DIRECTOR’S REPORT
Written by Associate Professor Joel Townsend, Director, Monash Law Clinics.
Associate Professor Joel Townsend Director, Monash Law Clinics.
In ways large and small, Monash Law Clinics seeks to transform lives. In the last year, Monash Law Clinics has:
- Assisted an NDIS participant with paraplegia, who had been embroiled in long running Administrative Appeals Tribunal proceedings, to articulate why she wanted funding for a wheelchair which would allow her to pursue her dreams of exploring the bush on a long-planned trip around Australia. The NDIA, understanding her goals and aspirations, agreed to fund the provision of the wheelchair.
- Helped to achieve the resolution of an intractable parenting dispute, which was finally settled after four mediation sessions, with the help of our Lawyer Assisted Family Dispute Resolution (LAFDR) clinic. Our LAFDR clinic has developed deep relationships with other Community Legal Centres and mediation providers, enabling us to help our clients move past family conflict.
- Provided 75 services in relation to consumer complaints, 169 services in relation to credit and debt, and 134 services in relation to tenancy, along with hundreds of services in a wide variety of other areas of law.
- Given Monash Law students an opportunity to experience the reality of legal work, across areas including family dispute resolution, tax infringements, law reform, climate justice, and administrative law. Students have consistently described their experience in the clinical program as a capstone experience, a meaningful experience of the reality of legal practice, and an opportunity to provide help to people in profound need.
- Seen its alumni take up roles in private practice and industry, in courts and tribunals, and in public service. The experience of clinical legal education at Monash Law Clinics is regarded by practitioners across the profession as a pivotal event in the development of their professional identities.
The Monash Law clinical legal education program is going into its 50th year in 2025. Monash Law Clinics is a key part of that program. In the course of our birthday celebrations, we will be telling more stories of the transformative effect of Monash Law Clinics on the lives of students, clients and others.
Monash Law Clinics is supported by Monash University to transform the lives of law students, sending them into their careers with a deeper sense of how the law works in practice, and with an awareness of their power to transform the lives of others by fostering access to justice. We extend particular thanks, this year, to outgoing Dean of Law, Bryan Horrigan, who oversaw a substantial expansion of Monash’s clinical program over the course of his tenure, and thereby enabled Monash Law Clinics to amplify its transformative effect.
Additional thanks go to the Committee members who oversee the direction of Monash Law Clinics, and who, in a number of cases, provide a key link to the wider profession and to alumni networks. Professor Jeff Giddings has provided leadership to the Monash Law clinical program in his role as Associate Dean (Experiential Education) and has continued his steadfast support of Monash Law Clinics. Melissa Fletcher, the Monash Law Senior Manager, Partnerships and Clinics, has been both problem solver and strategist. Other key Monash staff – notably Kay Jamieson, Jenn Lindstrom, Fay Gertner and Emily Singh – have provided leadership at Monash Law Clinics over the last year. All supervisors and administrative staff at Monash Law Clinics have shown a dedication to transformation in the lives of students and clients.
Beyond the Monash orbit, we are only able to have an impact in partnership with others. Victoria Legal Aid provides core funding for our work, and we have enjoyed contributions from a number of philanthropic funders. The Federation of Community Legal Centres (CLC), and the counterpart CLCs with which we work, exemplify the transformative impact of community legal work.
Others in the legal sector have supported our work, including barristers who have provided legal assistance without charge, and private practitioners who have also extended pro bono assistance to our clients. Our impact also depends on partnerships with non-legal service providers – from community health centres to family relationships centres to financial counsellors and social workers.
So, we approach the task of transformation with humility. We recognise it is only with the goodwill and support of others, that we are able to have an impact on the students and clients we see. We move into our 50th year with a deep sense of gratitude and pride at the transforming effect of the work of Monash Law Clinics.
Associate Professor Joel Townsend
Director, Monash Law Clinics