Melburnians: who’s buried in your backyard?

On last day of Law Week, it’s your chance to get acquainted with the neighbours – learn about the law-makers and law-breakers buried at the Melbourne General Cemetery in Carlton. Hear the stories of intrigue, murder and brazen white-collar crime that shaped Melbourne.

Join the

• Law Walk Tour at Melbourne General Cemetery
• What a way to go walking tour of St Kilda Cemetery
• Brighton Cemetery: Constabulary Walk

It’s Sunday, of course, and we’re sorry to say good-bye to another fantastic Law Week – thanks to everyone who supported all the great Law Week events, and hope to see you next year!

Courts Open Day: the only time of year you want to go court!

What’s really behind the stately sandstone walls of the Supreme Court?

Photographer: Dianna Snape.

Today is the day to find out! Take a heritage and history tour through the halls and court rooms of the Supreme Court where so many notorious cases have played out. And step into the magnificent Supreme Court Library.

Inside the magnificant Supreme Court Library

Come along for a sneak peek inside all our major courts and tribunals for Courts Open Day from 10am to 3pm. Where to start, where to start…

As well as the Supreme Court, the County, Magistrates’ and Children’s Courts together with the Coroners Court, VCAT, Court Network, the Juries Commissioner’s Office and other services are opening up their doors with a free program of tours, mock trials, ‘meet the judge’ sessions, exhibitions, career information sessions, talks and information stalls.

Highlights include:

• Court tours and time to talk to judges, magistrates and court staff
• Sentencing Jackson – an interactive session with a magistrate in the Children’s Court
• All Stand - go behind the scenes in a mock criminal hearing in the Magistrates’ Court
• Career as a Court Registrar - could it be for you?
• Who’s Your Mob? – learn about the inner workings of the County Koori Court
• A Judge’s Guide to a Supreme Court Trial – If you’re curious about life in the law, what it’s like to work at the courts, or to wear the wigs and robes – today is your chance to chat to a judge get an insight into the trial process
• VCAT hearing in the Magistrates’ Court – see how a Tribunal hearing works and how a decision is made
• Jury Service: Get the Facts - ask the Juries Commissioner’s Office all about jury duty and what it’s like to serve on a jury
• 30 Years On – the Coroners Court commemorative Ash Wednesday exhibition

The VCAT President, Chief Judge, and CEO of the Magistrates’ Court turn snags on Courts Open Day in 2012

And of course, exploration is hungry work, so stop by for the sausage sizzle at the County Court forecourt. And if you’re in need of caffeine, to warm you up on this wintery Melbourne day, you can grab a coffee, too.

Find the details of all this and more on the Law Week program of events.

Day five and a twist of the tongue leads the tail end of Law Week

Ever been on hold and found yourself getting increasingly frustrated by the recorded message that never seems to understand that you just have a billing inquiry? Yes, of course you have. These days it’s virtually impossible to avoid talking to a recorded message.

Clearly, there’s room for improvement in voice identification software. This is where forensic linguists come in. Unlike fingers or feet, there’s no such thing as a voice print. At ‘slips of the tongue (and pen)‘ tonight, forensic linguist Dr Georgina Heywood will talk to Sandra Nicholson, Sisters in Crime convenor and former Assistant Commissioner of Victoria Police about how forensic linguistics is transforming crime detection.

You can also listen back to Dr Heywood talk about her work providing expert evidence on authorship and speaker identification in real life criminal trials on Triple R FM.

Also today, join Jennifer Burn, Associate Professor in the Law Faculty at the University of Technology, Sydney and Director of the Anti-Slavery Project, for a lunchtime discussion about forced labour and human trafficking hosted by the Castan Centre for Human Rights Law. A serious and largely hidden issue in Australia.

Today’s Law Week highlights also include:

• opportunities to go behind the scenes with court tours in Ballarat and Wodonga
• an anti-discrimination workshop people for people with tattoos and body piercings
• a chance to learn about your privacy rights and how you can protect them.

Visit the Law Week program of events to find more great events on until Sunday. Follow Law Week on Facebook to share your thoughts or photos and join the Law Week conversation on Twitter.

Day four and Law Week goes to trial

We’ve all watched criminal trials on television and in the movies – maybe you’ve seen Legally Blonde lawyer Elle Woods trounce the defence using only her pink heels and perfect blonde locks –  but how much do you know about how trials really work?

Today you can find out as barristers, solicitors and a judge take part in a mock criminal trial at the Supreme Court. Watch how a drug possession case works in Victoria after fictional defendant Evelyn Cannon is caught with cocaine.

If you’re interested to see how the courts work on a day to day basis – who does what, and what would be like to be a solicitor, a judge or a jury member – and you can’t wait for Courts Open Day, today is your chance to go backstage at courts in Shepparton, Geelong, Ballarat, Broadmeadows and Moorabbin. Take a tour and talk to a registrar.

Spice up your sandwich with Executive Director of the Human Rights Law Centre Hugh de Kretser at 12:45 today. He steps up to the Wheeler Centre’s Lunchbox/Soapbox to address the topic: does Australia need a more developed ‘rights culture’? Are Australians apathetic towards about rights? Why? And why does it matter?

Wind down over a drink with GLOBE, the Gay and Lesbian Organisation of Business and Enterprise, at the Law Week Fruits and Blends event. Discuss legal issues affecting the GLBTI community, catch up with colleagues and make new contacts.

More details of all these events and more are available on the Law Week program of events. If you’ve been to an event, let us know! Leave your comments here, on Facebook and share them on Twitter. 

What’s human rights got to do with it?

Tomorrow as a part of Law Week, Executive Director of the Human Rights Law Centre, Hugh de Kretser, will get up on his soapbox and have a good rant about Selectivity in Australia’s Human Rights Protection. It’s a free lunchbox/soapbox session at Melbourne’s Wheeler Centre, so come along and bring your lunch: 12:45pm – 1:15pm, Thursday 16 May 2013.

Human Rights Law Centre Executive Director Hugh de Kretser with Victoria Law Foundation Grants Manager Erin Dolan

As a preview Hugh spoke to us about the work of the Human Rights Law Centre and his vision for human rights in Australia.

What does the Human Rights Law Centre (HRLC) do?
We protect and promote human rights in Australia and through Australian foreign policy. We do this though a combination of evidence-based advocacy, strategic litigation, research and education.

What was your background before joining the HRLC?
I started my career in corporate law at Mallesons, but for the past decade I’ve been working in community legal centres, most recently as the Executive Officer of the Federation of Community Legal Centres, the peak body for Victoria’s fifty community legal centres. I’ve also been a Commissioner on the Victorian Law Reform Commission and I am a Director of the Sentencing Advisory Council.

What attracted you to the role at the HRLC?
I’ve followed the work of the HRLC closely since its foundation in 2006 and have previously been a board member. It’s a fantastic organisation with a great operating model, an outstanding staff team and strong partnerships across Australia. It has a big positive impact on human rights. It’s very exciting to get the chance to lead the HRLC and extend that impact.

What are the key priorities for the HRLC in the coming year?
We’ve got seven key priorities in our strategic plan that we will continue working on: strengthening the legal protection of human rights, UN engagement, foreign policy, Indigenous rights, rights of people in detention, police accountability and violence against women.

What are the major human rights issues facing Australia currently?
Entrenched disadvantage continues to affect many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and Indigenous Australians are fifteen times more likely to be in prison than non-Indigenous Australians. The treatment of asylum seekers is a continued source of injustice. We need to cut rates of violence and sexual assault. Poverty and homelessness need to be addressed and Australia can do much better on the treatment of people with cognitive and physical disabilities. We need to promote the humane treatment of people in prison and other places of detention. Rights are not adequately protected due to the absence of an enforceable national Human Rights Charter.

If you were the Attorney-General what would you change?
I’m optimistic about the potential to improve human rights in Australia with concerted action and improved protections. Genuine consultation and opportunities for education and work are needed in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and appropriate recognition of Indigenous peoples in the constitution is well overdue. Adequate social security will help to address poverty in Australia. A humane, rational and cost effective asylum seeker policy would end prolonged detention and offshore processing. In the Attorney-General’s portfolio, a justice reinvestment approach holds great promise in cutting crime, reducing prison spending and strengthening communities. Ratifying and implementing the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture will prevent deaths and abuse in custody. An overarching national charter of rights will promote better decision making in government and help to ensure government and legislative actions don’t breach fundamental rights.

The foundation provided establishment funding to the Human Rights Law Centre. With its establishment in January 2006, the Human Rights Law Centre became the first legal centre in Australia dedicated to human rights law.

Stay tuned. Tomorrow morning we’ll give you an overview of Thursday’s Law Week highlights. Or visit the Law Week program of events. You can also follow Law Week on Facebook and join the Law Week conversation on Twitter.

Day three of Law Week goes high tech

The law turned on social media last night as the Ag Chat network took to Twitter to discuss legal matters important to agricultural communities. Today, Law Week continues this high tech approach to reaching rural and regional Victorians. Deakin University’s video conference forum on the NDIS is simulcast to fourteen locations across the state this morning, truly helping to make Law Week a festival for all Victorians no matter where you live.

Photo by Catherine Vale

Other regional events today are bridging the divide to look at legal services in Albury Wodonga and what it means to live in a cross-border region, while further down the river a session on wills and powers of attorney will be held in Echuca.

For those in Melbourne the ever-popular Great Law Week Debate is back tonight. This year Monash law students and alumni will tackle the topic ‘free speech isn’t free enough in Australia’. Or if dinner and a movie is more your style, head up to Nova Cinemas in Carlton for a screening of Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, featuring a live Q&A with the filmmaker.

Follow Law Week on Facebook to share your thoughts or photos and join the Law Week conversation on Twitter.  Visit the Law Week program of events to find more great events on until Sunday.

Law Week – what’s it really all about?

We’re all busy rushing off to Law Week events this week – heck, it’s the biggest community event about the law each year, packed full of fascinating, challenging, confronting and even spooky events. With so much going on, it’s easy to forget what Law Week is really all about. Our Executive Director Joh Kirby shares her thoughts.

Joh Kirby at the launch of Law Week 2013 with our 2011 Chief Justice’s Medal winner Hugh Crosthwaite.

Happy Law Week! If this is your first Law Week, don’t be fooled into thinking Law Week is about promoting lawyers. Far from it, in fact!

Law Week is about providing opportunities for Victorians to find out more about the law and their legal rights, participate in debates about current justice issues, and gain an insight into the workings of the legal sector.

It’s about encouraging an interest and participation in our legal system. And, while lawyers are obviously an integral part of the legal sector, research shows that most people don’t seek their assistance when they have a legal problem. More often than not they prefer to rely on the support of family and friends. Sometimes they don’t know where to start looking for legal help, or maybe they’re intimidated by the system, its processes, size, language and the perceived cost.

But the better Victorians understand the law and the less intimidated they are by the legal sector, the more likely they are to seek appropriate help for their legal problem. That’s why Law Week, and the interest it sparks in the community, is so important.

Building legal knowledge and confidence is difficult but Law Week’s program offers lots of opportunities to dig around behind the scenes of our courts and legal institutions and to meet the many amazing, dedicated people (not just lawyers and judges) who work in the legal sector.

Once again, the legal sector has pulled out all the stops, offering a fantastic program of Law Week events – from court tours and debates to seminars on a wide range of legal issues and even cemetery tours that touch on Victoria’s criminal past.

All of the organisations involved, and the many individuals who help with events throughout the week, donate their time and resources to help us make Law Week bigger and better every year.

Courts Open Day, on Saturday 18 May, is always one of the highlights of the Law Week, and 2013 will be no exception. Held in Melbourne’s court precinct, near the corner of Lonsdale and Williams St in the city, Victorians this year will have the chance to explore the Supreme Court, County Court, Magistrates’ Court and Children’s Court. VCAT and the Coroners Court will also be participating. And, of course, the foundation will be there too!

If that’s not your cup of tea though, I encourage you to visit the Law Week program of events – there really is something that will interest everyone.

Our Victoria’s Legal System booklet

And remember, even if you don’t get a chance to attend Law Week, the foundation has lots of great information to help you better understand the law and legal system. Start with our great publication, Victoria’s Legal System, which can be downloaded from the foundation’s website, and work your way through our many other easy-to-understand booklets and guides.

Stay tuned. Tomorrow morning we’ll give you an overview of Wednesday’s Law Week highlights. Or visit the Law Week program of events. You can also follow Law Week on Facebook and join the Law Week conversation on Twitter.