Dear Alumni and Friends

Welcome to the first of our regular MLS e-briefs. We want you - our alumni - to feel pride in your alma mater, and to celebrate the achievements of the alumni, students and staff of Melbourne Law School.

We have many exciting initiatives to be rolled out for our alumni. At the end of the year, we will be launching a 2009 alumni calendar of events including milestone reunions, and networking and social functions offering you exclusive access to our program of visiting local and international experts.

I look forward to hearing from you on how we, together, can continue to build a strong Melbourne Law School community.

James C. Hathaway
Dean and William Hearn Professor of Law

Join our Alumni Events

The Business Council of Australia's Chief Executive, Katie Lahey (BA (Hons) 1979; MBA 1989) will banish stereotypes as guest speaker for the Vice Chancellor's Oration for Alumni on Thursday 25 September.....more

'Obama v McCain' a lecture to be delivered by Ambassador Derek Shearer at MLS, Thursday 18 September at 6.30pm. Part of the University of Melbourne's International Public Lecture program. ....more

University Golf Day at Woodlands Golf Club - Register yourself or form a Law alumni team for the 2008 Vice Chancellor's Cup on Friday 21 November....more

The Tokyo War Crimes Trial: Humanity's Justice or Victors' Justice? public lecture to be delivered by Professor Hisakazu Fujita on Monday evening 10 November. ...more

Rare Books Evening presented by Melbourne Law Library with Professor Michael Bryan on Wednesday evening, 12 November.....more

Seeking law alumni representatives for 2009 events....more

Full listing of MLS lectures, seminars and events.....here

Law student defends Olympic spirit

Congratulations to fourth year Law/Media Communications student Kimberly Crow, who, with Sarah Cook, represented her country at the Beijing Olympics in the women's pair for rowing. In an opinion piece in The Sunday Age, Kimberly argues the case for Olympic funding that benefits all Australians.

Kimberly Crow's Olympic profile here
The Sunday Age opinion piece here

Distinguished law graduate awarded top honour

Dr Samuel Pisar AO (LLB 1954) returned to Australia to receive one of the University's highest honours, a Degree of Doctor of Laws (honoris causa) at a graduation ceremony on 27 August. Dr Pisar was welcomed back to MLS at a small reception attended by his former colleagues and then dean, Sir Zelman Cowan.

Dr Pisar's address here
Full citation here
The Dean's welcome (10 mins audio) here

Bad babies: a divide between law and medicine

Professor of Law and Medicine, David Studdert, argues cerebral palsy compensation cases should be removed from the court system to provide a better deal for families and save millions of dollars in litigation costs.

The Age story here
Audio of Vice Chancellor's Research Lecture here
About Professor David Studdert here

Courting Controversy

From one side of the bench, Professor Greg Craven (LLB (Hons) 1981, LLM 1984) presents his case in the Australian Financial Review on the representation of naked children in art while Allan Myers AO QC (BA 1969, LLB (Hons) 1970) takes the opposing side at Melbourne Law School's Courting Controversy lecture series.

Professor Greg Craven's AFR opinion piece here
Allan Myers AO QC audio here

ASIC appointment

Law alumna and MLS Associate Professor Pamela Hanrahan (LLB (Hons) 1989, SJD 2006), has been appointed Senior Executive Leader of the Investment Managers stakeholder team, ASIC. Her appointment was announced by ASIC Chairman Tony D'Aloisio on 22 August as part of an organisational restructure.

ASIC press release here
About Professor Pamela Hanrahan here

FreeFoto.com

Scholarship students called to London

Congratulations to the first round of students - Duncan Kauffman, Patrick Clark and Jeremy Leung - to be awarded a Clifford Chance scholarship to study law on semester-length programs at the Centre for Transnational Legal Studies, a joint venture of leading global law schools in the heart of London's legal quarter.

Centre for Transnational Legal Studies here
About the scholarships here

The 2009 Construction Law Masters program and a new book, Understanding Australian Constructions Contracts by Professor Ian Bailey SC and Matthew Bell, will be launched at events in Sydney and Melbourne. Melbourne Law Masters has added more than 30 new subjects to its 2009 program. Order your copy of the 2009 Masters handbook and start planning for next year.

Understanding Australian Construction Contracts here
The Melbourne Law Masters Construction Law program here
Order a 2009 Masters handbook here