Deborah Glass OBE: A lifelong pursuit of transparency and fairness
50 Years / 50 Voices: Learning law and changing lives is a commemorative volume marking the 50th anniversary of the ongoing Monash Law Clinical Program, a pioneering initiative in clinical legal education undertaken by the Faculty of Law at Monash University. 50 alumni of the Monash Law Clinical Program shared their story with 50 current students of the same program. This is an excerpt from the book.
Deborah Glass OBE understands firsthand the vitality of transparency and opportunity in the legal profession. Since graduating from Monash University in 1982, Glass has held several, often international, roles in both the private and public sectors. Having recently completed her 10-year term as the first female Victorian Ombudsman, Glass has retained a focus on promoting the accessibility of legal avenues and decisions. This carries through to the current day, where she remains committed to community engagement and social justice initiatives, especially through the Pauline Glass Memorial Scholarship, established by Glass in 2014 in honour of her late mother to empower and mobilise young women studying at Monash University.
Glass commenced her Monash Law studies in 1977, and she recalls how law school primarily involved students immersing themselves in books, legal doctrines and precedents. However, this perspective changed drastically when she completed a clinical placement in 1980, in the early days of Springvale Legal Service. This experience is one Glass deems as formative, where after years of study, ‘suddenly, the law was about people.’
Days in the clinic were diverse and varied, where members of the community could seek assistance on any number of civil and criminal matters. For an undergraduate’s first foray into the legal profession, this experience was a revelation, Glass says.
‘The law involved people and people mattered, people had legal problems, and the law could help to solve them, and you could actually do things with the law to improve people’s lives.’
As participation in the clinic was invariably a new experience for students, Professional Practice supervisors played a crucial role in providing guidance and advice, empowering students to learn and to in turn advise their clients. Glass’s experiences in the clinic also exposed her to the tangible barriers to justice experienced by members of the community, particularly for those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. It was a lesson in how the law, through the students in the clinic, could provide a way for communities to benefit from legal knowledge and options, and increase accessibility to justice. This appreciation of how legal services can assess and respond to the community has resonated with Glass throughout her career.
Read more about 50 years of Monash Law Clinics and buy 50 Years / 50 Voices here
After finishing university, Glass practised as a solicitor for several years, saving up enough money to leave Australia in pursuit of other opportunities. For almost 30 years she fulfilled various roles, including banking in Switzerland, financial regulation in Hong Kong and investigating police corruption in the United Kingdom. Glass’s roles as a Commissioner and Deputy Chair of the Independent Police Complaints Commission of England and Wales (IPCC) saw her conduct numerous high-profile investigations into misconduct within the UK police force, including large-scale matters such as the 1989 Hillsborough Disaster (a fatal crowd crush at a football match at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield which killed 97 people and injured 766). During her 10-year tenure at the IPCC, Glass was awarded an Order of the British Empire to honour her service. After returning to Melbourne in 2014, Glass was appointed to the position of Victorian Ombudsman for a fixed 10-year term. During this term, the Ombudsman’s office addressed numerous complaints and systematic deficiencies, publishing almost 100 reports into significant matters including WorkSafe compensation claims, Victoria’s implementation of the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture, and the COVID-19 lockdown of public housing towers in Victoria.
Glass’s distinguished career reflects an observation she made early on in her career, noticing at the time that a professional journey that primarily pursues money and profits was not something she aspired to. It was this awareness she credits as shifting her focus into largely public-sector roles in the pursuance of transparency, fairness and regulation.
Glass considers these values the result of multiple, incremental influences throughout her life, including her Monash education, family values and frequent exposure to instances of institutional unfairness.
Her participation in Springvale Legal Service in 1980 is something she considers to be pivotal in her Monash education.
‘[The clinic] was one of the most formative experiences I had in my five years at Monash. It was genuinely eye-opening and so important to ground us in the reality of the law, that the law isn’t just about books and cases, it’s about people,’ she says.
Reflecting on her experiences over the years, Glass commends a legal education for teaching students a way of thinking that can translate to a range of traditional and non-traditional careers. Her advice to law students is to take risks and substitute preconceived plans for new opportunities wherever possible, particularly for young women who may experience doubt and uncertainty. Most importantly, regardless of the trajectory or timeline of one’s career, Glass advocates fundamentally for holding onto personal values and utilising them as the foundations of the decisions made when leaving law school.
Read more about 50 years of Monash Law Clinics and buy 50 Years / 50 Voices here
Get involved with Monash Law Clinics
Monash Law Clinics combine legal education with real-world impact, supporting access to justice while equipping students with practical, ethical and professional skills.
If you are a student interested in undertaking a clinical unit as part of your studies, explore the available clinical placements and elective options.
Whether you’re an alum, practitioner or organisation keen to support the clinics through hosting placements, partnerships, volunteering or funding, there’s a way to be involved. To learn more, contact Emily Collard, Industry & Alumni Engagement Manager, at emily.collard@monash.edu.