Hon Jennifer Coate AO: A holistic view of justice
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.
The Honourable Jennifer Coate AO has just finished acting as Chair of the Victorian Law Reform Commission (VLRC) and is back to her day job – serving as a parttime VLRC commissioner, chair of the Victims of Crime Consultative Committee, chair of Children’s Rights International and patron of the Eastern Community Legal Centre. She has recently been busy submitting a report to her fellow commissioners and chairing a panel at the Council of Australasian Tribunals National Conference. Coate’s current roles reflect a lifetime of commitment to justice and law reform. It is clear that her work is grounded in a belief that the law must serve people, a belief she has carried with her throughout her varied career.
Coate’s legal journey began at Monash University in the early 1980s. Having already completed an Arts degree and worked as a teacher, she returned to Monash to study Law. In the final year of her degree, Coate completed her clinical experience at Springvale Legal Service. At Springvale, she assisted clients with legal issues ranging from family law to traffic offences, and even a case of medical negligence.
Under the mentorship of two clinic solicitors, Coate learned how to take instructions, identify legal problems and maintain clear, professional boundaries. She recalls that her clinical experience enabled her to see with stark clarity that the law was far more than an intellectual study. She valued the early experience of seeing the real impact of laws on people. She learned not only how to handle a file, but also how to communicate with clients, skills that would become central to her later work.
After graduation, Coate started her career in practice and after several years began leading an all-female law firm which had a strong commitment to pro bono work and community legal education. She then spent a year as a locum lawyer with Victoria Legal Aid, gaining hands-on experience across the state. Coate recalls that it was an equally formative year of hard work and learning, with long days on duty at court.
Read more about 50 years of Monash Law Clinics and buy 50 Years / 50 Voices here
Arie Freiberg AM (Law Dean 2004–2012) with Her Honour Judge Coate, State Coroner (2007-2013).
Coate then moved into policy and research in the Attorney-General’s department, before she was appointed as a Magistrate in 1992. Her time as the head of the Children’s Court began when she became a Senior Magistrate at the Children’s Court in 1995. In 2000, she was appointed as a Judge of the County Court and as the first President of the Children’s Court of Victoria. This appointment really signified a change in the nature of the head of the court and reflected Coate’s transformation of it over her decade at the helm. During this time, she updated the infrastructure of the court and actively worked on significant case management and detailed written reasons for decisions. She reflects fondly on her time as the head of the Children’s Court. ‘I’ve been incredibly lucky and incredibly privileged to have had the roles that I’ve had in my work,’ she says.
Coate’s law reform-oriented leadership continued with her when she served as Victorian State Coroner. Once again, she led major legal and structural changes.
But Coate recalls one of the most emotionally challenging periods in that role was during the Black Saturday bushfires in 2009. She reflects on the importance of her leadership at a time of collective trauma that included coordinating victim identification and working with grieving families.
Coate stepped into a role as Commissioner in the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse understanding that the work ahead of the Commission demanded sensitivity and a commitment to deliver on the terms of reference while considering the future impacts of those findings as a way to protect the children of the future.
In all of her roles, across decades, Coate considered each ‘institution’ as a place to serve the community. She shares her core unifying question: ‘Is this [institution] helping to achieve its stated purpose?’ If the answer to this internal test was no, she would rethink her approach. She says the law exists to do a job, ‘to stabilise our society, to maintain a balance … and to always aspire to be fair and just.’
Coate believes her clinical experience shaped her career trajectory. It was at Springvale that she first learned how to navigate client relationships: how to listen, how to be honest when unsure of the answer and how to try to explain complex concepts in plain language. She learned how to work with interpreters, which taught her to aim to communicate with dignity, respect and clarity, all skills important in her judicial career.
Today, she can trace a line from her time at Springvale to her work on commissions and judicial reform. ‘Wherever you travel in our profession,’ she says, ‘you take with you all those lessons you’ve learned from the lecture rooms and through to all the practical experiences.’
Her advice to students is simple: don’t just study law; see it in action. By doing practical work with clients, the true impact of the law can be seen. ‘You move out of the intellectual process and see the human being that it’s impacting upon, see their grief, confusion and stress, and understand where the rubber hits the road,’ she reflects. Thus, her endorsement of the clinic experience is clear: ‘It’s crucially important for everyone who studies the law to see, in real life, the impact of it on the people it has been developed to serve.’
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.