Haram Kwon
Volume 4, Issue 3, (Originally Published on Monday 12th August 2013)

CTLS, or the Center* for Transnational Legal Studies, is a collaborative effort by a number of law schools from around the globe, coordinated by Georgetown University Law Centre and located in London.*
 
Or, as I like to think of it, as close to a commune of law schools as it is possible to get.
 
CTLS is different from your traditional exchange, as each semester students and faculty come from member universities, and the majority are there for only one semester.
 
If I’m being completely honest, I had no intentions of going to CTLS. The plan was always to go on exchange to Amsterdam.
 
But somehow, when I was speaking to the Study Abroad and Exchange Advisor** I was sold into going to London instead.
 
And I’m glad that I did... despite the lack of sunlight, a snowstorm in April, and the elusive (but existent) good coffee.
 
It was a unique experience being surrounded by students who were all in ‘exchange mode’, and having so many diverse points of view in classes.
 
After the semester finished, I asked an MLS student and the MLS faculty representative to share some thoughts about their experiences at CTLS.
 
*not typo
 
**Matt Healey, possibly the most prompt responder of emails in the entire student centre
 
Talking with Nina
 
Nina Janic is one of the three students from MLS who, along with this author and Harith Nordin, participated in the CTLS program in the January 2013 semester.
 
DM: What made you decide to go to CTLS?
 
NJ: I had been on exchange in undergrad, so I had an idea of how great [it is] studying overseas, the people you meet, travel, etc. And after almost five years straight of uni I was ready to get away again.
 
I had heard great things about CTLS from students who had done it, and thought it would be a new exchange experience.
 
Also, I really love London and there wasn’t that much choice for JD exchange. CTLS was by far the best option, especially as international law has an increasing bearing on all aspects of law.
 
How did CTLS compare to your expectations prior to arrival?
 
CTLS has surpassed my expectations. The students and teachers have been incredible. While some classes are not my favourite, as a whole the program offers you a lot. For example, guest lectures, the business breakfast, Lord Millet, etc.
 
Would you recommend CTLS to others?
 
Definitely recommend it, especially as a way of expanding your learning options, and to see if you’re interested in international law.
 
What have you gained from participating in CTLS?
 
A new understanding of international law, and a bunch of new friends and experiences.
 
Any advice for people about the application process or living in London?
 
If you have the luxury of coming to London one to two weeks before the program starts to house-hunt, do it, as you will be able to find a decent apartment.
 
Also, I highly recommend joining the Facebook group to get some housemates from other countries. I lived with two of the Italian girls from the program I had never met before.
 
Get outside your comfort zone and move in with students that aren’t from your home uni. London is an incredible city, so make sure you get out lots.
 
Thoughts about the weather/coffee?
 
Coffee on the whole is beyond average. However, many New Zealanders and Aussies have made the pilgrimage to rectify this situation. I recommend Prufrock, Nude Espresso, Allpress and so forth.

Haram Kwon

Equity Uncle
Volume 4, Issue 3, (Originally Published on Monday 12th August 2013)
 
Dear Equity Uncle,
 
I fear to write you out of embarrassment. I did something on the weekend, and I can’t reveal details; not even the NSA knows. But I need to do a group assignment with those involved, but I can’t look them in the eye. Does equity blush?
 
Sincerely Ashamed
 
Dear Mr Ashamed,
 
It is said that one who seeks Equity must do Equity – but don’t you be getting any ideas, you shameful little man.
 
Equity is omniscient. Equity knows what you did. Equity works for the NSA.
 
Equity doesn’t blush, because Equity is never embarrassed. This isn’t because Equity doesn’t occasionally act in stupid ways – have you read Lumbers? – but rather because Equity is omniscient, and Equity knows what other people do. And it is obscene.
 
If Equity were you, Equity would pluck up the courage to look your groupies classmates in the eye. Smile, even. They’ll be feeling just as poorly as you.
 
And so they should.
 
Kind regards,
 
Equity Uncle.
 
Equity Uncle

Reegan Grayson-Morison
Volume 4, Issue 3, (Originally Published on Monday 12th August 2013)
 
Canberra: It’s all right.
 
Reegan Grayson-Morison

Evan Lacey
Volume 4, Issue 3, (Originally Published on Monday 12th August 2013)
 
Canberra cops a lot of flack. Indeed, ‘Canberra bashing’ can legitimately be described as a national sport. Walk down Pelham Street and ask Joe Blow what he thinks of the nation’s capital, and chances are he’ll tell you it’s ‘boring’ or ‘the pits’.
 
Why is this treasure trove so maligned?
 
I guess there could be a variety of reasons.
 
Perhaps Joe Blow is a philistine? Or maybe he’s never been to Canberra but is a sporting fellow and so enjoys a spot of Canberra bashing? As I see it, however, the most likely explanation is that Joe Blow’s only experience of Canberra is a dreary school excursion long before he was old enough to appreciate the city’s delights.
 
Case in point, during the Easter break I was in the public gallery in the High Court watching oral submissions in the case of Director of Public Prosecutions v Keating when a group of school students filed in and took their seats.
 
Not surprisingly, they had no idea what was going on. Leaving aside matters of statutory construction, ‘retrospectivity’ and Chapter III, the students probably didn’t know much at all about the function of a court.
 
Bored senseless, they quickly began fidgeting and whispering to one another. Within five minutes they were led out by their teacher, probably en route to Parliament, followed by the War Memorial, each institution boring them as much as the last.
 
If this sounds familiar, if you too suffered through one of these school excisions and the experience turned you into a ‘Canberra basher’, I urge you to give the city another chance. Canberra might be boring for the school-aged, but for a law student it’s the best.
 
My Easter trip to Canberra was quite brief, lasting all of 30 hours. A friend and I had arranged to drive to Sydney on the Tuesday, and when we saw that the High Court was sitting that Wednesday, we decided to stay in Canberra Tuesday night and spend the bulk of the next day at the Court and the neighbouring National Galley before continuing on up the Hume to the harbour city.
 
It’s fair to say that watching oral submissions in Keating was an experience I will not soon forget.
 
As a law student, I’m very familiar with reading the Court’s judgments. Indeed, a considerable chunk of my life is spent with my head in CLRs.
 
What I was not hereto familiar with was what goes on inside the Courtroom – the extraordinary oral advocacy and the entertaining repartee between the bar and the bench. I left the Court with a real admiration for the skill of the barristers.
 
At various points in her submission, counsel for the defendant, Debbie Mortimer SC, was interrupted by Justice Hayne, who peppered her with complex questions about her submission.
 
Ms Mortimer’s cogent and eloquent responses, given under immense pressure, were extremely impressive.
 
But Canberra has much more to offer the law student than just the High Court.
 
How about a trip to Silo, the brilliant Kingston bakery for a 3⁄4 latte and a spot of pollie-perving?
 
Or to the National Gallery, Australia’s greatest cultural institution, to check out the remarkable permanent collection?
 
Or to the winery Clonakilla to sample their 97-point Shiraz Viognier?
 
In conclusion, I urge you to give Canberra another go; it’s a true treasure trove.

​
Evan Lacey

Haram Kwon
Volume 4, Issue 3, (Originally Published on Monday 12th August 2013)
 
Associate Professor Peter Rush was the MLS faculty representative at CTLS in the January 2013 semester, and taught two subjects, Transitional Law, and International Criminal Law (the latter co-taught with Professor David Luban of Georgetown University).
 
DM: How did you become interested in international Law?
 
PR: Legal theory and jurisprudence is intrinsically, from its inception, a transnational understanding of law, which is alive to the differences within legal systems historically, and between legal systems in the contemporary world.
 
So although I specialised for a long time in criminal law, about 10 – 15 years ago, I started thinking I could build and expand that area of criminal law and comparative criminal law, to take account of the development in the 1990s of international criminal justice, which has always struggled with the different legal systems which it draws upon, not just international law and regional systems such as the European Union and Southern Cone, but also the plurality of civil law and common law traditions.
 
How did you become involved with CTLS?
 
In 2012, I was invited to give a colloquium at CTLS, and my experience of that was outstanding.
 
Students were engaged, and my colleagues were enthusiastic in talking about their own interests and in creating a dialogue across jurisdictions.
 
I was talking on ways in which Argentina, law and film have contributed to our contemporary understanding of international criminal justice, and people were really willing to talk across both disciplines and legal areas. So I became very enthusiastic at that point, and [then co-director] Naomi Mezey invited me to put my name forward as the Melbourne representative for the 2012 – 2013 academic year.
 
What do you think CTLS contributes to a law student’s learning?
 
The primary benefit of CTLS is that it is designed and practices its teaching and study in such a way as to open law students to the variety and distinctiveness of the many jurisdictions, which contemporary lawyers on the global stage encounter on a daily basis.
 
It brings together some of the best students from more than 15 legal jurisdictions, and brings them into a hothouse environment where there is a focus on engaging across jurisdictions, across subject areas, and thinking about the challenges and possibilities of transnational study.
 
What is unique about this is [it’s] not the same as simply going on exchange, where you are only exposed to one jurisdiction and the issues that are most pressing for that jurisdiction in a trans-national context.
 
I think it is striking that I encountered students from Jerusalem, both Hebrew and Palestinian, from Switzerland, Italy, Korea, China, Portugal, Colombia, Singapore, Russia, Germany, Canada, the USA, amongst others. In this sense, CTLS is like doing all the exchanges in one place.
 
The differences between the jurisdictions make it imperative that you encounter and deal with the different ways in which legal problems are both framed, given shape, and also solved, using the tools that are sometimes domestic, sometimes regional, sometimes international, and sometimes jurisprudential. It thus prepares students for the interesting and challenging rewards of working in the contemporary legal world.
 
What do you think are the most critical challenges facing the legal profession in international criminal law?
 
The key challenge always in international criminal law, and international criminal justice more broadly, has been to work out what the role of the law is in the aftermath of extensive cross-border conflict and mass atrocity.
 
Whether law should be the way in which we respond to these conflicts and atrocities? How does law respond to these sorts of situations? What are the variety of legal mechanisms which are appropriate to the local context?
 
Because one of the defining tensions within international criminal law is the relationship between the international community and the plurality of local interests, communities and institutions.
 
For the profession, I think the key challenge is how to manage the diversity, and often fragmentation of legal regimes in plural jurisdictions.
 
Advice for students?
 
First, be open-minded when coming to CTLS, and you will get more out of your interactions and social relationships and study when you are here.
 
Second, plan your trip as early as possible.
 
Third, speak with academics who have taught at CTLS and other students who have been. It is always useful to get details of what to expect, and what not to expect.
 
Haram Kwon