, International Association of Law Schools. Professor Coper canvassed a number of current issues in legal education. Through the use of some 17 acronyms in a single sentence he conveyed to the audience something of the complex regulatory environment in which Law Schools are currently operating. One acronym which surfaced a number of times during the seminar were the TLOS – the six Threshold Learning Outcomes for the Bachelor of Laws degree that, in the language of the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF), represent what a Bachelor of Laws graduate is expected ―to know, understand and be able to do as a result of learning‖.

The next speaker, Ms Noela L'Estrange, Chief Executive Officer of the Queensland Law Society, spoke about practitioner concerns that, with the increasing number of law graduates who do not intend to practise or who take double degrees and plan to work in the ‗other‘ career, university law programs may not adequately address the skills, such as legal reasoning, that are required for practice. .... She also called for improved communication between law schools and practice around developments in legal education, such as the Juris Doctor which she said was a qualification that was not well understood within Queensland.

Finally, Ms Rachael Field, a senior lecturer in the QUT Faculty of Law, and former Project Officer to the ALTC (Australian Learning & Teaching Council) Learning and Teaching Standards Project on Law spoke about her current ALTC Teaching Fellowship that is examining strategic changes to legal education, such as through the curriculum, that can improve the psychological health of law students.

His Honour then called for questions from the floor – these were addressed to all panellists and included topics such as current trends in career destinations for law graduates. Participants then adjourned to continue their discussions over light refreshments in the Rare Books Precinct.

A theme of the evening were the positive benefits that accrued from bringing together the different perspectives represented by the Australian Academy of the Law's constituency - judiciary, legal practitioners and legal academics – to discuss legal education and its importance to the discipline of law.

Emeritus Professor David Barker AM Professor Rosalind Mason

Edition Two 2011 42 ALTA Newsletter Australian Law Students’ Association

The Australian Law Students Association (ALSA) is the peak national body representing law students, and Law Student Societies (LSSs) across Australia.

Many law students aspire to working in big shiny buildings in their capital cities with high paying salaries. However, increasingly students are breaking this ‗trend‘ becoming aware of the excellent career opportunities that exist outside of this realm and pursuing alternatives. Irregardless of the path graduates will take ALSA recognises the processes involved to progress into these graduate pathways are lashed with a variety of issues.

ALSA focuses on balancing and addressing the competing interests of the various law students across each state and territory, the developments in law schools, government policy and social implications of studying law. With such a cross section of issues that arise therein, the education focus for 2011/2012 will work in conjunction with the relevant stakeholders in the legal education sector to address the following priorities:

1. Higher educational issues inclusive of base funding to law degrees and access for students;

2. The welfare and wellbeing of students;

3. Learning and teaching methods used within law schools, and innovation in the curriculum;

4. Social justice initiatives within law student societies available to law students;

5. Incorporating rural, regional and remote practice into the legal curriculum.

Through various projects, advocacy and representation for students, ALSA recognises these key issues require the attention of the government and education community. ALSA produces a voice for law students on these issues. Over the pending months ALSA will be developing strategies to address these key issues primarily through the education working parties (Higher Education, Curriculum Review, Depression and Mental Health and Social Justice).

ALSA invites you to follow the Vice President (Education) on Twitter for regular updates on @ALSAvpe.

Aimee Riley Vice President (Education) Australian Law Students’ Association 2011-2012

ALSA acts as a lobbyist for Australian law student interests by writing submissions to government bodies and maintaining relationships with relevant legal bodies.

In July ALSA elected a new Executive and Committee, who lead the organisation with individual LSSs across Australia in order to establish its policy and strategies to best represent Australian law students. For more information please visit our website.

Media Contact: Aimee Riley - Vice President (Education) Australian Law Students' Association | Email: [email protected] | Website: www.alsa.asn.au

Edition Two 2011 43 ALTA Newsletter Association of American Law Schools

AALS 2012 Annual Meeting Theme: Academic Freedom and Academic Duty A number of the programs for the 2012 Annual Meeting center around the theme of academic freedom and academic duty – including threats to tenure and to academic freedom, and the concomitant academic duty obligations that arise out of our status as tenured professors. There have been many serious threats to academic freedom arising from the environment and the polity: a law faculty member arrested in Rwanda for his pro bono representation of an opposition candidate in an election matter there; a law faculty-journal editor sued for criminal libel in France for publishing a book review; law school clinics reviled for their work as well as threatened legislatively and in the courts in Maryland, Louisiana, Michigan, New Jersey, and in several other states; a law scholar sued for her research on family law, whose university chose not to indemnify her; a law review that pulled a piece from publication, following threats from the company criticized in the article; and other law faculty and non-law faculty punished for their views. The zone of protected professorial speech is shrinking. In the 2006 Garcetti v. Ceballos case, the Supreme Court ruled that when public employees speak ―pursuant to their official duties, the employees are not speaking as citizens for First Amendment purposes, and the Constitution does not insulate their communications from employer discipline,‖ regardless of whether or not the speech involves a ―matter of public concern.‖ Almost immediately, this limited decision was used by lower courts to allow public colleges to sanction faculty who would not have been punished for their views before Garcetti. Legal scholars and the academy have begun to recognize that this case will likely negatively impact college governance policies and practices. The academy must identify and contend with these external threats as they arise both in legal education and in other fields of study. These programs will draw additional attention to international threats to law professors and academics around the world, as exemplified by the admirable work conducted by Scholars at Risk, who try and rescue these imperiled colleagues to safer situations. Attention must be paid to these examples, which are too common and which diminish us all, even when seemingly-remote threats arise; the bell tolls on behalf of us all. In addition, sessions will spell out the correlative obligations to undertake service and draw attention to the features inherent in academic duty. There are many other threats as well, such as law school accreditors considering de-coupling their tenure requirements from their insistence upon academic freedom, and no longer requiring a system of tenure or security of position. It is difficult to square these developments with the increased attention we at AALS have paid to our core values. Arguments for tenure include that the promise of continual employment gives faculty an incentive to work on behalf of the institution and that good faculty governance requires a tenure system. Even at major institutions, particularly public universities with the decline of state support so evident, faculty governance is rapidly eroding as changed economic conditions are undermining longstanding governance structures. Part of our social contract is that we contribute, particularly to legal reform—however defined—and not just work for hire and pay. In fair exchange for extraordinary discretion and deference accorded us, we must repay these privileges with our academic duty. We need not merely speculate about this responsibility, as it is explicated in substantial detail in the Statement of Good Practices by Law Professors in the Discharge of their Ethical and Professional Responsibilities (―Responsibilities to the Bar and General Public‖), available at the AALS website. These are aspirational, but lay out the premise of Academic Duty. The 2012 Annual Meeting‘s presidential sessions in Washington, D.C., will examine these and related issues of legal education in this new century. Those crucial issues are: financing legal education and its implications on financial aid and student debt; the restructuring of the professoriate; the institutional balance of instructional technology, distance learning, and asynchronous faculty -student interaction; service learning and skills training issues; and more creative curricular developments in the third year of the J.D. Moreover, GATS and other international negotiations will affect bar membership and legal practice eligibility, in ways not yet divined. All these issues and others are worthy of attention in our deliberations and ongoing dialogues. We do not have a single answer for any of these complex and interlocking issues, but we feel that these likely are among the right questions. Annual Meeting registration information is available at: http://www.aals.org/events_annualmeeting.php.

Michael A. Olivas Professor of Law, University of Houston AALS President (2011)

Edition Two 2011 44 ALTA Newsletter International Association of Law Schools

Bird’s-eye view

Since my last column in ALTA Newsletter Edition One (see http:// www.alta.edu.au/pdf/newsletters/2011_alta_newsletter_edition_one.pdf), there is much to report on concerning the IALS: notably, a wonderful conference in Buenos Aires in April 2011, and some excellent forward planning at a meeting of the Governing Board in Rome in July 2011. I should also report, with due modesty but immense national pride, that, at a meeting of the Governing Board in Buenos Aires in conjunction with the conference, I was elected as Vice President of the Association. More on that in a moment.

IALS conference in Buenos Aires in April 2011 Photo A

Photo B I referred to this conference — on ‗teaching, legal education, and strategic planning‘ — in my previous column, and foreshadowed some of the anticipated themes. The marvellous collection of short papers may be found at http://www.ialsnet.org/meetings/teaching/ papers.html. The by now familiar IALS requirement that all participants write a short paper on one of the conference themes, in advance of the conference, is very successful and serves multiple purposes: it ensures that all participants can come well-armed with some basic information and understanding of the perspectives of their fellow participants, and it facilitates genuine engagement, with the conference themes and with each other.

I always find this aspect of the IALS conferences an incredibly stimulating and accessible learning experience. The papers are not comprehensive scholarly works, but what might be seen by some as ‗dumbing down‘ is rather a delightful entrée to meeting the authors in person, to then drilling down a little further into the issues raised, and finally to starting a dialogue that can lead to very fruitful and rewarding relationships. This is an excellent modus operandi. The science disciplines are well used to papers and abstracts in advance, but the IALS innovation is to require this ‗entrée card‘ from all participants, not merely from the plenary session speakers (though, in another innovation, on this occasion all participants — some 100 of them — had the opportunity to speak to their papers in break-out groups).

The conference ranged widely over issues of curriculum and pedagogy, continuing in many ways the discussion started in Suzhou in 2007 and developed further in Canberra in 2009. In addition, the conference raised for the first time, in this forum, issues of regulation and accreditation — very timely for Australia given the current volatility in this area, as we struggle to come to terms with the Attack of the Acronyms: ALTC, AQF, AUQA, ERA, LACC, TEQSA, and the TLOs, just to mention just a few. But perhaps the most notable feature of the conference was the Latin American factor, that went well beyond (but was accentuated by) the geographic location. To encounter how issues familiar to us in our context play out in Argentina, Brazil and Chile, which have all experienced the tussle between dictatorship and democracy, was highly instructive; the role of legal education takes on a political hue in those countries that it tends to lack in a stable democracy.

Perhaps the most poignant moment for me was when, in the small group discussion I was facilitating, Professor Diana Romero La Roche, Dean of Law at the University of Zulia in Venezuela, sought the group‘s advice and support in confronting the challenge of how to respond to direction from the government, under threat of closure, to teach the edicts of President Chavez, though she believed those edicts to be unconstitutional. Bravely, she felt bound to communicate that belief to the students, not just the bare edicts themselves.

There is much competition in the conference space these days, and resources to support international travel are stretched. However, five Australian colleagues were able to participate in the Buenos Aires conference, and I again encourage the Australian law schools which are IALS members to do their best to be a part of these wonderful occasions — and the Australian law schools which are not members to sign up. The next opportunity will be in Bangalore in October 2012, on the topic of the role of law schools in the promotion of human rights. I foreshadowed this in my previous column and will have more to say about it in due course.

Photo C

Edition Two 2011 45 ALTA Newsletter

IALS governance

At the IALS Board meeting in Buenos Aires, the Board selected two members to be Vice Presidents, following the expiry of the term of Monica Pinto (Argentina) as President and the ascension to that office of Vice President and President-Elect Frank Wang (China). The two Vice Presidents are myself and Professor Aalt Heringa, Dean of Law at Maastricht University in the Netherlands. Selecting two Vice Presidents was seen as strengthening the capacity of the IALS Executive, and the issue of which one will succeed to the Presidency was deferred. However this issue is ultimately resolved, it is an honour to be a Vice President, and I look forward very much to doing what I can to carry the organisation forward. Photo D

That aspiration will have its challenges. The Association of American Law Schools (AALS), which has to date provided secretariat services to the IALS, no longer has the capacity to do so on a comprehensive basis, and the IALS Board meeting in Rome was devoted largely to planning for transition to another arrangement (as well as devising some changes to put to members to strengthen the IALS Charter). It is likely that the various secretariat functions will be more distributed, and member law schools will be asked soon for expressions of interest in supporting the office of Secretary-General/Treasurer. While the support of the AALS has been excellent and much appreciated, this transition was always anticipated, and ultimately IALS will be stronger for standing on its own two feet, but it will need the support of its members, and it will need the membership to grow. Fortunately, Australia has been at the forefront of progress on both of these imperatives.

Professor Michael Coper Dean, ANU College of Law Vice President, International Association of Law Schools

August 2011

Photo A: Michael Coper outside the imposing facade of the University of Buenos Aires Law School Photo B: IALS conference participants on the steps of the University of Buenos Aires Law School Photo C: Street tango in Buenos Aires Photo D: IALS Board, representing 16 different countries, at the Buenos Aires conference

Edition Two 2011 46 ALTA Newsletter Interest Group Conveners 2011-12

Clinical Legal Education & Practical Evidence & Procedure Law & Medicine Legal Training Kathy Douglas Shih-Ning Then Paul Rogers [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Family Law Law & Social Justice Competition and Consumer Law Susan Armstrong Patricia Easteal [email protected] Alex Bruce [email protected]

[email protected] Indigenous Peoples & the Law Law for Non Law Students Matiu Dickson Company Law Patty Kamvounias [email protected] Anil Hargovan [email protected]

[email protected] Intellectual Property Legal Education David Price Comparative & Asian Law [email protected] Judith McNamara Simon Butt [email protected] [email protected] International Law Daud Hassan Legal History Constitutional Law [email protected] P.M Vasudev Imtiaz Omar [email protected] [email protected] Labour Law Kristy Richardson Legal Research & Communication Criminal Law [email protected] Natalie Cuffe Kris Gledhill [email protected] [email protected] Law & Computers

Alexandra Sims Property Law Dispute Resolution [email protected] Fiona Burns Marilyn Scott [email protected] [email protected] Law & Economics

George Barker Revenue Law Environmental Law [email protected] Robin Woellner Trevor Daya-Winterbottom [email protected] [email protected] Legal Theory and Law in Context

Michael Head South Pacific Legal Studies Equity and Trusts [email protected] Jennifer Corrin Sue Tappenden [email protected] [email protected]

Tort & Contract Ethics & the Legal Profession Penelope Watson Maxine Evers [email protected] [email protected]

Edition Two 2011 47 ALTA Newsletter Convener Reports from the 2011Conference

Please note the following changes to ALTA Interest Groups were voted upon the 66th Annual ALTA AGM, held at QUT;  Commercial and Consumer Protection has now been changed to the Competition and Consumer Law, currently chaired by Alex Bruce [email protected]  The Practical Legal Training and Clinical Legal Education groups have been combined into one interest group and is currently chaired by Paul Rogers [email protected]

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW & INTERNATIONAL LAW Kris Gledhill, Auckland: Criminal Law Teaching - Are We Stuck in a Timewarp? Alternate Convener: Michelle Sanson Mandy Shicore & Malcolm Barrett, JCU: Who‘s looking after Convener: Imitiaz Omar (Const) & Daud Hassan (IL) the kids?: Parental tortious and criminal liability for failure to Number of Attendees: 6 care for and supervise children. Papers Presented; Molly Townes-O'Brien, ANU: An Active Learning Smorgasbord for Evidence

Sascha Mueller, Canterbury: Accelerating Legislation – Second Session Wednesday 6 July 2011 Appropriate Use of Urgency in the House? Andrew Hemming, USQ: Impermissibly importing the common Michelle Sanson, UWS: Libya: Signalling a New Era in law into criminal codes: Pollock V Queen Humanitarian Intervention?‘ Ian Dobinson, UTS: Drug supply, self adminstration and manslaughter: an Australian perspective Sascha Mueller presented his research on the prevalence of passing bills under urgency in the New Zealand Parliament. He has found that nearly a fifth of bills are passed this way, with The Criminal Interest Group was spread over two sessions and Parliament sitting outside of usual sitting hours. The urgency involved a varied series of papers that touched on substantive process is significant because it allows Parliament to extend criminal law (two papers on drugs and homicide, and one paper time, suspend other business, omit stand-down periods and on whether common law case law should be used to interpret omit committee consideration to rush bills through. He Code provisions), the intersection of criminal law and tort law considers that there is a need to limit the use of urgency, and to (failing to care for children), and the pedagogy of both address parliamentary overload through extending standard substantive criminal law and of criminal evidence. sitting hours, so that only truly urgent bills are passed using the Approximately 20 people were in the audience over the two urgency procedure. sessions. (It is to be noted that there were also matters of Michelle Sanson considered the recent authorisation under interest to the Criminal Interest Group in other sessions, Security Council Resolution 1973, for intervention in Libya. She including for example, a paper on examining criminal law via addressed concerns raised as to the motivation behind the multiple choice questions.) intervention, its scope and its significance for the developing The Convenor of the Criminal Interest Group is interested to law in this area. She argues that the prevailing approach to know whether there is interest in using the Group as a basis for authorisation of humanitarian intervention is inadequate and organising symposia or sharing ideas of a comparative criminal considers that not only does there need to be a criterion for law nature. Some interest in such a development has already intervention, there also needs to be a criterion for when non- been expressed: any other expressions of interest or specific intervention cannot be justified, thereby shifting the position ideas can be sent to Kris Gledhill at [email protected]. from one of right and power to one of obligation and duty.

CRIMINAL LAW DISPUTE RESOLUTION Convener: Kris Gledhill Convener: Marilyn Scott Number of Attendees: 20 Number of Attendees: 10 Papers Presented; Papers Presented;

First Session: Monday 4 July 2011 Amanda Carrigan, CSU: Dispute Resolution Skills are Essential for Business Students

Susan Douglas, USC: Teaching models of mediation: Malcolm Barrett & Nichola Corbett-Jarvis, JCU: Drugs, challenges to the process and content and hence skills and 'Gouch' and Death: Responsibility for Death that Results from knowledge distinctions an Illicit Drug Enterprise

Edition Two 2011 48 ALTA Newsletter

The first paper presented by Amanda Carrigan explored LABOUR LAW teaching Dispute Resolution skills for Business Students and the challenges, benefits and insights that were gained in this Convener: Kristy Richardson project. Importantly this presentation confirmed the Number of Attendees: 4 interdisciplinary nature of this field. Papers Presented; The second paper presented by Susan Douglas was based on her PhD research and revealed a fine level of analytical work that will certainly make a strong contribution to the increasing Amanda Reilly, VUW: The Employment Relations (Film body of Australian Dispute Resolution research. Production Work) Amendment Act 2010: A Disproportionate, Whilst the numbers of attendees was less than was hoped for, Unjustifiable and Inappropriate Response there was very strong interest in the papers presented to this Kristy Richardson, CQU: Particularisation of Occupational interest group and the discussion that was generated, Health and Safety Breaches: A Queensland Perspective After particularly by Susan Douglas’ paper on her research, was Kirk very stimulating and thought provoking amongst this very sophisticated gathering of dispute resolution practitioners and researchers. It was one of the more interesting and invigorating The session began with Amanda Reilly’s examination of the sessions that we have had in the purely Dispute Resolution legislation enacted by the New Zealand Parliament ensure that Interest Group presentations for some time, with attendees work on the movie ―the Hobbit‖ was not moved off-shore . The leaving the session with high energy and a keenness to attend legislation was enacted using the Parliament‘s ‗urgency‘ the Interest Group session next year. powers. Amanda’s paper deftly critiqued the legislation to lead to the conclusion that the legislation may not have been a

proportionate, justifiable or appropriate response to the industrial relations issue at hand. The final paper in the session was Kristy Richardson’s paper examining particularisation of ETHICS & THE LEGAL PROFESSION occupational health and safety breaches in Queensland in wake Convener: Maxine Evers of the High Court‘s decision of Kirk and Kirk Holdings Pty Ltd. Number of Attendees: 15 Papers Presented; LAW & MEDICINE Helen Sungaila & Peter Boulot, JCU: A critical analysis of the Convener: Shih-Ning Then on-going regulatory offensive on the australian legal profession: challenges to legal best practice management Number of Attendees: 5 Helen Sungaila and Peter Boulot, JCU: Could the end of legal Papers Presented; positivism be the beginning of improved ethical legal practice Michael Guihot, Newcastle: Professionalism in the law First Session: Monday 4 July 2011 curriculum

Ben White, QUT:A primary sources approach to teaching The presenters and audience at the Ethics & the Legal health law: Profession session were honoured to have Chief Justice French Fiona McDonald, Shih-Ning Then, Lisa Davis & Jo and Professor Michael Lavarch in attendance. Ramsbotham (presented by Shih-Ning Then), QUT: Breaking Helen Sungaila and Peter Boulot’s paper on A critical down the barriers: making law and ethics relevant, accessible analysis of the on-going regulatory offensive on the australian and engaging for undergraduate nursing students: legal profession: challenges to legal best practice management Tina Cockburn, QUT: Disciplinary consequences for doctors looked at the reform of the legal profession through the national who fail to engage in open disclosure of adverse events: legislation in an economic context. One of the most interesting points of the paper was the effect of competition policy on Second Session: Tuesday 5 July 2011 globalisation of the profession. Peter and Helen‘s second paper Debra Wilson, Canterbury: Genetically programmed to be Could the end of legal positivism be the beginning of improved violent‘: the rise of a genetic defence to murder ethical legal practice? caused great interest given its analogy with science. The paper considered where current conception of Helen Sungalia, JCU & Angela Sungalia, Victorian Institute the essence of law, of the legal system and legal ethics of Forensic Medicine: What then is a ‗safe‘ interview: connected with legal positivism. The ethics of professional legal advocacy from a forensic medical perspective!: practice discussed by Helen and Peter complemented Michael Jennifer Yule, QUT: Defences in medical negligence: To what Guihot’s discussion of Professionalism in the law curriculum. extent has tort law reform in Australia limited the liability of Michael discussed the various methods designed to expose health professionals?: students to the concept of professionalism and its connection to practice. One of the objectives for developing professionalism in Brisbane proved fertile ground for the law and medicine interest law students is to support their transition from law school to group which had 6 papers presented across 2 sessions. Two legal practice. papers were presented that considered aspects of teaching law medicine and ethics, with Associate Professor Ben White The three discussions provided the attendees with much food discussing a primary sources approach to teaching for thought and confirmed the importance of ethics in legal undergraduate law students health law and academics from law education. and nursing at QUT discussing their approach to engaging

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undergraduate nursing students in a compulsory law and ethics progress of the ALTC funded Curriculum Renewal in Legal unit through a blended learning approach. Education project and the development of final year principles. Kate Galloway presented on curriculum refreshment in the Associate Professor Tina Cockburn discussed disciplinary context of JCU‘s claim to distinctiveness as the University for consequences for doctors who fail to engage in open disclosure the Tropics. Donna Cooper and Sheryl Jackson presented of adverse events in light of recent professional guidelines and on the results of their research in relation to perceptions within case law. Jen Yule discussed defences in medical negligence the profession of JD graduates and David Barker provided an following tort reform around Australia and whether or not the overview of the ANU Students Law School Reform Committee liability of health professionals has been limited. And Dr Debra forum. Wilson discussed the novel issue of a genetic defence to murder based on Monoamine Oxidase (known as the ‗criminal gene‘). We also heard a fascinating paper from a forensic Second Session: Monday 4 July 2011 - 2A medical perspective given by Dr Helen Sungaila who provided the preliminary results from a study on ‗fitness for interview‘ being conducted at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine. Des Butler, QUT: Closing the loop 21st century style: Thank you to the presenters for providing us with such Personalised mp3 feedback on written assignments enjoyable and informative sessions. Mandy Shircore & Nichola Corbett-Jarvis, JCU, Pauline Collins, USQ & Anne Schillmoller, SCU: Getting it right: Transparency, Moderation and Benchmarking across the first year curriculum LAW AND SOCIAL JUSTICE Tracey Carver & Amanda Stickley, QUT: Compulsory Teamwork in Large Student Cohorts: A Case Study of a First Alternate Convener: Michael Head Year Law Unit Convener: Patricia Easteal Claire Macken , Deakin: Law Essentials: Engaging first year Number of Attendees: 30 law students with the foundations of Australian law Papers Presented; Natalie Skead & Sharon McMaster, UWA: On the Record: The Trials and Tribulations of Lecture Recording in Law Michael Head, UWS: Terrorism cases in Australia: Examining Three papers in this session focussed on first year teaching initiatives: Mandy Shircore and Pauline Collins discussed a the record more closely project, initiated at a previous ALTA conference, involving Arthur Hoyle & Cheryl Chan, Canberra: Combating cross-institutional moderation of first year assessment, an issue Cyberbullying in Australia of particular importance in the current quality assurance environment; Tracey Carver and Amanda Stickley presented a case study of their approach to assessing teamwork skills in a There was a lively discussion, not least because of the first year subject; and Claire Macken gave an engaging dichotomy created by the two papers. The first warned of the account of implementing engaging pedagogies in a first year dangers of criminalising politically controversial activity; while subject. Des Butler’s approach to providing oral feedback by the second proposed greater criminalisation of certain on-line the use of MP3 files was another example of his innovative communication. We kept the social justice flag flying. approach to learning and teaching.

Third Session: Tuesday 5 July 2011 - 3A LEGAL EDUCATION

Convener: Judith McNamara Eola Barnett, USQ: Using MCQs for formative assessment in Number of Attendees: 30 core law courses? Results of a case study investigating the Papers Presented; verity of MCQs as a teaching, learning and assessment tool for law degree courses.

Noeleen McNamara & Eola Barnett, USQ: Are multiple choice First Session: Monday 4 July 2011 - 1A questions a soft option for summative assessment in core law courses? Catherine Brown, Sally Kift, Des Butler, Rachael Field & Elfriede Sangkuhl, UWS: The Use of Student Feedback to Judith McNamara, QUT: Designing a capstone experience for Evaluate Teaching in Higher Education at the University of Australian legal education Western Sydney. Kate Galloway, JCU: Refreshed in the Tropics: Developing Kathy Douglas, Catherine Peacock, Michele Ruyters, Linda Curriculum using a Thematic Lens Kam, Alperhan Babcan & Mary Toohey, RMIT: Legal skills Development: Authentic Learning Initiatives Donna Cooper; Sheryl Jackson; Rosalind Mason, QUT: Should more law schools be teaching the JD? David Barker, UTS: Legal Education at the Crossroads ‐ Is it in Fourth Session: Tuesday 5 July 2011 - 3B crisis or just 'business as usual'? The theme of this session was curriculum renewal in legal Mary Toohey, RMIT: Assessing the entry skills of graduates education. Catherine Brown and Sally Kift presented on the into graduate entry programs

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Charles Giacco, VU: Crossing the Divide? The Transitional Experiences of Paralegal Studies graduates in the LLB LEGAL RESEARCH & COMMUNICATION Anne Hewitt & Kellie Toole, Adelaide: Teaching skills – the how and the why. Convener: Natalie Cuffe Mary Toohey’s presentation of findings from the ALTC funded Number of Attendees: 30+ project ―Graduate Professional Entry Courses in Accounting Papers Presented; and Law‖ of the varying standards of entry level skills in JD and other gradate entry programs was particularly interesting in light of the positioning of these programs in the AQF. Charles Natalie Cuffe and Mabel Tsui, QUT: Assessing legal research Giacco discussed the teaching and learning lessons drawn and writing learning – and it is not an assignment! from the experience of students transitioning from paralegal studies to law school studies at Victoria law School. Anne Anita Stuhmcke, UTS: Teaching plagiarism Hewitt and Kellie Toole presented on their tools to use to Natalie Cuffe, QUT: Supporting external student learning of develop advocacy skills, through an engaging situational legal research and writing using Elluminate learning methodology.

In keeping with the aim of the Legal Research and Fifth Session: Tuesday 5 July 2011 - 4A Communication interest group of addressing LLB curriculum issues in both legal research skills training and legal writing

skills training the papers presented this year addressed a range Molly Townes O’Brien, ANU: Walking the Walk: Using of topics of interest to many members of the group. The Student/Faculty Dialogue to Effect Change in an Adversarial presentations began with a consideration of the issues Curriculum surrounding using an exam as a tool for assessing legal Helen Murphy & Angelo Veljanovski, VU: The research and writing learning as part of a first year unit that also implementation of crosssectoral teaching & learning initiatives includes assignment type assessment. The second paper by to support articulating international students in Corporate Law at Anita Stuhmcke on teaching plagiarism prompted good debate VU on the need for new ways of teaching citation and awareness of plagiarism to encourage students to see that citation is not a punitive activity but one that is necessary to improve the value Sixth Session: Tuesday 5 July 2011 - 5A of writing. The final paper considered the use of Elluminate to support external student learning of legal research and writing and this also prompted useful exchanges on the ways learning Michael Appleby & Judy Bourke, COL: Resilience and technologies can assist teaching and learning in this area. The Wellbeing for Lawyers papers were well received and provided an opportunity for interesting discussion on legal research curriculum directions Penelope Watson, Macq: Well‐being and Resilience – what for the future. are they and how can they be promoted in Law students?

Rachael Field & Kathy Douglas, QUT: Promoting Psychological Health for Law Students EGAL HEORY AND AW IN ONTEXT L T L C Convener: Michael Head Presenters during this session shared their work in relation to promoting the well being and resilience of lawyers and law students. Michael Appleby and Judy Bourke’s paper Unfortunately, we had no papers this year, perhaps because reviewed the development of the Resilience and Wellbeing the conference focus was on legal education. Hopefully, there Course at the College of Law. Penelope Watson’s paper built will be an avalanche of papers next year! on one delivered at the 2010 ALTA conference, ‗Building Communities of Practice through Peer Assisted Learning‘ (PAL), exploring the psychological literature on well-being and resilience, drawing on research into positive psychology, self- determination, and optimism, to provide an evidence base for PRACTICAL LEGAL TRAINING designing interventions and modifying current law school practice. In a related paper, Rachael Field and Kathy Douglas Alternate Convener: Maxine Evers discussed selected strategies for improving well-being at the Convener: Paul Rogers curricular level. Number of Attendees: 15

Papers Presented; Seventh Session: Tuesday 5 July 2011 - 6A

Nicola Ross, Felicity Wardhaugh, Sher Campbell & Michael Julie Cassidy, Deakin: The Classroom ‗In Country‘: Guihot, Newcastle: Interactivity: developing video as a Experiential Learning of Indigenous Legal Studies medium for teaching practical skills to first year students and beyond. John Dawson, Otago: Doing good supervision in Law Kristoffer Greaves, COL: A good chat – are online forums fit Keith Kendall, La Trobe : Mooting as assessment in an for PLT? undergraduate tax law program

Nicola Ross, Felicity Wardhaugh, Sher Campbell & Michael

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Guihot discussed the use of video clips for learning and against forfeiture‖ An administrator may be appointed over teaching in Interactivity: developing video as a medium for company assets in order to protect the property of a potentially teaching practical skills to first year students and beyond. The insolvent company for the benefit of creditors and shareholders. presenters shared their challenges of ―getting up to speed‖ with If the company is a lessee, the lessor of the property may wish technology in order to use it as a learning tool which engaged to seek to forfeit the lease. The tenant company in students on two levels – content and practice. The examples of administration may make a claim for relief against forfeiture or client interviews demonstrated how students could engage with, call upon the application of a moratorium under s444 learn from and reflect on, their learning with well made videos. Corporations Act 2001 (Cth). This paper considered the cases As a secondary benefit, the use of video has also provided of Kelly and Morris v Hedz Pty Ltd [2010] QSC (30 July 2010) opportunities to work with the local legal profession and to give and Strazdins v Birch Carroll & Coyle 178 FCR 300 to examine work to local actors. the extent to which a s444 declaration can be considered to align with or augment equitable relief. Kristoffer Greaves’ presentation on A good chat – are online forums fit for PLT? – a review provided valuable tools and ―When does a lessee part with possession?‖ Generally lease technique for maximising the benefits of online learning. His 10 agreements contain an express term that prohibits the lessee tips to online discussion forums were practical and employable. from assigning, subletting or otherwise parting with possession As importantly, the discussion was centred in a learning and without the prior consent of the lessor. This is termed a teaching framework based on rigorous research. Given that ―qualified covenant‖. If this term is breached the lease may online forums are an essential (and some may suggest become subject to forfeiture. This paper examined a series of increasing) part of practical legal training, this discussion was a cases with a view to elucidating the factors relevant in valuable contribution to the literature on online learning and determining when a lessee has parted with possession. Such teaching. an analysis is important in advising lessees regarding the operation of qualified covenants in leases? Both discussions in the PLT stream were not only practical, they were also based on positive learning and teaching pedagogy. The presenters enthusiastically shared their experiences, research and practice, thus demonstrating their deep REVENUE LAW commitment to the application of technology to enhance the Convener: Robin Woellner student experience. Number of Attendees: 15 at each Papers Presented;

PROPERTY LAW First Session- Monday 4 July 2011 Alternate Conveners: Penny Carruthers and Kate Galloway

Convener: Fiona Burns Keith Kendall and Louisa Huang, La Trobe: Comparing the Number of Attendees: 5 GAARs under the income tax and GST systems Papers Presented; Ken Duros and David Zrobek , Monash: Simplifying the small business tax regime Penny Carruthers, UWA: Finding the balance: Indefeasibility David Newlyn and Michael Blissenden, UWS: Tax law of title and the public authority cases curriculum - implications of formal curriculum theory to practice Kate Galloway, JCU & Tim McGrath, Miller Harris Lawyers: Julie Cassidy, Deakin: Badges of tax avoidance – reform Tenants under administration: Canvassing the options for relief options for the New Zealand GAAR against forfeiture Kristy Richardson, CQU: When does a lessee part with The paper by Keith Kendall and Louisa Huang: explored the possession? differences between Part IVA of the ITAA36 and Div 165 of the The papers presented at this session were very interesting and GST, focusing particularly upon the impact of the "principal generated significant discussion. Importantly the session effect test" in Div 165 which is based on the result of the enabled the presenters, all of whom are lecturers at different scheme, and the application of Div 165 in Case 3/2010. universities around Australia, to share their ideas on teaching The paper by Ken Tuross and David Zrobek: noted the and researching in the area of property law. The connections important role of the small business sector to the economy and made at this interest group session are invaluable and serve to the heavy compliance burden borne by many small businesses. foster and encourage the development of inter-university Key areas to simplify were identified as the PAYG withholding discussion and debate and the opportunity for future system‘s multiple rates; depreciation rules for capital assets; collaborative research. and tax incentives on savings. ―Finding the balance: Indefeasibility of title and the public The paper by David Newlyn and Michael Blissenden: authority cases‖ This paper considered the robust doctrine of identified four models of curriculum design which could be immediate indefeasibility and one of the key exceptions to this considered in teaching tax students, with different curriculum doctrine: the in personam exception. In particular, the paper models more appropriate for varying groups of students (for focussed on the possible operation of the in personam example the rational/process model might be more appropriate exception in the situation where a public authority becomes the for law students than business students). registered proprietor of land pursuant to an unlawful exercise of statutory power. Julie Cassidy's paper: compared and contrasted the general anti-avoidance regimes of South Africa, New Zealand and ―Tenants under administration: Canvassing the options for relief

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Australia, concluding that the New Zealand system might comfortably with seeking refugee status. He looked at whether beneficially consider adopting "statutory badges of avoidance‖ states‘ immigration control, foreign policy and decision making such as those in S177D of the Australian Act or South African process by immigration officials ‗realize‘ the non-refoulement equivalent to increase certainty and avoid courts being accused principle. He also explored the issues, challenges and of "making law". complications faced by small island states when ―attempting to comply with their international obligations (refugee and human

rights) and balancing their own national interests in allowing Second Session- Wednesday 6 July 2011 entry to their territory‖. The final paper compared the sources and types of law within Elen Seymour, UWS: Re-thinking regulation of the charitable the ‗customary‘ and ‗state‘ law spheres in Canada and the sector in Australia South Pacific region. It explored the levels of recognition of customary law both within and outside the state system. It then Andrew Maples, Canterbury: 4.35 am, 12.51 pm and the moved on to examine the uncertainties and tensions that arise capital/revenue distinction in the shaky isles from pluralism in practice. Robin Woellner, JCU: The Mad Hatter‘s Tea Party; or the case The session was chaired by Dr Lisa Toohey, as the convenor of the interminable trust was presenting. The Chair did a great job of keeping presenters to time. Three papers were presented. Each of the three presenters talked for about 20 minutes, leaving time for Elen Seymour's paper: was part of her Ph.D. thesis discussion. The session was well attended and papers development, and explored (among other things) the Australian appeared to engage the audience. There was some robust government's move to centralise control of charities; the discussion during question time and presenters received useful implications of creating the Australian Charities and Not-For- feedback. Profit Commission; the new statutory definition of charity; and the new "unrelated profits test". Andrew Maples: provided a harrowing picture of the devastation in Christchurch following the NZ earthquakes, leading into the question of the extent to which businesses whose premises were damaged in the earthquakes would be able to obtain tax deductions for the cost of strengthening premises to withstand future earthquakes, concluding that in many cases no deduction would be available. Robin Woellner: analysed the recent decision of the Full Federal Court in Clark, examining on legal and policy grounds the logic of the majority judgment which held that the same trust continued for trust loss carry forward purposes when the trust had been effectively stripped bare and dormant, with major aspects of its structure and operations significantly changed; and contrasting the persuasive dissent of Dowsett J.

SOUTH PACIFIC LEGAL STUDIES Alternate Convener: Lisa Toohey Convener: Jennifer Corrin Number of Attendees: 13 Papers Presented;

Nilesh Bilimoria , USP: The Preparedness of Small Island States for Refugees with particular focus on Fiji Lalotoa Sinaalamaimaleula Mulitalo , UQ: South Pacific Research Methodologies Jennifer Corrin, UQ: The Interaction of Formal Law and Customary Law and Issues of Identity in Canada and the South Pacific The first paper highlighted features of qualitative research methodology that might require cultural insights in order to obtain valid data. Samoa was used as the focus of the study, with examples drawn from other South Pacific communities. The second paper looked at forced migration in small island states due to climate change and environmental degradation. The presenter discussed whether forced migration sits

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The 2011-12 ALTA Executive

Chairperson General Executive Member Professor Rosalind Mason Professor Michael Coper Faculty of Law ANU College of Law Queensland University of Technology Australian National University

Deputy Chairperson General Executive Member & JALTA Editor-in-Chief Professor Stephen Graw Professor Dale Pinto School of Law School of Business Law and Taxation James Cook University Curtin University of Technology

General Secretary General Executive Member Emeritus Professor David Barker AM Dr Jennifer Corrin Faculty of Law TC Beirne School of Law University of Technology, Sydney The University of Queensland

General Treasurer New Zealand Chairperson Associate Professor Helen Anderson Mr Wayne Rumbles Melbourne Law School Law School The University of Melbourne University of Waikato

LER Editor-in-Chief New Zealand Secretary Dr Michelle Sanson Dr John Hopkins School of Law School of Law University of Western Sydney University of Canterbury

New Zealand Executive Member Associate Professor Alex Sims Department of Commercial Law University of Auckland ALRS Editor-in-Chief Professor Michael Adams School of Law University of Western Sydney

New Zealand Executive Member Ms Brenda Midson School of Law University of Waikato

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If you have any questions, concerns or suggestions for our organisation, please contact us:

Australasian Law Teachers Association Faculty of Law University of Technology, Sydney PO Box 222 Lindfield. NSW 2070

Ph: +61 2 9514 5414 Fax: +61 2 9514 5175 [email protected] www.alta.edu.au

Newsletter edited by: Nathalie Poludniewski ALTA Administrative Coordinator

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