1. Australian Law Students’ Association Clayton Utz Conference (Melbourne) 2012
9 – 16th July
$500 silver registration
In 2012 the ALSA Clayton Utz Conference is being held in Melbourne. More than 500 students from around Australia, as well as New Zealand and South East Asia will be in attendance. Silver registration is $500. Gold registration, which includes accommodation at The Sebel and Citigate Albert Park is $850.
Registration includes:
- Opening (Location Peninsular) and Closing Gala (Location: Crown Palladium. Keynote speaker at Closing: Simon McKeon, 2011 Australian of the Year),
- 5 Speaker Forums (including The Hon. Michael Kirby AC CMG, Evelyn Halls: partner at Freehills, Robert Clark MP: Victorian Attorney General, Senator Larissa Waters: Australian Greens),
- Cocktail Evening at the MCG,
- 2 Theme Nights,
- Workshops (advocacy workshop being run by Justice Hollingsworth, Supreme Court of Victoria) and much more.
Visit www.alsaconference.com.au for more information and to register.
2. Courts Open Day 2012
The Supreme Court of Victoria and the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court will both open their doors to the public on Courts Open Day, Saturday 19 May, as part of Law Week celebrations. Located in the legal precinct on the corner of William and Lonsdale Streets, both courts will welcome the public with a free program of tours, talks and public information stalls, from 10am to 3pm. For more information please see Courts Open Day Flyer.
3. Debate: Freedom of Speech is Overrated
Too often, the big issues feel ill-served by parliamentary question time or the 24-hour news cycle. Big issues and bigger ideas deserve informed and passionate consideration. Beyond the soundbites, beyond the sloganeering, beyond the posturing, there’s the debate. For more information please see the debate website.
4. Great Law Week Debate: ‘Political Bias in the Media Should be Banned’
Date: 16 May, 2012
Time: 6pm – 7.30pm
Venue: Monash University Law Chambers, 555 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne
RSVP: Monday 14 May,2012
Email: law-marketing@monash.edu or 03 9905 2630
For more information please see here.
5. Maurice Blackburn Women in the Law Breakfast
12 July, 7am, RACV Club Melbourne – Students $20
Once again the Maurice Blackburn Women in the Law Breakfast is being held. Running in 2012 as part of the Australian Law Students’ Association Clayton Utz Conference, it will provide a great opportunity to hear from some inspiring speakers while networking with members of the legal profession and law students. All enquiries should be directed to education@alsaconference.com.au.
Please visit www.alsaconference.com.au/equity-breakfast to purchase tickets.
6. The Castan Centre for Human Rights Law / King & Wood Mallesons Annual Lecture
Professor Olivier De Schutter, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to food
The role of the right to food in combating global hunger
Date: Tuesday, 19 June 2012
Time: 5:45pm to 7pm
Venue: State Library of Victoria Conference Centre and Theatrette, 328 Swanston Street, Melbourne
RSVP: castan.centre@monash.edu or telephone 03 9905 3327
Public Lecture – All Welcome
Professor Olivier De Schutter is the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to food. He is professor at the University of Louvain (Belgium) and at the College of Europe (Natolin), and a visiting professor at Columbia University and Sciences Po (Paris). Before being appointed Special Rapporteur, he was the General Secretary of the International Federation for Human Rights in charge of issues of globalization and human rights. Between 2002 and 2007, De Schutter chaired the EU Network of independent experts on fundamental rights, a high-level group of experts providing advice on fundamental rights issues to the European Parliament and European Commission.
Professor De Schutter will be teaching an intensive postgraduate law unit Economic social and cultural rights and international law at Monash University Law Chambers in June.
7. The Impact of Mental Impairment Legislation for People with Cognitive Impairment: The Aboriginal Disability Justice Campaign
Date: Wednesday, 30 May 2012
Time: 6pm to 7:30pm
Venue: Monash University Law Chambers, 555 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne
RSVP: castan.centre@monash.edu or telephone 03 9905 3327
Full details: http://www.law.monash.edu.au/castancentre/events/2012/aboriginal-disability-justice.html
Public Forum – All Welcome
Why did Marlon Noble spent almost ten years in a West Australian prison without ever being convicted for a crime?
This forum will explore the human rights and legal issues for people with a psychiatric disability and cognitive impairment (intellectual disability / acquired brain injury) who come before the courts and are assessed as having a mental impairment and then found unfit to plead. This legislative process was designed as an alternative pathway through the courts for people with psychiatric disabilities and cognitive impairments who could not enter a plea or understand the criminal justice system. Unfortunately this process is having dire consequences in terms of liberty for people who are subject to its findings.
In a number of states and territories across Australia being assessed as mentally impaired and then found unfit to plead leads to indefinite detention in prisons and psychiatric units. Despite not being convicted of a crime, detention is often indefinite because there are no alternative accommodation and treatment options other than prisons or psychiatric units. In the Northern Territory, detention is in a maximum security prison. In Western Australia you do not have the right to appeal the findings.
8. What’s Next in the Law? Interactive Law: Lawyers as Peacemakers, Problem-Solvers and Healers
The Australian Centre for Court and Justice System Innovation (ACCJSI) invites you to a public lecture presented by J. Kim Wright, J.D. For further information, please see ACCJSI Flyer Lecture.