Law Talks Excursion

On Tuesday 14th May our Year 12 Legal Studies class attended a law week excursion in order to give what we have been studying real life context and see how it applies to a variety of careers. The day started at the Leo Cussen Centre for Law with a very engaging presentation from former Attorney General, Rob Hulls. He discussed his experiences as a legal aid lawyer and explained a few of the many injustices he witnessed throughout his career. The Legal Studies course has focused on several ways in which the Victorian Justice System can continue to improve, especially in regard to increasing its accessibility for members of the community who are at a disadvantage. Having Mr Hulls explain how his passion for providing equality in the legal system developed we were able to gain insight as to how these issues are affecting people in real life. We also had the chance to hear from the president of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT), Michelle Quigley, about her role in providing Victorians with a low cost civil dispute resolution method as an alternative to going to court.

Later in the year, we will we focus more on the function of law making so as an introduction to why this is such a vital part of the justice system, Nick Gadd spoke on behalf on The Victorian Law Reform Commission (VLRC). The main focus of his presentation was to inform us about how critical it is to keep laws relevant and adapt them to social change. An example he gave of something that the VLRC is currently working on is inquiring about the role of victims of crime in the criminal trial process.

To get a sense of what is like inside a courtroom, we headed to the County Court. There, former County Court judge, Jane Patrick, described some of the tough cases she was involved in. She also mentioned her role in law making including, through the interpretation of statutes. To conclude our visit at the court we were part of a mock jury selection process where we experienced a role-play of how jurors are chosen. Part of our curriculum is to assess how the formalities of the processes and procedures of pursuing a case (and in particular when initiating a civil claim) can deter individuals from exercising their rights. Although it was not real, this glimpse into how formal court processes can be definitely gave me a much better understanding of what people initiating claims, victims and witnesses may go through and how they feel.

Overall, it was a very beneficial experience giving us an opportunity to understand how what we learn in class applies to real life.

Morgan Leeb

Year 12