Clinical Legal Education changes lives - for students and the community in 2023
Every Monash Law undergraduate and JD student is guaranteed the opportunity of a Clinical Legal Education experience where they can work with real clients, on real legal issues, while earning credit towards their degree. Across the 2022/23 financial year, Monash Law Clinics welcomed more than 700 Monash Law students, allowing us to provide a range of comprehensive legal services to our clients.
The sustained commitment of the Faculty of Law and the University across five decades has created a program that delivers great benefits for students, clients, partner organisations, and the Faculty and University themselves.
Expanded Law Reform Clinic
Initially, the Law Reform Clinic collaborated solely with the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC), a key partner and stakeholder. However, this year we had a significant expansion in partnerships to include the Victorian Law Reform Commission, Committees of the Legislative Council of Victoria, and The Australia Institute. These organisations contribute to law reform from diverse perspectives and stages, enriching students’ understanding of the law reform process.
Students Aidan and Irene with Law Reform Clinic Supervisor Sally Andersen
While the specific work undertaken by Monash students and staff in the Law Reform Clinic is often confidential, its broader impact is clear. Contributions have been incorporated into parliamentary inquiries, reports, scoping studies, and briefing papers. Students have assisted in legislative processes and had the opportunity to engage with specialists in the field of law reform, in partner organisations as well as the clinic itself.
With this unique opportunity for hands-on involvement in the law reform process, Monash Law stands apart as Australia’s leading clinical provider. It serves as a vital training ground
for future lawyers, reinforcing the actionable commitment to ‘Justice for All’ as both an immediate and systemic societal goal.
In 2023, the Law Reform clinic was expressly recognised in a submission made by the Australia Institute to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security.
Real World Outcomes in the Afghanistan Support Clinic
The Afghanistan Support Clinic started in direct response to the Taliban’s violent return to power in August 2021. The clinic supports a volunteer initiative known as the ‘Ham Diley Campaign’ (ham diley means solidarity or empathy in Farsi), which initially provided emergency response through direct and indirect support of evacuations. More recently, the campaign has focused on research and policy aimed at holding the Taliban and affiliated terrorist groups accountable for atrocities.
Hadi, Maryam and Afghanistan Support Clinic Supervisor, Azadah Raz Mohammad
In one of the earlier rounds of this clinic, students assisted with the preparation of a risk profile statement for one of the families with which we were connected in Afghanistan. The mother, the main person at risk, was actively sought by the Taliban for several reasons, including her ethnicity and work, which gave her access to the personal records of hundreds of persons wanted by the Taliban. Students in subsequent rounds continued to assist with outreach and preparation of the family’s file for various evacuation lists. Despite no positive responses, our efforts continued and eventually we were able to assist the family to move to a safe house in a neighbouring country.
At the beginning of 2023, the family’s humanitarian protection application to Australia was finally approved, and students in our current clinic round were able to meet the family in person at Monash Law Clinics Melbourne.
More Monash Law clinic achievements
The Monash Law Faculty Robodebt Royal Commission submission was informed by the experience of assisting clients through Monash Law Clinics, and included client stories drawn from our practice. The final report of the Royal Commission cited the submission at a number of points, and expressly picked up one recommendation formulated in our submission.
Students walk with Law Reform Clinic Supervisor & Director of Monash Law Clinics, Joel Townsend.
The Climate Justice Clinic launched The Guidebook to Public Land Management. This guidebook emerged as a result of the complex issues of public land management raised following the Black Summer Bushfires of 2019 and 2020. The Climate Justice Clinic collaborated with the Gippsland Community Legal Service to capture learnings and strengthen the community's capacity to navigate Victoria’s public land management law and policy, and its impact on our rural and regional communities.
The guidebook seeks to prepare us for future disasters, and supports advocacy for greater public accountability and transparency.
We are also very pleased to report that Associate Professor Cate Banks has received 2 Victoria Law Foundation grants for the projects:
- “Systems Abuse When Guardians Fail to Protect”
- "Violence and Vulnerability: Mapping the intersections between family violence and caring relationships".
The second project has been awarded $49,754 and commences in April, 2024. This will be an important project that will provide the Monash Law Clinics with a knowledge base for multidisciplinary work with the Department of Social Work and Associate Professor Banks’ long-standing partner, Cohealth. It will assist in improving data collection practices, intake procedures and planning legal service delivery in family violence and/or caring relationship contexts. She aims to communicate her findings with partner organisations within Monash and externally, such as the Monash Gender and Family Violence Prevention Centre, Monash Social Work, and cohealth.
Earlier this year, Associate Professor Banks, along with our colleagues Associate Professor Becky Batagol and Dr Jess Mant, were cited by the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee in its report on proposed changes to the Family Law Act. Associate Professor Banks’ contribution to the joint submission on proposed changes to the Family Law Act was informed by her work with victim/survivors of family violence as part of the cohealth clinic.
Our work was further recognised when The Australian Legal Education Awards (ALEAs) presented the Monash Clinical Program with the 2023 award for Excellence in Teaching (Engagement).
The objective of the ALEAs is to recognise, encourage, and promote excellence in innovation teaching and learning in the discipline of law. This particular award is sponsored by the Council of Australian Law Deans (CALD) and supported by the Legal Education Associate Deans (LEAD) network. The Award Dinner took place at the Australasian Law Academics Association (ALAA) Conference in Christchurch on Friday, 7 July 2023.
The Award Panel acknowledged the scale and longevity of our program. The award demonstrates our sustained commitment and impact, with strong evidence of innovative teaching and learning practices within the various clinics, and clear integration of community partners within the program.
Monash Law Clinics received a grant from the Perpetual Foundation for the establishment of a clinic aimed at supporting clients with NDIS legal matters.
Thank you to our Monash Law Clinics partners
We extend our sincere appreciation to Monash University, which provides the majority
of the funding required to operate Monash Law Clinics, and to the Commonwealth
and State Governments and Victorian Legal Aid for the support of our Professional
Practice and Family Law Assistance Program.
Grants from the Australian Taxation Office and the Grata Fund have enabled the continuation of our Taxation Clinic and Democracies and Freedoms Clinics respectively.
In 2023, Monash Law Clinics has again welcomed the generous support of philanthropic funders, in particular:
- the Pratt Foundation
- the Cybec Foundation
- private benefactors
- Mr Cary Stynes
- Mr Brian Snape AM
- Dr Ernie Chow & Dr Gwen Hinze
These contributions have enabled us to provide expert legal advice, advocacy, and education to those who need it most. Through their commitment to our cause, these funders have amplified our impact and allowed us to address critical legal issues, drive systemic change, and create a more just and equitable society.
We also acknowledge the success of Associate Professor Banks (again!) in securing financial support for Monash Law Clinics’ Health Justice Partnership (HJP) work with cohealth. Cate secured a Knowledge Grant from the Victoria Law Foundation for a project on ‘limiting systems abuse if guardians fail to protect’. She also obtained a service delivery grant from the Victorian Department of Justice and Community Safety for HJP work. This is great recognition of her expertise and Monash Law Clinics’ capacity to make a difference in the health justice area.
Finally, we gratefully acknowledge Russell Kennedy Lawyers and Lander & Rogers for their continued support of our Climate Justice Clinic. They provide secondee lawyers who contribute significantly to the impact of the clinic and the education of our students.
Professor Jeff Giddings is Associate Dean (Experiential Education) and Melissa Fletcher is Senior Manager Partnerships and Clinics.
Read more about Clinical Legal Education at Monash Law in the 2023 Monash Law Clinics Annual Report.
