Year 11 Legal Studies

Supreme Court of Victoria Excursion

On Monday 13th November, the Year 11 Legal Studies class had the opportunity to visit the Supreme Court of Victoria. We were able to speak with Justice Michael Osborne who gave us insight on his pathway through the courts and becoming a judge, as well as general information of the divisions within the Victorian Supreme Court. He even spoke about his past experiences and interesting cases. One being a dispute between the well known make-up retailer, Mecca, and the American cosmetics brand Hourglass Cosmetics. Listening to His Honour talk about this case gave us a better understanding of the varied day to day disputes he presides over, and the different personalities he is able to meet and interact with through being a judge.

Throughout the day, our class was able to see three different courtrooms, and while they were all criminal court rooms within the Supreme Court, they were also fairly different to each other. It was incredible to have seen how the Victorian Courts have changed and developed over the years to adapt technology into the court system and even to further advocate for fairness, accessibility and equality for the community. 

Later in the day, we were able to sit in on a trial. This case regarded the re-trial of a man in which the jury of his original trial in 2022 could not come to a verdict of his guilt to his neighbour’s murder. 

Unfortunately, we were only able to sit in on the pre-trial of this case. However, we were able to see Her Honour, Justice Fox, discuss matters such as the witness list and jury proceedings with the prosecution and defence teams. This experience, while being a little bit dry, still provided great insight into court proceedings and the individual roles and responsibilities of each member in court. 

To conclude the day we took a look around the Supreme Court Law Library that contains beautiful architecture and seemingly endless shelves of law reports and informative legal books. Personally, I was astonished by the structure of the building itself, especially the dome ceiling with stained glass images of the Coat of Arms, as well as the display of portraits and artefacts. 

It was incredibly inspiring to be able to learn about and view the Supreme Court in action, and we are truly grateful to have been a part of this experience.

Kim Nguyen

Year 11