OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE STUDENTS OF MELBOURNE LAW SCHOOL

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MONDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2012 Established 1948; Revived 2012 VOLUME 2, ISSUE 10

Student Societies Elect New Leadership

Patrick Easton (2nd Year) was announced as President of the Law Students' Society at the LSS Annual General Meeting on 11 September 2012, following an election held the preceding week. This initiated a month-long leadership transition period in the major student organisations, with Timothy Hamilton (2nd Year) elected President of the Global Law Students' Association, and the Later Law Students' Network also forming a new committee. The Melbourne Law School's two major student-run academic journals, the Melbourne University Law Review and the Melbourne Journal of International Law, have also elected new leaders for 2013. Cindy Bors, Sasha Ponniah and Thomas Wood (all 2nd Year) were elected Editors of MULR on 3 October 2012, and Chelsea Driessen, Timothy Gorton and Candice Parr (all 2nd Year) were elected Editors of MJIL on 15 August 2012. The LSS election saw a 20% increase in voter turnout, and a large rise in the second year turnout in particular, despite a number of major directorships being elected uncontested. "The new Committee members have shown plenty of energy and willingness to get stuck in," said Easton after the first meeting held last Tuesday. "I'd like the LSS to play a driving role in building a closer community and developing a sense of collegiality within the MLS," he said, noting that the LSS was still transitioning from the LLB to the JD model. On the LSS the retention rate from the previous years committee was 14, up from 9, and a smaller number of firstyears were elected, including none in the leadership team comprising Vice-Presidents Lewis Cohen and Natalie Tavassoli, Treasurer Felicity Baldwin and Secretary JK Muckersie(all 2nd Year). Interestingly, the 2013 LSS committee comprises 15 men and 11 women, an improved ratio from 2012, but down on the historic high of 2001. Gender has been an issue in Law Students' Society leadership since its inception. The LSS first decided to admit women to the committee in 1913by a 1 vote margin, 16 years after women were first admitted to the law school, 10 years after their admission to practice and 5 years after being given right to vote in Victoria. The new GLSA committee, announced on 3 October 2012, was elected by secret ballot amongst the existing committee, after a process described by outgoing President Sahil Sondhi (2nd Year) as rigorous. The incoming committee has 4 returning members from 2012, and an influx
Figure 1: The gender ratio of elected LSS committees since 2000. Data for 2000, 2002 and 2003 is missing or incomplete.

of 8 first-year JD students. "I'm looking forward to continuing the good work of this year's committee and z further establishing the GLSA's identity and role at the law school," said Hamilton on Friday. "There was a high number and a high standard of applications [for committee] this year. The new members are a particularly talented group with a range of diverse interests, experiences and motivations for involvement with the GLSA." Joining him in the new executive are Vice-Presidents Alicia Taylor (2nd Year) and Mark Tyndall (1st Year), Executive Director Monique MacRitchie (1st Year), and Treasurer Harith Nordin (2nd Year).

Continued page 2.

ASK AGONY AUNT

Dear Agony Aunts, I try to eat well and be healthy by bringing my lunches to school, but the suddenly there seem to be vending machines EVERYWHERE, including Red Bull, and Im struggling to resist the temptation to have that late afternoon sugar boost. How can I stop? Sugar-addict Dear Sugar-addict, Its that time of the year when people are starting to spend more and more time in the law school, as they realise that exams are rather disturbingly close. This does mean that the vending machines that the law school has unfortunately allowed to breed prolifically during the mid semester break become ever more appealing. You should remember that sugary drinks dont actually help with your concentration after that initial boost, as the inevitable crash will leave you feeling even more tired than you were to start with. Keep a plentiful supply of snacks such as fruit in your locker - the Vic Market is really not that far away, and a brisk walk will probably help with energy levels too! If more drastic action is required, leave your cash at home. Auntie Ethel

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[VOLUME 2, ISSUE 10]

Student Societies Elect New Leadership continued from page 1

The Later Law Students Network, was re-launched this year by Eamonn Kelly and Natalie Burgess (both 3rd Year), to provide students who have been away from study for at least a few years the opportunity to meet people in a similar position. The LLSN has recently endorsed a committee of Bronwen Ewens (2nd Year), Neil Curry, Thea Gibson, Monique MacRitchie, Kristen Sisko, Kirsti Halcomb and Yaokang Huang (all 1st Year) to lead the LLSN forward in 2013. "The LLSN was established to play an important gap-filling role by providing support and encouragement to students facing external challenges while completing their JD," said Ewens, encouraging interested students to join the networks Facebook group. MULR's Annual General Meeting endorsed the team of Bors, Ponniah and Wood, running unopposed, last week, with the existing editorial team of Thomas Bland, Natalie Burgess and Chris Loo (all 3rd Year) issuing a statement saying they wished them well. "We are honoured to be elected Editors for 2013 and we look forward to maintaining the Review's tradition of excellence, said Wood on Saturday, speaking on behalf of the new editors. The prestigious student publication was first published in its modern guise in 1957 and its most recent issue,

Volume 36(1), on 30 August 2012. MULR is also responsible for revising and publishing the Australian Guide to Legal Citation, although the new editors have no plans to release a new version, given AGLC3 was only published in 2010. The MJIL editors were also elected by the membership of the Journal. "The election was the most friendly, collegiate one I have ever been involved in," said Driessen, while JointEditor for 2013, Parr, outlined their intention to continue to advance MJIL's reputation as a leading scholarly journal in the field of international law. "[The Journal] is not ours, after all; we're just lucky enough to be part of it," she said. Eamonn Kelly (3rd Year), speaking on behalf of the outgoing editors, noted that this is the first all-JD trio of MJIL Editors, a milestone that MULR also crossed this year. "Thanks to several years of advance planning, the transition from LLB-staffing to JD-staffing continues to be a smooth affair at both MJIL and MULR," he said. Nominations for positions on the Melbourne Chinese Law Society, headed in 2012 by Charles Hopkins and Christian Camilleri (both 2nd Year) closed on Friday. The Annual General Meeting is scheduled for Monday evening. Nicholas Baum Im fired up because pursuing anon-clerkship pathway is painted as lowering the bar.

LIS FOR...
Lowering the bar

This week Im legitimately fired up; if you were to chart the amount of fired-up-ness Ive felt when writing these last 19 articles, most would sit between 1 and 5 out of 10. This is at 9. The only thing that sits at 10 out of 10 is when I order a take-away coffee and they write my name as Giles. Does Charles really sound like that? Do I look like a balding middle-aged butler who lives in Manhattan with a comically misshapen rich family and their middle-class Jewish nanny? Oh wait, that was Niles (sorry, all these names sound alike). The topic for this week is- no wait Im going to build the suspense a bit more by telling you how fired up I am: Im more fired up than Alan Jones gets when people record offensive stuff he says at events designed for wankers. Im more fired up than the MLC community get when they find out the principal has been stealing their money (or were they in support of her doing that? I forget). And Im more fired up than the kiln that melts down the rubber and plastic thats surgically implanted into BrynneEdelstens body and pets (yep, its the one kiln, she doesnt discriminate between special implant ingredients; she told me).

For non-second years/second years that are inferior and ignorant, tomorrow is offers day. Tomorrow is the day that many JDs will feel shit about themselves; Im talking punnets of Sara Lee ultra choc, in bed, watching Suits, ruing the life that couldve been lived, while steam-rolling boxes of Kleenex because of tears or blocked noses (what did you think I was going to say? Thats disgusting, shame on you). But why? Where does the widely held view, that clerkships are the number one and everything else the number twos, come from? I think there are three culprits. One: students. This is not me doing my typical thing of ranting about the sicko law students who read judgments for leisure and watch corporate law firm porn (if its not a thing, I shotgun the idea). I actually attribute the perception to the self-disparaging students who havent yet decided what theyll do, apply for clerkships just cos, and then make negative remarks about their self-perceived failure. Knowing you dont want to do corporate law manifests in thinking you should want to, and feeling bad about it and stuff. Two: faculty. Last year, the law school came under attack when they plastered the slogan Didnt get a clerkship? Book an appointment on the LCDs read: Continued page 3

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L is for Lowering the bar continued from page 2.

[VOLUME 2, ISSUE 10]

Three: the boats. We really need to stop those things.

Didnt get a clerkship? Book an appointment and well help tie the noose. This year theyve tried more tact. Theres a special seminar that comes before clerkships, and theyve couched the brief, with lots of caveats, and exclamation marks!! Because apparently if you address 23 year-olds like theyre in primary school everything will seem peachy!! The reality is that it takes more than a slight tweak in discourse to properly re-shape an entrenched view in a place like law school. A meaningful way to address the disillusionment half the cohort feels, would be to tackle the issue in first year; even placing the alternate pathways type seminars near offers day (even using words like alternate) only exacerbate the extent to which corporate law is framed as the path, and the rest as the rest.

In all seriousness (I think that was the first time Ive ever used that phrase in this column), I think the support staff do a great job at the law school; this is in no way an indictment on effort or intention. The point I hope to make, is that theres still an under appreciation (on both the students and facultys behalf) of the depth of the culture, and the number of people who feel dejected by it. Charles Hopkins successfully pitched a show to Channel 9 about a TV network that goes broke, but production is currently halted due to creative difficulties.

The Oxford British Civil Law Experience

I was sitting at a desk in the 19th century examination schools in Oxford in the middle of an English summer. I was dressed in black tie with a gown. A mortar board lay at my feet and a carnation in my lapel white for my first exam, red for my last, pink in the middle. There was nothing in front of me but a page of questions, a blank book to write in and my pen. The whole of my BCL rode on the next three hours of my life. The BCL is Oxford Universitys taught postgraduate degree. It is the equivalent of a Masters of law anywhere else. BCL stands for the Bachelor of Civil Law (to distinguish it from canon law which mattered in 1535 when it was created) and Oxford considers it to be the most academically demanding law degree in the world. Its been 2 months since I sat those exams and Im delighted to say that I survived them and now have a BCL. The Oxford BCL experience is unique for a number of reasons. First you are in Oxford where colleges are from the 13th century, libraries from the 17th century and where every tourist known to mankind will walk in front of you. The BCL itself brings together around 90 students from all common law jurisdictions (the Civil Law students take the sister course, the MJur). They are incredible people. In one class we discussed the place of human rights in society among a group of 15 representing 11 countries. In my year the Indian contingent were the largest (followed by the Australians). A few of those Indian students came from a law school where they had been one of 80 students chosen from 16,500 applicants. Then there are the people you learn from. The BCL is the only postgraduate course at Oxford taught by tutorials as well as seminars. My Conflicts of Law tutorials with Adrian Briggs were on Tuesdaysat 8.30am. Five of us trooped up the 15th century staircase in the dark depths of winter to try to answer problem questions set by one of the foremost minds in private international law. The answer might be found in any one of the 40 or so cases set that week. Professor Briggs would call on us at random and would expect us to answer without notes. I will remember those hours for the rest of my life and that was only one of my four subjects.

I spent my nine months on the BCL course working harder than I knew was possible, under extreme deadlines to deliver material to some of the most extraordinary legal minds of our time. There were also evenings spent coming out of the snow into tiny pubs with log fires burning and a pint of draught Hook Norton beer or a glass of English sparkling wine (really good if you get the chance to try some). There were mornings when I joined every other Australian in Oxford in the queue for a coffee at The Missing Bean on the way to one of the libraries. There were Middle Common Room (graduate) banquets at my college, Pembroke, and impromptu dinners with the women I shared a staircase with. There was the beauty of seeing the river covered with mist in autumn or the excitement of watching a friend and her College eightpull ahead in a boat race. Most of all there is the privilege of knowing that this extraordinary experience and that beautiful place will always, in a small way, belong to me. Emma Poole

Phase 3 of the marketing plan.

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Monday, October 8, 2012

[VOLUME 2, ISSUE 10]

THIS WEEK IN LEGAL HISTORY

October 10, 1973 US Vice-President Charged with Tax Evasion On 10 October 1973, the 39th Vice President of the United States, Spiro Theodore Agnew, was formally charged with extortion, tax fraud, bribery and conspiracy during his term in office serving under President Richard Nixon. The US Attorneys office discovered that Agnew failed to report more than $29,500 of income received in 1967, during which time he was serving as Governor of Maryland. In addition, he was accused of accepting more than $100,000 in bribes during his tenure as Governor. Agnew pleaded no contest, entering a plea bargain which required him to resign from the office of the Vice President. Agnew was also fined $10,000 and put on 3 years probation, and subsequently disbarred from practicing law (Agnew passed the bar in 1949) for morally obtuse conduct. His resignation came at a time when rumours surrounding Watergate were beginning to surface. Agnew would later reveal in a memoir that he believed the charges were brought against him by Nixon in an attempt to divert attention away from the Watergate scandal.
1.

SUDOKU

QUIZ
According to the Gospel of Matthew, which infamous massacre did Herod the Great (King of Iudea) order? Who won the 2011 and 2012 Norm Smith Medals (AFL)? What are the five pillars of Islam? In which war did the Rats of Tobruk hold the Libyan port in the Seige of Tobruk? The Philies are a Major League Baseball team based in which US city? How tall is the worlds tallest living man? A) 241cm B) 246cm C) 251cm bonus point for his nationality. The 1999 American film Cruel Intentions is based on which French novel published in 1782? Which profession takes the Hippocratic oath? How far can the average lead pencil draw in one continuous line?

Following his resignation, President Nixon appointed Gerald R Ford to replace Agnew in the office of the Vice President. The appointment marked the first use of the 25th Amendment to the US Constitution, which establishes procedures for filling a vacancy in the office of the Vice President. In an ironic twist of fate, Ford would go on to become the next President of the United States upon Nixons resignation in 1974, following revelations of the latters involvement in the Watergate scandal. To date, Ford has been the first and only person to have served as both US President and Vice-President without having been formally elected to either position. Had Agnew avoided the charges, he would probably have become the next President of the United States his polling with Republic voters far surpassed that of the thenGovernor Ronald Reagan, who subsequently went on to defeat incumbent President Ford in 1976. Annie Zheng

2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

10. Who played the protagonist in classic films including The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur (for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor) and El Cid?

QUIZ ANSWERS. 1. The Massacre of the Innocents all young male children in Bethlehem, in an attempt to kill the infant Jesus 2. Ryan OKeefe & Jimmy Bartel 3. The shahada (Islamic creed belief in the oneness of God; daily prayers (salat); fasting during Ramadan (sawm); almsgiving (zakat); the pilgrimage to Mecca ( hajj) at least once in a lifetime 4. World War II 5. Philadelphia 6. C 251cm, he is Turkish 7. Les Liaisons Dangereuses 8. Physicians/Doctors 9. 55 kms/34 miles 10. Charlton Heston

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