Monash Law offers two exciting international study programs at the Monash Prato Centre in Italy and the Monash Malaysia campus. You’ll study electives with an international and comparative law focus, taught by leading academics from around the world. In today’s global legal landscape, cross-border expertise is essential. These programs immerse you in diverse legal systems and traditions, helping you build the skills and perspectives needed for a truly international legal career.
Study Law in Prato, Italy – New Program Launching in 2026!
Whether you're passionate about global legal issues or just keen to study in a stunning Italian setting, this is your chance to take your law degree further. Get ready for a refreshed Monash Law Prato semester in 2026 designed around the theme of Climate Change and Environmental Law. The program blends academic depth with real-world experience—think internships, guest lectures, and collaborations with local institutions. Plus, new funding pathways will be made available to support students from low-SES backgrounds.
Students offered a place in the program will have the chance to enrol into a 12-credit point (part-time) and a recommended 18-credit point (full-time) semester abroad, choosing from six exciting new units across three modules.
LAW4698/LAW5657 Global issues in human rights and public lawView
This unit considers global issues in human rights and public law. The content of the unit will vary each offering to reflect contemporary issues, current concerns, latest research, and teacher expertise. Global Issues units in the faculty of law are run as part of its Prato program. (The 2026 offering of this unit will cover refugee law).
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LAW4699/LAW5658 Global issues in international law and governanceView
This unit will consider global issues in international law and governance through the lens of international sport. International sport provides an interesting and different lens through which to examine international law and governance. Sports’ global governing bodies (e.g., International Olympic Committee, Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and Word Athletics) are uniquely hybrid creatures. They are at once powerful commercial concerns, agents of social change and regulators of their domains - part transnational corporation; part international non-government organisation; and part transnational private regulator. This hybrid nature confers on them a unique combination of economic, social and cultural capital; capital which they have been able to transform into power to secure from nation states both a high degree of autonomy and significant financial, policy and legislative support. The result is a relationship in which the private actor (sport governing body) often is the rule-maker, and the nation state the rule-taker. This unit will explore the dynamics and implications of this relationship – and what it teaches us about the challenges of dealing with transnational issues more generally - employing a number of topical case studies, including athlete human rights; gender, sex and identity; doping and drugs; gambling and corruption; authoritarian and private capital; and climate change.
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This unit will explore the theory and practice of lawyering in service of social movements, drawing on case studies (e.g. the climate crisis) and critical scholarship from around the world. Topics are likely to include the history and ethics of cause lawyering; the strategies and dilemmas of working alongside grassroots movements; comparative perspectives on movement lawyering in the Global South and Global North; and the tensions between legal advocacy and broader political organizing. Students would also examine practical challenges—such as navigating institutional constraints, balancing professional duties with activist commitments, and addressing questions of accountability—to develop a nuanced understanding of law as both a tool and a site of struggle for justice as a lawyer.
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LAW4903/LAW5664 Labour law through the lens of climate changeView
This unit explores the intersections between labour law, environmental regulation, and the global response to climate change. It examines how legal frameworks, both domestic and international, address the evolving challenges of climate change in the context of work, employment relations, and the rights and responsibilities of employers and workers. Drawing upon the history and development of labour law, students will analyse how environmental imperatives are reshaping employment rights, health and safety standards, workplace transitions to low-carbon economies, and social justice considerations. Key themes include the role of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the operation and adequacy of International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions, and the implications of terms such as “matters pertaining” for collective bargaining and regulatory reform. The unit combines theoretical perspectives with practical case studies to prepare students for practice and policy advocacy in an era of accelerating environmental change.
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LAW4904/LAW5665 Intellectual property and climate changeView
The unit will explore a crucial legal aspect connected to a global issue, specifically the relationship between Intellectual Property (IP) and climate change. It will examine the debate over the extent to which human activity contributes to climate change. As a result, reversing human impacts on the atmosphere – specifically, climate change mitigation – will also require the adoption of appropriate technologies. The same notion applies to IP and climate change: the IP system, particularly the patent system, is closely linked with many green technologies that can either help reduce climate change or act as barriers to technological innovation. The unit will cover the following topics: Patents and green technologies, Trade marks and greenwashing, Designs and the circular economy, Right to Repair, Copyright and upcycling, and Geographical Indications.
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Climate litigation refers to the use of courts to try to achieve climate regulatory outcomes. The United Nations Economic Program has described climate litigation as a ‘frontier solution’ in our existential fight for survival. There has been a significant growth in climate litigation in recent years globally, with Australia ranking among those countries with the highest number of such cases. This unit will equip students with knowledge regarding this growing and significant legal phenomenon. It will enable them to think critically and comparatively about the role of courts in addressing climate change, relative to other branches of the government and in light of the urgency of the challenge.
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