OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE STUDENTS OF MELBOURNE LAW SCHOOL

DE MINIMIS
MONDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2012 Established 1948; Revived 2012 VOLUME 2, ISSUE 12

MLS Nyadol Nyuon Honoured Among Top 100 African Australians

JD student Nyadol Nyuon, Class of 2013, not only attends Australias premier law school, but following an awards ceremony in August 2012, is now recognised among the nations top 100 most influential African Australians. The awards ceremony, hosted by Celebration of African Australians on 25 August 2012, honoured Nyadol for her work to increase awareness of issues affecting the lives of African Australian youth. Nyadol resettled from Kenya, where she lived in a refugee camp near the border of her homeland in South Sudan, to Australia in 1995. Here, in Australia, Nyadol has engaged media and academia on behalf of Sudanese Australians, in particular on issues affecting the communitys access to education, healthcare and womens rights. Nyadol began studying law in 2011 and has enjoyed learning and growing, both academically and personally throughout my time at the law school, she said. Despite the strenuous law school schedule, Nyadol said the decision to study law was one of my best decisions in life [that] required me to apply myself as never before. Understanding the law and its interaction with the African-Australian community is of vital importance to Nyadol. I think the law is being asked more and more to consider different voices and experiences, or to respond to different forms of social organisation as communities bring with them a different set of beliefs and ways of life. Whatever we think about the position the law should adopt in response, these are important questions that need further consideration, she continued. To that end, she has maintained involvement in the community, working with the African Think Tank and Africa Media Australia.

For Nyadol, working with the African community is more than contributing. It is a bit like a necessity, she said.

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My involvement in advocacy, on boards or with personal initiatives, like bringing young Sudanese girls to see the law school, are ways of creating path ways, Nyadol said. Nyadol also participated in a MLS panel discussion, Conflicts in Sudan: Historical, Legal and Personal Perspectives on 23 August 2012, alongside University of Melbourne faculty members Dr David Mickler, from the School of Social and Political Sciences, and Dr Kevin Heller, from MLS. The discussion covered a range of topics affecting Sudan today. Dr Mickler gave an historical overview of modern Sudan and issues affecting the region since South Sudan became independent on 1 January 2012. Dr Heller examined the legal challenges facing international criminal justice and the recent, and in some cases ongoing, conflicts in Darfur. Providing a unique perspective on South Sudan postindependence, Nyadol spoke at length about the challenges facing the young country. She pointed to governance issues, in particular the South Sudanese conception of private ownership of land. These are issues South Sudan is facing for the first time, Nyadol said. Historically, no one privately owned land, it was the communitys. Nyadol also addressed issues affecting the Sudanese diaspora to which she and her family belong, a migration of thousands of Sudanese to refugee camps around eastern Africa and to Western countries like Australia and the United States. Dean R. P. Edwards

THIS WEEK IN LEGAL HISTORY

October 23, 2007 France Introduces DNA Testing of Immigrants On October 23, 2007, the French Parliament passed legislation allowing newly arrived immigrants to undergo voluntary DNA testing in order to establish family ties with French relatives, in the hopes of boosting their application for residency. Genetic information would be tested against an applicants maternal line, so as to avoid potential controversies over paternity testing. While the requirement had been introduced in the original Bill as compulsory, the final version of the legislation provided that the tests were optional and state-sponsored. This would accompany the already-existing requirements of language and culture tests to show that applicants understood French values. The law proved to be highly controversial. Supporters claimed that this would streamline and speed up the process for genuine applicants wishing to be reunited with relatives living in France, but opponents argued that genetics should not be a factor to be considered when considering eligibility for residency or citizenship. The law also drew heavy criticism from the international civil rights groups, which branded the law as being tantamount to genetic discrimination by institutionalising xenophobia. Despite his hardline stance on immigration and his governments strict platform with regards to immigration restriction, President Nicholas Sarkozy suspended the operation of the provision in 2009, after increasingly vocal criticisms from the European Court of Human Rights and the general international community. Annie Zheng

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The Policing of Occupy Melbourne

Occupy Melbourne was a significant protest event in 2011 in which the City Square of Melbourne was continuously occupied by demonstrators calling for political accountability, transparency and greater economic equality. The violent nature of the eviction of the protest from City Square on October 21, 2011 caused much concern amongst the protestors, their supporters and other commentators. The Occupy Melbourne Legal Support Team which consists of a number of students and staff from the University of Melbourne Law School and has been formed to affirm the importance of protest, to document the experiences of protestors, and to investigate claims of illegitimate policing at Occupy Melbourne. Around the one-year anniversary of the eviction from City Square by the Victoria Police, the Occupy Melbourne Legal Support Team is releasing their report Occupy Policing, documenting the experiences of Occupiers at the eviction, and questioning the legality of Victoria Polices actions. The report documents the experiences of protesters who were forced to move on and their interactions with

Victorian Police, highlight the transition from peaceful protest to a site of conflict with many protesters reported being fearful. The Occupy Melbourne eviction may have been one of the most photographically documented protests in recent history. There have been numerous claims of police violence, and criticism of the polices handling of the eviction. Despite this, there has been no formal inquiry into the policing of Occupy Melbourne. The report renews demands for an independent inquiry into Victoria Polices actions. David Adam But of all those things, the lamest thing I have ever done is write this column for 24 consecutive weeks. Dont get me wrong; Ive loved doing it, but thats exactly what makes it lame. Ive spent 2 hours of every week writing utter rubbish for the benefit (?) of fellow law students. With this60 hours of my time, I couldve invested as much time reading as faculty says Im supposed to; or multiplied by 12 the amount of time Ive actually invested. Have I gained anything of value from this process? Any mental health benefits Ive enjoyed from venting, Ive lost in stressing over deadlines. Any writing skills arent transferable because parodying law school subject-matter is quite possibly the most alienating of art forms (except perhaps Leunigs line of sketches the ones not even I understand, by Leunig?).

LIS FOR...
L is for
What is the lamest thing youve ever done? Once I threw a birthday party that involved brainbased challenges I was 19. Once I played the part of Scholar No. 2 in a school production of Dr. Faustus. I didnt have to act. Once, in primary school, I cried when an Asian kid beat me at four square (it wasnt that he was Asian, I was just sad Id lost). Once I memorised all the lyrics to Madonnas Like a Virgin. I still remember every word. Once I bought a Guy Sebastian CD.

Between writing this issue and it going to print Ive Okay so that last one is not true; not even I would do made up some emails people have sent me saying I have that. And to anyone who calls me on my love for the new made a difference (its really easy to set up dummy email single Battlescars, to you I say:itsLups song, its on his addresses; its also where I send all my Peter Alexander album, thats the one I paid for. I have personally struggled spam WHO NEEDS NEW PYJAMAS 6 TIMES A with the fact that Guy Sebastian features on a song I really YEAR?!). They allege that I have achieved things, like invented the word disagressaverge and changed the way enjoy; you might say, Im at war with love. students think about elevator protocol and their weird But of all those things, the lamest thing I have ever attachment to the level 3 study area. They impassionedly De Minimis done is write this column for 24 consecutive weeks. Dont argue that Ive reframed the post-results discourse and

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attachment to the level 3 study area. They impassionedly argue that Ive reframed the post-results discourse and brought law students closer together through drinks invitations to Cookie. They also said I was pretty and funny and better than Asians at four square. Did I mention I dreamt these emails up? So, here endeth the column. While Ive enjoyed the whole process, so much it makes me lame; all lame things must come to an end. Alas, there is one hope at having achieved something this year; a legacy. If youre reading this, and youve made it to the last line of this article, I can only assume you have some interest in De Minimis. I put it to you, you personally, yes you, that I will feel a sense of achievement if something like L is for gets up in next years issue of De Minimis. If youre interested, or if you know anyone who is, please shoot me an email at cwh@student.unimelb.edu.au (unless youre Peter Alexander; if so, f*** off). Charles Hopkins is being deadly serious. Email if youd like to write.

QUIZ
1. From which film does the following line come from? - The key to faking out the parents is the clammy hands: Its a good non-specific symptom; Im a big believer in it. 2. Mars is named after the Roman God of what? Bonus point: why? 3. The Space Race was an informal competition between which countries to, amongst other things, first land a man on the moon? 4. In Australia, are more people injured in road accidents or at work (annually)? 5. What is Otto von Bismark famous for doing? 6. What does the acronym LGBT stand for (with regards to gender)? 7. What should c(o)eliacs avoid eating? 8. Approximately how many species of Fungi are there A: 150,000, B: 1,500,000, or C: 15,000,000? 9. What is J.K. Rowlings new (2012) novel called? 10. Which American architect and landscape architect designed the city of Canberra? (Hint: the lake there is named after him) Answers Page 4

Interview with Julian Chant

Fresh from coming first in Oxford University Presss Connecting with Law Short Film Competition in September, second-year JD Julian Chant went on this month to scoop first prize in the Melbourne Law School Freehills Witness Examination Competition. But thats just this spring. In addition to the film and Witness Exam prizes, Jules won the 2011 Victoria University Michael Kirby Contract Law Moot Competition, was runner-up of the 2011 Melbourne Law School International Humanitarian Law Moot Competition and participated in other inter-university competitions in 2012 including the Castan Centre Human Rights Moot Competition and the ALSA Red Cross International Humanitarian Law Moot Competition. He is also an MJIL General Member andis known to many in first year as afacilitated study group tutor. In addition, he has volunteered at the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre and at the Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience. He also did an Aurora Native Title Internship in Darwin earlier this year after being awarded an Ian Malkin Internship Scholarship. What is it like to stand up in court and try to persuade a judge? At first, terrifying. All I can think of in the weeks and days before a moot final is what it will feel like to have a brain freeze at the most crucial and embarrassing moment. The only cure Ive found to date is preparation once I get my head around the facts, the law, the arguments and the strategy, a lot of the nerves settle. This is one of the biggest advantages of competing in a team; you have someone to bounce ideas off and add a new perspective to the problem. By the time the moot starts and I open my mouth for the first time, the adrenaline kicks in and the remaining butterflies calm down, at least to the point where I can form sentences and follow the bullet points in front of me. It also helps that so far the judges have been really friendly and helpful throughout the moots, keen to share the tricks of their trade. What is the appeal of oral advocacy?

I was drawn to law because I like the challenge of formulating a logical and persuasive argument, articulating that argument, and being tested on its merits. Writing a Jules made time to share the secrets of his success concise submission or a pithy essay can be really satisfying, with De Minimis, focusing on his most recent coup. but there is something unique about trying to swing someones opinion around to your point of view. Public continued Page 4 De Minimis

Monday,October 22, 2012

Interview with Julian Chant continued from Page 3.

[VOLUME 2, ISSUE 12]

student speaking competitions are also one of the few chances a law student gets to apply the legal knowledge they spend hours accumulating, acting like a lawyer before they actually become one. Why is Witness Exam your favourite comp at MLS? In a word, the unpredictability. You prepare a lot less for Witness than for mooting, partly because there is not much of a legal dispute, and partly because you can never fully predict what the witness for the opposing side will testify. For me crossexamination has been one of the hardest yet most satisfying skills to practice at law school. When it goes wrong, you feel like a rabbit caught in the headlights. A hostile witness can cause all sorts of problems and leave you wondering where it all went wrong. When its right, you feel like youve mastered an ancient craft and can shape any kind of favourable testimony. Bronwen Ewens

SUDOKU!

ASK AGONY AUNT

Dear Agony Aunts I live in a share house with six other people, and so I do the majority of my study in the library computer labs. This is usually fine, but over the last few weeks, with the increase of students has come the increase of people chatting with their friends loudly, talking on their phones, bleeding house music out of their iPods and eating inappropriately crunchy foods. I dont want to be uptight and tell people off, but I cant concentrate and Im really struggling to study anywhere! What should I do? Easily Distracted Dear Easily Distracted Every person who has ever tried to study in a silently labelled environment understands your silent rage. Sadly, the crunch of noisy food may be something you have to live with, just as I have had to learn to rise above my anger towards one-finger typers and their aural onslaught on the keys, its just a letter, not a declaration of war! Pet peeves aside, I would say youve really got three options in this predicament: 1) Study somewhere else. This will of course irritate you further, as you shouldnt have to move for inconsiderate noise slobs. I would suggest a study room of your own? Channel your inner Virginia Woolf. Ensure you dont channel the nose. 2) Build yourself up to tell them off. Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee, I say*. Maybe read some Paul Keating speeches, or The Onion to buff up your sass muscles. Be prepared for some increased anxiety on your part if you take this option, and the knowledge that they might just ignore you. 3) Bring your own iPod to drown out the sounds. Bring your own iPod to drown out the sounds. Obviously youd need to pick study appropriate music. You could follow the studies and increase your brain function with some Mozart, but I would tend towards something that will actually improve the studying experience for you. Agony Aunt goes for Kanye, but not everyone can be a motherf***ing monster when they study. Whichever you choose, I would supplement it with the Chilled Tuesday Yoga sessions, and make it through the exam period unscathed. Sincerely Aunt Myrtle

De Minimis 2012
Editor
Emma Shortt

Online Manager
Chris Forder

Layout Editors
Tessa Sidnam and Andrew Michaelson

Staff Writers
Nick Baum, Dean R. P. Edwards, Bronwen Ewens, Emma Henderson, Charles Hopkins, Haram Kwon, Claire Marshall, Anna Nodrum, Doug Porteous, Samantha Sventina, Jess Sykes, Christine Todd and Annie Zheng Good luck with exams and see you in 2013!

QUIZ ANSWERS. 1. Ferris Buellers Day Off 2. Mars was the God of War, chosen because of the planets red appearance 3. The United States of America and the Soviet Union (USSR) 4. At work 5. Unifying German states into a German Empire 6. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender 7. Wheat products 8. B: 1,500,000 9. The Casual Vacancy 10. Walter Burley Griffin.

De Minimis