Issue 13 – June 2015

Welcome to the first MLS News for 2015. In this edition, we are focusing on innovation and change.

We are all faced with the challenges that come from the pace of economic, social, political and technological change in recent years. In these pages, you will read about some of the interesting and creative ways in which Melbourne Law School alumni, students and staff are facing those challenges.

Law has always been a cornerstone for change, so it is fitting that lawyer, company director and former Chair of Innovation Australia, David Miles AM, was attracted to its capacity to herald change and progress.

Is there a certain point where the law cannot provide the answer? This is one of the key questions underscoring the podcast Serial.

For more than 10 years women have outnumbered men in law schools, with more women entering the legal profession on graduation, translating into a profession where around 70 per cent of all practitioners are women.

Eight centuries ago, King John of England sealed a treaty to effectively establish English Common Law and bring all men, King and commoner alike, to live subject to the laws of the land.

In commemoration of the Magna Carta's impending 800th anniversary, Melbourne Law School invited one of the subject's foremost experts, legal history scholar Professor Paul Brand to deliver a public lecture on the document's First century in existence.

Professor Brand, a Professor of English Legal History at the University of Oxford, presented on the topic "The First Century of Magna Carta

"I've always had the privilege of great mentors in my life." Jon Anstey is paying it forward.

The value of having Professor Richard Garnett at Melbourne Law School is not lost on his students or colleagues.

On March 26, a new bill was passed that has journalists and lawyers concerned about our privacy and freedom of the press.

MLS alumnus Timothy Lau has made every second count in the four years since graduating, and an international career at the London Bar beckons.

"I decided to study law after I quickly realised that ambition exceeded ability when it came to my first- ranking career choice: golf.

"In terms of similarities, golf, like studying law, has been described as a 'game of expletives deleted' although I am hoping that Mark Twain's description of golf as a 'good walk spoiled' does not similarly extend to my chosen career path in the law," he says.

The 2015 MLS gala dinner provided an opportunity for the school's distinguished alumni, students and academics to connect in a remarkable setting, the picturesque Myer Mural Hall

The Rt Hon Malcolm Fraser AC CH GCL passed away on 20 March 2015, aged 84. In addition to his many achievements while serving as Australia's 22nd Prime Minister, Mr Fraser's legacy includes an enduring connection to MLS.

This is an edited version of a eulogy given by Professor Sandford Clark at the funeral service for Professor Sharwood.

I first met Robin in 1963, shortly after his appointment to a Chair in law at Australian National University, at the confronting young age of 30.

The Hon Associate Justice Mark Derham QC remembers visiting his father, Sir David Plumley Derham, in his ground floor office near the old quadrangle when he was the Professor of Jurisprudence at Melbourne Law School.

Sarah Fregon is an inspiration for women wanting to pursue a career in the law.

The Victorian Bar chief executive officer has risen above perceived gender inequalities time and again throughout her career, and is hoping she can encourage current female law students to do the same.

Melbourne Law School congratulates the Hon Michelle Gordon of the Federal Court on her appointment to the High Court. Justice Gordon, also a Senior Fellow at MLS, replaced the Hon Justice Kenneth Hayne