Career & development opportunities for Law (EDI) students

Opportunities

Clinical Legal Education

Our Clinical Legal Education Program is designed for undergraduate and postgraduate law students seeking real-world experience as lawyers. This means you work with real clients, on real cases, all while gaining course credit towards your degree.

Depending on your placement opportunity, you can work directly with clients, solicitors and other professional staff, gaining 'real life’ experience and skills that cannot be taught in the classroom. Here are some of the opportunities available to Monash Law students:

AED Disability Legal Clinic (LAW4803) View

IMPORTANT NOTE: This placement is for 1 day/week for 12 weeks

AED Legal Centre is a legal advocacy program established by the Association of Employees with Disability Inc. (AED). The Centre provides free legal advocacy to people with a disability in the areas of employment, education and training. The Centre is a member of the Federation of Community Legal Centres of Victoria.

Legal advocacy is conducted by Kairsty Wilson, solicitor and manager of the Centre who is supported by paralegal staff. We also have a Wednesday night service staffed by volunteer law students and pro-bono legal practitioners and supervised by Kairsty.

Why we exist:

AED’s main objective is to protect and advance the rights of people with disability who experience difficulties and/or discrimination in employment or education because of their disability.

What we do:

Advocate workplace solutions on behalf of employees with disability;
Educate employees with disability about their rights and employment law – so that they can make better informed decisions;
Draft complaints of discrimination or unlawful dismissal;
Provide legal representation at the Australian Human Rights Commission, Federal Court of Australia, Federal Magistrates Court, Fair Work Commission,
Assist employees on how to disclose their disability to employers.

Students will work under supervision of the legal staff as well as under supervision of the Legal Manager and Legal Practitioner at all times. The range of work students can expect include client interviews, preparing documents and conducting research. There will also be other opportunities for students to gain legal experience, such as attending conciliations, mediations and hearings. However, this will largely depend on the needs of our clients at the time of your placement.

For students considering their professional placement with us, an interest in working with people with disability is essential.

Duties of the placement might include:

Taking notes during client initial interviews;
Ensure introductory materials are provided and client instructions are recorded;
Summarizing client issues;
Taking a chronology or client statement;
Attending and taking notes at client meetings;
Filing paperwork for various files;
Attend court to file documents or instruct;
Drafting applications to FWA under guidance of staff and lawyers;
Drafting letters, using precedents and own initiative.

Djirra Aboriginal Family Violence Legal Service (LAW4803) View

Djirra is an Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation (ACCO) that works towards a future where all Aboriginal women are strong, safe, independent, healthy and positive in their lives, culture and communities. All Djirra’s work is designed by and for Aboriginal women and is deeply respectful of and connected to community. Self-determination is the foundation of everything we do: it is Our Cultural Way. Djirra’s vision is to provide high quality culturally appropriate services for Aboriginal women in Victoria who have experienced or are experiencing family violence.

We are committed to ending family violence against Aboriginal women and their children through holistic and culturally safe specialist services, prevention programs and advocacy for change. Our services have state-wide reach.

The Aboriginal Family Violence Legal Service (AFVLS) is a program of Djirra. AFVLS provides legal and non-legal assistance and facilitates access to justice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who have experienced family violence or sexual assault.

AFVLS operates a culturally safe, trauma informed, holistic and intensive client service model. Clients are assisted by Lawyers and Paralegal Support Workers to access a variety of legal, social, psychological, cultural, health and other support services to address their complex needs and issues.

Lawyers provide legal services including advice, representation and advocacy in the areas of:

Child protection;
Family violence intervention orders;
Family law; and
Victims of crime assistance.

Students will be encouraged and invited to participate in various tasks, including but not limited to drafting Court documents (and other correspondence), attending Court (both online and in-person) and engaging in general case and client management, during the course of their placement.

IMPORTANT NOTE: This placement requires students to have a current Working with Children Check (WWCC), to provide evidence of COVID -19 Vaccinations (2x) and to complete a National Police Check (paid for by Djirra)