Law Student Gazette

1. Call for Volunteers – Courts User Satisfaction Survey

The Family Court and Federal Circuit Court are inviting law students at any year level to volunteer as interviewers in the Courts User Satisfaction Survey to be conducted in August 2014.

The closing date for registrations is Thursday 15 July.

For further information please see the flyer

2. Family Law Assistance Program Volunteering

The Family Law Assistance Program at Monash-Oakleigh Legal Service is now accepting applications from students to be on the waiting list.

Interested students should enquire and apply with the volunteer coordinator starting from Tuesday 1 July, 2014.

FLAP recruits volunteers several times a year, at no set times on a needs basis. Students will be contacted when opportunities arise and will remain on the waiting list until Tuesday 31 December, 2014.

Students will need to re-apply to be on the waiting list in 2015.

The volunteer coordinator can be contacted at mols-volunteer@monash.edu

3. Volunteering at Monash-Oakleigh Legal Service

Are you a first to third year Law student or JD student in your first six trimesters of your degree and looking for the opportunity to gain some invaluable practical legal experience?

Applications for the Wednesday Night Advice Only Session at Monash Oakleigh Legal Service will open at 8am Monday 21 July, 2014 and close 5pm Monday 28 July, 2014. Please note that late applications will not be accepted.

You are applying to be part of the Wednesday night volunteer team, which provides advice to clients experiencing a wide range of legal problems.

Students are rostered to volunteer on Wednesday nights on a fortnightly basis from 6:00pm until approximately 8:30pm. Commencement date is in September 2014.

In each session you will:

• Interview clients along with another law student
• Develop practical legal skills as well as research skills
• Have the opportunity to learn and work under the supervision of qualified lawyers and barristers

For more information, please see the website

1. A Message to Students Enrolled in the Bachelor of Laws (Single & Double Degrees)

As you may be aware from the Law Student Society (LSS) Education Guide 2014, we are introducing a new Bachelor of Laws (Honours) degree for students enrolling from 2015. We are introducing the new degree in response to regulatory requirements affecting all law schools and courses and the need for periodic rejuvenation in line with contemporary developments in legal education.

As a current student, there is no action required by you. The only changes affecting you are:

* some compulsory or quasi-compulsory units will have new titles;

* the teaching, assessment and content of all units is, as always, being rejuvenated; and

* The method used to calculate your eligibility for Honours will change if you course complete in 2016 or later (see below for more details).

The new Bachelor of Laws (Honours)

From 1 January 2015, all new students will enrol in the new Bachelor of Laws (Honours) instead of the existing Bachelor of Laws. They will be required to complete 17 core units (including all six of the ‘quasi compulsory’ units and a new statutory interpretation unit), and must include at least one commercial law unit and one research unit among their electives.

The new Bachelor of Laws (Honours) degree is a new type of qualification.

More details about the difference between these degrees.

What does this change mean for you?

• You will complete your course according to your current course map within the maximum course period given to you when you first enrolled. The new requirements only apply to students commencing in 2015 or later.
• Your course remains approved by the Council of Legal Education (Victoria) under the Admission Rules as meeting the academic requirements for admission to legal practice.
• You will notice some changes to unit codes and titles, e.g. Civil procedure will become Litigation and dispute resolution, to indicate a change of emphasis.
• You will continue to benefit from rejuvenated teaching, assessment and content as new units are introduced.
• You will continue to have a large number and range of law electives to choose from.

Honours course grade

You will continue to have the same opportunity to qualify for an honours course grade (HI, HIIA, HIIB or HIII) regardless of when you complete. Your honours course grade will be based on your average mark in your Monash law units as before. However, the method to calculate your honours course grades will change in 2016.

There will be no change if you complete your course by the end of semester 2, 2015. For students completing in 2016 or later, the only change will be in the method used to determine the value of the average mark required for each honours course grade. By linking the course grades to a percentile ranking, your achievement relative to your year cohort will be more transparent. The changes will affect students completing both the LLB and LLB (Hons) from 2016.

Information session

If you would like more information, please join us for an information session on:

• Tuesday 5 August at 1pm
• R4 Lecture Theatre, Building 8 (Rotunda), Clayton campus.

Or visit the Undergraduate law degree changes webpage

2. Replacement of Exam Viewing with Scanning of Exam Scripts for Undergraduate Students

The exam viewing process implemented in 2013 will be replaced with a new procedure from Semester 1 of 2014.

Students requesting a copy of their exam scripts will be required to complete an application form and email it to law-unitmaterial@monash.edu.  Your exam script will then be scanned and emailed to your student email address.

The application period opens on Monday 14 July, 2014 and closes Thursday 31 July, 2014. Please note that no late applications will be accepted.

.:End Student Gazette 14/7/14:.

1. Faculty Managed Internship Opportunity

Herzog Fox & Neeman, Israel

Applications are now open and close Friday 12 September, 2014

Minimum of 4 weeks from mid January to mid February

Further information including Application process & Eligibility details

Student Mobility Funding may be provided, please see eligibility criteria

Queries: cathy.meredith@monash.edu or 9905 3311

2. Internship Opportunity in Israel

There is an internship opportunity with Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME), Israel

Applications are now open and close Thursday 31 July, 2014.

Three month internship from November to February.  The start and end dates will be negotiated with FoEME

Further information including Application process & Eligibility details

Student Mobility Funding may be provided, please see the eligibility criteria

Queries: cathy.meredith@monash.edu or 9905 3311

1. VADR CPD Event – Gina Ralston: The Work of the DSCV in the Magistrate’s Court

You are cordially invited to a VADR CPD Event on Thursday, 24 July when Gina Ralston, Director of the Dispute Settlement Centre of Victoria will speak on The Work of the DSCV in the Magistrates’ Court. The DSC aims to prevent the escalation of low level community disputes with early intervention and prevention. Unfortunately many people seek direct assistance from the police and courts, as a quick fix to their dispute. The DSCV has been working closely with the Magistrate’s Court to divert defended civil matters (under $40,000) and appropriate Personal Safety Intervention Order matters to mediation. Gina will talk about the success and challenges of working with clients who want their day in court and the art of persuading them into mediation.

Date: Thursday 24 July, 2014
Time: 5.45 for a 6.15 pm start
Venue: Coopers Inn (2nd floor), cnr Exhibition and Little Lonsdale Streets
Cost: Free to current VADR members, $20 for non-members. Finger food is provided. Drinks are available at the bar.

If you’d like to attend, please email admin@vadr.asn.au or president@vadr.asn.au.

Please feel free to pass on details of the event to anyone you feel may be interested.

For further information please see the flyer

1. Brain Management

Protect your most important organ

Mindfulness is an attention training practice that has been shown to reduce stress, increase performance and improve wellbeing.

This program consists of three weekly sessions of 60 minutes each.

You will learn how to practice mindfulness and to apply it to:

• Reduce stress and anxiety
• Improve the performance of your brain
• Work with difficult thoughts and emotions
• Communicate more effectively

Brain Management provides the ideal opportunity to de-stress after exams, and get a clear mind before the start of semester 2.

The program offered in July at both Clayton and Caulfield.

To book: Please book via the booking system

For further information please see the flyer

2. Call for Volunteers – Courts User Satisfaction Survey

The Family Court and Federal Circuit Court are inviting law students at any year level to volunteer as interviewers in the Courts User Satisfaction Survey to be conducted in August 2014.

The closing date for registrations is Thursday 15 July.

For further information please see the flyer

3. Family Law Assistance Program Volunteering

The Family Law Assistance Program at Monash-Oakleigh Legal Service is now accepting applications from students to be on the waiting list.

Interested students should enquire and apply with the volunteer coordinator starting from Tuesday 1 July, 2014.

FLAP recruits volunteers several times a year, at no set times on a needs basis. Students will be contacted when opportunities arise and will remain on the waiting list until Tuesday 31 December, 2014.

Students will need to re-apply to be on the waiting list in 2015.

The volunteer coordinator can be contacted at mols-volunteer@monash.edu

4. S1 SETU Surveys: Prato Units

Please note that  for the UG and PG Prato Units in Teaching period T2-57 the  SETU survey opens on Tuesday 27 June and closes on Sunday 18 July.   We would really appreciate it if you could please complete a SETU survey for each Prato Unit in which you are enrolled as we do value your feedback about our Units and do use this feedback to help fine tune and improve our Prato Units.

5. Volunteering at Monash-Oakleigh Legal Service

Are you a first to third year Law student or JD student in your first six trimesters of your degree and looking for the opportunity to gain some invaluable practical legal experience?

Applications for the Wednesday Night Advice Only Session at Monash Oakleigh Legal Service will open 8am Monday 21 July, 2014 and close 5pm Monday 28 July, 2014. Please note that late applications will not be accepted.

You are applying to be part of the Wednesday night volunteer team, which provides advice to clients experiencing a wide range of legal problems.

Students are rostered to volunteer on Wednesday nights on a fortnightly basis from 6:00pm until approximately 8:30pm. Commencement date is in September 2014.

In each session you will:

• Interview clients along with another law student
• Develop practical legal skills as well as research skills
• Have the opportunity to learn and work under the supervision of qualified lawyers and barristers

For more information, please see the website

1.  New Academic Peer Tutorial Program

Expressions of Interest (EOIs) are being sought from suitably qualified, willing and able Monash Law students to become Academic Peer Tutors (APTs) to teach the following:

Contract A
Contract B
Criminal law and procedure A
Criminal law B
Torts A
Torts B
Property law A
Property law B
Administrative law
Constitutional law
Equity
Trusts
Civil Procedure
Evidence
Lawyers, ethics and society

Tutor requirements are:

• Minimum 60 WAM across the board
• Minimum 70 in the subject(s) you wish to tutor
• Completed subjects within past 2 years
• Minimum 48 credit points of study completed
• Available for 2 hours per week per subject
• Attend mandatory training

Students will be remunerated for their time.
Please submit your EOI with a CV to education@monashlss.com and a cover letter outlining what subjects you wish to tutor,  why you wish to be a Monash Law APT and what value you feel you can bring to a tutorial you run.

For further information please see the flyer

.:End Student Gazette 7/7/14:.