Jon Faine AM: From the courtroom to the airwaves
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.
Read more about 50 years of Monash Law Clinics and buy 50 Years / 50 Voices here
Jon Faine is a household name in Melbourne. Known to many as the voice of the ABC Radio Melbourne morning program for more than two decades, Faine remains a trusted figure whose career has spanned the courtroom, the classroom and the airwaves. Whether advocating for the vulnerable as a community lawyer or crossexamining politicians on talkback radio, Faine has spent a lifetime asking difficult questions and inspiring others to do the same. Faine prefers to introduce himself as a ‘failed shock jock’ and ‘recovering lawyer’, but reflects that, culturally, he’s more lawyer than media person. ‘Even though I worked in journalism for many more years than I did as a lawyer, my mindset is more lawyer-ish than journalist,’ he says.
Faine’s first practical interactions with the law were sparked by necessity. Like many university students, Faine was a tenant in a share house. Living with a psychology student and a science student, they came home from university one afternoon to find an auction sign stuck to their front fence. ‘They both said, you’re the law student.
What do we do?’ Faine had no idea. At the time, he felt law school hadn’t prepared him for a situation like this. ‘They teach us what happens if you’ve got a snail in your soft drink bottle. They don’t teach us anything useful [in this instance].’
Faine walked into the Tenants Union Legal Service looking for advice but instead was greeted by fellow Monash Law students who thought he had come to help. He was handed a clipboard and he started taking names, triaging cases and learning on the job.
In 1979, Faine decided to continue his clinical legal education by enrolling in Professional Practice at Monash University. At the time, Springvale Legal Service – now South-East Monash Legal Service – was being run out of a ramshackle old house. First client, a victim of family violence, under a tree in the garden because there weren’t enough interview rooms inside. While she needed legal advice, she also needed emergency housing and income support. For Faine, it felt like jumping in the deep end, but he’s never forgotten that day.
Simon Smith, Professor Jeff Giddings, Gerry Nash and Jon Faine at the pioneers celebration of 50 years of Clinical Legal Education at Monash Law.
Read more about 50 years of Monash Law Clinics and buy 50 Years / 50 Voices here
After completing his law degree, Faine became a commercial litigator but continued volunteering with the Tenants Union and Fitzroy Legal Service (FLS). After four years, Faine decided he had had enough of commercial law and returned to Springvale Legal Service briefly as a supervisor. At almost the same time, Faine started working as the only lawyer at FLS and spent several years building up that legal service.
He inherited a service on the brink of decline. The administrators wanted to strip back the legal practice and turn the centre into a referral hub. He used his commercial law background to improve the service’s turnover, and the practice expanded from a onelawyer operation to a team. Faine believed in something more. Under his leadership, FLS became financially stable and developed into a full legal service. Eventually, the intensity of community law caught up. By 1987, Faine was experiencing burnout and decided to step back. ‘I had to get out of there and clear my head,’ he said.
As he was stepping down from FLS, a friend at the ABC asked if Faine would take a fill-in media role during the Commonwealth Law Conference in Perth. Faine saw the potential of a career in journalism when he decided to approach then Attorney- General Lionel Bowen for an interview. ‘I’d been writing to him from Fitzroy [FLS], demanding better pay, better funding for legal centres, barely getting an answer. I just went over and said, have you got a minute? And started asking him. He gave me answers and I thought, this is all right!’
Faine experienced the Monash clinical legal education program as both a student and a supervisor. ‘The law course was incredibly sterile and remote until I got involved with the Tenants Union and Professional Practice, and suddenly, all those rules actually meant something.’
As a supervisor at Springvale, Faine observed how the clinical program created powerful social intersections between students. ‘There was one kid who came from a very wealthy family, who drove to uni in a Range Rover, and sitting next to him was a kid from a migrant community who still wore his high-school trousers ’cause he didn’t have anything else to wear.’ Suddenly the two were sitting next to each other, giving advice together. Faine says the clinic was eye-opening for many students, deepening their understanding of the world and themselves.
Faine couldn’t be clearer in advocating for students to undertake the clinical experience. ‘You’d be crazy not to do it,’ he says. For him, it remains one of the most valuable components of a law degree in terms of both personal and professional development. ‘You pick up skills, you pick up insights … [but] you’re also giving something back. It’s a two-way transaction.’
Faine also speaks to the lasting personal connections formed through community legal work. ‘I found my tribe,’ he says. ‘I made lifelong friends. There are people I met [who are] my best friends still, 30, 40 years later.’
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.