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Issue 5
By Janelle Koh 1. What are three words that would sum up your experience at law school? Bewildering, Enlightening, and (sometimes) Frustrating. 2. Did you feel that there was a great anxiety back then amongst your peers (as there is now) to pad your CV with clerkships, volunteer positions and the like, in order to 'get a foot in the door' in a future career in the law? There has always been that pressure, even twenty years ago. But I didn't place too much importance on clerkships because I spent summers working at my dad's electrical appliance business, where I felt like I got a lot more exposure to the law. I had to read contracts for him, deal with local council issues, go to unfair dismissals at the Australian Industrial Relations Commission with him. I think what seemed to matter when it was time to get a job was real, practical experience in the law because I got interviews, and then a job with a small firm that appreciated I could 'hit the ground running'. I've never worked in a large firm, but that's not where my interest lies. Issue 5
Tricia Ong and Tilly Houghton The In-House Dream Counsel series is about our dreams and what they represent. In the midst of the stress and long hours of law school, we invite you to take a break, have a laugh and maybe even start reflecting on what your dreams tell you about yourself. If you’ve had a dream that you want deciphered, please send it to mlsdeminimis@gmail.com. Otherwise, you can just enjoy our dream machine’s strange dreams and Freud’s in-depth analysis of them. Issue 5
By Lachlan Macfarlane Have you noticed it? Pearls of sound ringing through the mezzanine and beyond. Colourful music illuminating the dour, grey décor. The Law School Piano has come. The piano is a simple, limited instrument, as encapsulated in the name. “Pianoforte” – loud and quiet – are its only variables. Its hammers can never be coaxed to strike at a different angle, or with a different movement, only ever at a different speed. When a key is pressed, its tone obediently sounds. The tone’s volume always fades at the same, measured rate. There is none of the rich timbral variety made possible by a mouthpiece, drum, or bow. Issue 5
By Timothy Sarder The lifeblood and composition of a student body is annually refreshed, with a new set of first-years replacing the final year students who’ve just left. By the end of a four-year cycle in the JD, we effectively have an entirely different set of people making up the cohort. Do the values and actions of the former students linger in that exchange of time? Yes, to an extent. Enough of a “handover” takes place that the impact made by prior years isn’t completely erased. This is formalised, institutionally, by student groups such as the LSS and LLSN that have constitutions, aims, and customs passed down. It also happens in informally, through discussions and friendships with students in earlier years, and learning about their experiences in the degree. And, to get a bit meta, it occurs through ‘constructive’ (yes, I read the comments section too) dialogue in formats like De Minimis. Issue 5
By DM Editorial Team As the law student weekly gossip rag, De Minimis prides itself on keeping its finger on the law school pulse. Having seen pretty much everything that MLS can hurl at you over the past two and a bit years, there is not much that happens at the law school that is surprising anymore. ...Or so we thought. Like many of you no doubt, De Minimis editors had a rude surprise upon arrival at MLS at the start of 2018 to find a very unfamiliar and unwelcome presence blocking the entrances to our beloved (?) law building. We strolled across Pelham Street, dangerously crossing the road in front of cars who haven’t realised that they are approaching a pedestrian crossing. Looking at the two illegally parked Ferraris on Leicester Street, we are constantly reminded of the promise of success this degree allegedly offers, while at the same time provided with a visual reminder of the amount of debt we’ve taken on. Issue 4 (Vol 13)
By Tyson Holloway-Clarke It is early in 2016. The grass was green and the representatives mean. We had a goal to get a national survey into sexual assault and harassment to be done right and taken seriously. For too long had these issues had been either swept under the rug, or belittled. It was time to move and move hard. Issue 4 (Vol 13)
By Michael Franz As summer finally stretches into autumn, and the gaiety and festivities of the year’s opening fade behind us, it is with a certain despondence that the more sensitive members of our degree find themselves facing down the solemn days of mid-semester. The annual LMR Carnival and Garden Party, much the talk of the social establishment of law school high society, now lie in our past, and although the opening rounds of the upcoming competitions season promise a spirited (if more academic than bacchanalian) resurgence of excitement, the looming storm clouds of mid-term assignments and revision nevertheless cast long shadows over our present mood. Attendance at our torts lecture on the Monday morning of our third week of studies was therefore understandably characterized more by an aura of obligation than excitement. Although much effort has been made to impress upon us the rising importance of tortious claims of negligence in recent legal history, tort law nevertheless remains a thoroughly boring topic, despite the avuncular mannerism of our beloved Associate Professor Vranken, leading a valiant though ultimately doomed rear-guard action against the encroaching forces of narcolepsy. It was then an unexpected occurrence for our gathering to discover several members of our cohort making an appearance in the hall outside of their appointed lecture schedule. Issue 4 (Vol 13)
By Anonymous Note: This article has been edited for incorrect factual assertions, and differs from our print edition This Thursday, the Graduate Student Association (GSA) proposes to reconstitute itself entirely. Last week, the President and Vice President promoted this change. The GSA Council proposes to replace its Constitution, arguing this is necessary to give the existing Council “more time” to campaign and “fight” the University, rather than dealing with administrative issues. Issue 4 (Vol 13)
By Janelle Koh The role of the criminal law is generally understood as synonymous with the role of the criminal justice system. The process of passing through the criminal justice system has been well documented in literature and popular culture, from the police, to sentencing, to prison, and then beyond (or back again, as the case may be). In a system characterised by actors and practices ‘on the ground’, people lose sight of the criminal law’s wider ideological role in society. Put simply, the objective of the criminal justice system is the attribution of criminal responsibility. Most of the time, the attribution of criminal responsibility involves an attribution of moral responsibility too. For example, murder is both criminal and wrong. But what happens when the concepts of moral and criminal responsibility do not align? What happens when criminal justice processes (choices to arrest, prosecute, sentence) are required to attend to injustice, yet a crime has not been committed? It is in this context that the social justice movement takes the reins, and occasionally drops them. This is particularly the case in the context of the Aziz Ansari incident. Vol 13 Issue 3
By Jackson Willows I’m a first-year JD student and I’m 24 years old. I haven’t done much difficult stuff in my life - I studied Arts in my Undergrad. Safe to say, the JD will be the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I’ve got a bad habit of not being able to finish things. Just a few examples: I studied to be a personal trainer in 2012. I didn’t even finish my gap year. I started in the new Politics, Philosophy and Economics degree at ANU, but the economics was too hard so I dropped out. I tried managing a café but the work was hard and the hours were long, so I went back to study. Finally, I transferred into Arts after three semesters off and managed to make it through to graduation last year. Add to those my attempt at the Hunt Bikes Snowy Mountains 1000 in 2016 and my thru-hike attempt of the Larapinta Trail last winter (both ended in injury) and you can see a trend. I’ve started many more things than I’ve finished. I’m hoping to change that. Vol 13 Issue 3
By Janelle Koh Guo Ding’s 2016 album, Silent Star Stone飛行器的執行週期 has drawn critical acclaim in the Mandopop markets, and received nominations across the board at the Golden Melody Awards this past year. That is an impressive reputation, especially for an album inspired by data recorders on aircrafts. Though at first glance it is unclear how a hunk of beeping metal could inspire, the notion of ‘black boxes’ is an intriguing one. What if we had these ‘black boxes’ in our journeys through life? When played back, would they tell our stories the way we would have wanted? Would a black box tell our stories at all? That is the premise upon which Silent Star Stone rests. Vol 13 Issue 3
By Georgia Daly and Jacob Rodrigo Over the past few months, the Graduate Student Association (GSA) has been working on a plan to improve our governance structure by rewriting our constitution. GSA is the peak representative body for more than 34,000 graduate students who study at the University of Melbourne, including Melbourne Law School students. GSA receives about 15% of the revenue from the University’s Student Services and Amenities Fee. We run campaigns, hosts events and offer training, and provide facilities in the 1888 Building for graduate students to use 24/7. We advocate for the rights of graduate students to the University and government. We sponsor graduate clubs, societies and endeavours—like this very newspaper. Vol 13 Issue 3
By Clare Van Balen If you asked most students who the LLSN represents, they’d say mature-aged students or parents. Parents are the most readily definable later student type, yet there is only a handful at MLS at any one time. (This is because the time-intensive course structurally excludes them - but I’ll get to that). Vol 13 Issue 3
By Adrienne Ringin I write this with one, nearly two Legal Ethics classes under my belt. Just being enrolled in such a class makes me an ethical philosopher by default, right? If this illustrious law school experience has taught me anything, it is that making spurious assumptions about my fellow students’ motivations is mandatory. If this is in a public forum - even better. With my accreditation laid bare, we shall proceed. Vol 13 Issue 2
By Tilly Houghton Each January 26, the Invasion Day rally gets bigger, the momentum visibly gaining, and people seem to be more aware of why (even if they like sitting in a paddle pool all day sinking tallies and punching darts*), the date could change. Even in the wake of knowing the extents and limitations of native title, I’m hopeful that we will eventually get to a treaty. That we will recognise the value of Indigenous ontologies in solving problems and that perhaps, maybe, they won’t be distorted by private enterprise too quickly. That the Commonwealth will make concerted efforts to work with leaders within communities and not against them in developing policy. The idea for this article started as a desire to analyse the characteristically cynical discomfort I have for the forms of virtue-signalling that consist of posting photos of the Invasion Day rally to social media. But without solidarity, we’re all fated to spend another few decades getting distracted by the divisiveness of the current political climate. Solidarity entails mutual responsibility and interdependency. That, to my mind, means knowing that there are rightfully many people who are angered at the current discourse on changing the date because it detracts from the glaring inadequacies of the present system. If the onus is placed on Indigenous people to discuss and challenge continued inequities, then that burden is placed on a statistically small number of people – some of whom may be tired of continuing the call for change alone. Vol 13 Issue 2
By Tyson Holloway-Clarke I landed in Australia at 9:30am on the 26th of January this year with a broken phone, a few hours of sleep and a long, hot day ahead of me. I had heard somewhere that the best response to jet lag is getting outside, getting sun, and getting active. So in typical masochistic fashion, I dedicated myself to rallying in the city. I got the Star Bus into University, not home in Fitzroy. I went to my second home, Murrup Barak, where I knew I could shower, brush my teeth, grab some food, leave my stuff safely, and head into the city. I wore my flag shirt, a pair of shorts my mum had gotten me for Christmas, and a pair of steel capped, water tight, all-terrain hiking boots. As much as I knew this rally was organised on the principles of nonviolence, I had the uncomfortable feeling that it would be my luck to be caught in the middle of something. Strapped with my backpack, I made my way south. Vol 13 Issue 2
By Brigette Mercaldi With only one week of semester under your belt, you probably haven’t been thinking about taking a break just yet…but fear not! When that burning need to take a break from study does arise, I’ve got a few suggestions to inspire you to get moving and have a good time. Vol 13 Issue 2
By Ian Khor There’s an F word that’s shunned in the law school and it’s definitely not f***. Try telling someone you failed in law school, and observe one of two situations that could play out. They are either genuinely surprised and supportive as you try to get back on your feet; or they mumble their grievances but, deep down inside, they are probably happy it was not them that got inflicted with the sordid ‘N’ grade on their statement of results. |
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