What’s the Point of Lawyers? Inaugural Professorial Lecture from Professor Steven Vaughan
On a stormy Melbourne evening, Monash Law welcomed alumni, students, legal professionals, and members of the judiciary to the launch of a refreshed Inaugural Professorial Lecture Series. The occasion was the inaugural and thought-provoking lecture from Professor Steven Vaughan, Dean of Monash Law, titled 'What’s the Point of Lawyers?'.
Watch the full Professorial Lecture on Youtube
Monash University Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Sharon Pickering opened proceedings at a full house in the auditorium in Monash University Law Chambers. The event was chaired by Fiona McLeay, Victorian Legal Services Commissioner.
Monash University Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Sharon Pickering.
When the Vice-Chancellor met the Dean
Professor Sharon Pickering set the tone for the evening by highlighting the importance of the Inaugural Professorial Lecture Series.
“They are an important opportunity to further enhance the law faculty’s engagement with the legal profession, an engagement that runs deep, an engagement that is treasured. Importantly, [they are] an opportunity to share the research and expertise of the faculty with the wider community”.
Professor Pickering acknowledged that it was almost a year to the day that she confirmed Professor Vaughan as the Dean of Monash Law. It was also almost six months to the day that he started in the role.
She praised Professor Vaughan as a 'values-driven leader' who embodies Monash Law’s commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion.
“We knew he would be a wonderful Dean of Law because of his very genuine and great belief in the value of clinical legal education, and the power of law, through clinical legal education, to transform society” .
Fiona McLeay, Victorian Legal Services Commissioner.
Introducing the Inaugural Professorial Lecture: a regulator’s perspective
Fiona McLeay introduced Professor Vaughan with warmth and insight, having met each other at what she called the ‘Nerd Fests’ of the International Conference of Legal Regulators, and the International Legal Ethics Conference.
“Imagine, from the legal regulator’s perspective, having an ethicist heading a law school - it’s a dream come true.”.
Ms McLeay reflected on the challenges facing the legal profession, including public mistrust and ethical blind spots.
“ What is a lawyer's responsibility to provide advice that goes beyond technical legal competence?”
“ When should a lawyer include advice about what someone should do as well as what they can do?”
Having met Professor Vaughan several times in her role as Victorian Legal Services Commissioner, Ms McLeay confidently handed the platform to Professor Vaughan to address these complex questions.
Dean of the Faculty of Law, Professor Steven Vaughan
Lawyers as living agents of the rule of law
For those who had heard Monash Law’s Dean of Law, Professor Steven Vaughan, speak previously, it came as no surprise that he began his inaugural Professorial Lecture at the school with humour.
“Who knew that 37 minutes of back-to-back lawyer jokes would pull in such a crowd?”
He then shared his personal journey into law which, like so often for the law students of today, was inspired not by textbooks but by television.
“Our social imagination of lawyers is seeded early, what we and our students absorb from those TV shows is a kind of operatic performance of moral flexibility”.
“ The TV lawyer is often someone clever and driven for sure, but also untrustworthy, morally compromised, transactional - and that sits uneasily next to what many of us, myself included, think lawyers should stand for.”
Dean of the Faculty of Law, Professor Steven Vaughan.
The trust deficit in lawyers
Vaughan addressed the public’s declining trust in lawyers, citing the Ipsos Veracity Index.
“ Only 55% of the public in the UK expects lawyers to tell the truth. That is not great, but it is better than in other places. Globally, the data from Ipsos says that trust in lawyers is at 33%, and in Australia 28%.”
“We tell jokes about lawyers. We roll our eyes at their fees. We worry about their honesty and their motives. Those instincts come from somewhere deeper than TV caricature”.
He pointed to real-world scandals - Lawyer X, Robo-debt, Crown Casino, and the UK Post Office prosecutions - as examples of systemic failure.
“ In each example, lawyers were in the room when it happened. They were not rogue actors. They were professionals, respected, credentialed, and embedded in very powerful institutions. They did not say no, or they said it very quietly, or far too late.”
Dean of the Faculty of Law, Professor Steven Vaughan.
Reclaiming professional integrity
Vaughan urged lawyers to reclaim their role as stewards of justice.
“ What we require in the exercise of moral courage is some form of moral imagination on the part of lawyers. The ability to see beyond the immediate and our clients, to understand the consequences of our choices, to understand our special place in society.”
He shared personal stories of ethical dilemmas from his time in corporate law to illustrate that one’s response to such a challenge is neither predictable or inflexible.
“ Each of us has those red lines. Each of us has things we will and won't do. Each of us has our Meatloaf lawyering examples - ‘I’ll do anything for my clients, but I won’t do that’”.
Dean of the Faculty of Law, Professor Steven Vaughan.
So what is the point of lawyers?
In answering the central question of his lecture, Vaughan framed his answer as a mission statement for all students and graduates of law.
“ When lawyers choose to act with independence and with integrity, when lawyers choose to show moral courage, even when it's hard, we become something more than service providers. We become stewards and agents of the rule of law actively working to improve the quality of justice, and that I think is the point of lawyers.”.
Monash University Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Sharon Pickering, Dean of the Faculty of Law, Professor Steven Vaughan, General Manager of the Faculty of Law, Sarah Stratton.
An ovation for legal thought leadership
Fiona McLeay closed the evening with heartfelt praise, measured by the volume of conversation these two have shared as legal ethics fanatics in the past.
“You know me well enough to know that it’s very hard to silence me, but you have done that.”
“I feel incredibly encouraged that the future of the profession in Victoria is in very good hands while you are the Dean of Monash”.