Environment / climate
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Climate Justice Clinic (LAW4811)
The Climate Justice Clinic (CJC) is a Monash law specialist clinic that runs every Wednesday at the Monash Law Chambers in the CBD. Participation in the CJC will count as LAW4811 - In-House Clinical Placement and is worth 6 credit points.
About the CJC
The Climate Justice Clinic (CJC) works with key bodies in the Australian climate and legal space and has completed impactful work to support the climate justice movement in its five years of operation.
Students will have the ability to develop their technical legal skills whilst also learning about the broader context of the climate justice legal movement.
The CJC is also supervised by seconded lawyers from Russell Kennedy and Lander & Rogers.
The CJC and students will get the opportunity to work on climate justice matters across multiple levels: the Victorian level, the Australian level, and the Asia-Pacific region/international level.
Why choose CJC?
- Gain real, practical experience (helps with future career)
- Develop new skills (both hard/technical skills and soft skills)
- Working in an area where you can make a real difference
- Opportunities you can’t get elsewhere whilst studying (eg briefing a Barrister, making a submission to a Parliamentary inquiry)
- Unique matters at the cutting edge of legal practice and climate justice.
- Mix of theoretical and practical experiences
- Informative, engaging, esteemed guest speakers
- Working in a supportive and friendly environment where you’re pushed to work hard but also feel safe to make (and learn from) mistakes (supportive, constructive, effective mentorship from supervising lawyers)
- Learning about a sector of the legal profession that blends commercial (which can be intimidating to students with no experience) with social justice (which many students may be passionate about but unsure how to put it into action)
- Work in an emerging and exciting area of law in Australia
The work of the CJC
Some examples of the work of the CJC are:
- Providing advice for a leading Australian conservation organisation on the legal framework for World Heritage Sites;
- Working with community organisations to incubate and develop a potential case focusing on the Federal Environment Minister’s power to vary environmental approvals under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth);
- Authored the first of its kind ‘Guidebook to Public Land Management in Victoria’ for the Gippsland Community Legal Service;
- Collaborating with leading environmental and climate law firms to incubate novel test cases ideas. For example investigating the under reporting of climate change impacts in contractual disputes.
- International E-Waste program collaborating with colleagues across the global on understanding how law impacts and can improve how we manage e-waste generation and disposal.
- Assisting a leading environmental barrister with detailed legal advice on the Foreign Judgments Act 1991 (Cth) and review of constitutional law across various Pacific nation states;
- Preparing a detailed law reform position paper on Deep Sea Mining (DSM) for the Fiji Council of Social Services (FCOSS), which included a legislative review of Fiji’s and neighbouring Pacific nations’ domestic laws and regional treaties;
- Contributing to parliamentary inquiries, for example:
- The CJC has also attended and presented at different international conferences on a range of climate justice legal issues.
The legal work of the CJC is complemented by an engaging reading and guest speaker program. The readings allow for students’ development of the foundations underpinning the climate justice movement, as well as an in-depth exploration of the context of climate justice (in Victoria, Australia, and internationally). The guest speakers are engaging, esteemed professionals with whom students have the chance to connect during their guest speaker sessions.
Excitingly, the CJC is looking to implement a pilot ‘On Country’ learning experience in 2026. This experience will involve a bespoke nature immersion group experience for CJC students that integrates somatic embodiment practices and Acknowledges Country in meaningful ways.
Testimonies
The structure of the CJC involves both practical legal skills development and theoretical exploration of climate justice, and this complementary approach has positively affected both CJC students and clients.
The CJC was found to be beneficial for students’ transitions into their legal careers, with many past CJC students noting that the detailed feedback given at the CJC helped improve their technical legal skills, as well as providing a grounding in climate justice and climate activism. Past CJC students have said:
The CJC was “an excellent opportunity to get hands‑on legal experience, develop my legal skills and gain exposure to an interesting area of law. For me, the main takeaway was the development of my legal skills in the context of ‘practice’ as opposed to academia.”
“I think that the CJC program strikes the right balance between teaching students about particular areas of law, promoting introspective learning and reflection, and preparing students for real‑world working environments.”
The supportive and friendly environment of the CJC allows students to develop their legal skills practically in a safe and encouraging environment. The mentorship by the CJC supervising lawyers allows students to feel challenged by the legal work whilst also being supported as they learn new skills.
Any enquiries or questions about the Clinic can be directed to Hubert Algie, Clinic Supervisor, at hubert.algie@monash.edu.
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South Pacific Plastics Treaty Clinic
The National Environmental Service of the Cook Islands (on behalf of the South Pacific Island States) is seeking law students for a placement in Clinical Period 2, 2024 to help them with the ongoing negotiations to create a Global Plastic Treaty. The amount of material produced at such a negotiation has tended previously to overwhelm Pacific Island states who lack the legal resources internally to be effective negotiators. They recognize this problem and are looking to Monash staff and students to help them be better able to respond quickly and effectively and produce better environmental outcomes both for their citizens and globally.
Students will be involved in researching, summarizing, analysing and collating materials (not legal advice) on behalf of the South Pacific Island states both before and during the official negotiations of the International Negotiating Committee to create a Global Plastic Treaty.