Automatische Seitenzahl · 1

Kategorie Z

2 · Edition 1 2012

Edition 2 2012 · 3

ContentsIssue #1, 2012

RegularEditorial - LSS President‘s Address 4Calendar 11Centrefold Photos 18Stuff ANU Law Students Like 24Salt‘n‘Pepper 38

Irregular5 Best Kept Secrets of ANU 6Law School Reform 8War Criminals and Their Pysche 10Maybe You Shouldn‘t be Studying Law 12Law, Huh! What is it Good For? 16What‘s New in Law 17Don Watch 22Internships: a round-the-world guide 26Get Busy 32First Semester Compulsories Guide 33Law Exchange: A bittersweet symphony 36

ArtworkFront cover: Leila Packett and Angus Donohoo 1Welcome Back, Idiots: Angus Donohoo 14

Editorial TeamDunja Cvjeticanin, Farzaneh Edraki, Aman Gaur,

Callum Mustow, Lex Rosenberg, Madalein Rose Tier

ContributorsAngus 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

Contactpeppercornanu@gmail.com

or 'Like' us on FB!

AcknowledgementsPeppercorn 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.

'A peppercorn does not cease to be good consideration if it is establis-hed that the promisee does not like pepper and will throw away the corn.‘ Somervell LJ in Chappell v Nestlé [1960] AC 67. An actual pepper-corn has been used as consideration for almost 200 years for leasing a building in Bermuda... Ahh, those Bermudans. They so crazy!

'A peppercorn in legal parlance is a metaphor for a very small payment, a nominal

consideration, used to satisfy the requirements for the creation of a legal contract.'

- Wikipedia

DIDYA KNOW?

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 stu-dent holding the Peppercorn banner, another with 10 cappuccinos decora-ted with the Peppercorn letters and ano-ther 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 ta-lented 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-provo-king articles, some laughs and just the right amount of legal puns.

I encourage the readers to contribute to this publication. It is a represen-tation 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 ChynowethLSS Pres 2012

Peppercorn editors: all work, no play? Nah.

4 · Edition 1 2012

Peppercorn

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS

EDITORIAL Welcome to the ANU College of Law for 2012! Whether you are an ambitious yet nervous first year, an old hand stuck so-mewhere in the middle or a geriatric ente-ring your final year of “negotiable” lecture timetables, Peppercorn is here to provide its services as your necessary and dependable procrastination aide/fish and chip wrap-per.

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:

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 per-tinent issues such as ways to trick profes-sors 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.

In 2012, Peppercorn will also be heading online. Check us out on Facebook, where we’ll be doing stuff like:

Posting regular updates on “Don Ro-thwell Watch”;

Providing electronic guides to semester electives; and

Posting mildly annoying wholly off-topic Youtube clips.

In short, we’re going to try to distract you as much as possible from why you’re ac-tually here at law school. But don’t be pas-sive 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

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 accu-rate premonitions aren’t enough to com-pel 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 re-ally 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 la-wyer, you need to think outside the box. Atticus Finch style. So:

Rule One: Stress Less.

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 tip-toeing around your School-Captain-First-

In-Legal-Studies- Upper-North-Shore-Fancypants 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 Studen-ts, 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 crus-hed, 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: acade-mics will enjoy your emotive language as much as Mrs Donoghue enjoyed decom-posed garden creatures in her carbonated beverages.

(Sorry, that’s a law joke. Another bit of advice: try to avoid law jokes around non-law friends as they will enjoy these as much as academics will enjoy your lavish vocabulary.).

Rule Three: KISS. Keep it Simple, Stupid. (And you thought you wouldn’t get any action at law school.)

Onto my fourth point. ‘Kill all the Lawy-ers!’ demanded Shakespeare. Well, as wise as the great bard was, hoards of lawyer-haters are not your greatest threat. No,

here at law school, the enemy is much more insidious: Procrastination. Whether manifested through procrastibaking, pro-crastiFacebooking, procrastisporting or procrastiwhatevering, it has poisoned the transcript of many a student before you. (Some of us have even resorted to procrasti-studyingforarts.) Procrastinati-on is the demon manifestation of inner yearnings for friendly activity.

My advice? Get out more. If you ensu-re yourself a demanding social calendar, you won’t have time to procrastinate. So commit to Oktoberfest, and even Febru-aryfest 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 preoc-cupied ‘meeting’ his future wife at Burg-mann 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, procrastina-tion-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 wis-dom contained herein. You are now rea-dy to embark on your law student expe-rience. Impossible word limits, tort-uous law humour and many a lonely night with

A Letter to First Years

Edition 1 2012 · 5

Claire Schwager

6 · Edition 1 2012

Peppercorn

THE best kept secretS of ANU

4. pajenka’s rejectsThere’s a stereotype that students are cheaps-kates who will do almost anything for a dis-count 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 com-

Shhh.

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 be-come an arts student. You’ll be unem-ployable, 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.

Lex Rosenberg

plaining. Rumour has it that the Asian Bistro also has heavily discounted prices in the afternoon.

3. the no-more-worries word countThere are a couple of tricks for massaging a word count.

Firstly, if you’re handing in a hard copy, exten-ding 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 under-score 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 al-ways full-stop your footnotes for him. He‘s a notorious stickler for the AGLC.)

2.the ol’ printing trickWe admit we have not tried this one out oursel-ves (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.

There is - so our source says - a simple way to get absolutely free printing from any ANU prin-ter. Simply run a USB cable from your laptop straight into the back of the printer. This me-thod 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 co-lour! 100+ pages of summary at no cost!

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 requirementOur 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 al-ways. 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 salvati-on. 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 as-sume 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 rela-tively clean seat and a roll of soft paper to greet you at the Law School.

Edition 1 2012 · 7

Send us your best kept secret for next issue, and we‘ll let you in on our super secret parking spot! peppercornanu@gmail.com

8 · Edition 1 2012

KategorieZ

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, 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.

But yes also to our previous Vice-Chancel-lor, Ian Chubb congratulating LSR on our important initiative.

In fact, yes to Chubb‘s remarkable obser-vation (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 Austra-lian legal system and to society in general.

Yes to our Dean‘s International Review Pa-nel 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 mem-bers.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Stefanie Schweiger

LAW SCHOOL REFORM what happened there, anyway?

A Message from LSR:

What do you think?

Send in your comments: peppercornanu@gmail.com

Edition 1 2012 · 9

Kategorie Z

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 Cor-porations Act, and an unhealthy compe-titiveness between participants fostered by the “banded grading system”. But what do we ever do about it but give eve-ry 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 fru-strated by the incremental reforms of the College and concerned it had little realis-tic 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 work-shop and extensive Facebook discus-sions, 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 im-proving 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 ap-proach to grading.

Officially, the Law Students Society and their Education Portfolio has given a gre-at 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, pain-ted a less ideal picture. While firm in its support for many of LSR’s recommen-dations, such as the reduction of lecture and tutorial size, access to faculty, the diversification of assessment, and amelio-rating the negative impact law school can have on mental health, the tone of the re-sponse was one of much greater support for the work the College already does, re-sentment 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 Pepper-corn 2011 laid waste to the rumour that the College maintains a bell-curve gra-ding 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 do-ing about both reports. A committee was formed and a response had been expected at the end of 2011. Rumours that an offi-cial response was to come in January have proved unfruitful, and those on the inside suggest that it may not come until just be-fore some of the faculty go on sabbatical in the middle of 2012.

Independently of LSR, however, the Col-lege has an ongoing process of incremen-tal degree reform. Today’s later year stu-dents 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 sit-ting 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 underta-ken 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 Uni-versity 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)

LAW SCHOOL REFORM what happened there, anyway?

In 2011, ANU Law School Reform! released their first publication, Breaking the Frozen Sea.

One year on, have any of the report’s recommendations been implemented?

Madalein Rose Tier investigates.

10 · Automatische Seitenzahl

WAR CRIMINALS AND THEIR PSYCHEFifth 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 Cham-ber 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 like-ly up to 17,000) were brutalised, tortured, forced to confess to being members of both the KGB and the CIA (while simulta-neously 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 Kh-mer 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 peri-od.

Comrade Duch had appealed his trial sen-tence 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

denial of his human rights (Duch was in detention for six years before finally being charged) and his remorse and recent coo-peration with the authorities, Duch’s sen-tence 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 deser-ve to spend any time in gaol. Duch be-lieved 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 commu-nity should forgive his past actions. Bi-zarre 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 in-ternational criminal law is littered with examples of once all-powerful men (and they are predominately men) desperately failing to respond to changing circum-stances.

Slobodan Milosevic famously decried the International Tribunal for the Former Yu-goslavia 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 televi-sed murder (one that the ICC should inve-stigate) 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. Unfortuna-tely 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 Cam-bodia.

Edition 1 2012· 11

Peppercorn

CALENDAR

A few handy dates to note.

February20: 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 date6: 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 sub-mit 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

12 · Edition 1 2012

Peppercorn

To do law, or not to do law – that was the questionBy 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, every-one 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.

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, be-cause I got the UAI? What I actually wan-ted 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 drop-ping 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 star-ted 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 politi-cal 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.'

...MAYBE YOU

My point is this: law takes a lot of time. If you like law and it will help your futu-re 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).

BE studying law

>>SHOULDN't>>

Thoughts?

Feedback not only wel-come, but encouraged: peppercornanu@gmail.com

Edition 1 2012 · 13

Peppercorn

Why I left law – and why I'm so happy I didBy 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, alt-hough 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 so-mething different, something unexpected of me. Some people raft the Amazon, some people hike in Tibet. My version of throw-ing off the shackles of expectation and dis-covering 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 deci-ded 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 ful-filling to do something I had an affinity with; where success came a little more easily. Re-lationships should be more enjoyable than ours was and we both knew we were better apart. My only consolation was finally un-derstanding most of the Law Revue. ($6000 well spent, I’d say.)

It was during this last painful semester in se-cond 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 per-sonal 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 Engi-neer. 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 re-quired, DON’T DO LAW! There are so many other degrees that are more in-teresting 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 econo-mists who can help us with poverty, cli-mate change and overpopulation. So if you have doubts about studying law, do your bit to save the planet, and drop it.

BE studying law

>>SHOULDN't>>Ever asked yourself, 'Do I really want to practice law?‘

Let‘s face it, you‘re not the only one.

14 · Automatische Seitenzahl

KategorieZ

Automatische Seitenzahl · 15

Kategorie Z

Illustration: Angus Donohoo.

16 · Edition 1 2012

Peppercorn

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 can-not afford lawyers to receive legal advice or represen-tation 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 pre-occupied 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 un-derstand. 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. Sud-denly 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 sup-posed 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 disre-gard to their traumatic emotional experience.

To lawyers on the other hand, their life-changing ex-perience is but a case. In this light, how is justice ser-ved?

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 under-stand why they are subject to and controlled by rules

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 confi-dence 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 un-derstand the philosophy of the law as well as the hu-man 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.

Muhammad Taufiq bin Suraidi reflects on life, law, and legal education

Law, huh! What is it good for?

Edition 1 2012 · 17

Kategorie Z

Kenya Feel the Love Tonight?(If you’re the Deputy Minister – probably not.)

In January, the International Criminal Court (ICC) Pre-Trial Chamber confirmed that it would proceed with charges against four Kenyan lea-ders for crimes against humanity. The alleged crimes took place during the 2007 Kenyan election aftermath, which saw high levels of protests, tribal fighting, and a death toll in the thousands.

Amongst the accused include Deputy Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and former Education Minister William Ruto. Forbes nominated Kenyatta as Kenya’s wealthiest man, and a prominent political figure. He’s loo-king to run for President in 2013, and according to The Guardian has (or should we say had?) a healthy chance of winning. Kenyatta has publically denied the charges, and has yet to withdraw from the Pre-sidential race.

The issue of prosecuting high-profile government leaders has proved a divisive one for the ICC – on the one hand, some see prosecution as necessary to the fulfilment of justice. Others question the political mo-tives of the ICC, and the usefulness in focusing on a handful of leaders at the potential expense of thousands of other alleged perpetrators, including the Kenyan police. These issues aren’t unique to Kenya - si-milar concerns were raised in relation to the ICC’s investigations into human rights abuses in Congo and Uganda.

Keep your eyes peeled on the ICC’s verdict; we think it will be an in-teresting development in international criminal law in the coming years.

Overhaul of Queensland’s

dated “Gay Panic” defence

A couple of clergymen in regional Queensland were

successful over the summer in lobbying the Queens-

land government to overhaul the “gay panic” defence

in Queensland. The clergymen, Maryborough priest

Paul Kelly and Methodist Pastor Chris Foley (who is

also an Independent Member of the Queensland

Parliament), were motivated to do something af-

ter 45-year-old Wayne Ruks was beaten to death by

two men after allegedly having made a homosexu-

al advance on the grounds of Kelly’s church in Ma-

ryborough. They finally kick-started the government

to change the defence in January after months of

effort collecting signatures and political support. The

“gay panic defence” had earlier worked as a partial

provocation defence in charges of assault and mur-

der, taking a charge of murder down to manslaughter

(with the consequent lessening of sentences) when

used successfully. After the reforms, the defence can

now only be used in “exceptional circumstances”. The

defence has not been entirely abolished - as Attorney-

General Paul Lucas put it, “it is not possible to remove

sexual advances completely without affecting situa-

tions such as that of a battered woman” – but Father

Kelly celebrates the overhaul as a “victory for common

sense”.

what's new in law?Updates from what you missed over summer.

18 · Edition 1 2012

Summer storiesGot any photos you'd like to share?

Edition 1 2012 · 19

Kategorie Z

Summer storiesGot any photos you'd like to share?

Send 'em in:peppercornanu@gmail.com

20 · Edition 1 2012

Edition 1 2012 · 21

22 · Edition 1 2012

Peppercorn

SPOTTED don educating the world on international law?

e-mail peppercornanu@gmail.com

or comment on our fb page.

DON WATCH

Edition 1 2012 · 23

DON WATCHDON WATCH

Stuff ANU Law Students Like

24 · Edition 1 2012

Coffee at Gods, Hedley BullLIKE 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 stu-dents like to think that their time is precious, and won’t walk for longer than five minutes to get their caffe-ine fix. (Ironically, these same law students will spend several hours a day on FB, complaining about an as-signment deadline. Law students fail to appreciate this irony, and it is un-wise that you point it out to them).

Faced with these two options, law students flock to Gods, largely be-cause of its proximity to Coombs, decent coffee, and a pleasant odor that isn’t at all reminiscent of a toi-let. Many have spoken of the Fabled Caterina’s Renovations, but – much like reform of the Law School itself – the exact details are hazy.

Public LecturesROCK 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 to-pic 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.

It’s not difficult to spot the law stu-dent in the public lecture – they’re usually the ones asking pointless questions at the end. Note: “questi-on” is a generous term. “Statement”, “Observation”, or “Musing on Perso-nal Experience Which The Law Stu-dent 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 so-cial issues, and that is talking about their interest in social issues with a view to getting laid. They will thus almost always choose drinks.

Tony ConnollyWITH HIS EXOTIC, culturally-ambi-guous accent and Harry Potter fra-mes, 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 apathe-tic law students launch into discus-sions of Dworkin, Iris Marion Young, or native title at the breakfast table. Typical conversations will include the following phrases: “rule of law”, “so-cial construct”, or “as Tony said..” It is highly unlikely that these law stu-dents 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.

Hey girl, forget Ryan Gosling. I‘m your sensitive, intelligent New Age man.

By Farz Edraki

Edition 1 2012 · 25

26 · Automatische Seitenzahl

KategorieZ

INTERNSHIPS:

Have you ever dreamt of doing an internship in New Delhi, Beijing, or

Washington? Peppercorn investigates, with the help of a few ANU law students

who've been there, done that.

a round-the-world guide

Peppercorn: 

  Internship Guide

26 · Edition 1 2012

Automatische Seitenzahl · 27

Kategorie Z

INTERNSHIPS:

Peppercorn: 

  Internship Guide

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 ab-uses in India and the region. The aim of the organisation is to build institu-tional memory about human rights ab-uses so that violations will not be for-gotten with time. My time was spent researching and editing a chapter on the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Pre-vention) Act, a draconian piece of legis-lation 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 Su-preme 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 passi-on and optimism that others might dis-miss as youthful naivety.

While working at SAHRDC did not ful-fill my illusions of corporate law gran-deur, spending time with people who have changed the world allowed me to think that, just perhaps, I could do the same.

Mark Jehne

South Asia Human Rights and Documentation Centre

Edition 1 2012 · 27

28 · Automatische Seitenzahl

KategorieZ

Peppercorn: 

  Internship Guide

After leaving the Australian summer as a third year Asian Studies (Chine-se)/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 back-ground, 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 televisi-on broadcasting rights in the PRC. I had arrived in ‘the middle kingdom’.

As I look back on the last three ye-ars, 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 tra-de 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

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.

living, working and  studying  in CHINAPaddy Mayoh has recently completed a Pri-me 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.

28 · Edition 1 2012

Automatische Seitenzahl · 29

Kategorie Z

Peppercorn: 

  Internship Guide

Though less altruistic, I also loved tasting the com-mercial 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 La-wyers (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 Chine-se 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 ex-tremely 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 mes-sages 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 gre-at firewall of China in an effort to secure accurate information to high-quality workshops on China’s international ambitions, I have found Beijing a kalei-doscopic city in the opportunities and contradictions it offers.

living, working and  studying  in CHINA

Edition 1 2012 · 29

30 · Automatische Seitenzahl

KategorieZ

Peppercorn: 

  Internship Guide

LIFE ON THE HILL

Great face there, Joshy!

'It might be best to have a longer lunchbreak, Occupy DC prote-sters have barricaded the front office'….

This is a normal day on the Washington Internship.

Over the past month I have been working with the Re-publican 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 spec-trum. 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.

But a typical day working on Capitol Hill does not in-volve 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 boo-ked 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 opportuni-ty to see history in the making. Sitting in the US Supreme Court when, during a case on indecency standards in te-

30 · Edition 1 2012

Automatische Seitenzahl · 31

Kategorie Z

levision, it was pointed out to Justice Scalia that the cour-troom 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 Ame-ricans 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 enor-mous. There is a culture here that ‚no issue is too small‘. While this may seem admirable, it makes it nearly impos-sible 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 Intern-ship 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

Peppercorn: 

  Internship Guide

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?

5 Uses For Your Contracts Textbook (Other Than Study)

32 · Edition 1 2012

KategorieZ

Come on, Get busy shake that booty non-stop

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 pro-cedures in the ACT, such as filling out forms, drafting letters, applying for licences, etc.

This program is perfect for anyone interested in migration law, refugee law, admin law, local government, or the community sector. Give it a go; that warm and fuzzy feeling of giving back is niiice.

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 Environ-mental and Race Law.

This program is a great way to get a trip overseas while knocking out 12 units. The program is structured to provide time for extra travel, as well as giving students an insight into life at an American university. This program can be taken on top of another ANU ex-change program. Would suit students interested in American law,

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-publi-cised exchange program and clerkship opportunities, there are some excellent lesser-known programs that can be over-looked by first years or even later year students. Lex Rosenberg brings you nothing but the best.

More info: http://anulaw.anu.edu.au/lrsj/marsprojectContact: lrsj@law.anu.edu

Legal Literacy Project:This program, run through Law Reform and Social Justice, is one of several Prison Issues Projects that revolve around the Alexander Maconochie Centre (AMC). The legal literacy project takes a small group of ANU students to the AMC (both men‘s and women‘s prisons) to run a legal education program with inmates of the prison. Topics include prison legis-lation, human rights and legal procedure.

The Legal Literacy Project suits students in-terested in criminal law, human rights law, le-gal aid, community work and legal education. Looks good on a resume and develops communication skills with people from diverse backgrounds. Woot.

More info: http://anulaw.anu.edu.au/lrsj/prisonissuesprojectFaculty Contacts: mark.nolan@anu.edu.au; molly.obrien@anu. edu.auStudent Contacts: john.croker@anu.edu.au; u4838684@anu.edu.au (Stefanie Schweiger) and u4664001@anu.edu.au (Amy Sinclair)

International Summer Program – University of AlabamaA short exchange program between the ANU and the Uni-versity 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

comparative law, travel or catching up on a few units over summer.

More info: http://law.anu.edu.au/sum-mer/alabama.aspContact: Jp.Fonteyne@anu.edu.au ; Coo-perE@law.anu.edu.au Key Dates: Look out for an information evening in early August. Application forms available from then and due soon after.

Research Assistant Positions at the ANU:Work for your lecturer! (Yay?) This positi-on provides students with the opportunity to work for an academic at the ANU law school and assist them in the production of research papers, which basically means academic grunt work: footnotes, pinpoint references, proofing, etc. Students may elect

areas of interest, and academics will pick students based on available positions.

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

Sean Paul wants you to shake your booty. Do it.

Edition 1 2012 · 33

Kategorie Z

What to expect when you‘re expecting

Your First Semester Compulsories Guide

Ratings:Content: 4/5Lecturer/lectures: 2/5Tutorials: 1/5 Assessment pieces: 3/5Overall: 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 know-ledge of the different areas. From property and physical crimes to the defences, the sub-stantive 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: 4/5Lecturer/lectures: 3/5Tutorials: 5/5Assessment pieces: 4/5

Overall: 4.5/5

THIRD YEAR

Corps

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, Take-overs & Securities and the like after it. The premise is straightforward. Corpo-rations 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,

FIRST YEAR

Foundies

A re-hash of what you learnt in high school, drawn out over an entire Semester.

Ratings:Content: 3/5Lecturer/lectures: 4/5Tutorials: 3/5Assessment pieces: 4/5Overall: 3.5/5

Torts

Ah, torts. Here, you‘ll first encounter the drea-ded law exam. Here‘s a tip: study early, and fi-gure 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 tram-polines.

Ratings:Content: 3/5Lecturer/lectures: 3/5Tutorials: 3/5Assessment pieces: Did we mention the law exam? 2/5

Overall: 2.5-3/5

SECOND YEAR

APL

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 que-stions texting your knowledge of minutia from the whole course, so be prepared.

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 pre-dominant focus on the latter, the course is more amenable to late semester cram-ming than others.

That’s not to say this is recommended. Corps is an interesting area of law and, more than anything else, especially rele-vant. Getting on top of the Act and sub-ject terminology will go a long way. If the assessment is the same as previous years, carefully consider your skills before com-mitting to the marathon end-of-semester exam.

Ratings:Content: 2/5.Lecturer/lectures: 3/5Tutorials: 4/5Assessment pieces: 2/5Overall: 3-ish/5

Admin

One of the suite of public law courses, Admin is potentially the most conceptu-ally challenging. What with the never-ending 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 un-til it begin to come together towards the end of semester.

Ratings:Content: 2/5Lecturer/lectures: 3/5Tutorials: 2/5Assessment pieces: t 2/5Overall: 2.5/5

34 · Edition 1 2012

Peppercorn

Part IDisconnection

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 re-quired 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 se-ries of sucking pops as he sank and lunged at freedom. For him, the ordeal had alrea-dy 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 ho-peless environment. In hipster jeans and a faded hoodie that was really more of a cowl, denoting his role of lowly apprenti-ce, he was simply camouflaged.Meyer was a Law student.

*

The College of Law was a proud and iso-lated, prestigious place, with historic ve-nues, historic teachers, and a library full of historic books and even more historic cof-fee 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 heri-tage-listed.In the torturously sunlit reading room, Meyer sipped his own coffee –perhaps his thousandth consumed here– and sympa-

thised with the scrawlings of inmates who had long since flown the coop. The desks slanted at an angle, being built to accom-modate 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 ar-chaeological layers of graffiti. Most of the writings were lawyer jokes, which was sad. These were fresher than the true wit-ticisms 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-se-venties 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‘ con-tributions.Meyer traced the insanely looping, despe-rately sloping marks with the soft tip of a finger that had never known the callu-sing of work, but had known a lot of ink-stains. He knew, with the same detached acknowledgement of doom with which he contemplated his own future, that the-se 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 lou-dly 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, bespec-tacled apprentices, he came to the library mostly to do penance for a life of Face-book, 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. Some-times, he observed, the splattered stains formed crusty rings, like the halos of cof-fee 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 obser-ved it with familiar disinterest, squinting through a pair of unnecessary glasses that

Blackletter: A Legal Fiction

Edition 1 2012 · 35

Kategorie Z

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 owl-like 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 air-less reading room. It was hard to believe that it had been a whole hour... He snap-ped 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, mirth-lessly.Like Meyer, Hans was drawing near the humourless point in his academic misad-venture; fast approaching an event hori-zon 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 li-ving 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 dres-sing, obsession with thrift and awkward facial hair, Hans had the unenviable for-tune 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 sup-plied, 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 sad-ness. Like most of his impressions, it loo-ked 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 cam-pus.’

Meyer, who lay in bed most of the hours between Tuesday and Thursday, which day it was now, was aghast. ‘That’s nearly

two days!’ he protested, mouthing in-effectively 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, ‘espe-cially 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 con-sumers.’‘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 di-stasteful place.

By Piers Blackstone

36 · Edition 1 2012

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, mee-ting new people, partying like an idiot and scraping through courses without it affecting your ANU ave-rage? Hell yeah! Even the College of Law website says “it’s a gre-at 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 in-ternational experience, you need to, well, get international. The ANU has a large set of partner universi-ties all over the world, and where-

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 connec-tions with people who’ve grown up in completely different cir-cumstances to you can only work in your favour. Then, of course, there’s the new clubs and going-out 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 und-oubtedly 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 diffe-rent country, for the UN or the EU or for other multinational or-ganisations, 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 To-ronto, for example, has a course on the Governance of Pharma-ceuticals in the International Con-text; 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 Lanca-ster University has courses on EU Labour Law and Immigration and Asylum Law. And that’s just a ran-dom 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 do-ing 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 ex-change a little more study-heavy than it would be if you did Arts or Commerce courses, but over-seas courses tend to be a little ea-sier 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!

Law exchange: a bittersweet symphony

Not that kind of symphony ...

Could there be anything sweeter than a semester away during your studies at the Col-lege of Law? Dunja Cvjeticanin has been there, and is here to keep your feet on the ground before your fly off...

Edition 1 2012 · 37

But, it’s not all fun and games. In the physics of the law exchange, Peppercorn’s Third Law says that “for every pro there’s an equal and opposite re-pro”... otherwise known as a con.

CONs (ergh)1. Doing courses overseas = smaller choice of electives in Australia

If you’re doing a double degree at the ANU, you get to do nine law electives. International exchange is awesome, but if you choose to do a full law exchange, that takes your range of electives down to just five courses, which limits your range considerably. All of a sudden, you have to choose: Criminal Justice or Intellectual Property? Feminist and Critical Legal Theory or Internati-onal Trade Law? Conflict of Laws or the Law Internship? Feels so re-stricted! What’s worse, your choice of ANU electives is made even smaller when you factor in....

2. Honours!

Honours at the ANU is a fantas-tic opportunity to delve into a part of law that you find particularly interesting. Whether you got re-ally 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 gra-duate. BUT, it doesn’t just give; it also takes. Law Honours eats up two of your electives, which me-ans that if you want to do a law exchange AND Honours, you only have three electives to choose from at the ANU. This might sound just perfect – ANU courses are hard, after all – but before you get too excited about knocking all these courses off, remember that:

3. Courses completed overseas are (de facto) given lower status than ANU courses

While the four courses you’d do overseas still count as electives on your transcript, they aren’t given the same weight as electives done in Australia. Firstly, as they’re done at a different university, they’re not quite classified as ANU courses, which means that Aussie emplo-yers looking at your transcript don’t pay as much attention to them. Se-condly, as they’re done at a foreign university, they’re not quite classi-fied as Australian courses, meaning that a) you don’t get as much use out of them if you stay in Austra-lia after graduation and b) miss out on the opportunity to learn more about Australian law. And thirdly (and most painfully), even if you do really well in them – which of-ten happens as foreign law schools tend to not follow the Bell curve – they can’t raise your ANU average ‘cause they weren’t completed at

Law exchange: a bittersweet symphony

... more the Verve-y kind

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 ex-change, 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.

PS, if you want to know what it‘s like... it‘s kind of the above and the below put together...

38 · Edition 1 2012

Peppercorn

Salt‘n‘Pepper

HoroscopesMadame Big Fat Hor...oscope

Aries – March 21-April 19Stay in touch with your natural rhythms this semester. Sleep when you’re tired instead of hitting those double-shot es-pressos 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 20Earlier-year Taurans should be careful with public law courses and while later years will breeze through the start of their electives, they shouldn’t underesti-mate assessment pieces. Ask out that Scorpio you’ve had your eye on since last year.

Gemini – May 21-June 21A sharp tongue has the potential to cre-ate tension and resentment in tutorials this term. The tutor might love it though, so figure out your priorities and act accor-dingly. 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 22Rather than waiting for that good friend to forward the APL or Property summa-ry 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 22Friends and family will create stress this term, but a new Sagittarian friend will

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 22After an annoying period of “loves me, loves me not” with a Capricorn or Can-cerian 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 seme-ster into winter.

Libra – September 23-October 23Librans 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 stres-ses.

Scorpio – October 24-Novem-ber 22Try not to get resentful when things don’t go exactly to plan; you can learn a lot from adversity. Be wary an overly en-thusiastic new Tauran friend as they may have an agenda; guard that summary and remember to always log out of Face-book when you leave the computer.

Sagittarius – November 23-December 21Taking 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 begin-ning, but more study and fewer beers at ANU bar will help change that. Stop being a slacker.

Capricorn – December 22-Ja-nuary 19First 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 mor-ning slot.

Aquarius – January 20-Februa-ry 18A fight with a good friend in early Mar-ch will create problems for Aquarians in the friendship zone but solid study-ing 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 20Later-year Pisces natives have been fee-ling 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.

Dunja Cvjeticanin

Edition 1 2012 · 39

BLACKSTONE R ULE OF LAW 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

Foundies

LECTURE BINGOWin 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!”

Next edition: Corps!

40 · Automatische Seitenzahl

KategorieZ