Earlier Event Recordings

Events held prior to 2017

2016

• Pippa Hall, Chief Economist, UK Intellectual Property Office
  "What does a good IP system look like? Good for whom"

  Francis Gurry Public Lecture on Intellectual Property "What does a good IP system look like? Good for whom?" presented by Pippa Hall on Monday, 21 November 2016.

  Pippa Hall discussed intellectual property and the need to create a well-functioning intellectual property “eco-system,” in which the needs of individuals, government and the broader economy are all satisfied. Hall drew upon economic theory and data to analyse intellectual property laws both here and in her native United Kingdom..

• A Conversation with the Honourable Chief Justice French AC
  “A Conversation with the Hon. Chief Justice French AC: Reflections on a career on the High Court"

  Professor Carolyn Evans, Dean of Melbourne Law School was in conversation with the Honourable Chief Justice French AC on Monday,14 November 2016.

• Professor Sarah Worthington QC
  "The penalties regime in Australia and England: a ‘shared, difficult future’?"

  James Merralls Visiting Fellowship in Law public lecture 2016 'The dealth of penalties in two legal doctrines' presented by Professor Sarah Worthington QC, 14 September 2016.

  Professor Sarah Worthington QC, Downing Professor of the Laws of England and Co-Director of the Cambridge Private Law Centre, presented the James Merralls Visiting Fellowship in Law public lecture on 21 September at Owen Dixon Chambers.

  In her lecture, Professor Worthington explored the tension between the court’s responsibility to uphold the freedom that parties have to contract on their own terms and to protect parties from “exorbitant” or “unconscionable” contractual requirements.

  Professor Worthington drew out lessons from recent decisions of the UK Supreme Court in Cavendish Square Holding BV v Makdessi (2015) and the Australian High Court in Andrews v ANZ Banking Group Ltd (2012) and Paciocco v Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (2016)

  She said these decisions represent a “turn in the road”, and a departure from the previous authority on penalties in Lord Dunedin’s judgment in Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co v New Garage and Motor Co (1914).

• The Honourable Justice Stephen Gageler
  "When the High Court went on strike"

  Allen Hope Southey Memorial Lecture presented by the Honourable Justice Stephen Gageler on Tuesday,6 September 2016.

• Professor Ian Freckelton QC, The Hon. Justice Robert Redlich, Laureate Professor Peter Doherty AC, Professor Karen Day
  "Scholarly Misconduct" Panel discussion

  'Scholarly Misconduct' Panel Discussion presented by Professor Ian Freckelton QC, The Hon. Justice Robert Redlich, Laureate Professor Peter Doherty AC and Professor Karen Day, 16 August 2016.

  The Melbourne Law School hosted a panel discussion featuring eminent figures in the legal, medical and science fields to explore issues including research fraud, plagiarism, sexual predation and defamation. Panel members included Professor Ian Freckelton QC (Barrister, Professorial Fellow of Melbourne Law School and Department of Psychiatry), The Hon. Justice Robert Redlich (Victorian Court of Appeal), Laureate Professor Peter Doherty AC (Laureate Professor, Department of Microbiology and Immunology), Professor Karen Day (Dean, Faculty of Science).

  The event also launched Professor Ian Freckelton QC's book Scholarly Misconduct (OUP, 2016).

  Download a copy of the presentation

• Professor Mark Lunney
  Rare Book Public Lecture: "A very Australian story: Political Libels and the Conscription Referendums of the First World War"

  Rare Book Public Lecture presented by Professor Mark Lunney, 21 July 2016.

  On 21 July 2016, Melbourne Law School hosted the Rare Book Public Lecture, presented by Professor Mark Lunney from the University of New England.
  
  
  In 1945, the Anti-Conscription League published a pamphlet ostensibly about the recently deceased Maurice Blackburn's opposition to conscription for the purpose of overseas military service. The polemic that infused the pamphlet - a discussion of the introduction of conscription in the Second World War - is testament to the continued strong feelings the issue aroused, and is directly related to the highly-charged debates during the 1916 and 1917 referendums on the issue.
  
  While law, and private law in particular, was largely peripheral to the mainstream debate during the First World War, the law of defamation was used by various of the leading participants to discomfort opponents and to score political points.
  
  This lecture considered a number of the most high-profile of these defamation cases, cases which raised a mixture of innovative doctrinal questions together with wider concerns about the limitations of the defamation action to mediate what were essentially political disputes.
  
  
  In dealing with these questions, Australian courts applied a law of 'political libels' that had a distinctive Australian flavour.

• Professor Doug Jones AO
  "The penalties doctrine in international construction contracting: where to from here?"
  Free Public Lecture Series 2016

  Free Public Lecture 2016 'The penalties doctrine in international construction contracting: where to from here?' presented by Professor Doug Jones AO, 13 July 2016.

  Professor Doug Jones AO illuminates past, present and future of contract penalties doctrine.

  On 13 July 2016, Professorial Fellow Doug Jones AO provided detailed insights into a key issue within contracting in construction projects and beyond: the penalties doctrine.

  Drawing upon his extensive international experience advising on construction projects and acting as an arbitrator in the resolution of disputes, Professor Jones gave context to the highly-anticipated pending judgment of the High Court of Australia in Paciocco v Australia and New Zealand Banking Group. He outlined the history of the penalties doctrine from medieval times through to the 2015 UK Supreme Court decision of Cavendish Square Holding BV v Talal El Makdessi, encompassing civil as well as common law systems.

  Discussing the existing and evolving law, Professor Jones challenged the construction law community to participate in the ongoing debate over the proper role of the penalties doctrine so that it remains relevant to the transnational nature of commercial contracting. He noted that, 'in an industry where uncertainty is rife,it is important for courts to champion flexibility in their analysis of the bargains of commercial parties.'

  Following the lecture, Professorial Fellow John Sharkey AM and Senior Fellow Kara Vague reflected upon the themes of Professor Jones’s lecture, and several insightful questions were offered by members of the large audience. We were delighted that, despite the chilly Melbourne night, more than 100 people attended the lecture at Melbourne Law School; in addition, many people watched a live feed of the lecture.

• The Hon Dikgang Moseneke
  "The Balance Between Robust Constitutionalism and the Democratic Process"
  Seabrook Chambers Lecture 2016

  Seabrook Chambers Lecture 2016 'The Balance Between Robust Constitutionalism and the Democratic Process' presented by The Hon Dikgang Moseneke, 16 June 2016.

  As an anti-apartheid activist, the principle of ‘one person one vote’ was central to Dikgang Moseneke democratic demands. As the former Deputy Chief Justice of the Republic of South Africa, Moseneke seeks to find equilibrium between the democratic will of the people and the supremacy of the Constitution. While critics of the Constitution question its legitimacy, Moseneke holds that constitutional supremacy protects against abuses of public power and creates a government that is more consistent, just and responsive. Reflecting on recent events in South Africa and internationally, Deputy Chief Justice Moseneke examined the balance between the democratic process and robust constitutionalism.

  Born in Pretoria in 1947, the Honourable Dikgang Moseneke was jailed at the age of 15 for participating in anti-apartheid activities. In the ten years that he was detained on Robben Island, Moseneke befriended other activists— including Nelson Mandela—also imprisoned for their fight against the apartheid regime. While in prison he studied for degrees in Arts and B Iuris from the University of South Africa, both of which were conferred while he was a prisoner. Moseneke later received an LLB from the same university. Admitted as a solicitor in 1978, Moseneke’s application to the Pretoria Bar in 1983 initiated the abolition of ‘white only’ Bar membership. He was appointed to Senior Counsel in 1993, and in the same year served on the committee that drafted South Africa’s interim Constitution. When the first democratic elections were held in 1994, Moseneke was appointed Deputy Chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission. Following a period in the corporate sector, Moseneke was appointed a judge of the Constitutional Court in 2002, becoming Deputy Chief Justice of the Republic of South Africa in 2005.

  Download a copy of the speech

• Mr David Manne, Professor Susan Kneebone, Professor Michelle Foster and Dr Antje Missbach
  CILIS Evening Seminar: "Asylum Seekers and the Australia-Indonesia Relationship"

  Indonesia currently has more than 13,000 asylum seekers and refugees in its territory. Although irregular departures of asylum seeker boats from Indonesia to Australia have slowed down, numbers of new arrivals in Indonesia are steady. Indonesia's capacity to host these people for the long term and provide them with proper protection are reaching their limits.

  A number of Australia's policies and practices, such as forcibly returning asylum seekers by boat to Indonesia, were met with harsh criticism in Indonesia. Unlike other countries in the region, Indonesia does not want to accommodate Australia's unwanted asylum seekers but it has - so far - no durable solution on offer. Despite frequent demands for 'regional solutions' for asylum seekers and refugees in the region, progress on establishing a coherent regional framework for refugee protection has remained elusive.

  In this seminar, prominent scholars of refugee law and asylum seeker issues discuss current developments and consider their implications for a range of issues, including foreign policy, regional politics and Indonesia's relations with Australia.

2015

• MLS Law Apps Bake Off

  The inaugural Melbourne Law School Law Apps Bake Off, 22 October 2015.

  The inaugural Melbourne Law School Law Apps Bake Off saw four teams of students compete to design and produce a website to assist the legal and not-for-profit sector.
• Laureate Professor Emeritus Cheryl Saunders AO
  "Australian Federal Democracy"
  The Law Oration 2015
  

  The 2015 Law Oration convened by Laureate Professor Emeritus Cheryl Saunders AO, 14 October 2015.

  Victoria Law Foundation and Melbourne Law School are pleased to present the 2015 Law Oration, which will be delivered by Laureate Professor Emeritus Cheryl Saunders AO, Director of Studies in Government Law and Co-Director of Studies in Public and International Law at the University of Melbourne, on the topic of "Australian Federal Democracy".

  The Constitution creates Australia as a federal democracy. The framers of the Constitution had a vision of what that meant, by the standards of their time. More than 100 years later, both federalism and democracy are under strain in Australia, in a variety of interconnected ways. This Oration explores the potential of the compound concept of federal democracy, revitalised for the conditions of the 21st century, as the lens through which problems might be analysed and solutions devised, within the framework of the current Constitution. In doing so, it draws on approaches to the design and operation of federal democratic systems in other comparable countries as a source of insight for Australia.

  Cheryl Saunders is a Laureate Professor Emeritus. She has specialist interests in constitutional law and comparative public law, including federalism and intergovernmental relations and constitutional design and change, on all of which she has written widely. She is the founding director of the Centre for Comparative Constitutional Studies and a President Emeritus of the International Association of Constitutional Law.
• The Right Hon the Lord Igor Judge
  "Magna Carta: Destiny or Accident?"
  The Nathan and Pamela Jacobson Lecture 2015

  The Nathan and Pamela Jacobson Lecture 'Magna Carta: Destiny or Accident?' presented by The Right Hon the Lord Igor Judge, 05 October 2015.

  The Magna Carta was a political settlement between a medieval king (King John of England) and a group of powerful barons. Yet, 800 years after it was sealed, it continues to be of interest and importance throughout the common law world. In this address Lord Judge will examine Magna Carta in its contemporary context and discuss its surprising survival and how it has come to be regarded as one of the most famous and totemic documents in history.

  Igor Judge was Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales and Head of the Judiciary of England and Wales from 2008 to 2013. He was awarded an Open Exhibition to Magdalene College Cambridge in 1959 where he read History and Law. While at Cambridge he entered the Hon Society of Middle Temple and was subsequently called to the Bar in 1963. In 1988 he was appointed a High Court Judge in the Queen’s Bench Division and knighted. In 1996 he was appointed Lord Justice of Appeal and Sworn of the Privy Council. He was created a life peer in 2008. Lord Judge has served as President of the Selden Society since 2009.

  The Jacobson Public Lecture Series Mr Nathan Jacobson OBE (LLB 1946) was a corporate lawyer and founding partner of Jacobson, Chamberlin & Casen. He is a highly prominent member of Australia’s Jewish community and a committed philanthropist. He received an OBE in 1972 for services to the community. The 2015 Nathan and Pamela Jacobson Lecture was made possible by the generous support of Mr Nathan Jacobson OBE and Mrs Pamela Jacobson.

  This lecture is proudly presented by Melbourne Law School, the Supreme Court Library Queensland, UNSW Law, the Gilbert + Tobin, Centre of Public Law and the Rule of Law Institute of Australia.

• Lady Hale
  "Protecting Human Rights in the UK Courts: What are we doing wrong?"
  Caldwell Public Lecture 2015

  Caldwell Public Lecture 'Protecting Human Rights in the UK Courts: What are we doing wrong?' presented by Lady Hale, 10 September 2015.

  The UK Human Rights Act was hailed by Lord Irvine as a “modern reconciliation of the inevitable tension between the democratic right of the majority to exercise political power and the democratic need of individuals and minorities to have their rights secured”. But the new Conservative Government has pledged to repeal it and enact a British Bill of Rights instead. The Prime Minister has said that “the good name of human rights has sometimes become distorted and devalued”. If so, who is to blame? The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg? The UK Parliament which passed the Act? The UK courts in applying the Act? Or the media who do not like some of the consequences? Or is it all a reflection of that “inevitable tension” in action?

  Speaker: Lady Hale, Deputy President of The Supreme Court, The Right Hon the Baroness Hale of Richmond Lady Hale was appointed Deputy President of The Supreme Court in June 2013, succeeding Lord Hope of Craighead. In January 2004, Lady Hale became the United Kingdom’s first female Lord of Appeal in Ordinary after a varied career as an academic lawyer, law reformer, and judge. In October 2009 she became the first female Justice of The Supreme Court.

  After graduating from Cambridge in 1966, she taught law at Manchester University from 1966 to 1984, also qualifying as a barrister and practising for a while at the Manchester Bar. She specialised in Family and Social Welfare law, was founding editor of the Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law, and authored a pioneering case book on ‘The Family, Law and Society’.

  In 1984 she was the first woman to be appointed to the Law Commission, a statutory body which promotes the reform of the law. Important legislation resulting from the work of her team at the Commission includes the Children Act 1989, the Family Law Act 1996, and the Mental Capacity Act 2005. She also began sitting as an assistant recorder.

  In 1994 she became a High Court judge, the first to have made her career as an academic and public servant rather than a practising barrister. In 1999 she was the second woman to be promoted to the Court of Appeal, before becoming the first female Law Lord.

• Professor Todung Mulya Lubis
  "Death Penalty and the Road Ahead: A Case Study of Indonesia"
  CILIS Evening Seminar 2015

  CILIS Evening Seminar: Death Penalty and the Road Ahead: A Case Study of Indonesia presented by Professor Todung Mulya Lubis, 24 August 2015.

  Professor Todung Mulya Lubis is from the Faculty of Law at the University of Indonesia.
• Mr Antony Dapiran, Davis Polk and Wardwell, Professor Jiunn-rong Yeh and Professor Pip Nicholson
  "Tolerance and Rights in Asia - Hong Kong and Taiwan"
  Asian Law Centre book launch and seminar 2015

  Mr Antony Dapiran, Davis Polk and Wardwell, Hong Kong and Professor Jiunn-rong Yeh, National Taiwan University, Taiwan (Seminar) and Professor Pip Nicholson, Asian Law Centre (Book Launch).
• Professor Jimly Asshiddiqie
  Islam, Democracy, and the Future of the Death Penalty
  Distinguished Asian Lecture 2015
  

  Distinguished Asian Lecture: Islam, Democracy, and the Future of the Death Penalty presented by Professor Jimly Asshiddiqie , 11 August 2015.

  Should democratic countries apply the death penalty? Does Islam require the death penalty? Are executions a breach of human rights? Is religion an obstacle to the human rights reform?

  Professor Asshiddiqie explores Islamic attitudes to the death penalty and argues that all contemporary cultures – whatever their origin and whatever their religious context – face challenges in reconciling the death penalty with the right to life. The experiences of the United States (the world's largest Christian society), India (the largest Hindu society), and Indonesia (the largest Muslim society) suggest, however, that religion is not always an obstacle to democracy or human rights reform, even if all these countries still execute. Professor Asshiddiqie concludes that increasing acceptance of democracy and international human rights norms as a global civilisational aspiration is forcing reconsideration of the death penalty in the legal systems of many societies - including Muslim majority states like Indonesia.

  Professor Jimly Asshiddiqie is a leading Indonesian legal figure, both as a scholar and a prominent public official. As founding Chief Justice of Indonesia’s first Constitutional Court (2003-2008) he established a new branch of the judiciary and developed a process of constitutional review of statutes that had long been missing in Indonesia. He helped set a new standard in Indonesian courts for reasoned judgments drawing on international jurisprudence, as well as pioneering publication of judgments. He also led the Constitutional Court when it decided a challenge to the death penalty in 2007. He is now chair of the Honorary Council of the Electoral Management Bodies and of the Advisory Council to the National Commission of Human Rights. He has advised presidents and the national legislature on legal and political issues, and has twice been decorated for his contributions to Indonesian law reform and state administration. Professor Asshiddiqie studied at the University of Indonesia, Leiden University and Harvard, and is Professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Indonesia. He has published more than 40 books, some in English, creating an important resource for emerging constitutional thought on democracy in Indonesia.

  This free public lecture is presented jointly by the Centre for Indonesian Law, Islam and Society, the Asian Law Centre and the Melbourne Law School, with the generous support of Allan and Maria Myers.
• Sir Anthony Mason
  Proportionality and its use in Australian Constitutional Law
  LSS Sir Anthony Mason Lecture 2015
  

  LSS Sir Anthony Mason Lecture: 'Proportionality and its use in Australian Constitutional Law' convened by Sir Anthony Mason, 06 August 2015.

  The Sir Anthony Mason Honorary lecture was inaugurated in 1995, the year of Sir Anthony Mason's retirement as Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia. The lecture serves to celebrate Sir Anthony Mason's outstanding contribution to the legal profession and the common law of Australia, as well as offering the opportunity for students of the Law School to meet and hear those who have helped to shape the law as we study it. It provides a substantial contribution to legal debate within the Melbourne Law School, as well as inspiration and insight to students.

  In keeping with the tradition to speak on pertinent and sometimes controversial issues within the legal and social community, this year the Melbourne University Law Students' Society (LSS) are delighted to announce that the Hon. Sir Anthony Mason himself will present the lecture on 'Proportionality and its use in Australian Constitutional Law'.

  This will be the third time that Sir Anthony has delivered the lecture, and ten years since he last presented.

  The Hon. Sir Anthony Mason AC KBE GBM was a Justice of the High Court of Australia from 1972 to 1987 and Chief Justice from 1987 to 1995. He was Commonwealth Solicitor General from 1964 to 1969 and a Judge of the NSW Court of Appeal from 1969 to 1972. He has been Chancellor of UNSW, National Fellow at the Research School of Social Sciences at the ANU, a Judge of the Supreme Court of Fiji and President of the Solomon Islands Court of Appeal. In 1996-1997, he was Arthur Goodhart Professor in Legal Science at Cambridge University. Since 2001, he has been a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the ANU College of Law. Sir Anthony has been a non-permanent Judge of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal since 1997. Sir Anthony holds Honorary Doctorates from the Australian National University and Sydney, Melbourne, Monash, Griffith and Deakin Universities, UNSW and the Universities of Oxford and Hong Kong.
• Chief Justice Robert French AC
  "Trust and Statutes"
  Harold Ford Memorial Public Lecture 2015
  

  Harold Ford Memorial Public Lecture presented by Chief Justice Robert French AC, 20 May 2015.

  The Lecture is named in honour of the Law School’s distinguished alumnus, Professor Harold Ford, who passed away in September 2012.

  The Harold Ford Memorial Lecture celebrates the many contributions of Professor Ford to Melbourne Law School, the legal profession, and to the development of corporate law and trusts law. Professor Ford spent almost his entire career at Melbourne Law School following his appointment in 1949. He was Dean of the Law School in 1964 and from 1967 to 1974. In 1974, the first edition of Principles of Company Law was published.

  "Trust and Statutes"

  What may broadly be described as the law of trusts covers the relevant doctrines of equity and statutes which provide for the supervision of trust relationships, qualify equitable principles, and which may give rise to new categories of trust relationships or things called 'trusts'. The interaction of statute law and equitable doctrine as in many areas of interaction between statute law and the unwritten law raises questions about 'coherence' which direct attention to Atiyah's question:
  All lawyers of course know that large areas of both the common law and the statute law are a shambles but is it one shambles or are there two?

  Post-lecture Dinner

  Following the lecture, you are invited to attend a dinner, which will be held in the Woodward Centre on Level 10 of the Melbourne Law School. To attend the dinner, please register and pay online ($100 per person).

  This lecture is co-presented by Centre for Corporate Law and Securities Regulation and sponsored by Clayton Utz.

• Dr Helen Pausacker, Dr Jemma Purdey, Dr Dave McRae, Dr Nadirsyah Hosen, Professor Tim Lindsey and Dr Richard Chauvel.
  What’s Happening to the Jokowi Presidency?
  CILIS Evening Seminar 2015
  

  CILIS Evening Seminar: 'What’s Happening to the Jokowi Presidency?', 05 May 2015.

  President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo was sworn in last year in a wave of optimism and hope. He was seen as an effective technocratic administrator committed to anti-corruption reform, who would support small business and cut red tape. Six months into his five-year term, many who voted for him already feel disappointed. Police attacks on the Anti-Corruption Commission, his selection of a lacklustre cabinet, an obstructionist legislature, and his apparent inability to resist the growing power of his party chair, former president Megawati Soekarnoputri, are all causing his supporters growing concern.

  Some say Jokowi has been ‘captured’ by the old political elite, others say that he is simply naïve and inexperienced, a provincial official out of his depth in cut-throat national politics. Optimists suggest he is biding his time and playing a ‘long game’. Pessimists speculate that he may face impeachment. At this seminar five prominent observers of Indonesia explore how Jokowi’s administration has fared so far, the challenges he currently faces, and what is likely to happen next.

  At this seminar, five prominent observers of Indonesia explored how Jokowi’s administration has fared so far, the challenges he currently faces, and what is likely to happen next.
• Professor Tim Lindsey
  Death, Drugs and the Bali Nine
  Lecture 2015
  

  Death, Drugs and the Bali Nine presented by Professor Tim Lindsey, 21 April 2015.

  Professor Tim Lindsey provided an overview of legal and constitutional issues involved in the case of the two Australians who were (at that time) facing execution in Indonesia for serious drugs offences, Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan.  Tim also explored the implications for the future of reform in Indonesia, and its bilateral relationship with Australia.

• Professor Paul Brand
  The First Century of Magna Carta and the Law
  Miegunyah Distinguished Visiting Fellow Public Lecture 2015
  

  The First Century of Magna Carta and the Law: 2015 Miegunyah Distinguished Visiting Fellow Public Lecture presented by Professor Paul Brand, 15 April 2015.

  To celebrate the 800th anniversary of this iconic document, the Melbourne Law School welcomes one of the world’s most distinguished experts in medieval legal history, Professor Paul Brand.

  Professor Paul Brand is a distinguished scholar of medieval legal history at the University of Oxford and a Vice President of the renowned Selden Society, the learned society, and a publisher devoted to promoting research in English legal history.

• Professor Bryan Stevenson
  Just Mercy: a story of justice and redemption

  Just Mercy: a story of justice and redemption presented by Professor Bryan Stevenson, 19 February 2015.

  Professor Bryan Stevenson of NYU Law School, one of America's leading human rights lawyers and clinical law professors, offered his reflections and vision on how to confront injustice and build a just society at a public lecture at Melbourne Law School on 19 February 2015.

  He also launched his New York Times Top 10 best seller, Just Mercy, a memoir of his experience in tackling racism and injustice in the American justice system.

2014

• Various speaker
  "IILAH Constellations Seminar: The Minutes of Evidence Project"
  

  "IILAH Constellations Seminar: The Minutes of Evidence Project" convened by Dr Rose Parfitt, 10 October 2014.

  For the second seminar in its Constellations series, convened by Dr. Rose Parfitt (Melbourne Law School), the Institute for International Law and the Humanities (IILAH) invited participants in the ground-breaking Minutes of Evidence project to share their thoughts and experiences of collaborating across disciplines (from history to law to criminology), sectors (academia, performing arts, government, community), and media (from scholarly publications to theatrical performance to curricula materials for secondary schools).

  CHAIR: Dr. Anne Genovese, Melbourne Law School.

  SPEAKERS:
  Dr. Jennifer Balint: Criminology, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Melbourne
  Lilly Brown: Early Career Indigenous Researcher, MoE project; Principal Tutor, Australian Indigenous Studies program, Culture & Communication
  Caitlin Dullard: Company Manager/Creative Producer, La Mama Theatre
  Dr. Julie Evans: Criminology, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Melbourne
  Dr. Mark McMillan: Melbourne Law School
  Dr. Nesam McMillan: Criminology, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Melbourne.
• Various speaker
  "IILAH Constellations Seminar: Thinking With Sound"

  "IILAH Constellations Seminar: Thinking With Sound" convened by Dr James Parker, 22 May 2014.

  An interdisciplinary conversation on the methodological problems involved in thinking with sound held at the Institute for Law and the Humanities at Melbourne Law School on 23 May 2014. This was the first of the IILAH Constellations Series organised by Dr Rose Parfitt (McKenzie Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Melbourne Law School). The event was convened by Dr James Parker (Melbourne Law School), and featured the following speakers

  SPEAKERS:
  Dr James Parker: Lecturer, Melbourne Law School. Director: Law, Sound and the International (IILAH)
  Associate Professor Neil McLachlan: Composer, Instrument Maker, Associate Professor at the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences and the Music and Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory
  Dr Linda Kouvaras: Composer and Senior Lecturer, Musicology, Melbourne Conservatorium of Music
  Mr Joel Stern: Artist, Musician, Composer Curator. Currently co-director of OtherFilm. Previously Associate Lecturer in music at Queensland University of Technology
• Professor Graham Virgo
  "Conscience in England and Australia: Divided by a Common Private Law?"
  Miegunyah Distinguished Visiting Fellow Public Lecture 2015
  

  Miegunyah Distinguished Visiting Fellow Public Lecture: 'Conscience in England and Australia: Divided by a Common Private Law?' presented by Professor Graham Virgo, 11 September 2014.

  The Miegunyah Distinguished Visiting Fellow Lecture Program
  In 1993, on the recommendation of the Russell and Mab Grimwade Miegunyah Fund Committee, the University Council established the Miegunyah Distinguished Visiting Fellowship Program to bring academics of international distinction in their field of interest to the University of Melbourne.  This free public lecture is part of that program, generously made possible by the initial donation from Sir Russell and Lady Mab Grimwade.

  'Conscience in England and Australia: Divided by a Common Private Law?'
  England and Australia share a common legal heritage, with common doctrines, principles and aims. The relationship between English and Australian law remains close, with Australian decisions and scholarship regularly cited in English courts, and vice-versa. But even a cursory analysis of English and Australian private law reveals fundamental differences in conception and application of the law, sometimes with the same language being interpreted in very different ways. This is especially true of the Law of Restitution, which in England is primarily founded on the Law of Unjust Enrichment, whereas in Australia, as recently confirmed by the High Court, is founded on the equitable notion of conscience. Analysis of the different approaches to the Law of Restitution in England and Australia reveals a more fundamental distinction between the two legal cultures relating to the role of principle and judicial discretion. This lecture will examine these legal cultures from the perspective of private law to determine whether each can continue to learn from the other or whether we must be forced to admit that we are now irretrievably divided by a common private law.

  The Miegunyah Distinguished Visiting Fellow in Law: Professor Graham Virgo
  Graham Virgo is Professor of English Private Law at the University of Cambridge, Deputy Chair of the Law Faculty, co-director of the Cambridge Private Law Centre and is Fellow and Director of Studies in Law at Downing College, Cambridge. From October 2014 he will be Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Education at the University of Cambridge. His major areas of research are in the fields of the Law of Restitution, Equity and Criminal Law. He has written Principles of Equity and Trusts (OUP, 2012) and, with Paul Davies, Equity and Trusts: Text, Cases and Materials (OUP, 2013) and is preparing a third edition of Principles of the Law of Restitution to be published by OUP in 2015. He is a contributor to Chitty on Contract, Buckley on the Companies Acts and and Simester and Sullivan’s Criminal Law: Theory and Doctrine (Hart, 5th ed., 2013).  He is a Bencher of Lincoln’s Inn.
• Dr Jamhari Makruf
  "Incubators for Extremists? Radicalism and Moderation in Indonesia's Islamic Education System"
  Miegunyah Public Lecture 2015
  

  Miegunyah Public Lecture - Incubators for Extremists? Radicalism and Moderation in Indonesia's Islamic Education System, presented by Dr Jamhari Makruf, 10 June 2014.

  Hosted by the Centre for Indonesian Law, Islam and Society and generously funded by the Miegunyah Distinguished Visiting Fellowship Program, the Melbourne Law School is proud to present the following public lecture:

  "Incubators for Extremists? Radicalism and Moderation in Indonesia's Islamic Education System"

  Islamic schools and universities in Indonesia have been accused of producing militant Islamist extremists. The Bali bombers, for example, attended 'hard-line' schools and the recent spate of book-bombs targeting champions of Islamic moderation were sent by a student at the State Islamic University. But is this perception actually correct? This lecture looks at the struggle between moderate and extremist ideas in Indonesia's madrasahs and Islamic teritary institutions and its implications for Australian policy.
  
  -Is Islamic thought in Southeast Asia becoming more or less radical?
  -Should education in Islamic societies be reformed to counter extremist ideas and if so, how?
  -Should Australia have a role in this process?
  -How are extremists to be distinguished from moderate Islamic groups?
  -Has the secular West failed in dealing with Islamic law and politics in Asia?
  -The paper will draw on both Islamic and Western intellectual traditions to answer these questions.
• Vice-Chancellor Professor Glyn Davis
  "Universities in the service of the nation"
  Sir Zelman Cowen Public Lecture 2015
  

  Sir Zelman Cowen Public Lecture: 'Universities in the service of the nation presented by Vice-Chancellor Professor Glyn Davis, 26 March 2014.

  Universities in the service of the nation

  Among many career distinctions, Sir Zelman Cowen was an outstanding university leader who believed strongly in the power of education, debate and ideas. The lecture will explore Sir Zelman’s personal reflections on higher education and how these connect with wider Australian and international conceptions of the role and purposes of higher education.

  About the Speaker

  Glyn Davis is Professor of Political Science, Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Melbourne, and immediate past Chair of Universities Australia.

  Professor Davis was educated in political science at the University of New South Wales and the Australian National University, before undertaking post-doctoral appointments as a Harkness Fellow at the University of California Berkeley, the Brookings Institution in Washington DC and the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

  Internationally, Professor Davis is an immediate past Chair of Universitas 21, a grouping of 24 leading universities from around the globe, a member of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities, and a Director of the Menzies Centre for Australian Studies at King’s College London.

  In 2010 Professor Davis presented the Boyer Lectures published as The Republic of Learning.

2013

2012

• Professor Keith Ewing
  "Party Political Funding in NSW (and Beyond?) - Can Human Rights be Deployed to Resist Dogmatic Liberalism's Intolerance of Pluralistic Party Structures?"
  ERRN (VIC) & CCCS Seminar 2012
  

  ERRN (VIC) & CCCS Seminar: Party Political Funding in NSW (and Beyond?) - Can Human Rights be Deployed to Resist Dogmatic Liberalism's Intolerance of Pluralistic Party Structures? presented by Professor Keith Ewing , 20 November 2012.

  Imagine a State where the governing party decided to re-write the law to liquidate the main opposition party. Or passed a law to render unlawful the existing structure of the main opposition party. Or changed the law to restrict the right of opponents to campaign against it at election time.

  Welcome to New South Wales. For all practical purposes the ALP has been declared unlawful as originally created.  Formed by trade unions to give working people a political voice, the State has now decided that the ALP can no longer exist in its present form, a form that is an untidy mixture of individual and collective membership.

  Is this lawful?   Can the NSW model of party funding law be adopted elsewhere in Australia? Are there parallels for such uses of State power elsewhere the liberal democratic world? Is it consistent with international human rights obligations? Does it matter? Are human rights relevant to democracy?

  Keith Ewing has been Professor of Public Law at King's College, London since 1989, having been employed previously at the Universities of Edinburgh and Cambridge.   He is a frequent visitor to Australia, and has held positions at Monash, UWA, University of Queensland, University of Sydney, and the University of Melbourne, where he is currently visiting.

• Various Speakers
  "Beyond YES/NO: Ideas for Engaging Ordinary Citizens in Constitutional Referendums"
  ERRN (NSW) Symposium 2012
  

  ERRN (NSW) Symposium: Beyond YES/NO: Ideas for Engaging Ordinary Citizens in Constitutional Referendums presented by Jody Broun, Tim Gartrell, Kerry Jones and Dr Paul Kildea, 01 November 2012.

  Constitutional reform is back on the agenda, with the federal government considering holding referendums to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and local government, in the Australian Constitution. As the debate unfolds, one of the biggest challenges will be educating and engaging ordinary citizens on the proposed reforms. But with public awareness and understanding at such low levels, is this an impossible feat?.

  This forum brings together four experts to discuss the challenges of achieving public engagement in constitutional change, and to share ideas about how to meet those challenges.
  The forum is being held as part of the Australian Electoral Commission’s ‘Year of Enrolment’ and will be opened by the Australian Electoral Commissioner, Ed Killesteyn PSM. It is hosted by Mr Jai Rowell MP, Chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters.

• Justice Ajit Prakash Shah
  "Judicial Activism for Social Justice: Promises and Perils"
  Seabrook Chambers Public Lecture 2012

  "Judicial Activism for Social Justice: Promises and Perils" presented by Justice A.P. Shah, at the 2012 Seabrook Chambers Public Lecture, 10 September 2012.

  Justice A.P. Shah was the author of some of the landmark decisions handed down by the High Courts in Bombay, Madras and Delhi in the last two decades. From the perspective of a law practitioner with two decades of experience, followed by an equally long and eventful tenure on the Bench, Justice Shah shares his insights into the working of the Indian judiciary. He places particular emphasis on the role of the Indian Supreme Court in attempting to enforce the constitutional promise of social justice.
• Lord Robert Walker
  "Developing the common law: how far is too far?"
  The Law Oration 2012

  "Developing the common law: how far is too far?" presented by Lord Robert Walker, Justice of The Supreme Court (UK) at The Law Oration, 4 September 2012.

  Lord Walker provides an insight into the development of British and Australian common law drawing on over five decades of international legal experience. In 2009 he became one of the first justices of the newly established Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. He sits as a non-permanent justice of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal and has sat in the Bahamas and Mauritius on occasional sittings of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

  The 2012 Law Oration was presented by Melbourne Law School and the Victorian Law Foundation.
• Various Speakers
  "The Challenge of Youth Electoral Participation"
  ERRN (VIC) Symposium 2012
  

  ERRN (VIC) Symposium: The Challenge of Youth Electoral Participation presented by Professor Brian Costar, 04 September 2012.

  Generational change means governments, business and NGOs face a different set of expectations from before. This is equally true of electoral participation. Around the world, young people are said to be politically disengaged - especially from electoral politics. In Australia, we see declining enrolment and turnout rates among the young. What can be done about this?

  In this symposium sponsored by the Australian Electoral Commission, various perspectives from political parties, electoral commissions and academia will be brought together to examine the challenges of youth electoral participation and also to canvass potential solutions.

  This symposium is being held as part of the Australian Electoral Commission’s ‘Year of Enrolment’ and will be opened by the Australian Electoral Commissioner, Ed Killesteyn PSM.

  Chair:
  Professor Brian Costar, Swinburne University

  Panelists:
  Dr Aaron Martin, Lecturer, University of Melbourne
  Andrew Gately, Assistant Commissioner, Australian Electoral Commission
  Paul Strickland, Manager, Electoral Enrolment Branch, Victorian Electoral Commission
  Dr Adam Bandt, Federal Member of Parliament for Melbourne, Australian Greens
  Jane Garrett, State Member of Parliament for Brunswick, Australian Labor Party

• Gerry Simpson
  "Political Literacy"
  The Wednesday Lecture Series 2012

  "Political Literacy" presented by Professor Gerry Simpson as part of The Wednesday Lectures hosted by Raimond Gaita, 20 August 2012.

  When it comes to political deliberation or electoral choice, how well-versed ought we to be? And how should our political leaders speak and persuade? Can literary practice help us answer these sorts of questions?

  This lecture by Professor Gerry Simpson revolves around conceptions of political literacy and political "literateness": the former encompassing an idea of technical nous in matters of political grammar and practice, the latter a way of thinking of politics through (and as a form of) literature.

  Gerry Simpson is a Professor of International Law at Melbourne Law School and a visiting Professor of Public International Law at the London School of Economics, where he held a Chair until 2009.

• Chief Justice Robert French AC
  "A Public Law Perspective on Intellectual Property"
  Francis Gurry Lecture 2012

  "A Public Law Perspective on Intellectual Property" presented by Chief Justice Robert French AC, High Court of Australia at The Francis Gurry Lecture, 25 July 2012.

  Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia, Robert French AC, delivers the 2012 Francis Gurry Lecture. The lecture addresses the intersection between intellectual property and public law. Understanding the importance of this intersection includes an appreciation of how key public law principles apply in the field of intellectual property law.

  The lecture focuses on three such areas of intersection. The first area is constitutional law: to what extent does the Constitution provide, and limit, legislative power in the area of intellectual property. The second area is the availability of judicial review of administrative action relating to intellectual property. The third area is more abstract, considering what normative rationales have underpinned the development of intellectual property law.
• The Hon Nicola Roxon MP
  "A Static Constitution? A Very Australian Standoff"

  "A Static Constitution? A Very Australian Standoff" presented by The Hon Nicola Roxon MP, Attorney-General for Australia, 19 July 2012.

  Australia's first female attorney-general, The Hon. Nicola Roxon MP, discusses constitutional reform. An alumna of Melbourne Law School, Ms Roxon won the Supreme Court Prize for the top law graduate of her year. Prior to her election to Parliament in 1998, she worked in several positions in the legal profession and beyond: as judge's associate for Justice Mary Gaudron in the High Court of Australia; an industrial lawyer; a union organiser; and as senior associate with law firm Maurice Blackburn and Co.
• Raimond Gaita and panel speakers
  "Whatever happened to politics?"
  The Wednesday Lecture Series 2012

  "Whatever happened to politics?" presented by Professors Raimond Gaita, Gerry Simpson, Robert Manne and Professor Carolyn Evans at The Wednesday Lecture Series, 4 July 2012

  The final lecture in The Wednesday Lectures Hosted by Raimond Gaita is a panel discussion with Professors Raimond Gaita, Gerry Simpson, Robert Manne and Dean of Melbourne Law School, Professor Carolyn Evans. They discuss the series topic "Whatever Happened to Politics?" and link to some of the important issues raised by the previous lectures.
• Professor Larissa Behrendt
  "Whatever Happened to Reconciliation"
  The Wednesday Lecture Series 2012

  "Whatever Happened to Reconciliation" presented by Professor Larissa Behrendt at The Wednesday Lectures hosted by Raimond Gaita, 13 June 2012

  Twenty years after Mabo and 40 years after the Tent Embassy, where are we on reconciliation? Why are we still waiting to close the gap? Professor Larissa Behrendt considers the important subject of reconciliation. What does the evidence say works or doesn't work in dealing with socio-economic disadvantage in Indigenous communities.

  Larissa Behrendt is a Eualeyai/Kamillaroi woman. She is the Professor of Law and Director of Research at the Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning at the University of Technology, Sydney. She is admitted to the Supreme Court of the ACT and NSW as a barrister. When she gained her Master of Laws and Senior Doctorate of Jurisprudence she was the first Aboriginal Australian to graduate from Harvard Law School.
• Professor Matthew Craven
  "Re-reading the Berlin Conference: International Law and the Logic of Extraction"
  Sir Kenneth Bailey Memorial Lecture 2012

  "Re-reading the Berlin Conference: International Law and the Logic of Extraction" presented by Professor Matthew Craven, Dean of the Faculty of Law and Social Sciences, University of London, at the 2012 Sir Kenneth Bailey Memorial Lecture, 4 April 2012.

  The General Act of the Berlin Conference of 1884-5 is generally recalled as an instrument enabling the partition of Africa and the establishment of colonial rule. In this lecture, Professor Craven revisits that history, asking whether it might not better be understood as a regime of extraction whose logic may be tracked in various locations in contemporary international law.

  Matthew Craven is Dean of the Faculty of Law and Social Sciences and Professor of International Law at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He is a member of Matrix Chambers and Director of the Centre of the Study of Colonialism, Empire and International Law. In 2012 he taught Statehood in International Law in the Melbourne Law Masters.
• Professor Jeffrey Lehman
  "The Changing Face of Legal Education in China"
  Sir George Turner Lecture 2012

  "The Changing Face of Legal Education in China" presented by Professor Jeffrey Lehman, Chancellor and Founding Dean of the Peking University School of Transnational Law at the 2012 Sir George Turner Lecture, 5 March 2012.

  In the more than three decades since the anarchy of the Cultural Revolution drew to a close, China has worked to develop a modern system of legal rules and legal institutions, consistent with Chinese culture and suited to a deeply interconnected world. One aspect of that development is legal education. The post-reform system initially resembled that of continental Europe - more oriented towards teaching students about law than to prepare them for professional careers.

  In the past 15 years, however, China has also been experimenting with other models. One of the more remarkable efforts is the Peking University School of Transnational Law. Opened in 2008, it offers an American-style JD program in combination with a Chinese "Juris Master" program. Jeffrey Lehman, the School's founding dean and on leave from his position on the faculty of Cornell University, discusses some of the unique questions the School has confronted.
• Fatou Bensouda
  "The Rome Statute Ten Years On: Where to from here for the ICC?"
  Mrs Fatou Bensouda Lecture 2012

  "The Rome Statute Ten Years On: Where to from here for the ICC?" presented by Mrs Fatou Bensouda, Deputy (now Chief) Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

  Mrs Fatou Bensouda of Gambia, currently Deputy Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), will succeed Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo when his nine-year term expires in the middle of 2012.

  She discusses some of the challenges she expects to face in consolidating the current cases before the Court, all seven of which involve African countries, gaining custody of indicted accused still at large and in extending the Court's caseload to other regions of the world.

2011