Preparing lawyers for Victoria’s Treaty Era
The Yoorrook Justice Commission will release its major reports this month.
The reports are significant in forming the record of Victoria’s First Peoples’ experiences since colonisation and will inform treaty negotiations at the State-wide and local level. The University of Melbourne has been a major partner in the Yoorrook Justice Commission’s Walk for Truth from Portland to Parliament that reached its conclusion on Wednesday 18th June at the Victorian Parliament.
The Victorian Government and First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria opened negotiations for Australia’s first Treaty in November 2024. As Treaty negotiations gather momentum, Melbourne Law School is proud to offer our JD students the opportunity to acquire the skills and knowledge they will need as graduate lawyers in a post-Treaty Victoria.
The former elected Co-Chair of the First Peoples’ Assembly, Marcus Stewart AM has joined MLS’ Indigenous Law and Justice Hub as a visiting scholar in residence and principal fellow in 2025. Marcus was recently awarded a Member of the Order of Australia in the 2025 King’s Birthday honours for significant service to Indigenous advocacy.
In semester two, he will be teaching Treaty: Indigenous-settler Agreements at the law school. He says Treaty will require ‘upskilling’ and ‘transformation’ across the legal sector.
“Our lore, law and cultural authority is at the heart of the architecture we put in place to negotiate Treaty in Victoria. Treaty requires transformation and upskilling in the legal profession to work respectfully and responsibly with the oldest legal traditions in the world,” he says.
“Treaty is about First Peoples having the freedom and power to make the decisions which affect our communities, our culture and our Country. Treaty will put decision-making power about Aboriginal people back into Aboriginal hands. It will help everyone in Victoria connect with, respect and celebrate the oldest living culture in the world.
“I’m excited to teach Treaty to MLS students with the Indigenous Law and Justice Hub and help Victoria’s future-lawyers get treaty-ready.”
Above: Mr Stewart AM, a prominent adviser across business and government, often also appearing across the national media landscape, is a Nira illim bulluk man of the Taungurung Nation. As the Assembly’s inaugural Co-Chair, he has been responsible for the design of the infrastructure needed for Treaty in Victoria.
MLS also recognises the collaboration of legal professional partners in assisting its transformative approach to legal education. Long-term philanthropic donors, Australian law firm Lander and Rogers have funded an inaugural Lander and Rogers Prize for Excellence in Scholarship Towards Indigenous Justice. The prize is awarded to a student who achieves the highest mark in the subject, Law and Indigenous Peoples. Inaugural prize winner, Juris Doctor student Angela Stevens says: “This award is deeply personal to me, and I am truly thankful to Lander & Rogers for their generous financial support. The funds from this award will support me through the final year of my JD studies and enable me to balance my varied academic, research and advocacy pursuits.”