UNSW Law Alumni News 2014 No.1 by Designbug

UNSW Law Alumni News 2014 No.1 | UNSW looks to the East Never Stand Still

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UNSW Law Alumni News 2014 No. 1 CONTENTS 03 | Message from the Dean 04 | New Staff 06 | Michael Kirby’s UN Inquiry on Human Rights in North Korea 11

| A Constitutional Democracy Project in Myanmar

UNSW Law Alumni News Magazine Published by: UNSW Law, UNSW Australia, UNSW Sydney NSW 2052 Australia Editors: Jordana Wong, Lindsay Owens Contributors: Lindsay Owens, Tim Gordon, David Dixon, Jordana Wong, Katie Sutherland Cover image: Ingram Publishing. CRICOS Provider No. 00098G

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UNSW LAW ALUMNI NETWORK COMMITTEE

s the UNSW Law Alumni Network President I continuously find myself honoured to work alongside the passionate and dedicated members of our committee. The past six months have proven another successful period for UNSW Law and our alumni community as the committee continues to attract thoughtful and active new members with great ideas. We’ve had a number of successful events this year including the Open Doors Campaign – a collaboration between alumni and current UNSW Law students – that raised over $30,000 in a matter of weeks to help fund the second Ngoc Tram Nguyen Scholarship, a scholarship for disadvantaged students from South West Sydney. Open Doors shone a light on an alternative way to raise funds as well as the power that likeminded alumni and friends have in changing the life of someone in need. With upcoming events including the Look Who’s Talking series, the annual Ngoc Tram Nguyen Scholarship Dinner on 29 August, and our annual Alumni Spring Drinks Party to be held in October, the committee is looking forward to bringing our community together. I encourage all alumni, and new graduates, to get involved. I look forward to a fun and successful second half of the year. Tim Gordon UNSW Law Alumni Network President

“We continue to attract academics of the highest quality who are contributing to our growing international reputation.”

FROM THE DEAN

his issue includes articles about some of the developments at UNSW Law. Even more than before, the Law School is full of ideas, activities, and wonderful people. We continue to attract academics of the highest quality who are contributing to our growing international reputation. Two are noted here – Fleur Johns, who joins us from Sydney University, and Jason Varuhas, from Cambridge. Jason’s appointment is part of a wider initiative to build our strength in administrative law, which has already brought us Greg Weeks and, from LSE, Kristen Rundle. When Matthew Groves joins us in January, we will have a world-class team of administrative lawyers. Another important current initiative is on development, law and justice in our region. Below, you will read about the work of Bassina Farbenblum on migrant workers from Indonesia which has been very well received in Indonesia and by the Open Society Foundations, which have appointed her to a prestigious fellowship to continue her important work in Nepal and elsewhere. Myanmar is attracting much attention. We have three current projects underway – the Diplomacy Training Program’s workshop; a project to cooperate with Myanmar’s law schools in developing legal education;

and the constitutional democracy initiative, about which Martin Krygier writes. You will also read about Visiting Professorial Fellow Michael Kirby’s report on human rights in North Korea; some of our wonderful students (and the wonderful supporters who assist them); notable alumni; and recent and forthcoming events, including some excellent opportunities for alumni to get together. My colleagues and I greatly value the involvement of alumni in the Law School. A great example is being set by former Commonwealth Attorney General, Robert McLelland, who will soon be teaching our students. Other alumni come to talk to students about their careers – this is greatly valued at a time when the legal job market is changing rapidly. More simply, if you haven’t visited for a while, I would be delighted to show you around the Law School and introduce you to colleagues and students. Thank you for all you do for us.

David Dixon Dean, UNSW Law

2014 No. 1

NEW STAFF Meet Jason Varuhas, the Dean’s Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Joining UNSW Law from the University of Cambridge Law Faculty is Jason Varuhas. Originally from New Zealand, Jason joined UNSW Law in November 2013 as the Dean’s Postdoctoral Research Fellow and has recently been appointed Senior Lecturer. Before coming to UNSW, Jason completed his PhD at Cambridge and was a Junior Research Fellow at Christ’s College and an Affiliated Lecturer in the Cambridge Faculty of Law. Jason’s interests lie in public law, tort law, remedies, and the public law/private law divide. He is working on a number of research projects and is in the final stages of completing a book based on his doctoral thesis which was titled Damages for Breaches of Human Rights: A TortBased Approach, and was awarded the prestigious Yorke Prize at Cambridge for a doctoral thesis with exceptional quality, which makes a substantial contribution to its relevant field of legal knowledge. The book is due out later this year with Hart Publishing, Oxford. His main ongoing

UNSW Law Alumni News

project is targeted at “mapping” public law. In breaking down public law, Jason has found that there is no functionally unitary concept of “public law”, but rather, different fields of public law doctrine that perform fundamentally distinct functions, with some bodies of public law doctrine performing near-identical functions to bodies of private law doctrine. Jason’s research therefore casts serious doubt on the utility of the public law/private law distinction as an analytical tool. In addition to teaching and research Jason is co-convenor of a major international public law conference to be held at the University of Cambridge Faculty of Law in September this year. It will be the first of an ongoing series of biennial conferences on public law. The theme of the inaugural conference is “Process and Substance in Public Law”. He is also, with colleagues at UNSW, responsible for a new project on administrative law within the Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law.

Meet Fleur Johns, Professor of Public International Law and Legal Theory

Professor Fleur Johns conducts research and teaches in the areas of public international law and legal theory. After growing up in Melbourne and completing her undergraduate studies in Arts/Law, Fleur undertook her graduate work at Harvard University. Over six years she completed a Masters and, later, a Doctorate, all while practising corporate law in New York with Sullivan and Cromwell. Before joining UNSW, Fleur spent time as a Leverhulme Visiting Fellow at Birkbeck College, University of London, a Co-Director of the Sydney Centre for International Law at the University of Sydney, and a member of the Distinguished Visiting Faculty at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Law. Fleur has joined UNSW Law in the early stages of a new research project. She is exploring challenges and possibilities associated with the making of global governance and policy decisions by recourse – in part – to data analytics,

as is happening across a diverse range of other sectors including environmental conservation, migration and humanitarian aid. Fleur says UNSW was the ideal choice for embarking upon an interdisciplinary inquiry along these lines, given its intense and lively research culture and the many people from whom she can learn. A preliminary outline of Fleur’s project has been included on the European Society of International Law blog at www.esil-sedi.eu/node/587 Fleur has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in the fields of public and private international law, human rights, legal theory, legal geography and legal ethics. Outside the academy, Fleur has made submissions to a number of parliamentary and governmental inquiries on international legal matters. On top of all of this, Fleur juggles three young children with her partner, Pete.

2014 No. 1

AN INQUIRY INTO HUMAN RIGHTS:

VISITING PROFESSORIAL FELLOW MICHAEL KIRBY ON NORTH KOREA

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After leading a United Nations Commission of Inquiry, The Hon. Michael Kirby AC CMG has called on the international community to take heed of its report. The Commission has documented systematic human rights atrocities carried out by the North Korean regime.

eleased in February this year, the Commission of Inquiry (COI) on Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) report is disturbing reading. It describes abductions, torture, clandestine prison camps, human trafficking, sexual violence, the denial of food and more. Addressing the UN Human Rights Council on 17 March, Michael Kirby, former Justice of the High Court, member of the UNSW Law Advisory Council, Visiting Professorial Fellow at UNSW Law and Chair of the COI, called for action in response to the report’s findings. He recommended that the Security Council refer the case to the International Criminal Court. “The DPRK and the rest of the world ignored the evidence for too long,” Kirby said. “Now there is no excuse because we all know that what is important is how we in the international community now act on the report.” He compared the atrocities to the terrors of Nazis in World War II, Apartheid in South Africa and the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. He called on North Korea to end the widespread and grave violations of human rights and, in particular, take full accountability for violations that may amount to crimes against humanity. Mr Kirby highlighted the urgent need to stop the violations associated with prison camps, to abolish the Songbun caste system, an apartheid of social class, and to wind back the gross overspending on

the fourth largest army in the world, so starving people can be fed. North Korea, however, denounced the report, calling it a fabrication set up to defame the country. The report’s testimonies, said the ambassador for North Korea, were fabricated by “ambiguous identities”. Established in March 2013, the COI was a direct result of international concern. Mr Kirby was appointed Chair, joining Sonja Biserko of Serbia and Marzuki Darusman, past Attorney-General of Indonesia, as Commissioners. The COI had been mandated by the United Nations Human Rights Council to investigate, in particular, the following nine specific substantive areas: • violations of the right to food; • the full range of violations associated with prison camps; • torture and inhuman treatment; • arbitrary arrest and detention; • discrimination, in particular in the systemic denial and violation of basic human rights and fundamental freedoms; • violations of the freedom of expression; • violations of the right to life; • violations of the freedom of movement; and • enforced disappearances, including in the form of abductions of nationals of other States.

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AN INQUIRY INTO HUMAN RIGHTS

The investigation began in July 2013 and continued until January 2014. Because North Korea would not allow the COI access into the country, it adopted a system of public hearings that lasted from August to October. The hearings were held in Seoul, Tokyo, London and Washington DC and it seems there was no difficulty in finding people willing to talk. Interviews were held with around 300 witnesses, survivors and experts. Mr Kirby says he came to the inquiry with an open mind and not a great deal of information about North Korea. “I have no hostility against North Korea. I never have had and didn’t have during my inquiry,” he told Deutsche Welle, German International Radio Broadcast. “I did understand the suffering that was experienced by both North Korea, and by South Korea, in the Korean War. The carpetbombing and the terrible devastation left a tremendous psychological scar on both of the Koreas. “But I didn’t expect the baseness of the conduct that was revealed by the

UNSW Law Alumni News

Professor Kirby at the United Nations as Chair of the Commission of Inquiry on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

testimony. Certainly not the intensity of the suffering which was brought to our notice, especially in relation to the prison camps, but also in relation to starvation, to the fact that, even today, about 27 percent of babies born in North Korea are seriously stunted, seriously malnourished.

“Today, about 27 percent of babies born in North Korea are seriously stunted, seriously malnourished.” “I didn’t expect the extent of discrimination against women, Christians, anybody who has even the slightest suspected disagreement with the politics of the government. And the caste system called Songbun, whereby from birth, people are assigned to a particular category on the basis of whether they are thought to be supporters or enemies of the regime. “A lot of the testimony was very upsetting. It took a lot of discipline for the Commission of Inquiry to complete its report on time and, as dispassionately as it could, to present its conclusions succinctly and to reach findings and to express recommendations.”

Throughout the course of the inquiry, Mr Kirby and the COI attempted to make contact with North Korea’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un, to which they received no response. Speaking with Deutsche Welle German Radio, Mr Kirby explained why he wrote a letter to Kim Jong-un, feeling it was due process to call attention to the fact that the Supreme Leader might be held personally responsible before the International Criminal Court.

“These simple stories, told in simple language by people who have no political hostility but simply have suffered human loss, depravation and human rights violations, these are the stories that had an impact on me. And I believe they will have an impact on humanity.”

“It was our duty to warn the Supreme Leader of North Korea of the terms of international criminal law, that those who aid and abet the international crime of crimes against humanity when they could have stopped such crimes, may be guilty of having aided and abetted the international crime concern.

their country despite the horror they had experienced. “They love their country,” Mr Kirby told the Human Rights Council, “but they simply want it to conform to the basic rules of a civilised international society and the great treaties of the United Nations.”

“So that in giving this notice to him, we were doing no more than observing the obligations of due process. We have done our part. Now it is the responsibility of the Supreme Leader and of his administration to do his part. “And if North Korea does not safeguard the human rights of its citizens, it is in international law the obligation of the international community to step in and do so.” It is the personal stories in the COI report that are the most powerful. Mr Kirby recently told the Lowy Institute in Sydney that the report is “all the more readable, interesting and impactful because on every second page there is a quote.” He said, “It’s not what the analysts say, but the voices of little people, not famous people, ordinary people who have suffered unimaginable wrongs. Their voices speak to the UN and the international community and I am hopeful and expectant that there will be action on it.”

But it is also the testimonies that best demonstrate potential crimes against humanity. “One of the stories was by a Mrs Kim who gave evidence in Seoul,” Mr Kirby told Deutsche Welle. “She had been with her husband in their home, which was close to the then border between North and South Korea. “They were fearful that the North Korean troops that were retreating to North Korea from the advancing UN force would seize and carry off the husband. And so they found a hiding-place in their home. And he was there and was overlooked by the North Korean soldiers when they first arrived. “He then made the mistake of coming out of the hiding place and the soldiers returned. He was seized, he was taken away, presumably to North Korea and she has never heard from him from that day. “She said not a day goes by but she thinks of him and of those last moments with him; that she wishes she could throw herself upon him and embrace him and tell him how she loved him.

Surprisingly, many of the witnesses were patriotic and said that they still valued 2014 No. 1

AN INQUIRY INTO HUMAN RIGHTS

“And I thought then of the images which, in my childhood, I saw of the opening-up of the concentration camps at the end of World War II and how we thought we had gone beyond that and moved away from that ever being repeated. Yet the testimonies we received showed that similar scenes would be seen today if we could go to the political prison camps in North Korea.” “These simple stories, told in simple language by people who have no political hostility but simply have suffered human loss, depravation and human rights violations, these are the stories that had an impact on me. And I believe they will have an impact on humanity. “That is the test. A ‘crime against humanity’ is one that causes revulsion and horror in human beings and there is plenty of evidence in the report to cause those emotions of revulsion and horror.”

Kirby told Deutsche Welle. “He didn’t have efficient equipment so they were burned in a vat and the ashes and the unburned body parts were then taken and used in nearby fields as fertiliser. “And I thought then of the images which, in my childhood, I saw of the opening-up of the concentration camps at the end of World War II and how we thought we had gone beyond that and moved away from that ever being repeated. Yet the testimonies we received showed that similar scenes would be seen today if we could go to the political prison camps in North Korea. As I hope, in due course, the international community will do.” As for moving forward, Mr Kirby says the important question is “What will be the follow up?” “I am not at all pessimistic about that,” he says. “I think the international community now has the measure of North Korea and I think that if in 1938 a report of this kind had been written on Germany, world history might have been different.”

Some of the stories compelled Mr Kirby to draw comparisons to the Holocaust. He said the parallels are not exact, because the Holocaust was founded on the aspect of race and religion and there is only little evidence of discrimination on the basis of race in North Korea. “But the essential similarity was brought home to me by the testimony of one witness who told of the emaciated prisoners who had died from lack of food and he had to get rid of the bodies,” Mr

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Professor Kirby with United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon

Professor Martin Krygier with a class of law teachers from around Myanmar

MYANMAR CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY PROJECT With Myanmar scheduled to hold elections in 2015, the stakes are high for a Constitutional Democracy Project managed by UNSW Law.

or the first time in more than 50 years, Myanmar’s military dictatorship could possibly be transformed into a democratic government. And UNSW Law has an important role to play in assisting the nation to develop and support a culture of constitutionalism at this critical time. A Constitutional Democracy Project, being managed by UNSW Law (since June this year), is more timely and relevant than ever. Through a series of workshops, the Project’s overarching goal is to strengthen

the capacity of Myanmar institutions and stakeholders in readiness for the country’s transition to democracy. “The issues driving the Project are urgent for many reasons,” explains UNSW Law Professor Martin Krygier, who is at the Project’s helm. “The country is absorbed in debates about the value of the existing Constitution drafted by the incumbent military government, whether it should be changed at all and, if so, in what ways. 2014 No. 1

MYANMAR CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY PROJECT

“There are enormous challenges ahead, both short term, before the elections of 2015, and long term to transform the constitutional and legal framework of Myanmar, let alone the fortunes of the country as a whole. Getting the constitution right won’t solve all these problems, but getting it wrong will make it harder to solve any of them.” UNSW has been involved in this Project, together with the University of Sydney and other co-operating institutions, since 2013. This followed the release of pro-democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest in 2010 and historic democratic reforms in 2011, undertaken by Myanmar’s military backed government. The Project’s first workshop took place in Yangon in May 2013. More than 60 people, including Aung San Suu Kyi and other leading political figures, attended the threeday workshop, which was credited with creating an unprecedented political space to discuss and debate Myanmar’s constitution,

political reform, and issues concerning the rule of law and transitional justice. UNSW Law Professors Krygier and Adam Czarnota were part of a large delegation of experts led by Sydney Law School’s Professor Wojciech Sadurski. Ms Janelle Saffin, then Federal Member for Page and Patron of the Australia-Myanmar Democracy Project, volunteered her experience alongside academics from the Australian National University, the University of Victoria in Canada, Oxford University, and the National University of Singapore. The workshop brought together members of the judiciary, representatives from the Union Solidarity and Development Party, the National League for Democracy, civil society organisations, ethnic groups and Burmese academics. “Many of these people had never been in the same room before, let alone talked to us and each other for three days,” explains

Professor Martin Krygier provides his thoughts… The first issue is that the current constitution entrenches the power of the military in the parliament and the government of the country, states and regions. Effectively, it can’t be changed without the approval of the military.

Getting Myanmar’s constitution right hinges on several key issues

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The second is that it entrenches the central state power over state and regional governments. In a country as ethnically diverse as Myanmar, this raises critical issues of the vertical, top-down, distribution of power between the centre and the ethnically, economically, religiously diverse regions.

Prof. Krygier. “We all felt we had participated in something truly significant, and we were anxious to keep doing it.”

“We all felt we had participated in something truly significant, and we were anxious to keep doing it.” Following on from the success of this workshop, UNSW Law hosted a forum on constitutional democracy in Myanmar, in February 2014. Two constitutional experts from Myanmar participated, together with Janelle Saffin, and UNSW Law Professors Krygier and Theunis Roux. Prof. Roux sketched some of the lessons the South African experience had to teach the democracy movement in Myanmar, while Prof. Krygier drew on his internationallyrecognised work on the rule of law to the same end. Two more workshops are planned for later this year as Myanmar’s constitutional deliberations and electoral preparations get underway. The first of these workshops will

Third, the role of the President is crucial. The President has been, for decades, from the military, and his role in federal, state and regional appointments, and all senior judicial appointments, is controversial. Fourth, the constitution is exceedingly difficult to change. Amendment of certain key provisions requires the agreement of 75% of Parliament and then over 50% of those eligible to vote. Given that under the existing constitution, the military have 25% representation in Parliament by appointment, and that besides this there is a military political party, that makes it impossible at present to change the constitution without their approval.

take place in Yangon and will replicate the format and target cohort of the 2013 event, bringing together political leaders and civil society representatives (typically from local non-governmental organisations) to discuss and debate topical constitutional issues. The second workshop, to be held in the national capital Nay Pyi Taw, will be a targeted constitutional conversation with a small group of high-level decision-makers drawn from the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. This workshop will involve roundtable discussions on issues such as federalism, the separation of powers and judicial independence. This format will afford meaningful dialogue with key political figures and allow for a detailed discussion of the specifics of constitutional reform. “Our aim is not to advocate any particular resolution to local constitutional issues, but to acquaint local participants with developments from around the world, as distilled by experts in a range of fields of constitutional scholarship and practice,” says Prof. Krygier. “What might be made of what we offer is not for us to dictate.”

Fifth, the constitution specifically directs its attention to the situation of one person – the most popular politician in the country, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi – who is effectively barred from running for President, since her late spouse and her two sons, are British citizens. As well, there are many issues beyond the constitutional text to consider, which bear on the constitutionality of Myanmar in a broader sense. These have to do with the conditions for the rule of law, the weakness of institutions, corruption, and how – or indeed, whether – to deal with a harsh past, and an extremely difficult present.

2014 No. 1

ACCESS TO JUSTICE

Bassina Farbenblum in Nepal at the launch of the second report: Migrant Workers’ Access to Justice at Home

Alumna and UNSW Law Senior Lecturer Bassina Farbenblum leads the investigation into

ASIAN MIGRANT WORKERS’ ACCESS TO JUSTICE UNSW Law Senior Lecturer Bassina Farbenblum has been awarded a prestigious Open Society Immigration Initiative Fellowship to continue her work on migrant workers’ access to justice in South and South East Asia. 14

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Over the past two years, Bassina has led the world’s first international study of migrant workers’ access to remedies in their home countries, for abuses that occur during recruitment prior to departure, and while working abroad. The study, undertaken with research partners at the University of Pennsylvania as well as local researchers in Indonesia and Nepal, focuses on the millions of low-wage migrant workers who travel from Indonesia and Nepal to the Middle East.

n October 2013, Bassina and her research partners released a book-length report entitled Migrant Workers’ Access to Justice at Home: Indonesia. The report was launched in Jakarta by the head of Indonesia’s presidential agency on labour migration and members of Indonesia’s parliament. In June of this year, Bassina and her colleagues launched a similar report for Nepal at high-level events attended by government, civil society and development institution leaders in Kathmandu. According to Bassina, “Access to justice requires both adequate and timely redress for the migrant worker whose rights have been violated, and accountability for those persons responsible for the rights violation. It requires the law to be clear, procedures to be fair, institutions to be accessible, and outcomes to be just.” The first report in Bassina’s study, focusing on Indonesia, identifies the legal responsibilities of both the government and the private recruitment sector to migrant workers. It outlines the laws, policies and procedures that govern the mechanisms through which migrant workers may access justice and, based on interviews and focus groups undertaken with migrant workers and a range of stakeholders across Indonesia, examines the effectiveness of each mechanism, and the systemic barriers that prevent most workers from receiving full redress for harms that they suffer before, during, and after their work abroad.

Every year, nearly half a million Indonesians travel abroad for work, driven by local unemployment, and pressure to support the families that they are forced to leave behind. The vast majority of these migrants are women, who will be domestic workers abroad, and around half of whom are bound for the Middle East. With limited education and little work experience, low-wage migrant workers often face abuse and exploitation but lack access to recourse within their host country’s legal system. Those in the Middle East suffer particularly high levels of mistreatment and even violence. Routine abuses include unpaid wages, unsafe work conditions, inadequate rest, inhumane housing conditions, work fundamentally different to what was promised, the employer’s confiscation of the worker’s identity documents and, in some cases, confinement to the home, physical or sexual abuse, and debt bondage, often called “modern-day slavery”. Many of the harms that workers experience in a foreign country can be linked to a lack of transparency and accountability in the privatised recruitment process that takes place in their home country prior to departure. This includes common harms, such as wages or work conditions that are different from those originally promised by recruitment agencies, and for which such agencies are liable.

2014 No. 1

ACCESS TO JUSTICE When migrant workers’ rights are violated, their access to remedies in local courts or other institutions in the destination country is extremely limited. Workers frequently feel compelled to remain in exploitative work situations because of the large debts they have accrued to pay their recruiters at home. To the extent that they can access justice, they depend on help from their consulates abroad, or access to remedies on their return to their home country. The report finds that private Indonesian recruiters and insurers are rarely held responsible for breaches of workers’ rights, and justice remains elusive to the vast majority of Indonesia’s low-wage migrant workers. It makes detailed recommendations to government, parliament, civil society and other stakeholders in Indonesia to improve both migrant workers’ access to justice, and the accountability of the recruitment industry. The study was supported in part by the Open Society Foundations and Tifa Foundation (Indonesia) and will serve as a guide for civil society groups to better understand existing justice mechanisms

“Access to justice requires both adequate and timely redress for the migrant worker whose rights have been violated, and accountability for those persons responsible for the rights violation.” Right: Bassina’s two reports on Indonesia and Nepal

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and how to use them to enforce migrant workers’ rights. The report is available online in English and Bahasa Indonesia. In June 2014, Bassina travelled to Kathmandu to launch the second report of the study which focuses on Nepal and is titled Migrant Workers’ Access to Justice at Home: Nepal. The report has been equally well-received by local civil society, government, legal professionals, academia, international organisations and development agencies. Members of each group have indicated that the report fills a critical information gap and will significantly influence their work going forward. After two years of research, Bassina says the real work – implementing the report’s recommendations – now begins. In October 2014, Bassina and her colleagues will hold a regional research workshop on labour migration recruitment in the Asia Pacific region. The workshop will be the first of its kind in more than a decade, and will be supported by the Ingram Fund for Law and Development.

A WORD FROM BASSINA ON RETURNING TO INDONESIA I returned to Indonesia in June this year to begin work with Indonesia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other government departments to implement the report’s key recommendations. It has been gratifying to see that leaders and decision-makers within civil society and government are already using the report as a roadmap to improving migrant workers’ access to compensation and other remedies, both in Indonesia and through its embassies. These stakeholders have identified a number of reform projects that we will develop together during my Fellowship, as well as access to information and training, which UNSW students will continue to work on within the Human Rights Clinic. With so many of the millions of low-wage South and South East Asian migrant workers encountering abuse and exploitation in the Middle East and elsewhere, there is an urgent need, and a profound opportunity, to make a real difference now. This is an area in which, despite formidable obstacles, migrant workers’ home countries have incentives to act – to better protect their citizens from exploitation, and to ensure that they receive the compensation they are owed so they don’t re-enter cycles of poverty and debt when they return home. Home countries also have the power to better regulate the private recruitment industry and to hold wrongdoers accountable. Of course, destination countries must come to the party too, but the story of labour migration will always begin and end at home. In conducting research across two subregions, we’ve seen striking similarities

in the problems that migrants face pre-departure, and the challenges that governments encounter in regulating recruitment agencies and individual recruitment brokers, who are ubiquitous at the village level in most origin countries in Asia. These challenges aren’t unique to Indonesia and Nepal, and I am looking forward to launching and developing a new Asia Pacific Migrant Recruitment Working Group to collaborate on research and engage with governments and civil society to tackle these issues. As I waited to board my midnight flight home to Sydney from Kathmandu earlier this month, I sat in the pre-departure hall surrounded by around 150 young men waiting for their flight to Doha. Their faces revealed excitement at the prospect of earning the good salaries that they had been promised and by an adventure abroad. Some of their eyes betrayed stress, probably about the significant debts they had amassed to money-lenders to pay the brokers and Kathmandu-based recruitment agencies and about leaving their families behind. Some were no doubt anxious about daily media reports of workers being underpaid and made to work under dangerous conditions in inhumane heat without rest, and about the several Nepali workers sent home daily from the Gulf in body bags. But I think I saw in almost all of their eyes some hope that their experience would be different, and that foreign employment would be their family’s ticket to a better life. I hope that our work will make a small contribution to realising that hope for a greater number of migrant workers in the future.

2014 No. 1

UNSW LAW SCHOLARSHIP

MY UNSW LAW SCHOLARSHIP:

What it means to me Emily Wooden (left) grew up in rural NSW, and is now in her second year of a combined Fine Arts / Law degree. Last year, Emily received the Lilian Cohen Memorial Scholarship, a bursary aimed at making the study of law more accessible to students from disadvantaged backgrounds. The scholarship is donated by Janet Donald (right), and named in memory of Janetâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mother, a gifted teacher who believed in the power of education.

UNSW Law Alumni News

Emily I grew up on a little property near Wagga Wagga. I went to a really tiny primary school and a small high school. It was very different from Sydney but it was beautiful and peaceful. I worked hard at school. I was highly competitive and I pushed myself. Mum and Dad both left school in Year 10 so my older sister was the first in my immediate family to go to university. I always assumed I would go too. I moved to Sydney by myself to attend UNSW. I’m really enjoying university so far. Law is an adjustment to your way of thinking, but I think I’m starting to get the hang of it. I’m getting pretty good results, but it’s always about the Distinction average – that elusive goal. I’m aspiring to it! I live at a college on campus, and I have a part-time job as a salesperson. My plan is to take care of myself financially without putting a burden on my parents. I do worry about money and it can be stressful. I work around 25 hours each week. I’d prefer if I could keep it to 20 – those extra 5 hours are exhausting.

“A lot of kids from my school in Wagga Wagga got into universities in Sydney but couldn’t afford to go. The whole idea of moving away and supporting themselves financially was just not possible. It’s such a waste of potential. I find it frustrating.” I know that when it comes to university, there are far fewer opportunities for rural students compared to students from the city. I haven’t met a single other rural

student at Law School. A lot of kids from my school in Wagga Wagga got into universities in Sydney but couldn’t afford to go. The whole idea of moving away and supporting themselves financially was just not possible. It’s such a waste of potential. I find it frustrating.

“It’s overwhelming to know that someone who doesn’t know you wants you to go to uni and achieve something great. I felt like it was someone saying to me, “I believe in you”.” To me, the scholarship was massive. First year is just so tough. It’s the year that you really need support. It’s a big adjustment – you’re learning to live on your own and manage your finances. All the expenses can be overwhelming – bus fares and textbooks and food. Having the scholarship to cover those expenses while I set myself up, and got a job, and worked out a budget really helped me get through that year. I love that the scholarship can assit rural students. It’s a scholarship that represents, and provides for, the needs that I saw in my own community. It’s overwhelming to know that someone who doesn’t know you wants you to go to uni and achieve something great. I felt like it was someone saying to me, “I believe in you.” I’m passionate about getting more support for people from disadvantaged backgrounds. It’s something I always grew up learning about: providing opportunities. If you can just put someone in the position of having the opportunity, they can do so much. It’s getting them there that’s important.

2014 No. 1

UNSW LAW SCHOLARSHIP

Janet The scholarship is named after my mother, Lilian Cohen. Mum was a gifted schoolteacher, and a great believer in education for everyone. When Mum was teaching, there was unimaginable poverty in Sydney. But she didn’t just teach for the children who had more, she raised the ability of the whole class. Mum really cared, and I think her influence rubbed off on my brother and me. I loved school. At my high school, it was assumed girls would go to university. And at home, my mother expected me to study hard, and to do well. I know a lot of women who were told at the time to leave school and get married. I always thought I’d go to university. I was very fortunate. I studied Classical Languages at Sydney University. Then, after I had my first child, I did a post-graduate diploma in Librarianship at UNSW. I loved the university life – studying and spending time with friends. They were incredibly carefree days; our fees were completely paid by Commonwealth Scholarships. Of course, I had no appreciation for that at the time. But it certainly contributes to why I now like to help a couple of students each year. After I had my second child, I started a communications business, and later transitioned into management consulting. In the late 90s I started a market research company with a colleague. The part I enjoyed most was the development of our young employees. We set aside a significant professional development budget because that was important to me. I did the oldfashioned thing where we sat down and we did the work together, and we taught each other. I loved it. I still believe it’s the most effective way for people to learn.

UNSW Law Alumni News

I don’t come from a family of lawyers but I believe very strongly in the value of a legal education. I think the foundation of society and its ability to grow and change relies on our grasp of the law. I like the idea that I can help someone who might otherwise not be able to study law, or who would otherwise find it very difficult to do so. And if I’m honest, it’s not a hard thing for me to do. There are many other people like me, who are capable of writing that cheque. But I think there might be a lack of understanding about how many young people need help to get to university. People might not realise that that first year of university is very tough, especially if you’re coming from a financially disadvantaged background. And we have the ability to make life just a little bit easier for those students.

“People might not realise that that first year of university is very tough, especially if you’re coming from a financially disadvantaged background. And we have the ability to make life just a little bit easier for those students.” I enjoy coming to the Law Awards Evening each year to see students receive their scholarships. When I say hello to the young people, and to their parents, I don’t think there is anything more pleasing for me. I feel I’m carrying on something for Mum and her family. I brought my granddaughter Marley to the Law Awards Evening this year. I thought, you can’t introduce children to the idea of giving too young. In the car on the way home Marley said to me, “Don’t worry Granny, when you die, I’ll fund the scholarships.” And I said, “Oh that would be lovely, thank you.”

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UNSW LAW AWARDS:

CELEBRATING ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE

David Friedlander

n May, UNSW Law held its annual Law Awards Evening. The event celebrated our highest achieving law students in the 2013 academic year, as well as our 2014 scholarship recipients. Professor David Dixon, Dean of UNSW Law, congratulated prize winners, and acknowledged the diligent and consistent effort required to achieve their outstanding results. He also recognised the role that parents and families play in providing support – and patience! – during university years. Professor Dixon also extended his thanks to scholarship donors for their key role in helping students reach their true potential: “Scholarships allow us to recognise achievement in all its permutations – from outstanding HSC performers, to highachieving students from Indigenous or socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds. Scholarships also help us to achieve our goal of ensuring that every deserving student is given the opportunity to study at UNSW Law.” Special guest and speaker was David Friedlander, a partner at King & Wood Mallesons and a graduate of UNSW Law. Addressing an audience which included his father, who had come to watch his son speak, David drew on his own experiences in encouraging students to spend their time doing the things they enjoy. His advice: “Be happy; be deliriously happy”.

UNSW Law Alumni News

A special thank you to the donors of our 2014 Law Awards prizes and scholarships… • Allens • Ashurst • Baker & McKenzie • The family and friends of Louise Brown • Banki Haddock Fiora • Harry and Marion Dixon • Janet Donald • Judith Fleming • John and Jenny Green • Herbert Smith Freehills • The Law Society of NSW • Raema Mahony and Janine Tindall • Maurice Blackburn Lawyers • Minter Ellison • Paul Redmond • Michael Sirmai, and the family and friends of Danielle Sirmai • Michael Sternberg • Truman Hoyle • UNSW Law Society

ILC HOLDS AN OPEN FORUM Open Forum: Dr Sarah Pritchard, Ms Bindi Cole, Leon Terrill, Tim Soutphommasane

Indigenous Law Centre invites debate over proposed changes to the Racial Discrimination Act On 4 June UNSW Law’s Indigenous Law Centre (ILC) held an Open Forum to discuss the Federal Government’s proposed changes to the Racial Discrimination Act (RDA) and its potential impact on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The forum featured a panel of experts including Dr Tim Soutphommasane (Race Discrimination Commissioner), Sydney barrister Dr Sarah Pritchard SC (UNSW alumna and discrimination law specialist), Indigenous artist Bindi Cole, and Professor Megan Davis, ILC Director. Section 18C of the RDA makes it unlawful for a person to do an act that is reasonably likely to “offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate” someone because of their race or ethnicity. Section 18D contains exemptions which protect freedom of speech. These ensure that artistic works, scientific debate and fair comment on matters of public interest are exempt from section 18C, provided they are said or done reasonably and in good faith. The majority of complaints made to the Australian Human Rights Commission under section 18C of the RDA have been lodged by Aboriginal people. Given the public’s concern over the proposed repeal of sections

18C, D and E of the Act, the Indigenous Law Centre felt it was important to provide both Indigenous and non-Indigenous community members with an opportunity to understand and discuss the reason for the existence of racial vilification laws and the effect of the proposed amendments. An audience Q&A session provided a chance to further scrutinise the Government’s draft Freedom of Speech (Repeal of s. 18C) Bill 2014. Members of the audience conveyed apprehension about the lack of evidence for a case to be made for changing the current sections. Concerns were also raised about the Attorney General’s Department failing to make submissions to the draft exposure bill publicly available. The ILC is committed to providing outreach and community education initiatives such as the Open Forum to ensure Indigenous Australians have the knowledge and the skills necessary to take a stand and to have a voice in relation to the issues that directly impact their lives and their communities. Unfortunately, the Australian Government recently advised that all funding of the ILC would be cut from July 2014. The ILC is currently seeking financial support to continue its work in empowering members of our Indigenous communities to play a meaningful role in shaping their futures.

2014 No. 1

ALUMNI J

udge Dina Yehia has taken on her new role as a judge of the District Court of NSW with the same innate sense of fair-mindedness that saw her build a successful career as an advocate. Sworn in on 5 May this year and based in Western Sydney, Judge Yehia says she finds it useful to reflect on what she looked for in a judicial officer, when she was working as a public defender. “When I was an advocate, you wanted somebody who was fair,” she muses. “It wasn’t necessarily that you wanted somebody who was pro defence. You wanted a judicial officer who applied a legal principle objectively – certainly, fairly to the accused, but also fairly to the Crown.

Sitting down with Judge Dina Yehia (BA/LLB ’89)

“That’s what I’m now trying to do. And I think that if you understand that fundamental principle, it’s not a difficult thing to apply.” A barrister for the Public Defender’s Office for 14 years, Judge Yehia was appointed Senior Counsel in 2009 and was the first female appointed as Deputy Senior Public Defender in 2012. Attorney General Brad Hazzard said in a statement as he announced her appointment: “Ms Yehia is a formidable criminal law practitioner and over the course of her 24 year career, she has helped thousands of disadvantaged people to get a fair trial.” Born in Egypt, Judge Yehia moved to Australia with her family at the age of seven. This was in 1970, following a time of political unrest in her home country.

UNSW Law Alumni News

Her father, a general in the army, had been taken under arbitrary arrest and put into secret detention for weeks at a time without his family knowing where he was. “While I was very young at the time, I heard the stories from my mother,” Dina says. “That did inform the absolute need for a fair and just system when an individual may come up against the State.” Dina’s childhood views were cemented upon reading books such as To Kill A Mockingbird, often cited in defence law circles. Later, studying at UNSW Law and volunteering at Redfern Legal Centre, her aspirations were solidified. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws in 1989. “I had wanted to be an advocate in criminal law since I was 13, long before I went to university,” she reflects. “But people like John Kirkwood, who was my lecturer in criminal law, reinforced that it was the right thing to do, because he was such an inspirational lecturer and human being.” Judge Yehia commenced her career with a seven year stint as a lawyer for the Western Aboriginal Legal Service, a time she describes as “the best years, professionally”. “From the very start, I was exposed to very good legal practitioners and also very interesting legal issues,” she says. “All of that made it a rich and rewarding time.” It was the time of the Royal Commission into Deaths in Custody, with Judge Yehia acting as Counsel for Lloyd Boney’s family. Such cases went on to inform her view of

the police and justice system. She speaks passionately about the need to address the over-representation of Aboriginal people in legal custody, although she feels that some things have changed for the better. “My sense is that the judiciary gets it better than it did 20 to 25 years ago,” she says. “But I think there still needs to be systemic change. It’s difficult to generalise. There are some communities in which police practices have improved. Others, not.”

“My advice to students is always... If you get the practical experience early on and surround yourself with people who are respected in terms of their ability as lawyers, you are destined to learn good habits.” While being a judicial officer was not on her radar until quite recently, Judge Yehia is relishing the opportunity to ”give back” within a new role. When asked if she would change anything about her career, she answers with a resounding “no” and adds that she would encourage others to follow the same path she has taken. “My advice to students is always, if they want to be advocates, to work within an Aboriginal legal service and to work in Western New South Wales,” she offers. “If you get the practical experience early on and surround yourself with people who are respected in terms of their ability as lawyers, you are destined to learn good habits.”

2014 No. 1

ALUMNI J

eremy Kinross modestly credits his accomplishments to the many role models in his life. But he has also gained a reputation as an astute businessman by making clever and unconventional career decisions. Graduating from UNSW in 1983 with a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Commerce, Jeremy went on to become a chartered accountant, barrister, politician and now works as a management consultant.

Getting to know Jeremy Kinross (BCom/LLB ’83)

Despite his obvious personal triumphs, Jeremy draws on the sentiment of the esteemed scientist Isaac Newtown, who said: “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” With an impressive memory for names, Jeremy lists the lecturers, friends and family, including his late mother, father and godfather, who supported him and contributed to his body of knowledge. “I’ve been moulded by those whose shoulders I have stood upon,” he reflects.

“I’ve been moulded by those whose shoulders I have stood upon.” Jeremy speaks fondly of the contributions of his many UNSW Law lecturers. Among them were David Gonski AC, whom he describes as a “man of humility”, Jillian Segal AM, and Professor Garth Nettheim, someone for whom Jeremy has great respect, despite being “diametrically opposed politically”. But perhaps the most influential figure in his career has been Michael Kirby AC CMG, former Justice of the High Court, one of Jeremy’s first employers and

UNSW Law Alumni News

now his friend. Jeremy worked as First Associate for Justice Kirby soon after graduating from UNSW. Justice Kirby was at the time the President of the Court of Appeal in the Supreme Court of NSW. “I didn’t appreciate it then of course, as you can’t get the helicopter perspective when you’re in the minutiae of life,” he says. “But it was great experience working for Michael. It was tough. I was working nearly every weekend on a fairly small wage, but it instilled in me so many important values.

“It was great experience working for Michael. It was tough. I was working nearly every weekend on a fairly small wage, but it instilled in me so many important values.” “Michael is patient, which is not a quality that comes naturally to me, and was very generous with his time. He also exhibited the values of a sense of duty and hard work; values instilled in me by my parents. Hard work brings its own reward for the effort expended. “That said, Michael is retired and he’s still working hard. Go out on the harbour and relax I say!” Jeremy reflects on how Justice Kirby impressed on him the importance of an international perspective, as highlighted in his book Through the World’s Eye. “My mother taught me that in Australia we’re very insular,” Jeremy says. “But Michael taught me you need to look outside the square.”

Ironically, while working for Justice Kirby, Jeremy was headhunted for an investmentbanking role based in Europe. But he passed up the “high flying life”, and it’s a decision he says he doesn’t regret. It was also during this time that he was admitted to practise as a barrister, specialising in commercial and advisory work. Jeremy’s experience held him in good stead, as did his time as a NSW Member for Parliament within the Liberal Party. He was Member for Gordon for seven years until the seat was abolished in 1999. He also attained his MBA in 1997. “I like to think I’m a jack of all trades, not a master of none,” he jokes. “But I do think it’s important, sadly in an era of specialisation, that we have a good understanding of major areas. The skillset that law, commerce and accounting instilled in me has gone on to traverse all areas of my life.” He says that law, in particular, taught him to think on his feet. He reminisces about Law School mooting classes and acting sessions with NIDA that potentially went on to assist him in a job in politics. Jeremy still values his links with UNSW Law and, as well volunteering as Parliamentary Representative on the UNSW Council in the 1990s, he is a regular attendee at a variety of UNSW events, and has been a generous donor to the University for over 20 years.

2014 No. 1

ALUMNI “You have to lift to match the heartbeat of innovation and I find that’s the kind of environment where I thrive.”

pending his formative years in the USSR and living through the Perestroika movement helped Anatoly Kirievsky develop a healthy dose of scepticism he now finds useful in his day-to-day work.

Anatoly Kirievsky (BCom/LLB ’05)

Head of Compliance at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Anatoly moved to Australia from Kiev, Ukraine with his immediate family in 1993, aged 15. He says that as a result of his upbringing, his natural tendency is to look for the motivations behind an issue. “I tend not to take things at face value,” he explains. “If somebody presents an idea, I ask myself, ‘What’s driving that idea? What could be some of the unstated aims of that action?’” It’s a trait that’s not only useful in the workplace. Anatoly feels his analytical outlook was an advantage while studying a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Commerce at UNSW, which he completed in 2002. “It’s just how we approached things in the Soviet Union,” he says. “For example, you could get a lot of information from the official newspapers, but you had to read between the lines. “This certainly happens in other countries too. You can garner a lot by looking at

UNSW Law Alumni News

official government parades, for example; where people are standing relative to each other or how many times somebody’s name is mentioned. It’s sort of reading the tea-leaves, as opposed to believing the written word or the spoken word.” Such attention to detail is a prerequisite in the areas in which Anatoly specialises, including risk management, corporate governance and regulatory relations. “The word I’d probably use is ‘nuanced’,” he offers. “In some cases there is a straight yes or no answer, but in most cases you need to take a more nuanced approach and understand the concerns, the people involved, and how the solution can be tailored to those circumstances.” He says this was a skill he honed at Law School, as was the knack of “putting something substantive together within just a couple of hours”. Anatoly still has a taste for study, and is now doing his Masters of Law and Management at UNSW. He has also

worked as an Adjunct Lecturer in Finance at the University for the past 14 years. That said, he’s not about to relinquish his day job for a fulltime career in academia. While he enjoys the stimulation of keeping abreast of academic theories, he finds a dynamic corporate environment best suits his personality. “The pace of life in a corporate environment suits me well,” he says. “You have to lift to match the heartbeat of innovation and I find that’s the kind of environment where I thrive.” When he’s not working hard at an office desk or in a lecture theatre, Anatoly is sweating it out on the athletics field. He’s the Treasurer of the NSW Masters Athletics Association, a 2013 five-times bronze medal winner, and an active participant in the throwing events such as discus, javelin, hammer throw, weight throw and pentathlon… clearly indicating his strengths don’t just stop at mental agility and determination.

“I tend not to take things at face value... If somebody presents an idea, I ask myself, ‘What’s driving that idea? What could be some of the unstated aims of that action?.” Left: Anatoly receiving his award from Richard Alcock, Managing Director, Investment Banking, Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, in 2000 for First in Class in International Finance Law

2014 No. 1

Student

Alumni

NETWORKING BREAKFAST Emmanuel Giuffre speaking at the Networking Breakfast

n April 8th the UNSW Law Alumni Network held its annual Student & Alumni Networking Breakfast at Allens’ offices in Sydney’s CBD. Current students took the opportunity to mingle with, and seek advice from, past students of the Law School, while nibbling on pastries and enjoying the harbour views. Recent UNSW Law graduate Georgie Herring described the breakfast as “a great opportunity to catch up with old friends and to meet new people who came from the same places we did, but [who] have gone into different areas”. The focus of this year’s breakfast was the wide range of career opportunities, both within and outside of the legal profession, that a law degree can lead to. UNSW Law alumnus Dean Kelly (BCom/LLB ’03), co-founder of online businesses Zanui and HeyLets, and Emmanuel Giuffre (BA/ LLB ’09), Legal Counsel and Government Relations for animal advocacy group Voiceless, spoke to the group about their unique career paths from UNSW Law School to their current roles. Dean emphasised how useful his legal skills are, even though he is not a practising lawyer: “The thought process behind how you determine the results of a case, for example, [is] a very useful way of breaking down the problems

UNSW Law Alumni News

that different companies face.” Students came away from the breakfast with an enhanced appreciation of the diversity of career prospects after completing a law degree. Current student Ben Heenan was inspired by the alumni he spoke to: “You get to really experience… where people can go after their law degree, and it’s really interesting to meet those people and see where they’ve taken what they’ve studied at uni.”

Gagging the voiceless Following the Networking Breakfast, UNSW Law talked more with speaker and UNSW Law alumnus Emmanuel Giuffre about his work with Voiceless, particularly in relation to the proposed introduction of “ag-gag legislation”, a controversial topic gaining momentum in Australia. Although ag-gag laws differ slightly across jurisdictions, in general, ag-gag laws aim to: 1. criminalise the undercover surveillance of commercial animal facilities; 2. require individuals in possession of covertly obtained materials to immediately turn them over to enforcement agencies and prohibit their

distribution to the media; and/or 3. require job applicants to commercial animal facilities to fully disclose current or past ties to animal groups. Emmanuel has recently been involved in running the 2014 Voiceless Animal Law Lecture Series. The Series explored the issues arising from the introduction of ag-gag legislation in Australia, for which several politicians have recently announced their support. But, Emmanuel argues, laws already exist in Australia to prevent activists from trespassing on private property and engaging in undercover surveillance activities. Therefore, from Voiceless’ perspective, the introduction of ag-gag laws is an attempt by agribusiness to “demonise and undermine the animal protection movement, and incite fear in the public,” and thus to deter the release of footage revealing the treatment of animals in factory farms. Political interest in ag-gag legislation has grown recently following increased efforts by Australian animal activists to gather and release undercover footage which exposes animal cruelty in factory farms, particularly in NSW. Emmanuel believes this footage has had positive effects, including the forced closure of commercial operators, workers facing criminal convictions for animal cruelty, and producers being fined heavily for misleading and deceptive conduct. However, despite what Emmanuel sees as a growing movement of ethical consumers, the increased support for ag-gag legislation means that Voiceless, like advocates from a variety of other social justice movements, is cautiously watching this space, particularly in this period of conservative Australian state and federal governments.

Annual Hal Wootten Lecture looks to lessons learned from war on terror

Professor Richard Abel

The 2014 Hal Wootten Lecture was presented by Richard L. Abel, Distinguished Professor of Law Emeritus and Distinguished Research Professor at UCLA. Speaking on the topic “How to be a ‘good lawyer’: Lessons from the American ‘war on terror’”, Professor Abel explored the American response to the 9/11 attacks and the threat that he believes this response has posed to the rule of law in the United States. Professor Abel presented stories of two kinds of lawyers: those who betrayed the rule of law, and those whose experience of injustice inspired them to courageously defend the rule of law. Responding to the lecture, Emeritus Professor Hal Wootten, founding dean of UNSW Law, thanked Abel for provoking the audience to think honestly about where they stand in the world. Professor Wootten urged the audience to heed what he saw as a critical lesson in Professor Abel’s address, and a principle that has been a part of UNSW Law since its inception – that justice is for everyone: “The Law School is educating young people not to conduct a business, but to practise a profession. A profession is a body of women and men who are given a special status and independence by their society, in return for which they accept certain responsibilities... In a democratic country it is inherent in the deal that the responsibilities are to the whole of society. Justice is for everybody.” 2014 No. 1

MOST ELIGIBLE BACHELORS 2001

Remember when...

We caught up with the Most Eligible Bachelors from the 2001 UNSW Law Society Magazine and asked them to answer the following questions 13 years later…

What is your current city?

Where are you working these days?

Tell us one of your favourite memories from your uni days

Describe one great thing you’ve done since graduation

Any comment on the Most Eligible Bachelors 2001?

What advice would you give to your student self of 2001?

UNSW Law Alumni News

Illan Israaelstam 1. Sydney 2. Principal at Apex Capital Partners, a private investment firm 3. The calibre of the students was a definite standout and I absolutely loved the KLC elective I took. 4. Lived, worked and played in New York City, built several businesses and procreated! 5. Aargh, the agony of embarrassment! At least I kept my shirt on… 6. Skip the clerkship and enjoy the long holidays (thankfully I did that!), and don’t sweat the small stuff.

Nick Bender Nick Hume 1. Sydney via London and New York 2. Vice President at Global Infrastructure Partners 3. Apart from great times with friends (including my future wife), who could forget the ‘Ruddock Incident’? 4. I got married to a wonderful life partner (and fellow UNSW Law graduate), I work in three great cities with fantastic colleagues and I’ve finally managed to buy some Sydney dirt to call our own. 5. A fine group of gentlemen handpicked by Kathy Luu. I guess now we’re all on average a little rounder, wiser and generally less eligible! 6. Listen rather than speak; ask questions rather than answer. Take interest in others.

Ian MacIver 1. Sydney 2. Compliance at Ophir Asset Management, a small capital equities manager 3. First year Law Camps, Law Balls, Law Revue, McGill exchange and the classes that didn’t have Property or Administrative in the title. 4. I’ve been mistaken for a local in Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Greece and Italy. I bungee jumped in Greece wearing a bed-sheet toga and Manly speedos. 5. Judging from post-uni achievements, there was some serious intellect there (plus me). Also, I didn’t get a date out of it at the time it and still haven’t! 6. If you are drinking more than usual you are in the wrong job or worrying too much (or both!)

1. Sydney 2. Barrister, Banco Chambers 3. Playing in the Revue Band, making some of my closest friends and growing up. 4. Lots of travel and studying overseas. 5. Very embarrassing, I clearly overrated my sense of humour! 6. Take it slowly, life’s not a race.

Shaun Chau 1. London via Monrovia, Kigali and Oxford 2. Consultant, Boston Consulting Group 3. Several great law balls, some memorable lectures and meeting my wife. 4. I’ve worked for several inspirational African presidents for four years and Tony Blair for six. I like to think I did some good work though luckily I wasn’t involved in any Middle East policy! 5. I think the only reason my wife agreed to go out with me was because my profile as bachelor was in that publication… thanks Kathy! 6. Enjoy it… life only gets more complicated from here on in.

Jeremy Chung 1. Sydney 2. Deputy Project Director, Infrastructure Investment at Leighton Contractors 3. My Finance Honours lecturer vomiting on my couch after too many drinks! 4. Winning the Porcelain Bowl Award at my prior employer for passing out on the toilet whilst at a client function. 5. In retrospect, the Most Eligible Bachelor has to have been Phil Bae. I’m envious of his life of fast cars and fast motorcycles in LA. 6. Enjoy university! 2014 No. 1

HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW US?

UNSW LAW IN NUMBERSâ&#x20AC;Ś SPRING DRINKS

QUIZ 2,711 is... a. The number of coffees sold each week at the upper campus coffee cart next to the Library Lawn b. The number of students enrolled at UNSW Law in Semester 1, 2014 c. The number of steps on the walk through campus from Botany Street to Anzac Parade (and back!) d. The number of students enrolled at UNSW Law in Semester 1, 1999

56% is... a. The percentage of people actually awake at 10pm in the Law Library b. The percentage of students currently enrolled at UNSW Law that are female c. Your chances of plugging that USB stick into your desktop wrong side up d. The percentage of students currently enrolled at UNSW Law that are male

120 is... a. The number of different courses on offer at UNSW Law in Semester 2, 2014 b. The weight in kilograms of our heaviest lecturer c. The number of UNSW Law alumni living in Russia d. The new speed limit on High Street

UNSW Law Alumni News

5 YEAR OUT REUNION True or False? • In 1984 the number of students enrolled at UNSW Law in Semester 1 was only 105 • Property Lecturer Cathy Sherry’s youngest child’s name is Torrens • 8,000 free burritos were given away the day Guzman & Gomez opened its doors on campus

NETWORKING BREAKFAST

2014 No. 1

Answers: 2,711: b | 56%: b | 120: a True or False: true | false | true

UPCOMING EVENT

Ngoc Tram Nguyen Scholarship Dinner Community event to nurture future leaders through education. The dinner aims to raise funds for, and increase awareness of, the Ngoc Tram Nguyen Scholarship which assists students from non-selective schools in South-West Sydney to study Law at UNSW. Everyone welcome. Friday 29 August 2014 6:30pm for 7pm start The International Restaurant, Level 1, 42 Canley Vale Road, Canley Vale Tickets: $60 per person (includes a seven course Vienamese banquet)

Stay connected

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Contact: Lindsay Owens l.owens@unsw.edu.au

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Bookings and more information: www.law.unsw.edu.au/NgocTramNguyen

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Guest speaker Justice Virginia Bell of the High Court of Australia

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