Events
1. 2014 Costello Lecture
“How does fairness fare?”
The role of an Ombudsman is to redress the imbalance of power between individual and state – a fundamentally unfair relationship. With jurisdiction over more than 1,000 public bodies, the Victorian Ombudsman Deborah Glass will reflect on fairness and the role of her office in ensuring it.
Speaker: Monash alumna, Ms Deborah Glass OBE (BA 1980, LLB 1982), The Victorian Ombudsman
Introduced by: Rev. Tim Costello AO (BJuris 1976, LLB 1978, Dip Ed 1979), CEO, World Vision Australia
Date: Tuesday 21 October, 2014
Time: 6pm – 7.15pm (followed by refreshments)
Venue: Monash University Law Chambers, 555 Lonsdale St, Melbourne
Cost: Free
RSVP: law-marketing@monash.edu or (03) 9905 2630
Further information available from the website.
2. Book Launch – “The Good Lawyer”
By Prof Adrian Evans
To be launched by Mr Michael McGarvie, Legal Services Commissioner and CEO, Legal Services Board Victoria.
“The Good Lawyer” explores the ethical and professional challenges that confront people who work in the law – or are considering it – and offers principled and pragmatic advice about how to overcome such challenges.
This book takes a holistic approach that begins with your innate humanity. It urges you to examine your motives for seeking a career in law, to foster a deep understanding of what it means to be ‘good’, and to draw on your virtue and judgement when difficult choices arise, rather than relying on compliance with rules or codes.
The Good Lawyer analyses four important areas of legal ethics – truth and deception, professional secrets, conflicts of interest, and professional competence – and explains the choices that are available when determining a course of moral action. It links theory to practice, and includes many examples, diagrams and source documents to illustrate ethical concepts, scenarios and decision making.
Date: Wednesday, 12 November 2014
Time: 5.30pm (for 6pm start) – 7pm
Venue: Monash University Law Chambers, 555 Lonsdale St Melbourne
RSVP: Wednesday,5 November to law-marketing@monash.edu or 03 9905 2630 (for catering purposes)
Further information available on the website
3. Book Launch – “Human Rights in closed environments”
By Bronwyn Naylor, Julie Debeljak & Anita Mackay
La Trobe and Monash University present the launch of Human Rights in Closed Environments edited by Bronwyn Naylor, Julie Debeljak and Anita Mackay and published by Federation Press.
Professor Gillian Triggs, President of the Australian Human Rights Commission will officially launch the book.
Human Rights in Closed Environments stems from an Australian Research Council Linkage grant examining the implementation of human rights in six specific Australian ‘closed environments’ – prisons; police cells; forensic psychiatric institutions; closed mental health units; closed disability units; and immigration detention centres.
The publication highlights rights concerns common across the different types of environments, such as the vulnerability of persons held in detention the tension between respect for rights and safety concerns, and securing a human rights culture in the context of significant power imbalances. It also draws comparisons between the same closed environments in different jurisdictions, examining the ‘value add’ of formal rights instruments.
Finally, it considers the role of external monitoring mechanisms (such as, Ombudsmen and Human Rights Commissions) in securing rights respecting environments, in the context of Australia signing, but not yet ratifying, the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT).
Date: Tuesday 25 November, 2014
Time: 5:30pm (for 6pm start)
Venue: La Trobe city campus, Floor 20, 360 Collins Street Melbourne
Cost: Free
RSVP: Tuesday 18 November, 2014, latrobe.edu.au/business/ human-rights-book
For further information please see the website
4. Public Lecture: “IP in Transition: desperately seeking the Big Picture”
Presented by Melbourne Law School in conjunction with the Institute of Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys of Australia
Date: Wednesday 12 November
Time: 6:15-7.45pm
Venue: Melbourne Law School, 185 Pelham Street, Carlton
For further information please see the flyer
5. VADR: Mental Health Complaints Commissioner
You are cordially invited to a VADR CPD event will take place on Tuesday 28 October, 2014when Lynne Coulson Barr, the new Mental Health Complaints Commissioner will speak on the topic “New approaches to resolving mental health services complaints.”
The need for an independent specialist mental health complaints body was identified from community consultations and feedback in the context of mental health legislative reforms consultations. The Mental Health Complaints Commissioner was established under the Mental Health Act 2014, and commenced operation on Tuesday 1 July, 2014. Lynne Coulson Barr is Victoria’s first Mental Health Complaints Commissioner and will provide an outline of the role of the office and approaches to resolution of complaints about mental health services.
Date: Tuesday 28 October
Time: 5.30pm for a 6pm start
Venue: 2014 Coopers Inn (2nd floor), corner of 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 would like to attend, please email admin@vadr.asn or president@vadr.asn.au.
Further details are provided in the flyer