Kategorie
Z
Automatische Seitenzahl · 1
2 · Edition 1 2012
Contents
Issue #1, 2012
Regular
Editorial - LSS President‘s Address
4
Calendar11
Centrefold Photos
18
Stuff ANU Law Students Like
24
Salt‘n‘Pepper
38
Irregular
5 Best Kept Secrets of ANU
6
Law School Reform 8
War Criminals and Their Pysche
10
Maybe You Shouldn‘t be Studying Law
12
Law, Huh! What is it Good For?
16
What‘s New in Law
17
Don Watch22
Internships: a round-the-world guide
26
Get Busy32
First Semester Compulsories Guide
33
Law Exchange: A bittersweet symphony
36
Artwork
Front cover: Leila Packett and Angus Donohoo
Welcome Back, Idiots: Angus Donohoo
1
14
Editorial Team
Dunja Cvjeticanin, Farzaneh Edraki, Aman Gaur,
Callum Mustow, Lex Rosenberg, Madalein Rose Tier
Contributors
Angus Donohoo, Stephanie Schweiger, Leila Packett, Harry Hobbs, Mark Jehne,
Paddy Mayoh, Muhammad Taufiq bin Suraidi, Andrew Oldfield, Melissa Wellham, Tom
Langsford, Chris Chynoweth,
Claire Schwager
Contact
peppercornanu@gmail.com
or 'Like' us on FB!
Acknowledgements
Peppercorn would like to thank the LSS, the ANU College of Law, Woroni and ANU
Student Media, as well as our sponsors, for their assistance in the publication of this
magazine.
The views expressed in Peppercorn are not necessarily the views of the LSS,
ANUSA, or the editorial team.
all payment, a nominal
ce is a metaphor for a very sm
'A peppercorn in legal parlan
ation of a legal contract.'
the requirements for the cre
consideration, used to satisfy
- Wikipedia
DIDYA KNOW?
'A peppercorn does not cease to be good consideration if it is established that the promisee does not like pepper and will throw away the
corn.‘ Somervell LJ in Chappell v Nestlé [1960] AC 67. An actual peppercorn has been used as consideration for almost 200 years for leasing a
building in Bermuda... Ahh, those Bermudans. They so crazy!
Edition 2 2012 · 3
Peppercorn
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS
Dear Readers,
Welcome to Peppercorn 2012!
You only need to take a look around
the LSS Office to see how central
Peppercorn has been to our history as
a society. The numerous front covers
of classic editions stuck across the
wall are testament to the intelligent,
humourous and light-hearted attitude
of the students at our law school.
One image depicts a black-eyed student holding the Peppercorn banner,
another with 10 cappuccinos decorated with the Peppercorn letters and another shows two people in togas lying
on the law school lawn. Peppercorn is
a central part of the culture here and
long may it continue.
This year, we are lucky to have six talented editors committed to providing
intellectual pieces on contemporary
issues with the necessary satire and
dry wit that so aptly characterises
this publication. We are to be treated
to four editions in 2012 – so prepare
yourselves for some thought-provoking articles, some laughs and just the
right amount of legal puns.
I encourage the readers to contribute
to this publication. It is a representation of the law school experience
and it would not be complete without
contributions from the law student
readership. I’m looking forward to
reading the editions this year - we’re
in for a treat!
Chris Chynoweth
LSS Pres 2012
Peppercorn editors: all work, no play? Nah.
EDITORIAL
Welcome to the ANU College of Law for
2012! Whether you are an ambitious yet
nervous first year, an old hand stuck somewhere in the middle or a geriatric entering your final year of “negotiable” lecture
timetables, Peppercorn is here to provide its
services as your necessary and dependable
procrastination aide/fish and chip wrapper.
In 2012, Peppercorn will also be heading
online. Check us out on Facebook, where
we’ll be doing stuff like:
Peppercorn has a New Year‘s resolution: to
broaden its horizons in 2012. Over the
course of the year, we’ll be aiming to bring
you the following in our quarterly editions:
Posting mildly annoying wholly off-topic
Youtube clips.
The “6:30pm-SBS-News-hard stuff ” –
that is, covering issues such as Law School
Reform project and how it’s affecting your
HECS debt.
The “7pm-Project stuff ” – this is the stuff
people will actually read and includes pertinent issues such as ways to trick professors and “Stuff Law Students Like”.
The “Jon-Stewart stuff ” – these are the
crosswords, quizzes and funnies that might
help keep you sane as those inevitable late
nights take their toll late in the semester.
4 · Edition 1 2012
Posting regular updates on “Don Rothwell Watch”;
Providing electronic guides to semester
electives; and
In short, we’re going to try to distract you
as much as possible from why you’re actually here at law school. But don’t be passive in this quest; if you can write legibly
or colour inside the lines, get in touch
with us and contribute to our quarterly
editions!
Humbly yours,
Peppercorn Eds 2012
A Letter to First Years
Claire Schwager
Dear First Year
Law Student,
HELLO. Yes, I’m talking to you. I
see you there, fiddling with the page end,
itching to turn it and ignore this article.
You’ve been wading through later-year
law jargon for a while now, and feel that
there is nothing here that could possibly
apply to you. Well, if my freakily accurate premonitions aren’t enough to compel you to tame your extremities, then
perhaps you will bow to my second-year
wisdom and take interest in the following
bits of advice I have to offer.
Now, I know what you’re thinking, First
Year. It’s one of two things: a) you really ought to get back to your readings
rather than waste precious seconds sifting
through some Second Year’s second rate
trash; or b) you got 99.9 in the HSC so
there’s nothing this memo can teach you
that you don’t already know.
If your reaction was a), let me save you
some time. Readings are to being a law
student as manhood is to politics. Whilst
traditionally thought necessary, in this
day and age it’s bigoted to suppose that
you can’t do as good a job without them.
Case summaries are replacing textbooks
quicker than you can say Supplementary
Exam and sometimes, to be the better lawyer, you need to think outside the box.
Atticus Finch style. So:
In-Legal-Studies- Upper-North-ShoreFancypants feelings. There are plenty of
big fish to fry in this pond and no one’s
interested in your big head with its Young
Liberal comb-over.
Duxing in High
School doesn’t even guarantee you a pass
in Law School, so if you expect one of
those illustrious HDs, why not wait until
you actually achieve it before volunteering
yourself for an interview with Woroni?
Egocentricity is not new to Law Students, but before you can make people resent
you for it with reason, you have to earn it.
Rule Two: Earn Your Ego.
Now that your aspirations have been crushed, dear First Year, here’s some more
practical advice for you. Sesquipedalian
tendencies and tautological compositions
have no place in Law School. When you
feel obliged to write essays that are so
moving they could dance the lead role of
‘Contracts: The Musical’, beware: academics will enjoy your emotive language as
much as Mrs Donoghue enjoyed decomposed garden creatures in her carbonated
beverages.
(Sorry, that’s a law joke. Another bit of
advice: try to avoid law jokes around nonlaw friends as they will enjoy these as
much as academics will enjoy your lavish
vocabulary.).
Rule Three: KISS.
it Simple, Stupid.
Keep
Rule One: Stress Less.
(And you
thought you wouldn’t get any action at
law school.)
If your reaction was b), well, I hate to
quash your judicial ego, but as a graduate
of first year law I have no interest in tiptoeing around your School-Captain-First-
Onto my fourth point. ‘Kill all the Lawyers!’ demanded Shakespeare. Well, as wise
as the great bard was, hoards of lawyerhaters are not your greatest threat. No,
here at law school, the enemy is much
more insidious: Procrastination. Whether
manifested through procrastibaking, procrastiFacebooking, procrastisporting or
procrastiwhatevering, it has poisoned
the transcript of many a student before
you. (Some of us have even resorted to
procrasti-studyingforarts.) Procrastination is the demon manifestation of inner
yearnings for friendly activity.
My advice? Get out more. If you ensure yourself a demanding social calendar,
you won’t have time to procrastinate. So
commit to Oktoberfest, and even Februaryfest and Mayfest. Schedule a weekly
coffee at the Street Theatre and get a
part time job waiting on Public Servants.
Go for a frolic with the ducks and spend
some time looking at the sky. Heck, write
pointless articles for Peppercorn if it
takes your fancy! (Eds: Do it. Now.)
Rich and successful university students
of the past certainly didn’t have study as
their first priority. Kevin Rudd was preoccupied ‘meeting’ his future wife at Burgmann College; Peter Garrett was dancing
like a wiggle on speed; and Julia Gillard
was busy being a ranga. So,
Rule Four: Commitments
are a healthy, procrastination-free way of avoiding
study.
And so, dear First Year, that’s that. I now
permit you to proceed freely to the next
pages in confidence, knowing that having
absorbed the immenseness of the wisdom contained herein. You are now ready to embark on your law student experience. Impossible word limits, tort-uous
law humour and many a lonely night with
Edition 1 2012 · 5
Peppercorn
a goonsack await.
But worry not, for these experiences are
accompanied by lazy afternoons on the
law lawns, chunder in the Parliament
House bathrooms and whimsical crushes
on High Court Justices. If worse comes
to worst you can always drop out and become an arts student. You’ll be unemployable, but we’ll only judge you a little
bit. So, Rule Five: try and stick with it. If
you’ve managed to read the entirety of
this article, you’re probably already ahead
of the game.
Yours in ratio,
A Second Year
Law Student.
Shhh.
THE best kept
secretS of
ANU
Lex Rosenberg
4. pajenka’s rejects
There’s a stereotype that students are cheapskates who will do almost anything for a discount meal. That stereotype is true. If there’s
a way to get food for less, students will work
it out. Here’s a tip that doesn’t involve Home
Brand, or five-finger discounts.
After about 5pm, Pajenka’s sends their unsold
food to the ANU bar. The bar then sells them
for $3! So what if the pasta‘s been sitting out
all day? If the food is cheap, we’re not com6 · Edition 1 2012
plaining. Rumour has it that the Asian Bistro also
has heavily discounted prices in the afternoon.
3. the no-moreworries word count
There are a couple of tricks for massaging a
word count.
Firstly, if you’re handing in a hard copy, extending the margins or restricting the character
spacing can make your document seem shorter.
(Plus, you can always just lie on the cover-sheet).
For electronic submissions, here’s a simple trick.
Tired of the AGLC’s strict rules on having a
space between ‘s’ and the section number? Slip
an underscore between them, change the colour
to white, and give the appearance of having two
words while your word count shows only one.
Check this out: ‘s 51xx’. See that white underscore there? No, you don’t. That’s the point.
With a little creativity, you can apply this trick
to other words, to artificially lower your word
count.
Obviously, this won’t make 100 words of content
disappear, but it can bring you down that last 10
or so words when you just can’t cut anymore.
(NB: Don’t try these with Mark Nolan, and always full-stop your footnotes for him. He‘s a
notorious stickler for the AGLC.)
2.the ol’ printing
trick
We admit we have not tried this one out ourselves (because we are yellow-bellies, fearful of the
watchful eye of the librarian), but we have been
assured by an Engineering student that it works.
The only downside to this trick is, you
have to be game enough to actually try
it, and risk a “what are you doing?” from
the librarians. If any brave reader has the
guts to attempt the most epic of printing
swindles, let Peppercorn know and we’ll
publish your results (full anonymity of
course).
1. toiletrooms of
requirement
Our number one tip may seem strange,
but the one time you need it, it will feel
like a godsend. If ever you find yourself
on campus when everything is closed,
and nature urgently calls, we’ve got the
toilet for you. The toilets on the ground
floor of the law building, adjacent to the
Law Link Theatre, are always open.
And when we say always, we mean always. On public holidays, after the Law
Library has closed, on the weekend, at
2am in the morning, and (the last time we
visited them) the day after New Year’s.
Like the Room of Requirement, every
time we‘ve needed them, the electronic
doors have slid back to provide salvation. We‘re not sure why this single corner
of the Law Building has been omitted
from the security grid. But Peppercorn
doesn‘t seek to explain miracles. We assume these ever-available lavatories are a
part of God’s plan.
So if ever you find yourself at ANU,
when all the other public amenities have
failed you, just remember there is a relatively clean seat and a roll of soft paper
to greet you at the Law School.
There is - so our source says - a simple way to
get absolutely free printing from any ANU printer. Simply run a USB cable from your laptop
straight into the back of the printer. This method of connection bypasses ANU’s printing
program and allows your computer to send
commands to the printer directly. No need for
your ID number, no need for payment.
Think of the possibilities! Single sided! Full colour! 100+ pages of summary at no cost!
Send us your best kept secret for next issue, and we‘ll let you in on our super secret
parking spot! peppercornanu@gmail.com
Edition 1 2012 · 7
Z
Kategorie
LAW SCHOOL
what happe
A Message from LSR:
It‘s just about a year since the LSR Report
was launched on the College of Law lawns
and quite a few things have changed for
Law School Reform.
Yes to the influx of national media received. The ANU Office of the Vice-Chancellor even
sent us a Mediaportal report.
Yes to Emeritus Professor David Barker‘s Australasian Law Teacher‘s Association paper
on the LSR report.
Yes to the masses of feedback we‘ve gotten.
Yes, half the team have graduated.
Yes, to Canberran journalist Chris Wallace
commenting that LSR neglected to offer
her a drink at our launch. Bad us.
So, finally, one more yes. Dear ANU College of Law, we are still really looking forward
to your response. We‘re happy to have had so much feedback, but it’s just not quite right
without yours.
But yes also to our previous Vice-Chancellor, Ian Chubb congratulating LSR on our
important initiative.
PS we‘re still a team half full.
PPS we‘ve taken Chris Chynoweth (2012 LSS President) out for drinks and all is A-OK
now.
In fact, yes to Chubb‘s remarkable observation (based on his daughter‘s experiences
as an ANU law student) that because the
law students of today will be the politicians
and leaders of tomorrow, reforming legal
education is a crucial step towards bringing
greater efficiency and justice to the Australian legal system and to society in general.
Stefanie Schweiger
Yes to our Dean‘s International Review Panel lauding the LSR report, encouraging the
College of Law to pay very close attention
to it.
Yes to the Law Council of Australia sending
our report to all their thousands of members.
And yes yes yes yes yes to discussing the
LSR report with babe Martha Nussbaum
(photos of Stef and Mel on Facebook).
Other notables include Geoffrey Robertson
and locally, David Weisbrot, Marie Jepson
and Lisa Pryor.
8 · Edition 1 2012
What do you think?
Send in your comments:
peppercornanu@gmail.com
Kategorie
Z
REFORM
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Let’s face it, law school is pretty rubbish
a lot of the time. Obscene amounts of
reading, repetitive assessment, two hour
lectures on one subsection of the Corporations Act, and an unhealthy competitiveness between participants fostered
by the “banded grading system”. But
what do we ever do about it but give every other non-law student on campus the
shits by simultaneously complaining and
boasting about how hard it is being a law
student?
Well, in 2009 a group of students frustrated by the incremental reforms of the
College and concerned it had little realistic idea of how students felt about their
law degrees formed a group in order to
allow students to express their concerns
in a candid way: Law School Reform.
Following two surveys, a student workshop and extensive Facebook discussions, their report, Breaking the Frozen
Sea, was released in 2011.
The 100 page report contains large
amounts of feedback from the student
body and an extensive list of proposed
reforms for the College to undertake.
These included things as simple as improving the flexibility of assignment
submissions and timetables, diversifying
the range of assessment and teaching
methods used to provide more practical
aspects to our degrees, and providing a
more comprehensive professional and
peer mentoring system, to the viability
of adopting a med-school pass/fail approach to grading.
Officially, the Law Students Society and
their Education Portfolio has given a great deal of support to LSR. Their coinci-
ding interest in student welfare has seen
them sponsor LSR events and help with
printing costs. The LSS’s response to the
LSR report, released in June 2011, painted a less ideal picture. While firm in its
support for many of LSR’s recommendations, such as the reduction of lecture
and tutorial size, access to faculty, the
diversification of assessment, and ameliorating the negative impact law school can
have on mental health, the tone of the response was one of much greater support
for the work the College already does, resentment at the implication the LSS had
not been doing enough to advocate for
students, and a firm rejection of the more
radical suggestions. Furthermore, a piece
by the LSS President published in Peppercorn 2011 laid waste to the rumour that
the College maintains a bell-curve grading system in which some students are
required to fail.
This is all well and good, I hear you saying,
but what on earth is being done about it?
Unfortunately, at the time of printing, the
College was unable to provide a response
to Peppercorn on what they’ve been doing about both reports. A committee was
formed and a response had been expected
at the end of 2011. Rumours that an official response was to come in January have
proved unfruitful, and those on the inside
suggest that it may not come until just before some of the faculty go on sabbatical
in the middle of 2012.
Independently of LSR, however, the College has an ongoing process of incremental degree reform. Today’s later year students would see little resemblance to their
early years were they undertaking them
again today. Group assessment, a multi-
tude of smaller assessment pieces and less
exams for first years have come in response
to concerns that previous assessment set
early year students up to fail.
But it’s still entirely possible to end up sitting a 100% exam, particularly if you don’t
thrive on or can’t fit in the time pressures
of group work. Apart from a short tutorial
task in Criminal Law and Procedure, Legal
Theory remains the only time in a five year
degree you’ll be assessed for your speaking
ability in a compulsory subject. On this
front, however, things may be looking up.
Outgoing LSS Director of Competitions,
Kelly Kristofferson, reports that they have
been informed their hard work paid off,
and the College Education Committee was
planning to integrate competitions into
the curriculum, going as far as to include a
mooting elective.
For now, it seems students are being asked
to play the waiting game. Whether LSR and
the LSS’s continued efforts will reap many
rewards is yet to be seen. It seems unlikely
that revolutionary reform will be undertaken any time soon. Law students can be
reassured, however, that the short comings
of their degrees have been well publicised,
and can simply hope that moving forward
also means relieving some of the pressure.
You can access LSR’s report, Breaking the
Frozen Sea: A Case for Reforming Legal
Educaiton at the Australian National University online at (http://lawschoolreform.
com/files/lsr_breakingthefrozensea.pdf)
and the Law Student Societies response at
(http://www.anulss.com/documents/LSS_
LSR_Response.pdf)
Edition 1 2012 · 9
WAR CRIMINALS
AND THEIR PSYCHE
Fifth year Arts/Law student Harry Hobbs interned in the Supreme Court Chamber of the ECCC in
Cambodia from June to October 2011. This, is his story.
On 3 February the Supreme Court Chamber of the Extraordinary Chambers in the
Courts of Cambodia handed down their
decision on the appeal of Kaing Guek Eav,
also known as Comrade Duch. Duch was
the leader of S-21, the notorious security
prison of the Khmer Rouge regime where
“at least 12,273” individuals (and more likely up to 17,000) were brutalised, tortured,
forced to confess to being members of
both the KGB and the CIA (while simultaneously being Vietnamese infiltrators) and
eventually carted off to a little spot 17km
away now known as “Cheoung Ek Killing
Fields”.
Although there were hundreds of security
prisons across Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge regime, S-21 was not simply just
“one” of many – S-21 was “the” security
prison. It was designed specifically to cater
for the suddenly disfavoured political elite
of the Khmer Rouge and has since become
one of two focal points (the other being
Cheoung Ek) for Cambodians and tourists
seeking to learn about this traumatic period.
Comrade Duch had appealed his trial sentence of 35 years. That is thirty-five (35)
years. For overseeing the brutal murder
of “at least 12,273” individuals Duch was
sentenced to 35 years in gaol. But, because
of mitigating circumstances, including the
10 · Automatische Seitenzahl
denial of his human rights (Duch was in
detention for six years before finally being
charged) and his remorse and recent cooperation with the authorities, Duch’s sentence was reduced to nineteen (19) years.
Of course the Prosecutor appealed, but
why on earth was Duch appealing?
Duch appealed because for some reason,
somehow he believed he did not deserve to spend any time in gaol. Duch believed that because of his assistance and
cooperation with the court authorities
in providing vital information about the
intricacies of the Khmer Rouge regime,
Cambodia and the international community should forgive his past actions. Bizarre as this is, Duch’s rationalisation is
not novel amongst war criminals.
But madness is not just a Cambodian war
criminal thing. The (short) history of international criminal law is littered with
examples of once all-powerful men (and
they are predominately men) desperately
failing to respond to changing circumstances.
Slobodan Milosevic famously decried the
International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia for launching an ‘evil and hostile
attack’ against him. Just whether he consi-
dered his role in the Kosovo war (for which
he was indicted with genocide, complicity
in genocide, deportation, murder etc etc…)
as ‘evil’, ‘hostile’ or an “attack” was never
quite cleared up as he was found dead in
his cell during the middle of his trial. This
was a shame on a number of accounts –
not least because Milosevic had decided to
represent himself. How does the old adage
go? Those who represent themselves have
a fool for a client?
More recently Muammar Gaddafi added
his name to this list. During the early days
of the Libyan uprising Gaddafi accused the
rebels of being ‘drugged’. His brutal televised murder (one that the ICC should investigate) at least made his son, Saif al-Islam,
realise that perhaps it might be better to
surrender to the ICC rather than risk being
captured by the Libyan rebels. Unfortunately for Saif, he couldn’t quite make it and
is now being held somewhere in Eastern
Libya. Just what will happen to him next
is unclear – but I for one hope that it is
recorded.
Oh, and if you are wondering what the
Supreme Court Chamber decided? Well, I
don’t want to brag, but if you have a look
at the decision online you might notice four
footnotes somewhere towards the back.
Yeah. That was me. You’re welcome Cambodia.
Peppercorn
CALENDAR
A few handy dates to note.
February
20: First teaching session and first semester begin
20: Apply for IARU Global Summer Program (applications close 2 March)
27: Extortion: Setting Ablaze an Arab Spring – A Threat to All? (Public lecture)
March
2: Last day to add first semester courses without penalty
9: Due date for payment of tuition fees and up-front HECS for first semester
12: Canberra Day holiday
31: Summer session ends 31: First semester census date
6: The Australian Moment: George Megalogenis (Public lecture)
9: Tertiary to Work - Canberra‘s graduate job fair (National Convention Centre)
15: ILS International Humanitarian Law Moot
April
1: Autumn session begins
5: First teaching period ends
6: Good Friday holiday
9: Easter Monday holiday
13: The UN Human Rights Committee and the Right to Enter Ones Own Country
(Public lecture)
16: Deadline for National Essay Competition (3000 - 12000 words on a legal topic and submit it to academic_journal@alsa.asn.au)
23: Second teaching period begins
25: ANZAC Day holiday
May
11: Last day to drop first semester courses without failure
Edition 1 2012· 11
Peppercorn
...MAYBE YOU
BE studying
To do law, or not to do law
– that was the question
By Melissa Wellham (Just Arts
Graduate)
I’m not going to tell you to drop law, but
to those of you who aren’t sure, I will
repeat the most common phrase in the
career counselor handbook: it’s not for
everyone.
I started law at ANU with a group of my
friends from college, and battled through
the courses for a full year. I got very good
grades in the first semester and very bad
ones in the second. Appalling, even. And
at the end of that one year, I dropped law
and put it behind me forever (with the
notable exception of watching the ANU
Law Revue every year), and threw myself
into my Bachelor of Just Arts. (So-called,
because that was how I took to describing
it to people – almost apologetically: “Oh,
you know, I’m just doing a Bachelor of
Arts.” It’s a habit I’ve yet to break.)
My “drop law, Melissa” signals came early
on. In my first Foundies tutorial, everyone in the class was asked to outline why
they wanted to study law. The answers
were varied (but not that varied. This was
still when everyone wanted to work for
DFAT.) People were inspired by lawyers
they knew, or wanted to be diplomats, or
wanted to work for Legal Aid, or in the
field of environmental law. Or, in the
case, of many, they wanted to keep their
options open.
Thoughts?
Feedback not only welcome, but encouraged:
peppercornanu@gmail.
com
12 · Edition 1 2012
My answer: I wanted to learn legal jargon,
so that I could move to Hollywood and
write convincing scripts for Law & Order.
I was only partly joking. What could I
say? That I didn’t want to study law? That
I enrolled in a moment of weakness, because I got the UAI? What I actually wanted to do was to write.
Now, I don’t regret studying law for a
year – you might as well give everything
a go, right? – but I also don’t regret dropping it. Because, when I dropped law, I
suddenly had a lot more free time. Some
of this free time I misspent, but some of
this time I actually used productively. I
wrote for various online publications –
movie reviews, rants on my blog, poetry
that never saw the light of day (for which
everyone should be thankful) – and started building up a portfolio of published
work. The most tangible success that
came out of these efforts is probably that
I now have an incredibly dorky photo of
myself in Canberra street press magazine
BMA every issue, as their film editor. But
I also managed to score a job at a political communications and consultancy firm
when I finished my degree, which I have
no doubt was due to getting my writing
published.
'I wanted to learn legal
jargon, so that I could
move to Hollywood and
write convincing scripts
for Law & Order.'
My point is this: law takes a lot of time.
If you like law and it will help your future goals, then don’t give it up. But if it’s
not something you enjoy, and you’re not
doing it for a real reason, then maybe you
just shouldn’t be. To put it another way,
if you’d rather be writing scripts for Law
& Order, maybe you should be studying
the writing part, instead of the law part.
(They get all the law wrong, anyway).
>>SHOULDN't>>
law
Peppercorn
ctice law?‘
ra
p
to
t
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a
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rself, 'Do I reall
u
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Let‘s face it, you‘re not the on
Why I left law – and why I'm
so happy I did
By Andrew Oldfield (Engineering
Student & Law Drop Out)
To understand why I left law – and why I’m
so happy I did – you have to understand
that I never actually wanted to be a lawyer. I
enrolled in it for two main reasons. Firstly,
I wanted to make amends for taking lower
level English in college, and secondly, although I’d done well in Maths and Science
in Year 12, I didn’t want to automatically do
Science or Engineering. I wanted to do something different, something unexpected of
me. Some people raft the Amazon, some
people hike in Tibet. My version of throwing off the shackles of expectation and discovering myself was doing Law. Can you
taste the rebellion?
I don‘t think I ever intended to finish Law.
At most I think Law and I only flirted, while
I looked over its shoulder for something a
little more exciting. D-day came at the end
of second year. By this time Law had decided it wasn’t going to give me any more love
without a bit more commitment from my
side, and as much as I enjoyed the challenge,
I couldn‘t help but feel it might be more fulfilling to do something I had an affinity with;
where success came a little more easily. Relationships should be more enjoyable than
ours was and we both knew we were better
apart. My only consolation was finally understanding most of the Law Revue. ($6000
well spent, I’d say.)
It was during this last painful semester in second year that I had my grand epiphany, like
Archimedes, Joshua and Bard the Bowman
before me – I remembered I didn’t want to
be a lawyer! With Black mountain as my personal Sinai, the voice of the almighty briefly
replaced my exhausted internal monologue:
‘Andrew, you don’t actually want to be
a lawyer’.
I changed to Engineering because I
found it more interesting than law. In
LJE we talked about building bridges
between cultures… but Engineers build
actual bridges! Isn’t that cooler? I am
glad that I spent two years doing law;
but I am super glad that I changed to
Engineering. Engineering has a different
vibe at Uni. It involves a lot of group
work and isn’t marked on a bell curve,
so is a lot more co-operative. It’s also
60% male instead of 70% female, which
makes it more inclined toward death
metal t-shirts, ponytails on dudes, and
cool gadgetry.
Engineers work more collaboratively, in
more varied settings, inside and outside,
on actual things! Radar and missiles,
people! Or bridges and wells and roads.
Or really big mines. Or robots. So if
you love bromance, or boys, if you want
a job that deals with matter not process,
if you want a career with lower levels
of depression and higher levels of cool,
come to the light and become an Engineer. You know you want to.
My one very serious bit of advice is this;
if you don’t actually want to be a lawyer
or do a job where law is absolutely required, DON’T DO LAW! There are
so many other degrees that are more interesting and just as useful. Our society,
especially our parliament, isn’t suffering
from a dearth of lawyers. What we truly
need are inventors, scientists and economists who can help us with poverty, climate change and overpopulation. So if
you have doubts about studying law, do
your bit to save the planet, and drop it.
Edition 1 2012 · 13
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14 · Automatische Seitenzahl
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Illustration: Angus Donohoo.
Automatische Seitenzahl · 15
Peppercorn
Law, huh!
What is it good for?
Muhammad Taufiq bin Suraidi reflects on life,
law, and legal education
Over the summer, I spent a month interning at
Singapore’s Legal Aid Bureau. Like any other legal aid
branch, the bureau is set up to assist those who cannot afford lawyers to receive legal advice or representation for free.
In my one month internship at the bureau, I began to
see that there exist two worlds in our society. It is hard
to ignore the realisation that the lowest earners in our
society are those who do not understand the laws
that govern them while we educated and fortunate
bunch are clearly up to date with the latest laws and
legislative debate. Most of the time, the poor are preoccupied with their own struggles, too busy trying to
make ends meet for them to understand what laws
are being legislated.
However, whenever any legal problem befalls them,
they are suddenly thrown into an alien world where
men wear suits and speak languages they don’t understand. Suddenly their lives are out of their hands
and their future lies out of their control. They are now
thrown into the world of the law.
For example, as I experienced during my internship,
when those in the lowest income are facing a divorce,
they are faced with a mountain of legal rules. Suddenly their matrimonial properties are divided by a
law that does not reflect the hardships they endured
under a repressive relationship. In a few months or
maybe a year later, the Courts will order that their
children leave them or that they sell their homes and
divide their proceeds. Suddenly, they are worse off.
What was expected to be something that will ease
their pain suddenly becomes something very unfair
to them. And this is done under a law which is supposed to uphold justice. To them, they see it as us big
rich guys in suits and talking about laws they don’t
understand controlling their lives and showing disregard to their traumatic emotional experience.
To lawyers on the other hand, their life-changing experience is but a case. In this light, how is justice served?
During my time at Singapore‘s Legal Aid, I begin to
understand that it is the job of lawyers to be the link
between the law and those people who don’t understand why they are subject to and controlled by rules
16 · Edition 1 2012
they play no part in creating.
Understanding that everyone is subject to these laws,
it is the duty of lawyers to ensure that either through
pro bono services or through this noble bureau that
we help those whose lives are suddenly subjected to
the law.
On top of it, it is imperative that lawyers help them
through it. Although doing so will not make the pain
of the outcome of their case any easier for them to
bear, it will give them the necessary understanding of
what and why such an outcome came about and so
giving them the courage to move on and start anew.
To do so requires more than just a short lesson in the
law. It requires lawyers to be human to their clients.
It is necessary that they have human or ‘soft’ skills to
assist, educate and support them through their case.
To help them see justice in all of it.
In doing so, it is hoped that they can move on and not
feel that the law, a noble and merciful institution, is
unjust and unfair towards them.
Doing so will ultimately renew and sustain the confidence society have in our legal system without which
any society will crumble into anarchy.
Bearing that in mind, I feel grateful that we have a
law school which emphasises both the need to understand the philosophy of the law as well as the human aspect of it. With Law Reform and Social Justice
Program in Law School, Lawyers Justice and Ethics
course and the Legal Clinic Course, opportunities are
presented to law students to experience beyond the
legalistic and theoretical aspect of the law and see
the realities of its operation on the society.
Ultimately, law school is not and should not be just
about being right under the law but also about how
to be just and understanding. This is a very human
function of the law that no textbook can instruct us
on. It is one we as law students have to go out there
in the world and try understand.
Kategorie
Z
what's new in law?
Updates from what you missed over summer.
Kenya Feel the Love Tonight?
enslanncde’s
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Q
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r
Ove “Gay Panic” defe
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uld proceed with charges aga
wer
inst four Kenyan leaal Queensland
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finally kick-sta
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These issues aren’t unique to
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e overhaul as a
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ce
Kelly
sense”.
Edition 1 2012 · 17
Summer
Got any photos
you'd like to
share? 18 · Edition 1 2012
Kategorie
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stories
Send 'em in:
peppercornanu@gmail.com
Edition 1 2012 · 19
20 · Edition 1 2012
Edition 1 2012 · 21
Peppercorn
DON WATCH
SPOTTED don
educating
the world on
international
law?
e-mail peppercornanu@gmail.com
or comment on our fb page.
22 · Edition 1 2012
DON WATCH
Edition 1 2012 · 23
Stuff ANU Law Students Like
24 · Edition 1 2012
By Farz Edraki
Public Lectures
ROCK UP TO A PUBLIC LECTURE
YOU FOUND ON THE WHAT’S ON
PAGE OF ANU’S WEBSITE, and you
will no doubt find a handful of law
students in the front row. If the topic is even remotely related to their
field, law students will pretend to be
interested enough to attend a public
lecture on it. This is especially true
if the lecturer is from Some Foreign
University They’ve Vaguely Heard Of,
or if there is free food and wine.
Coffee at Gods,
Hedley Bull
LIKE MOST UNIVERSITY STUDENTS,
law students love coffee. They spend
countless hours in cafés drinking the
stuff under the guise of “study”.
When it comes to which café, law
students have two feasible options:
Gods, or Caterina’s. Sure, there are
more cafés on campus, but law students like to think that their time is
precious, and won’t walk for longer
than five minutes to get their caffeine fix. (Ironically, these same law
students will spend several hours a
day on FB, complaining about an assignment deadline. Law students fail
to appreciate this irony, and it is unwise that you point it out to them).
Faced with these two options, law
students flock to Gods, largely because of its proximity to Coombs,
decent coffee, and a pleasant odor
that isn’t at all reminiscent of a toilet. Many have spoken of the Fabled
Caterina’s Renovations, but – much
like reform of the Law School itself –
the exact details are hazy.
It’s not difficult to spot the law student in the public lecture – they’re
usually the ones asking pointless
questions at the end. Note: “question” is a generous term. “Statement”,
“Observation”, or “Musing on Personal Experience Which The Law Student Will Relate to a Bored Audience
at Length” is more accurate.
Should the public lecture clash with
drinks somewhere, the law student
will be faced with a difficult choice.
There is only one thing law students
like more than faking interest in social issues, and that is talking about
their interest in social issues with a
view to getting laid. They will thus
almost always choose drinks.
Hey girl, forget Ryan Gosling.
I‘m your sensitive, intelligent
New Age man.
Tony Connolly
WITH HIS EXOTIC, culturally-ambiguous accent and Harry Potter frames, Tony Connolly is the ANU Law
Schools’ intellectual heart-throb.
Law students first encounter him in
their second year in Legal Theory.
From there, it takes on average 1 –
2 weeks before the Connolly Effect
sinks in: suddenly, erstwhile apathetic law students launch into discussions of Dworkin, Iris Marion Young,
or native title at the breakfast table.
Typical conversations will include the
following phrases: “rule of law”, “social construct”, or “as Tony said..” It
is highly unlikely that these law students know the precise nuances of
these terms, or that they’ve actually
paid attention in class – they’re too
busy etching “FB + TC 4 Lyf” into a
Coombs desk.
See also: Simon Rice, and
Wayne Morgan.
Edition 1 2012 · 25
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Peppercorn:
Internship Guide
:
S
P
I
H
S
N
ER
INT
a round-the-world guide
Have y
Washinogut ever dreamt of d
on?
oing an in
ternship i
n New De
Pepperco
lhi, Beijin
who've bern investigates,
g, or
en there,
ith the h
done thw
elp of a f
at.
ew ANU
law stude
nts
26 · Edition 1 2012
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Peppercorn:
Internship Guide
South Asia Human Rights and
Documentation Centre
This summer I managed to land myself a prestigious law job. Before leaving I was
really excited – I’d never had one of these delights before, and the post was in New
Delhi. I had packed my suit and jumped on a flight from Upper Ainslie to India’s
capital. Turning up to work on my first day, however, I realised that it wasn’t what I
expected. The office doesn’t occupy a floor of a CBD high rise, but rather is housed
by two small rooms schnooged behind a sweets shop; a family lives down the hall
from the office, just opposite the women’s toilets. Culture shock for me was learning
I would not be required to power dress and that I would not be receiving a retracting
security lanyard printed with my beaming photo.
I spent five weeks of my holidays interning not at a corporate law firm but at the
South Asia Human Rights Documentation Centre, a phenomenal NGO that has for
decades endured under the weight of its awkward, unpronounceable acronym. The
office is small and tightly packed with cupboards of old files, along with a handful
of interns from around India and the
world who diligently write publications
on civil and political human rights abuses in India and the region. The aim
of the organisation is to build institutional memory about human rights abuses so that violations will not be forgotten with time. My time was spent
researching and editing a chapter on the
Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, a draconian piece of legislation that was used to arbitrarily detain
tens of thousands of innocent people,
in some cases for more than a decade.
While the work was very interesting, by
far the best part of the internship was
getting to know SAHRDC’s director,
Ravi Nair. Ravi has dissident pedigree,
and his stories were a welcome respite
from reading infuriating Indian Supreme Court judgments. While Ravi
now calls himself a ‘fuddy duddy’, he
was once a deviant youth who protested
Indira Gandhi’s Emergency and jumped
on the Shah of Iran’s motorcade while
working as a Ministerial assistant. In the
office he recalls tales from his lifetime
spent working for human rights, of
international diplomacy’s high politics
and low blows. Although no longer a
lout, he takes pride in being a forefront
critic of the State, and maintains passion and optimism that others might dismiss as youthful naivety.
While working at SAHRDC did not fulfill my illusions of corporate law grandeur, spending time with people who
have changed the world allowed me to
think that, just perhaps, I could do the
same.
Mark Jehne
Edition 1 2012 · 27
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Internship Guide
living, working
Paddy Mayoh has recently completed a Prime Minister’s Australia-Asia Endeavour
Award in China studying law at Peking
University. He is a final year Bachelor of
Asia-Pacific Studies (Chinese) / Bachelor
of Laws student at the ANU and was the
2009 ANU LSS President.
After leaving the Australian summer
as a third year Asian Studies (Chinese)/Law student, I found myself on
the 22nd floor of the World Trade
Tower in Beijing’s bustling CBD
reading through a satellite television
landing agreement written in both
Chinese and English. As the CCTV
tower loomed over me in the background, I listened to my boss at
TransAsia Lawyers skillfully switch
between perfectly fluent Mandarin
and English as he advised a leading
international media entity on television broadcasting rights in the PRC. I
had arrived in ‘the middle kingdom’.
As I look back on the last three years, I feel incredibly fortunate to
have had the opportunity to study
mandarin, international relations and
law at Peking University and intern
at numerous commercial law firms in
Hong Kong as well as a grassroots
legal aid firm in Beijing.
During the academic term in China,
I studied PRC and international trade law with local Chinese students. It
was a challenge being thrown in the
deep end, drowning, and then being
resuscitated by the lecturer if they
28 · Edition 1 2012
28 · Automatische Seitenzahl
were nice – though thoroughly rewarding. On top of the challenge to grasp
Chinese legalese, I found the competition among students very high, and the
emphasis on memory-based learning in many compulsory courses quite difficult. I
eventually decided to undertake courses in Negotiation and Clinical Law (researching
migrant workers’ rights and the new social insurance law with a select group of later
year students), which were more hands on courses, as well as some topical classes
on Comparative Judicial Law, Media Law and Labour Law. The quality of teaching at
Peking University is excellent and the students grasp course materials from day 1 (not
a scramble to the line in Stuvac), however, lively student discussions in larger classes
are largely absent.
On the internship / work front, I greatly valued the grassroots volunteer work I was
able to undertake at one of China’s most active legal aid services – Beijing Yilian
Legal Aid and Study Center for Labor – working directly with injured workers and
China’s policy-makers in the areas of labour and social security law. I recall sitting in
on a client interview, hearing stories of poor labour conditions within workplaces and
the direct impact this had on workers’ lives. With the help of an excellent mentor (and
alumnus of Peking University), I was able to research new laws regarding reforms to
the social insurance payment system, train young Chinese law students in advocacy
skills, and publish articles on issues including the Qantas dispute.
Kategorie
Z
Peppercorn:
Internship Guide
and studying in CHINA
Though less altruistic, I also loved tasting the commercial life at various law firms in Beijing and Hong
Kong. I interned with Clifford Chance (Hong Kong),
Mallesons Stephen Jaques (Hong Kong), Davis Polk
& Wardwell Hong Kong Solicitors and TransAsia Lawyers (Beijing, Freehills’ alliance firm in the PRC).
Working in a new jurisdiction equipped me with a
worldly outlook on legal practice and an appreciation
of the truly international opportunities that an Asian
Studies/Law background offers. In the often unclear
and nebulous regulatory environment involving PRC
corporations/financial bodies, I discovered that the
answers do not always lie in the black-letter law. As
such, common sense and problem solving skills are
indispensable. Fortunately, my command of Chinese also allowed me to be involved in some of the
larger deals. Being able to check English agreements
against their Chinese versions and jump on “baidu.
com” to search for background information on local
companies was invaluable.
If you are prepared to put in the effort, commercial
law in the China / Greater China region can be extremely rewarding. The dynamism of China-related
work is truly exciting and would be hard to replicate
in Australia. Indeed, whilst at these law firms, my
Outlook would receive new client/new matter messages on the hour, every hour.
The constant flow of work and study added to the
buzz of living in a truly international city. From
networking karaoke nights to outlandish dumpling
gatherings, from occasional battles with the great firewall of China in an effort to secure accurate
information to high-quality workshops on China’s
international ambitions, I have found Beijing a kaleidoscopic city in the opportunities and contradictions
it offers.
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LIFE ON THE HILL
Great face there, Joshy!
'It might be best to have a longer lunchbreak, Occupy DC protesters have barricaded the front office'….
This is a normal day on the Washington Internship.
Over the past month I have been working with the Republican staff at the House Committee on Oversight
and Government Reform. While saying it’s a bit of a
mouthful, the work cuts across the US political spectrum. I have had the opportunity to work in areas as
diverse as reforming the Postal Service, understanding
the legal aspects of the Occupy DC movement and
monitoring transparency and waste in Federal Grant
programs.
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But a typical day working on Capitol Hill does not involve being chained to a desk. At every moment of the
day some lobbying organisation is pitching their views to
congressional staff and hope to enter the glittering world
of ‚access‘. Going along to these breaks up the day and
results in hilarious moments, such as when both the Pro
and Anti-Global Warming lobbyist functions were booked side by side. In years past, Washington interns have
spent almost no money on food by gorging themselves at
every sponsored event available.
Just being located in Washington provides the opportunity to see history in the making. Sitting in the US Supreme
Court when, during a case on indecency standards in te-
Kategorie
Z
Peppercorn:
Internship Guide
levision, it was pointed out to Justice Scalia that the courtroom itself was bedecked in statues of naked women and
children. The look of on his face was priceless.
But the best insight Washington has provided is why Americans believe that the current Congress is the worst for
many years. They call it the ‚do-nothing Congress,‘ but
it’s not as though people turn up for work each day just
to twiddle their thumbs. People forget that in a country
as large and diverse as the United States, the number of
issues that arise which require Federal attention is enormous. There is a culture here that ‚no issue is too small‘.
While this may seem admirable, it makes it nearly impossible for anything to get done. It’s not that the American
Government is not doing anything; it’s that it’s trying to
do too much, too slowly.
Overall, being part of the Washington Internship program has been the highlight of my time
at ANU and an experience which has helped me
understand that what the public thinks of the US
political system is a far cry from what it actually is.
Now back to those Occupy DC Protesters!
Tom Langsford
5 Uses For Your Contracts
Textbook (Other Than Study)
1. Booster seats. Textbooks make excellent booster seats. If you’re short,
there’s nothing better than a hefty Blackshield & Williams textbook to help
you reach the steering wheel. Except perhaps two Blackshield and Williams
textbooks. Luckily, the Co-Op sells two together in one exorbitantly priced
package.
2. Tissue paper. What for? To dry your eyes after crying in the Melville Hall
bathrooms after a harrowing mid-term, of course.
3. Door stoppers. As simple as it sounds.
4. Secret storage compartment. You’ll need a knife or scissors for this
one. Just cut out a rectangular hollow in the textbook, and keep your secret
flask away from prying eyes. Excellent for sneaking drinks during class, too.
5. Paper mache material. Life-size paper mache of Don Rothwell,
anyone?
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Get
busy
shake that booty non-stop
Come on,
OTHER OPPORTUNITIES, EXCHANGES AND EXTRA-CURRICULARS @ ANU
ANU boasts a number of opportunities for career advancement and extra-curricular enrichment. As well as the well-publicised exchange program and clerkship opportunities, there are some excellent lesser-known programs that can be overlooked by first years or even later year students. Lex Rosenberg brings you nothing but the best.
Migrant and Refugee Support Services Project (MARSS):
Offered by the Law Reform and Social Justice program, this
project sees students volunteering with migrants and refugees,
one afternoon a week, navigating legal and administrative procedures in the ACT, such as filling out forms, drafting letters,
applying for licences, etc.
a range of local law, and Comparative Australian/American law,
which offers a more in-depth comparison focused on one area of
Australian and American law. Topics for the comparative course
change every year, with the last two years focusing on Environmental and Race Law.
This program is perfect for anyone interested in migration law, This program is a great way to get a trip overseas while knocking
refugee law, admin law, local government, or the community out 12 units. The program is structured to provide time for extra
sector. Give it a go; that warm and fuzzy feeling of giving back travel, as well as giving students an insight into life at an American
university. This program can be taken on top of another ANU exis niiice.
change program. Would suit students interested in American law,
More info: http://anulaw.anu.edu.au/
comparative law, travel or catching up on a
few units over summer.
lrsj/marsproject
Contact: lrsj@law.anu.edu
More info: http://law.anu.edu.au/summer/alabama.asp
Legal Literacy Project:
Contact: Jp.Fonteyne@anu.edu.au ; CooThis program, run through Law Reform
and Social Justice, is one of several Prison
perE@law.anu.edu.au
Issues Projects that revolve around the
Key Dates: Look out for an information
Alexander Maconochie Centre (AMC).
evening in early August. Application forms
The legal literacy project takes a small
available from then and due soon after.
group of ANU students to the AMC
(both men‘s and women‘s prisons) to run
Research Assistant Positions at the ANU:
Work for your lecturer! (Yay?) This position provides students with the opportunity
to work for an academic at the ANU law
school and assist them in the production
The Legal Literacy Project suits students in- Sean Paul wants you to
of research papers, which basically means
terested in criminal law, human rights law, le- shake your booty. Do it.
academic grunt work: footnotes, pinpoint
gal aid, community work and legal education.
references, proofing, etc. Students may elect
Looks good on a resume and develops communication skills
areas of interest, and academics will pick students based on
with people from diverse backgrounds. Woot.
available positions.
a legal education program with inmates
of the prison. Topics include prison legislation, human rights and legal procedure.
More info: http://anulaw.anu.edu.au/lrsj/prisonissuesproject
Faculty Contacts: mark.nolan@anu.edu.au; molly.obrien@anu.
edu.au
Student Contacts: john.croker@anu.edu.au; u4838684@anu.
edu.au (Stefanie Schweiger) and u4664001@anu.edu.au (Amy
Sinclair)
International Summer Program – University of Alabama
A short exchange program between the ANU and the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa. Ten ANU students travel to
Alabama to undertake a five week intensive program or two
courses: Survey of U.S. Law, which provides an overview of
32 · Edition 1 2012
This is a great opportunity for students interested in a career in
academia. Looks great on a resume, gives students an opportunity to
make academic contacts for honours of future projects, and can involve
interesting or up-and-coming legal work.
Information available from the Finance and Human Resources Unit of
the College of Law. Interested students should fill out an application
form as soon as possible, as assistants will be picked from the general
pool as positions become available. Application forms can be obtained
online, or sent via e-mail from the HR office.
Contact: FinanceHRUnit@law.anu.edu.au
Kategorie
What to expect when
you‘re expecting
Z
Your First Semester Compulsories Guide
FIRST YEAR
Foundies
A re-hash of what you learnt in high school,
drawn out over an entire Semester.
Ratings:
Content: 3/5
Lecturer/lectures: 4/5
Tutorials: 3/5
Assessment pieces: 4/5
Overall: 3.5/5
Torts
Ah, torts. Here, you‘ll first encounter the dreaded law exam. Here‘s a tip: study early, and figure out what works best for you in terms of a
summary. For some, a second-hand copy from
That Guy From Your College will do; others
can‘t deal with that, and prefer to write their
own. Keep an eye out for Doubleday v Kelly you‘ll rethinking wearing rollerskates on trampolines.
Ratings:
Content: 3/5
Lecturer/lectures: 3/5
Tutorials: 3/5
Assessment pieces: Did we mention the law
exam? 2/5
Ratings:
Content: 4/5
Lecturer/lectures: 2/5
Tutorials: 1/5
Assessment pieces: 3/5
Overall: 3/5
Criminal Law and Procedure
Finally, your Law & Order dreams come true!
Rejoice! Crim is a really fun compulsory (not
that sexual assault and grievous bodily harm
are fun…). Criminal law is a huge area of law
and since only one semester is devoted to it
at the ANU, unfortunately, most of the details
are left out and you only get a surface knowledge of the different areas. From property
and physical crimes to the defences, the substantive law is very interesting and relatively
easy to study for – work out the formula and
apply it to the facts. The procedural part of
the course is kind of fiddly but invest just a
bit of time into it and you’ll grab a lot of easy
marks in the final exam.
Ratings:
Content: 4/5
Lecturer/lectures: 3/5
Tutorials: 5/5
Assessment pieces: 4/5
Overall: 4.5/5
Overall: 2.5-3/5
SECOND YEAR
THIRD YEAR
APL
Corps
APL is your first public law course and it’s a
big change from first year compulsories. The
content is history-heavy, theory-heavy and
case-heavy and there’s a lot of reading, so
make sure you stay on top of it. Lecturers
don‘t give big marks for over-creativity in the
mid-semester essay so stick to information in
the textbook and from any really influential
theorists. Lecturers like to write exam questions texting your knowledge of minutia from
the whole course, so be prepared.
This one will divide you and your friends
like no other. Some hate it with a passion
and others with be frothing at the mouth
to take Bankruptcy & Insolvency, Takeovers & Securities and the like after it.
The premise is straightforward. Corporations are the modern day conduit of
business and employers of millions. Ergo,
we should learn their deal. Fair enough.
But that’s when things get hairy. There’s
the 10 kg Corps Act to lug around first,
then the terminology of the corporation
to learn before you can even access the
course – Arts students beware! Across the
taught material, there is a healthy mix of
case law and legislation but with a predominant focus on the latter, the course
is more amenable to late semester cramming than others.
That’s not to say this is recommended.
Corps is an interesting area of law and,
more than anything else, especially relevant. Getting on top of the Act and subject terminology will go a long way. If the
assessment is the same as previous years,
carefully consider your skills before committing to the marathon end-of-semester
exam.
Ratings:
Content: 2/5.
Lecturer/lectures: 3/5
Tutorials: 4/5
Assessment pieces: 2/5
Overall: 3-ish/5
Admin
One of the suite of public law courses,
Admin is potentially the most conceptually challenging. What with the neverending theoretical questions regarding
its justifications and scope and means of
review, it’s hard not to feel Admin suffers
a existential crisis. The course itself is one
which you have to struggle along with until it begin to come together towards the
end of semester.
Ratings:
Content: 2/5
Lecturer/lectures: 3/5
Tutorials: 2/5
Assessment pieces: t 2/5
Overall: 2.5/5
Edition 1 2012 · 33
Peppercorn
Blackletter: A Legal
Fiction
Part I
Disconnection
The river slid languidly, moving in inches,
like a great, slimy glacier that cleaved the
campus in two. In it swam the rats- both
the hairy, verminous kind and the college
initiates who were a sanctioned part of the
university wildlife. White with cold, like
the cadavers from the medical school that
the river routinely swallowed, they dived
beneath its pearlescent skin and fought to
progress the hundred metres that were required before the ordeal could become a
traumatic memory.
On the shore, Meyer Pratt marched slowly
in time with the river’s sloshing dirge. He
let his feet drag, as though he were subject
to its quicksand pull. His steps were a series of sucking pops as he sank and lunged
at freedom. For him, the ordeal had already been three years long, and had included
just as much wading through sludge.
Meyer was pale, but not because he had
any blood to be repugnant to the chilly air.
Nor did he owe his chalky complexion to
fear. Fear and dismay are relative states,
and Meyer lived his whole life in a hopeless environment. In hipster jeans and
a faded hoodie that was really more of a
cowl, denoting his role of lowly apprentice, he was simply camouflaged.
Meyer was a Law student.
*
The College of Law was a proud and isolated, prestigious place, with historic venues, historic teachers, and a library full of
historic books and even more historic coffee stains. For the most part, the building
had gone to seed. Every now and then,
however, somebody would come along to
maintain the vandalism, which was heritage-listed.
In the torturously sunlit reading room,
Meyer sipped his own coffee –perhaps his
thousandth consumed here– and sympa-
34 · Edition 1 2012
thised with the scrawlings of inmates who
had long since flown the coop. The desks
slanted at an angle, being built to accommodate study in the era of books, but
before laptops. They had since had metal
loops attached, to which the latter could
be shackled as they dangled precariously
like prisoners strung up in a dungeon.
The desks were also buried deep in archaeological layers of graffiti. Most of
the writings were lawyer jokes, which was
sad. These were fresher than the true witticisms and movie quotes, and fresher still
than the love confessions, because they
were the awkward, flailing death throes
of the people who had once written those
things.
Lawyer jokes are an incurable affliction.
Like screaming from an asylum, they
drowned out diatribes on nineteen-seventies politics, the discovery of fire, and
how Cruel Intentions was coming out
soon. They desecrated priceless insults
and the timeless pieces of vulgar cave-art
that were the hairier library-dwellers‘ contributions.
Meyer traced the insanely looping, desperately sloping marks with the soft tip of
a finger that had never known the callusing of work, but had known a lot of inkstains. He knew, with the same detached
acknowledgement of doom with which
he contemplated his own future, that these were the final, semi-sane droolings of
madmen; crushed out like juice beneath
mountains of textbooks, or in the deadly
aisles of compactuses.
Like a Rumpelstiltskin of souls, the law
claimed everybody eventually. You forgot
how to love, you forgot how to laugh, and
then you learned to laugh again, very loudly and much more erratically, until finally
you smeared your last, half-legible pun
about the Master of the Rolls on a toilet
door, resigning yourself thenceforth to
plead insanity.
Meyer knew that it was his fate, too.
Solemnly, he regarded the stains left by
decades’ worth of hot beverages, wasted
by an unfortunate combination of jittery
hands and the tilted desks. To him, this
was the lifeblood of his fellow students,
shed in the never-ending battle against
productivity. Like most hooded, bespectacled apprentices, he came to the library
mostly to do penance for a life of Facebook, having middle-class parents and
choosing the wrong career.
Nobody studied the law here, but
everybody studied being miserable, which
was the chief compulsory subject. Like
working in a monastery, it involved a lot
of getting up early –as early as ten in the
morning!–, staying up late, and spending
sunny days locked up in the high tower,
pining through keyhole windows that
seemed to deliberately imitate those of a
castle tower.
Meyer stared out longingly at the clear,
autumn sky. Enviously, he watched the
luckier undergraduates playing football
on the oval, and rested his coffee on the
windowsill to avoid past tragedies. Sometimes, he observed, the splattered stains
formed crusty rings, like the halos of coffee angels.
It was going to be a long afternoon.
*
Beyond the oval, the river continued to
slither, attracting and suffocating ducks in
a sickening, predatory way. Meyer observed it with familiar disinterest, squinting
through a pair of unnecessary glasses that
Kategorie
Z
By Piers Blackstone
were mostly designed to screen out the
world, doing more to hinder than to help
its clarity. On only one level was he aware
of this- the real irony lay in his perception
of what he was cultivating behind his owllike frames.
Scruffy, dirty-blonde hair stuck out
around his head like a saintly corona. The
shirt he wore over a long-sleeved skivvy
was too small, and a sleek MacBook lay
open in front of him. With a web browser
and one blank document (Meyer had been
selecting a font) loaded on its screen, it
was going under-utilised, much like Meyer
himself.
‘Meyer. Meyer... Hey!’
The sun was so warm, pooling in the airless reading room. It was hard to believe
that it had been a whole hour... He snapped awake, and the hand that had been
slack underneath his jaw tensed into a fist,
striking a thoughtful pose.
‘What are you doing?’
‘Working,’ he lied, evasively.
‘Ha,’ said his silver-headed friend, mirthlessly.
Like Meyer, Hans was drawing near the
humourless point in his academic misadventure; fast approaching an event horizon past which there could be no return.
This said, it was dubious whether he had
a properly functioning sense of humour
to devastate. Unlike Meyer, he was also living evidence of another line they would
both inevitably cross.
It wasn’t uncommon for anyone at the
College to study for five or six years,
which meant that many, like Hans, already
had the threadbare appearance of tutors
by the time they graduated. Yet, it was for
reasons entirely unrelated to their shared
suffrage that Meyer and Hans looked al-
most identical, and were seen together as
often as internet addicts and workaholics
ever are. With his discordant way of dressing, obsession with thrift and awkward
facial hair, Hans had the unenviable fortune of looking accidentally cool, at least
to people with Meyer‘s idea of coolness.
Thus, their friendship had been born of
mutual misunderstanding. Meyer aped the
aging commerce enthusiast in hope of
looking successfully bored with the world;
Hans followed Meyer for the chance to
shine otherwise than through his bald
patch.
‘
Fine,’ Meyer admitted, rubbing his untidy
hair in irritation. ‘I’m not doing any work,
but,’ he added, defensively, ‘if Youtube
isn’t working, then neither am I!’
‘For once I agree with you,’ Hans supplied, in his droll, unaffected way. ‘That’s
why I thought I’d come and find you in
person.’ He paused for a moment so that
they could both appreciate the extremity
of this measure.
It was as though Meyer had just been
brought tidings of war or natural disaster.
‘What?’ he demanded. ‚The internet’s not
working for you, either?’
Hans shook his slightly thinning head in
a second-rate impression of human sadness. Like most of his impressions, it looked suspiciously robotic, like a program
he had learned to run. ‘It’s been on and
off since Tuesday,’ he reported. ‘Not just
here, either. It’s happening all over campus.’
two days!’ he protested, mouthing ineffectively at his half-loaded Facebook
page. ‘How am I going to annoy people
if this keeps up?’
Hans only shrugged. Mournfully, he
loped over to the windowsill so that he
could peer out.
‘It’s disappointing,’ he said coolly, ‘especially given what we pay for our degrees.
My Commerce degree is only costing
me twenty-two thousand dollars in total,
which is two thirds of what I will have
spent on Law by the end of next year.’
He shook his head again, like it was a
compulsive twitch. ‘No quality control
in universities,’ he muttered. ‘We’re consumers.’
‘Um, yeah...’ Meyer closed his laptop
and packed it into a canvas satchel,
which he slung over a skinny shoulder.
There, it clashed horribly with his tight
shirt, orange sneakers and thick-rimmed
glasses. These last had actually been
stolen from his older brother, and were
thus a size too large and sitting askew.
‘C’mon, let’s get out of here.’
He clicked his fingers, as though he were
leading a dog, and Hans scampered to
his heel.
As they left, Meyer cast a wary glance
around the library. In the absence of
internet, it had become a hideously distasteful place.
Meyer, who lay in bed most of the hours
between Tuesday and Thursday, which
day it was now, was aghast. ‘That’s nearly
Edition 1 2012 · 35
Law exchange:
Could there be
anything sweeter
than a semester
away during your
studies at the College of Law?
Dunja Cvjeticanin
has been there, and
is here to keep your
feet on the ground
before your fly off...
You’ve hit second year, are about
to do Crim and APL and have just
realised, “callooh callay, I can go
on exchange soon!” And hey, it’s
definitely something to get excited
about. A semester overseas, meeting new people, partying like an
idiot and scraping through courses
without it affecting your ANU average? Hell yeah! Even the College
of Law website says “it’s a great experience!”, and as someone
who’s done a law exchange, I can
corroborate that statement. BUT,
before you go crazy buying that
Dutch phrasebook or planning
that mid-exchange trip to Mexico,
have a read of this pro vs. con list.
You may have overlooked a few
things...
PROs (yay!)
1. Gettin’ away
As globally-minded as you’d like to
think you are here in Australia (“I
totally watch SBS, like, every day”),
the truth is, in order to get that international experience, you need to,
well, get international. The ANU
has a large set of partner universities all over the world, and where36 · Edition 1 2012
ver you choose to go (even if that
be New Zealand), you’re bound
to get some new insights and live
a different life for a while. Even
more important, you’re going to
meet people from other countries,
and in today’s global world, being
able to relate to and form connections with people who’ve grown
up in completely different circumstances to you can only work
in your favour. Then, of course,
there’s the new clubs and goingout rituals you’ll learn about. Sure,
we all love Mooseheads (what?),
but don’t forget: absence makes
the heart grow fonder...
2. A different uni experience
The ANU College of Law is undoubtedly one of the, if not the,
best law schools in Australia, and
if you’re sure you want to work as
a lawyer exclusively in Australia, it’s
all you really need. But if you have
any interest in working in a different country, for the UN or the
EU or for other multinational organisations, you’d probably do well
to consider a law exchange. Sure,
the ANU has lots of international
law courses – trade, law of the sea,
human rights, etc – but that’s not
all there is. The University of Toronto, for example, has a course
on the Governance of Pharmaceuticals in the International Context; the University of Utrecht and
Bocconi University in Milan have
courses on European Union Law
and Human Rights Law; Hong
Kong University has a course on
Global Business Law; and Lancaster University has courses on EU
Labour Law and Immigration and
Asylum Law. And that’s just a random selection. Could give you an
edge in that job interview for the
ICTY...
3. Doing law courses overseas
= less to do in Australia
Arguably the biggest pro of doing a law exchange, though, is that
you get four law courses out of
the way at once, meaning that you
have less semesters of straight law
when you come back to the ANU.
Obviously, it might make your exchange a little more study-heavy
than it would be if you did Arts
or Commerce courses, but overseas courses tend to be a little easier than ANU ones and since you
only have to pass the courses to
maintain your ANU average, the
pressure’s off. Just being a realist
here!
Not that kind of symphony ...
a bittersweet symphony
Honours at the ANU is a fantastic opportunity to delve into a part
of law that you find particularly
interesting. Whether you got really riled up in International Law,
Comm Con or Contracts, Honours
gives you the chance to explore the
law that excites you the most and
gives you a couple more letters to
put after your name when you graduate. BUT, it doesn’t just give; it
also takes. Law Honours eats up
two of your electives, which means that if you want to do a law
... more the Verve-y kind
exchange AND Honours, you only
have three electives to choose from
at the ANU. This might sound just
perfect – ANU courses are hard,
But, it’s not all fun and games. In after all – but before you get too
the physics of the law exchange, excited about knocking all these
Peppercorn’s Third Law says that courses off, remember that:
“for every pro there’s an equal and
opposite re-pro”... otherwise known
as a con.
CONs (ergh)
the ANU. Sooooo yah.
And so there you have it: a quick
pro vs. con list of things you may
not have thought about in all your
“yay exchange!” madness. It’s a
bittersweet symphony, the law exchange, but you’re a law student,
and as much as you want to keep
saying “but I waaaannna”, I’ve
now given you the information
you needed to hear and now you
can decide rationally and logically,
like a true lawyer. You can thank
me later.
3. Courses completed overseas
are (de facto) given lower status
than ANU courses
1. Doing courses overseas = While the four courses you’d do
smaller choice of electives in overseas still count as electives on
Australia
your transcript, they aren’t given
the same weight as electives done
If you’re doing a double degree at in Australia. Firstly, as they’re done
the ANU, you get to do nine law at a different university, they’re not
electives. International exchange is quite classified as ANU courses,
awesome, but if you choose to do which means that Aussie emploa full law exchange, that takes your yers looking at your transcript don’t
range of electives down to just five pay as much attention to them. Secourses, which limits your range condly, as they’re done at a foreign
considerably. All of a sudden, you university, they’re not quite classi- PS, if you want to know what it‘s
have to choose: Criminal Justice or fied as Australian courses, meaning like... it‘s kind of the above and the
Intellectual Property? Feminist and that a) you don’t get as much use below put together...
Critical Legal Theory or Internati- out of them if you stay in Austraonal Trade Law? Conflict of Laws lia after graduation and b) miss out
or the Law Internship? Feels so re- on the opportunity to learn more
stricted! What’s worse, your choice about Australian law. And thirdly
of ANU electives is made even (and most painfully), even if you
smaller when you factor in....
do really well in them – which often happens as foreign law schools
2. Honours!
tend to not follow the Bell curve –
they can’t raise your ANU average
‘cause they weren’t completed at
Edition 1 2012 · 37
Peppercorn
Salt‘n‘Pepper
Horoscopes
Dunja Cvjeticanin
Madame Big Fat Hor...oscope
Aries – March 21-April 19
Stay in touch with your natural rhythms
this semester. Sleep when you’re tired
instead of hitting those double-shot espressos and stay on top of your readings
to minimise all-nighters later on. Watch
out for that Gemini or Libran you met
at the Toga party; they could prove a huge
distraction.
Taurus – April 20-May 20
Earlier-year Taurans should be careful
with public law courses and while later
years will breeze through the start of
their electives, they shouldn’t underestimate assessment pieces. Ask out that
Scorpio you’ve had your eye on since last
year.
Gemini – May 21-June 21
A sharp tongue has the potential to create tension and resentment in tutorials
this term. The tutor might love it though,
so figure out your priorities and act accordingly. It’s a slow semester, love-wise, so
take care of yourself and get ready to get
busy in second semester.
Cancer – June 22-July 22
Rather than waiting for that good friend
to forward the APL or Property summary they’ve found, Cancerians should get
started on their own early. Use up your
extra energy in March by learning a new
skill – a few guitar lessons or mastering
the art of the soufflé should do the trick.
Leo – July 23-August 22
Friends and family will create stress this
term, but a new Sagittarian friend will
38 · Edition 1 2012
be a fresh change and will help you get
through mid-semester assessment. Think
outside the box when it comes to studying.
Group sessions will really help (especially
second- and third-year Leos).
Virgo – August 23-September 22
After an annoying period of “loves me,
loves me not” with a Capricorn or Cancerian in February and March, love will
blossom just before mid-semesters. This,
coupled with finally solving a problem
that has been plaguing you for months,
will mean an easy ride through the semester into winter.
Libra – September 23-October
23
Librans should stay on their toes through
March and April as an excess of energy
will make it easy to overlook important
details both in study and in relationships
this semester. Get ahead in readings in
March as April brings friendship stresses.
Scorpio – October 24-November 22
Try not to get resentful when things don’t
go exactly to plan; you can learn a lot
from adversity. Be wary an overly enthusiastic new Tauran friend as they may
have an agenda; guard that summary
and remember to always log out of Facebook when you leave the computer.
Sagittarius
–
November
23-December 21
Taking care of your body will really pay
off this semester, so don’t neglect the gym
and don’t neglect proper sleep. Third
year Sagittarians might find it hard
to get into their subjects at the beginning, but more study and fewer beers at
ANU bar will help change that. Stop
being a slacker.
Capricorn – December 22-January 19
First semester is a breeze for Cancerians
this year, both study-wise and love-wise.
O-Week festivities will have left you
with a headache and a mysterious bruise
or two, but never fear; it all gets better
from here. Sign up for tutorials early so
you don’t end up with the Friday morning slot.
Aquarius – January 20-February 18
A fight with a good friend in early March will create problems for Aquarians
in the friendship zone but solid studying and a little confidence in finding new
friends will help you through it. Public
law subjects and electives will catch your
fancy. If you play your cards well, this
semester might just be the start of a
wonderful career for you. (Hint hint: go
to the Clerkship night.)
Pisces – February 19-March 20
Later-year Pisces natives have been feeling plagued with “who am I, what am
I doing here?” questions lately. Take
some time to figure these questions out
and you will feel much more at peace
in the second term. It is time to forgive
someone who hurt you last year. Give
them a call.
LECTURE BINGO
Win the battle of lecture procrastination with these Peppercorn Study
AidsTM! Take our bingo boards along to class and see how many
squares you can fill. It'll have you hanging on every word. Play it at home
while listening to recordings, or take it to the library when reading your
text book. Just don't shout out “BINGO!”
Foundies
BLACKSTONE R
ULE OF LAW
s!
n: Corp
ditio
Next e
TERR A NULLIUS
COMMON LAW
MABO
SEPERATION OF
POWERS
PRECEDENT
BASIC GENERAL
KNOWLEDGE ABOUT
THE AUSTRALIAN LEGAL
SYSTEM WE ALREADY
COVERED IN K-12
LITERAL
MEANING
Edition 1 2012 · 39
Z
Kategorie
40 · Automatische Seitenzahl