News

Worries that democracy is in decline have sparked experiments in citizen assemblies but a University of Melbourne expert says we can also revitalise parliament

Amid the ongoing pro-democracy protests in China's Hong Kong, a University of Melbourne expert examines how it came to this and where it is likely to end.

Complex financial services law needs to be overhauled, with financial wellbeing at the core, say University of Melbourne experts in their FinFuture white paper.

Melbourne JD student Ken Zhunwye Kiat reflects on his time in Geneva as part of the Melbourne elective ‘Institutions in International Law’.

Retrospective testing is catching up with drug cheats in sport, but a University of Melbourne expert explores how far back it can go, and is it cold comfort?

A University of Melbourne expert says the ACCC’s final report into digital platforms in Australia finds that big tech giants warrant close competition scrutiny.

A University of Melbourne expert says artificial intelligence is already impacting on how we work – and we need to define any human-computer collaboration now.

Unrepresented individuals, small businesses and small not-for-profit organisations can now apply to receive free tax assistance from the Melbourne Law School (MLS) Tax Clinic.

Dynamic Conmpetition in Dynamic Markets: A Path Forward

Australia has an opportunity to re-evaluate its refugee policy and lead the world in sharing the burden says University of Melbourne expert on World Refugee Day

On Wednesday 29 May, MLS hosted the Law Apps Awards celebrating a semester of hard work by Law Apps JD students. MLS spoke with the winners of the Law Apps Award about their experience of developing a community justice-centred app.

Melbourne Law School congratulates a number of our alumni who were recently recognised in the 2019 Queen’s Birthday Honours list. It is a tribute to the dedication and commitment of these members of our community who have worked tirelessly in their fields.

The Gaire Blunt Scholarship is offered by the Business Law Section of the Law Council of Australia for papers on a topic in the field of competition law.Submission closing date: 5pm, 30 August 2019

A University of Melbourne expert says smart water management could lead to collaboration between rural and urban areas to establish a reliable water supply.

Australia's Federal Election was marked by countervailing swings that political parties will need to learn to navigate, says a University of Melbourne expert

Big Tech Antitrust: At War With ItselfThursday 25 July 2019, 8.30am - 9.30am

Geoffrey Rush's recent trial failed to highlight leaking of the sexual harassment complaint and poor protection for complainant: University of Melbourne expert.

Melbourne Law School students and recent graduates were recognised for their outstanding achievements at the MLS Prize Celebration this month.

MLS JD students are teaming up to build legal apps in collaboration with not-for-profit legal services.

Melbourne JD graduate Blake Connell is the Law Institute of Victoria’s 2019 Rising Star of the Year.

It was at an MLS careers consultation that second year Melbourne JD student, Elisa Wong learned of Law Without Walls X (LWOWX) Social Enterprise Hackathon – a four-month virtual competition for law students around the world.

Masters student Balu Gopalakrishnan Nair reflects on his experience at Melbourne Law School, and how he has benefited so far as the inaugural Melbourne Law Masters recipient of the Alex Chernov Scholarship.

Since joining a Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade graduate program fresh out of law school, Sarah Storey has enjoyed an exciting diplomatic career, with postings from Brussels to Bangkok. Now, the MLS alumna has embarked on her “dream job”, as US Congressional Liaison Officer for the Australian Embassy in Washington.

It may be summer break, but our legal internship students are busy in a wide range of placements in Melbourne, across Australia and overseas. Hear from our students about what it's like studying the Legal Internship program as part of the Melbourne JD.

Melbourne Law School congratulates a number of alumni and friends who were recently recognised in the 2019 Australia Day Honours list. The awards are a testament to the contributions and outstanding commitment made by MLS alumni to the Australian community.

The news item "Bashir's bizarre on-off release disrupts Jokowi’s campaign” was published on The Age on 23 January 2019.'Indonesia’s announcement that it would release 80-year-old Abu Bakar Bashir, the spiritual leader of terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah, after serving two-thirds of his 15-year sentence for supporting a terrorist training camp in Aceh, took many by surprise.'Read the article by Professor Tim Lindsey AO here:https://www.theage.com.au/world/asia/bashir-s-bizarre-on-off-release-disrupts-jokowi-s-campaign-20190123-p50t4l.htmlTim Lindsey is Malcolm Smith Professor of Asian Law, Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor and Director of the Centre for Indonesian Law, Islam and Society at the Melbourne Law School. Tim is a member of the Victorian Bar and was the long-serving Chair of the Australia Indonesia Institute until 2016. His publications include Indonesia: Law and Society; Islam, Law and the State in Southeast Asia (three volumes); The Indonesian Constitution; Drugs Law and Practice in Southeast Asia; and Religion, Law and Intolerance in Indonesia. He is a founder and an executive editor of The Australian Journal of Asian Law.

MLS JD students have spent a week in Hong Kong SAR as part of the elective subject Economic and Business Law in Asia.

Applications are invited for 2-3 visiting fellows to spend 4-5 weeks at Melbourne Law School in 2019, as part of the Indian Equality Law Programme.The Indian Equality Law Visiting Fellowships are designed for advanced-stage doctoral students or early-career academic scholars (with no more than 5 years of post-doctoral, university teaching or litigation experience) with an interest in Indian equality / anti-discrimination law and/or comparative law.  Funding for the fellowships is provided by the Letten Prize awarded to Associate Professor Tarunabh Khaitan in 2018.  Fellows will be based at MLS and will benefit from a research-intensive environment.If you are interested in applying, click here for further details.Applications close on 1 February, 2019.

MLS JD students have spent a week in Shanghai as part of the elective subject Economic and Business Law in Asia.

New research projects to be conducted by Melbourne Law School academics have been awarded major funding in the latest round of Australian Research Council (ARC) grants.

MLS Professor Jason Varuhas has been awarded the prestigious Inner Temple New Authors Book Prize.

Studying the Melbourne Law Masters has enabled Alexander Davani to combine his passion for sport with a career in the law.

MLS alumnus Saul Wakerman is the co-founder of Atticus, a legal tech startup that provides law firms with a platform to complete document disclosure verifications.

Designing an app to help prisoners apply for bail has changed the way that Erin Kanygin thinks about the law.

MLS Alumni & CMCL Breakfast Seminar

Developing an app to help people living with a disability has given JD student Alexander Meredith valuable insight into the principles of human-centred design.

For law graduate Jack Aquilina, completing his Master of Tax has set him up for a diverse legal career.

Purely Dicta recently conducted an interview with Associate Professor Stacey Steele. She discusses her experiences working in the legal sector in Japan and Australia.

MLS alumna Di Miao helps Chinese and Australian clients interact and understand key legal issues at play.

This workshop aims to bring together postgraduate students from Australia and New Zealand who are researching topics relating to Vietnamese legal studies.

JD student Tim Tabalujan reflects on his experience in Institutions in International Law, a two-week study intensive in Geneva, Switzerland.

Speaking at a public lecture at MLS, Dr Margaret Hagan from the Legal Design Lab at Stanford Law School explained how we can use design to make the legal system work better for people.

This conference aims to bring together postgraduate students, from around Australia and overseas, who are researching topics relating to Islam.

Elise Pulbrook recently travelled to the United States for Global Lawyer, a two-week study intensive taught in the Melbourne JD. She reflects on her experience.

Melbourne JD student Monique Andreatta’s experience in the Law Without Walls X Social Entrepreneurship competition has further developed her understanding of how technology influences legal practice.

Second-year Melbourne JD student Mona Zhang says support from her peers has helped her transition from the Bachelor of Biomedicine to postgraduate study in law.

MLS alumna Sally Capp (BCom, LLB(Hons) 1991) was sworn in as Lord Mayor of Melbourne in May this year.

In Conversation with Professor Tim Lindsey AO was posted by The Australia-Indonesia Centre on 2 August 2018.Professor Tim Lindsey AO discusses the current state of democracy in Indonesia, and how demographic shifts will affect the 2019 elections.Watch the interview here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VY_anJhw8aw&feature=youtu.beTim Lindsey is Malcolm Smith Professor of Asian Law, Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor and Director of the Centre for Indonesian Law, Islam and Society at the Melbourne Law School. Tim is a member of the Victorian Bar and was the long-serving Chair of the Australia Indonesia Institute until 2016. His publications include Indonesia: Law and Society; Islam, Law and the State in Southeast Asia (three volumes); The Indonesian Constitution; Drugs Law and Practice in Southeast Asia; and Religion, Law and Intolerance in Indonesia. He is a founder and an executive editor of The Australian Journal of Asian Law.

MLS Associate Professor and Future Fellow Tarun Khaitan has been announced as the winner of the 2018 Letten Prize.

MLS students were given an insight into how blockchain and smart contracts are transforming the legal profession at a panel discussion in May.

25 students from Melbourne Law School have just ended a week in New York City as part of the JD elective subject Global Lawyer.

MLS graduate and 2018 Supreme Court Prize winner Julia Nikolic (JD 2017) served in the Australian Intelligence Corps before studying law at MLS.

Civil penalties for cartel conduct: An OECD Review of the Australian RegimeFor much of the early part of the last decade the focus of Australian competition law and enforcement has been on the introduction and implementation of criminal sanctions for individuals for cartel conduct, introduced in 2009. Almost ten years on, a critical review of civil penalties for companies is timely.

George Da Silva is one of our many international students studying for his masters degree in the Global Competition and Consumer Law Program. Our students come from every corner of the globe and bring a diverse array of talent, experiences and perspectives to the student body who learn as much from as with each other.  George shares his insights into what it is like to study online and how much he values the support he receives from the leading academics involved in the program.

Read or listen here.

* This is a transcript of a speech presented by Professor Graeme Orr at the 2017 ERRN Biennial Workshop held at the University of Western Australia Club in Perth in November 2017.

Supermarket Power in Australia: Looking Back and Ahead symposium was held at the State Library of Victoria in October 2017. Click below to watch a short video of highlights.

For lawyer Rowan Kendall, working in Brisbane, London and now Myanmar has been no barrier to completing Melbourne Law School’s Master of Competition and Consumer Law.

A/Professor Stacey Steele recently caught up with Melbourne Law School LLM graduate 2017, Shawn Guoqing Xu now based in Guangdong, China

A first of its kind Australian conviction of a Japanese company for cartel conduct shows reforms in this area of the law are starting to work and these cases can be prosecuted successfully.

Privacy, Politics and Law: in Conversation with Prof. Paul De HertThe CMCL, IPRIA and Melbourne Law School is excited to announce that Professor Paul De Hert (Vrije Universiteit Brussels) – a renowned privacy scholar and organizer of the largest privacy conference in the world Computers Privacy and Data Protection  -  will be conducting an interdisciplinary workshop aimed at PhD candidates and Early Career Researchers. We invite applications from interested PhD candidates and Early Career Researchers from any faculty to apply (early career researchers are those who have been awarded a PhD in the last 5 years).

Established in 1967, the Association for Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was created to foster greater cooperation in economic and security affairs between its members. Fifty years later, MLS academics are playing a key role in helping the ASEAN states develop their competition and consumer policy and legal regimes, integral to achieving the region’s economic aspirations.

This workshop aims to lay the foundation for further research on Indian administrative law and promote work in this vital field, especially amongst early career researchers.

This conference aims to bring together postgraduate students, from around Australia and overseas, who are researching topics relating to Islam.

There are rising concerns about investors in water markets. Erin O'Donnell from Melbourne Law School and Adam James Loch discuss.

This episode features Simon Birmingham, Minister for Education; Chris Bowen, Shadow Treasurer; Larissa Waters (Australian Greens), Innes Willox (Australian Industry Group) and Professor Miranda Stewart (leading international expert on tax law and policy).

Professor Miranda Stewart discusses international commitment to prevent tax avoidance.

Professor Miranda Stewart from the Tax Group at Melbourne Law School, discusses why sole parents are better off working.

As the Government considers its response to the Uluru Statement from the Heart, we look at another major milestone in the journey towards Indigenous recognition. By Catriona May, University of Melbourne.* Professor Lee Godden, Director of CREEL, is a featured academic in this article.

The legal rights of rivers and natural objects are discussed in this podcast, with researchers Erin O'Donnell from Melbourne Law School, and Julia Talbot-Jones from ANU speaking to Lynne Haultain.

Competition law and policy expert Jose Antonio Batista de Moura Ziebarth was a key architect of MLS’s first fully online masters program. For José, the importance of competition policy stems from its ability to impact people’s everyday lives.

SYDNEY LAW REVIEW - VOLUME 39, NUMBER 1, MARCH 2017

Death row Bali Nine members will file reapplication for consideration of their good behaviour as one of their last legal options, says Indonesian law expert Tim Lindsey.

Centre members Dr Tess Hardy and Associate Professor Joo-Cheong Tham made a submission to Parliament of Victoria into the Vulnerable Workers Bill.

Read past news articles from the Tax Group.

In an intersection between the sacred and the legal, a court in India recognised the Himalayas as a legal person, but what does it mean for their preservation?By Erin O’Donnell, University of Melbourne and Julia Talbot-Jones, Australian National University

Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama and his running mate, Djarot Saiful Hidayat, sparked controversy in the recent lead up to the election for Jakarta’s governor, following the release of a campaign video that, like Ahok himself, has been accused of being “anti-Islam".

Wendy Harmer speaks to Erin O'Donnell from CREEL about rivers being granted personhood.

Authors Erin O'Donnell and Julia Talbot-Jones, discuss the world's newest notable legal persons.

Louise Bell is a senior associate at Herbert Smith Freehills in Brisbane, Australia and her classmate Boniface Kamiti lives in Nairobi, where he is the Manager of Consumer Protection at the Competition Authority of Kenya.

From the bar to the supermarket: Life as a competition lawyer.

A new article by CMCL Co-Director Jason Bosland

How Tacit Collusion Makes Consumers PayThe first study of its kind has revealed how petrol retailers can tacitly collude through their own price signallingBy Dr David Byrne, Centre for Market Design, University of Melbourne

Concerns regarding Australian military teaching materials and remarks uncovered late last year have placed strain on relations with Indonesia. The strange affair of our on-again-off-again defence cooperation arrangements with Indonesia continues to confuse most observers.

Associate Director (India) of the Asian Law Centre and JD Lecturer on 'Law and Legal Practice in Asia' (2017) at Melbourne Law School, Associate Professor Farrah Ahmed, is part of a global team of exceptional scholars to edit the newly launched Indian Law Review in 2017.

Visiting Professorial Fellow at the University of Melbourne and CILIS Associate Director, Professor Denny Indrayana, discusses the legal framework of the case that has been brought against Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (Ahok).

Supermarket unconscionability – the difference two years can make. Professor Caron Beaton-Wells, University of Melbourne

International Workshop on Remedies for Breach of Privacy | Melbourne Law School

Post-Doctoral Fellow, Dr. Monika Zalnieriute attends the World Conference of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) in Bangkok.

Professor Andrew Kenyon visiting research professor at the Sorbonne Law School, University Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne

Dr Monika Zalnieriute @ ICANN 57

Dr Monika Zalnieriute, Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Melbourne Law School, has co-authored the new WHO report entitled: Tackling food marketing to children in a digital world: trans-disciplinary perspectives.

CELRL Co-director Anna Chapman, was part of a successful team led by UTS for a LIEF grant, and we congratulate Anna on this achievement.

The ERRN has a new collaboration with the McDougall Trust, a UK-based independent charity promoting public understanding of electoral democracy.

The article "Denny Indrayana: Presiden Butuh Dukungan Politik untuk Berantas Korupsi" was published by detikNews on 20 September 2016.

Erin O'Donnell, says damming Northern Australia should not come at the expense of sustainability. This radio interview underscores the ongoing public interest in water law and governance. Erin is a Senior Fellow at the University of Melbourne Law School, PhD Candidate and member of the Centre for Resources, Energy and Environmental Law (CREEL).

This conference aims to bring together postgraduate students, from around Australia and overseas, who are researching topics relating to Islam.

Poor and misleading disclosure may be a looming legal issue in Australia, but there is also growing evidence it can have a positive effect on companies.

Registration open for UK Media Law - Recent Developments w/ John Battle, Head of Compliance at ITN, London

‘Internet Infrastructure & Human Rights’ Asia Pacific Regional Internet Governance Forum (APrIGF)

Dr Anthony Ware on 'Monitoring and Analysis of Myanmar's 2015 Election Processes and Result': public lecture for the Electoral Regulation Research Network.

The ERRN Governance Board has awarded grants to two projects.

This workshop aims to bring together postgraduate students from Australia and New Zealand who are researching topics relating to Vietnamese legal studies.

In May 2016, Andrew Godwin attended the Law Society Association Annual Conference in New Orleans and presented a paper on “Transactional and Experiential Law Teaching – Trends and Challenges in the Asia Pacific Region”

Drugs Law and Legal Practice in Southeast Asia co-authored by Centre for Indonesian Law, Islam and Society Director, Professor Tim Lindsey and Asian Law Centre Director, Professor Pip Nicholson, investigates criminal law and practice relevant to drugs regulation in three Southeast Asian jurisdictions: Indonesia, Singapore and Vietnam.

Recently published.

Registration is now closed for the CMCL / IPRIA interactive workshop.

Post-Doctoral Fellow, Dr. Monika Zalnieriute attended the 55th meeting of the International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in Marrakech, Morocco, 5–10 March 2016*

In May 2014, the Australian Law Reform Commission commenced a "Review of Commonwealth Laws for Consistency with Traditional Rights, Freedoms and Privileges".

This article appears in The Conversation, March 17, 2016.

The program for the forthcoming Age of Mega-Regionals Symposium has been released

Professor Sheila Jasanoff will be visiting Melbourne in May as a Miegunyah Distinguished Visiting Fellow

ERRN Research Collaboration Initiative is now seeking expressions of interest for projects to be funded in 2016 - 2017.

Centre member Professor Beth Gaze comments on an article in the Brisbane Times.

Authors Erin O'Donnell and Barry Hart, discuss the lessons which can be learned from the south of Australia when harnessing water resources in the north. See this story in The Conversation,

IILAH is excited to announce its new reading group

Read the latest research reports and research papers published by centre members.

See media commentary by Centre members on current corporate law issues.

See updates on research work undertaken by our Centre members and the impact our research has had on legal and social developments.

‘Internet Infrastructure & Human Rights’ at ‘Computers, Privacy and Data Protection’ Annual Conference in Brussels, 29 January, 2016

Dr. Monika Zalnieriute begins new research at the Melbourne Law School, CMCL

Andrew Godwin is visiting Hong Kong University in the second half of February to participate in a teaching exchange fellowship. During his time in Hong Kong, Andrew will deliver some guest lectures and work with Associate Professor Richard Wu of Hong Kong University Law Faculty on a University of Hong Kong Teaching Development Grant - "Experiential Learning in HKU Law Faculty by Strengthening Clinical and Transactional Law Education through Adopting Effective Practices from Australian Law Schools"

A minority Muslim group has been ordered to convert to Sunni Islam or be expelled from Bangka island, off the coast of Sumatra, in the latest religious crackdown in Indonesia, write Jewel Topsfield and Karuni Rompies for the Sydney Morning Herald.

Professor Tim Lindsey, CILIS Director, reacts to the deadly gun-and-suicide bomb attack claimed by Islamic State in central Jakarta. He speaks with Bloomberg's Shery Ahn on "Trending Business."

Prof. Tania Voon interviewed on ABC News about the Aust govt win against Philip Morris.

Sundhya Pahuja appointed new IILAH Director

Video of Cheryl Saunders's lecture 'Devolution. Federation. Constitution. From Here to Where?'

Melbourne Law School's Asian Law Centre last week welcomed more than a dozen Chuo Law School students, marking the 10th anniversary of the cross-cultural legal education partnership.

A rich program in Public Law will be offered in the MLM in 2016.

What are the legal issues for investors funding solar roof-tops? How will laws developed in the context of traditional energy generators work for small scale energy cooperatives? These are just some of the cutting edge legal questions being asked of students in Melbourne's Sustainability Business Clinic.

William Partlett of Melbourne Law School and Eric C. Ip of The Chinese University of Hong Kong have just released a paper for the New York University Journal of International Law and Politics (JILP).

Melbourne Law School's Lucy Quinn and Joanne Kerr, in collaboration with Catherine Reid from Melbourne Graduate School of Education, have won a University of Melbourne Diversity and Inclusion Award for their implementation of the innovative subject, Street Law.

The lowering of Japan's voting age, coupled with Shinzo Abe's controversial reform agenda, may see a stirring among Japanese students, write Stacey Steele (Associate Director, Japan) and Aya Haruyama (Research Assistant) in Asian Currents.

Professor Caron Beaton-Wells latest book - Anti-Cartel Enforcement in a Contemporary Age: Leniency Religion - was published in early September.

Indonesia could become a pioneer in the abolition of capital punishment and an example for other Muslim countries to follow, according to former Indonesian judge Professor Jimly Asshiddiqie.

The University of Melbourne has recently launched the Indonesia at Melbourne blog, a new platform for analysis, research and commentary on contemporary Indonesia by academics, experts and students affiliated with the university.

Dr William Partlett has just published a piece on ConstitutionNet.org, entitled 'Agendas of Constitutional Decentralization in Ukraine'.

The CCCS has made a submission to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security regarding the Inquiry into the Australian Citizenship Amendment (Allegiance to Australia) Bill 2015.

The Centre for Comparative Constitutional Studies has submitted a review of the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 (Vic).

In March 2015, the Law Faculties of the University of Melbourne, the National University of Singapore, and the University of Oxford offered a program delivering lectures on the common law to four universities in China: Shanghai Jiaotong (Shanghai), Fudan (Shanghai), Tsinghua University (Beijing) and Peking University (Beijing).

The Faculty of Law, University of Oxford, Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne and National Law University, Delhi hosted a workshop and conference on 10-12 April, 2015 at National Law University, Delhi, India. The very generous support of Mr Allan Myers AO QC and Mrs Maria Myers AO made these events possible. The co-convenors were Associate Professor Tarunabh Khaitan (Oxford), Dr Farrah Ahmed (Melbourne) and Dr Anup Surendranath (National Law University, Delhi).

CILIS Associate Arjuna Dibley writes in the Guardian on why Geoffrey Robertson's call to withdraw Australian aid after the execution of Chan and Sukumaran is misguided.

Professor Tim Lindsey explains the key reasons why Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan should not have been executed.

Professor Tim Lindsey and Associate Professor Simon Butt observe waning support for President Widodo in the crippling face of KPK, Indonesia's anti-corruption agency.

Cheryl Saunders has made a submission to the Joint Select Committee on Constitutional Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, entitled 'Indigenous Constitutional Recognition: the Concept of Consultation'.

Professor Tim Lindsey discusses the Australia-Indonesia relationship, and how a tougher response to an inexperienced Indonesian government would be the wrong move, particularly for the 'Bali Two'.

Is it really the case that Indonesia is determined to execute drug offenders - both foreign and local - if they are caught in Indonesia, but will spend money to help Indonesian drug offenders avoid execution provided they are caught overseas?

Professor Tim Lindsey and Associate Professor Simon Butt comment on the Bali Nine executions and the effect that politics is having on the appeals.