Over the past 18 months I have been talking with legal sector leaders in firms, corporations, the not-for-profit sector, and government about the ways in which the focus on early career development of their lawyers is predominantly, but not exclusively, on honing technical legal skills. Concurrently, we discussed the need for: skills in project management; legal sector economics; and leadership skills, including self-awareness as a leader in a time of dynamic complexity.
I have also consulted with those across the globe researching and teaching in legal leadership. MLS Senior Fellow Joel Barolsky recently wrote in an opinion piece for the Australian Financial Review that there is a leadership deficit in Australia’s legal community, with reported widespread burnout, mental health problems at three times the levels of the general population, and more than 20 per cent turnover among junior lawyers.
Working together with Mr Joel Barolsky, MLS has launched a Specialist Certificate in Legal Leadership (SCLL). Beginning in August, the SCLL is taught over six months and covers two subjects – Legal Leadership Essentials, presented by Mr Anthony Kearns, and Management for Professionals, presented by Mr Barolsky.
Geared towards mid-career legal practitioners and in-house lawyers with strong leadership potential, the SCLL will see its students challenged by industry leaders while they build a peer network. Its graduates will take a stronger skills base to their workplaces. Ultimately, MLS will offer a Masters in Legal Leadership co-taught with the Melbourne Business School.
The significance of AI and machine learning has also featured in my discussions with the legal sector. I am delighted to advise that the Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Ethics (affectionately known as CAIDE), a collaboration between MLS and the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, has recently launched the Ninian Stephen Law Program: New Legal Thinking for Emerging Technologies, a four-year initiative funded with the generous support of the Menzies Foundation. The program aims to build capacity in the legal profession to address the challenges of emerging technologies and explore the regulation of technology, specifically AI. If you wish to know more about CAIDE’s programs please email us or join CAIDE’s mailing list.
Finally, in the midst of another lockdown in Victoria, I am heartened by the fact that we recently hosted a number of events at MLS, including: a conversation about sexual harassment in the legal sector between the Hon Kenneth Hayne AC QC and Thea Stephenson, MULSS President (attended by over 200); the 2020 student prize giving celebration; a reception to mark Eid al-Fitr, the breaking of Ramadan; and a return to the building for our newest alumni, the 2020 graduates. Your law school has recently hummed with people and conversation. As I said at the prize giving, I do very much look forward to hearing students “cheering [and] hooting”, in the School’s halls, as they did at the MLS prize giving in 1885 according to The Argus.
Let us hope for a short and effective lockdown and the resumption of an active MLS program involving staff, students, alumni and friends across semester two.
Stay well, stay safe, and keep in touch.
Professor Pip Nicholson
Dean, Melbourne Law School
News and Analysis
Intimate partner sexual violence and the courts
Sexual assault by an intimate partner often goes unreported, and when it is, the legal system is daunting whether a woman is seeking justice or simply protection, writes Professor Heather Douglas.
Ninian Stephen Law Program: New Legal Thinking for Emerging Technologies
The Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Ethics (CAIDE) is delighted to announce the new Ninian Stephen Law Program: New Legal Thinking for Emerging Technologies, a four-year initiative at the University of Melbourne powered by the Menzies Foundation.
Melbourne School of Government is offering two new microcredentials (Melbourne MicroCerts) in social and sustainable procurement. These six-week courses were developed in response to feedback about the need for education in this area from public servants working in procurement and policy areas, as well as people from the social enterprise and private sectors who are required to meet social procurement objectives when bidding for government contracts. A discount is available for UoM alumni – please email continuing-education@unimelb.edu.au to find out more.
Foundations of Social Procurement is intended for professionals who are involved in procurement and supply chain management, in either government or non-government settings, and who wish to upskill in the area of social procurement.
Strategic Social Procurement extends on Foundations of Social Procurement by applying the concepts, theories and policies examined in the context of several priority social procurement areas.
The Institute for International Law and the Humanities is celebrating the publication of Legal Capacity and Gender: Realising the Human Right to Legal Personhood and Agency of Women, Disabled Women, and Gender Minorities by Associate Professor Anna Arstein-Kerslake. The online event will be introduced by human rights expert Professor Hilary Charlesworth.
The Asian Australian Law Association, Maddocks and Melbourne Law School invite you to attend the online launch event of the William Ah Ket Scholarship 2021. The Honourable Chief Justice Anne Ferguson of the Supreme Court of Victoria will deliver the keynote address.
Casual employment - seeking certainty in an uncertain world
In this seminar, Paul O’Grady QC will consider whether the new statutory definition of “casual employment” and the specific remedial provision directed at preventing “double-dipping” is enough to provide certainty in the future. This seminar is hosted by the Centre of Employment and Labour Relations Law.
In this seminar Associate Professor Oishik Sircar, Associate Professor Sara Kendall and Christopher Gevers will offer an international law lens on dealing with the past, particularly when it comes to reconciliation, reparations and beyond.
Digital finance, COVID-19 and existential sustainability crises: building better financial systems
The James Merralls Visiting Fellowship in Law Lecture will be delivered by Professor Douglas W. Arner, Kerry Holdings Professor in Law and Director and co-founder of the Asian Institute of International Financial Law at the University of Hong Kong. Professor Arner will explore how COVID-19 experiences are driving forward a range of efforts to build better infrastructure and financial systems to address future crises.
The Centre for Comparative Constitutional Studies (CCCS) Constitutional Law Conference will address two key themes: the rule of the law and government, courts and the law after COVID-19. Confirmed speakers include the Honourable Justice Michelle Gordon AC, the Honourable Justice Andrew Bell, the Honourable Justice Melinda Richards, Dr Ruth Higgins SC, Timothy Goodwin, MLS Laureate Professor Emeritus Cheryl Saunders AO, Professor Rosalind Dixon, MLS Professor Kristen Rundle and MLS Professor Jason Varuhas.
Four seismic climate wins show Big Oil, Gas and Coal are running out of places to hide
Director of Melbourne Climate Futures Professor Jacqueline Peel writes that three global fossil fuel giants have just suffered embarrassing rebukes over their inadequate action on climate change. Collectively, the developments show how courts, and frustrated investors, are increasingly willing to force companies to reduce their carbon dioxide pollution quickly.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is adamant the Tokyo Olympics will begin as scheduled on 23 July. Professor Jack Anderson says it is still possible to cancel the Olympics, however “the legal and financial fallout would be staggering”.
Professor Jeannie Marie Paterson speaks to The New Daily about timeshares, saying that people who bought them in the 1980s had been sold on the idea they would be good investments - a promise that never came true.
The Star’s merger proposal with James Packer’s Crown Resorts faces a full investigation by the ACCC. Dr Wendy Ng, Director of the MLS Competition Law and Economics Network, says merger approval gives the ACCC the chance to “nip in the bud” the potential of future misuse of market power by merged firms.
