Surviving Law School
Pr ofessor Mic hael Quinlan
Athena Kr isanaleela
Student r epr esentativ e body
Get a head star t!
Know your legal lingo!
Don' t get lost!
An ov er v iew of the year !
CONTENTS
3 5 6 7 9 10 11 14 16 17 19 20 21
Get inv olv ed!
Bec ome a loc al!
THE Calendar of the year !
Chec k out some useful law sites!
Follow the NDSLS pages!
Ebony Billett
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A WORD FROM OUR DEAN... Welcome to the School of Law of the University of Notre Dame Australia. Thank you for choosing to study with us. I am sure that you have made the right decision. We see the project that you are just beginning to be a joint exercise to get you from where you are today to where you want to be when you graduate. What Notre Dame Law will do for you? We have a very special commitment to providing you with an excellent standard of training for the legal profession. Most of your teachers have been (or are currently) partners in law firms with decades of legal experience. For example, before my appointment as Dean in 2013, I had the great privilege of working for over 23 years at Allens, where I was a partner for more than 14 years. All of our teachers have made a conscious decision to teach here in order to help you do the best that you can. Our students benefit from a real commitment of time and focus on these areas. We will provide you with practical skills such as advocacy, public speaking, commercial practice and alternative dispute resolution to better prepare you for a career in the law. We will provide you with many opportunities to be mentored by practicing lawyers and opportunities to undertake internships as part of your degree. We will also help you to develop lifelong learning skills. We will also provide you weekly updates on career, mentoring, internship and volunteering opportunities, student and alumni successes and course information through our weekly newsletter, The Jury’s In. What will the NDSLS do for you? You are very lucky to be joining a law school with an incredibly proactive, enthusiastic and engaged student society. The NDSLS is a student body representing every student enrolled at Notre Dame Law. The NDSLS will enrich your student experience if you engage with its impressive website and Facebook site, participate in the competitions it runs in mooting, negotiation, client interviews and other areas, read its Careers Guide and Student Guide and its weekly newsletter, attend the Careers Week events and the social events and lectures it puts on including the Law Ball, the Annual Social Justice Lecture and Annual Women in Law Panel and help it to raise funds for charities and NGOs.
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What you can do for yourself? Your academic results will make a difference to the range of options that you have when you finish your degree. Work hard to achieve the best results that you can. Develop contacts in the law and gain experience in the law. Take advantage of the mentoring and internship opportunities we offer. Join or get involved in organisations where you will meet lawyers such as the Young Lawyers section of the NSW Law Society, the St Thomas More Society and political parties. Think of all the lawyers that you already know – family, friends, family of friends and friends of family. Think of lawyers that you have a connection with – lawyers in your local area, lawyers who went to your school, lawyers from your church or other communities which you are part of. Take up leadership roles. Get involved in the NDSLS, the community and in University life. Our approach works Like most law schools students from Notre Dame Law compete in a wide range of competitions. The quality of our students is demonstrated by their extraordinary success. Notre Dame Law placed first in Australia in Commercial Mediation. As a result, in 2018 Notre Dame Law represented Australia at the 13th ICC International Commercial Mediation Competition in Paris. The Best Public Speaker Award at that competition was awarded to Alice Dormer, Miranda Cooper and Selma Causevic. Also placing first in the nation in Client Consultation Competition Notre Dame Law also represented Australia in 2018 at the Brown Mosten International Client Consultation Competition, Maastricht University in the Netherlands. The Good Universities Guide 2018 is an external survey of law students across all Australian law schools. For Law students ranked Notre Dame for : Skills Development - 1st in Australia 92%, Teacher Quality - 1st in Australia 92.8%, Overall experience - 1st in Australia 90.5%, Learner Engagement - 2nd in Australia/1st in NSW 81.4%, and Student Support - 3rd in Australia/2nd in NSW 81.5%. In short Notre Dame Law is an excellent law school. I look forward to writing and reading about your achievements as you become part of the Notre Dame Law success story. Enjoy your time here. It is a really friendly place and I am sure that you will make many lifelong friends at Notre Dame Law. God bless, Professor Micheal Quinlan, Dean of the Notre Dame Sydney Law School
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A WORD FROM THE PRESIDENT... Welcome to your first year of Law School! Starting law school can always be a daunting experience but it is the support of the community that can help you get through it. As such, I commend the society to each of you and encourage everyone to attend our social events, participate in competitions and involve themselves with all facets of student life. In semester one, we have a variety of ways for you to engage with the society including the various internal competition, mid-semester parties and careers month. In semester two, we have the much anticipated Law Ball, Witness Examination competition, Mooting and many other great ways for you to get involved! I encourage you to make yourself familiar with the society members because we are all very friendly and should you have any questions or concerns - whether it be for directions, food recommendations or just a chat, everyone is very happy to help. For your first taste of the society, I hope to see you all at the first year meet and greet (week one) and start of semester drinks (week three)! - Athena Krisanaleela, President
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Bottom row (Left to Right): Jasmine Robertson, Tautvydas Anusaitus, Jacqueline Vuong, Andrew Gouveia, Athena Krisanaleela, Breanna Sommerton, Stephanie Boudan, Georgina Morton Top Row (Left to Right): Farnaz Maghami, Rebecca Saleme, Jessie Quinn, Adam Reeve, Thomas Meaney, Jacinta White, Natalie Liu, Dylan Byers Not pictured: Jordan Mcgregor, Christian Damiano, Ebony Billett, Alexander Hatziklminous, Cooper Greenberg, James Vito Pelosi
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H A C K S F I R S T Y E A R
GO TO CLASS: attend all of your lectures and let your lecturer know if you can’t make it. It also helps your class participation mark, which contributes to your final grade. DO YOUR READINGS...WEEKLY: this is vital to succeeding. Read them each week, highlight and make notes on them! Don’t fall behind, you’ll regret it at the end of the semester. LEARN AGLC4: this is the referencing for law students. At first, it is so hard to get your head around, but try to get on top of it sooner rather than later. EMAILS & BLACKBOARD: check your emails and blackboard regularly. Lecturers often use blackboard as a forum for posting material for class and for uploading marks. TIMETABLING: creating a study timetable is important for any degree especially law. It’s important to be realistic and stay on top of everything. MAKE NOTES: law exams are open book, so throughout the semester make notes so it doesn't get too stressful towards the exam period. GET INVOLVED: if NDSLS offers events to participate in...go! You'll be able to network with others of the same interests. STUDY WITH FRIENDS: some people don't like studying in groups, but honestly in the law you're able to make sense of things together. LISTEN: when being taught by the librarians on how to use legal data bases, actually listen it'll save you so much time. GOOD LUCK, RELAX AND ENJOY THE RIDE!
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FIRST YEAR CHECKLIST FOLLOW THE NDSLS FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM PAGE BUY YOUR TEXTBOOKS FROM:
The Co-Op bookstore. Notre Dame Textbook Exchange Facebook group KopyStop for your Unit Readers. Student VIP CHECK OUT THE LIBRARY
TALK TO SOMEONE NEW
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TERMS TO BE FAMILIAR WITH Academic Penalty Date: the last date you can withdraw from a unit without an academic penalty ; failing the unit altogether. ALSA: this is short for ‘Australian Law Student's Association’. It is the association of Law Societies across both, Australia and New Zealand. They’re most commonly known for their annual conference. Case Note: this is a summary of a case where key legal issues are identified and an analysis of judicial decisions are included. You will most likely complete one of these as an assignment in Legal Process and Statutory Interpretation. NDSLS Weekly: this is a weekly newsletter sent out by NDSLS to keep you informed about upcoming events. Make sure to subscribe! The Jury’s In: this is a weekly newsletter written by the Dean, Professor Michael Quinlan and sent out by the Assistant Dean, Prasan Ulluwishewa.
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FINDING YOUR WAY AROUND CAMPUS
LAW BUILDING
IMPORTANT BUILDINGS Buckland House - Library NDS15 - Law and business building in Shepherd St NDS17 - LOGOS building
Your timetable will tell you your room number. For example, if your timetable says NDS2/324, your classroom will be in the St Benedict's Building on level 8, room 324. Most of your classes will be in this building, which has 8 floors despite what the number says, as stated above. If you're unsure of where to go, everyone is very friendly at Notre Dame and happy to help out!
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KEY FIRST YEAR LAW SUBJECTS
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CRIMINAL LAW For those of you who didn't take Legal Studies for the HSC, Criminal Law A & B will be your first real venture into the law. In Crim A you will learn about the physical and mental elements of murder, involuntary and voluntary manslaughter and the defences to these crimes. In Crim B you will focus on assault, battery, sexual offences, stealing and other property offences.' Make sure you buy the latest textbook it is essential!
LEGAL HISTORY You will most likely have Professor Iain Benson for this subject, where you will learn about the History of the Law, as the course name suggests. It will explain all of the common and code laws and the development of the Australian legal system and it's influences.
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LEGAL PROCESS & STATUTORY INTERPRETATION This will be your foundation subject for law, where you will learn the very basics of the legal system and how it works. You will learn about statute and how to interpret it, which will form part of your degree and will be in most of your exams. Listen and take notes! The Case Note will be one of your more difficult assignments in first year, so remember to not leave it until the last minute. It's basically just a summary, but reading a case can take days, especially if you choose CES v Superclinics.
LEGAL RESEARCH & WRITING This is an important subject as it will teach you the necessary style and requirements for writing like a law student. You will also learn how to use AGCL4 referencing which will become a vital skill in Law School. Make sure you understand it to gain easy marks and not lose marks in assignments. You can either buy a hard copy or download an online PDF.
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The College of Law
INTERVIEW JUNIOR MOOTING MOOTING WITNESS EXAMINATION NEGOTATIONS PAPER PRESENTATION
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COMPETITIONS
CILENT
CLIENT INTERVIEW: this comp is completed in pairs. You are given a legal rule and you have to apply it to a given situation in the most straightforward way possible. MOOTING : this is a great way to pretend that you're a barrister for a day, suit up and present your case in our very own moot court.
WITNESS EXAMINATION: act as a counsel in a legal circumstance that enables you to examine and interrogate witnesses in order to reveal logical answers to a legal problem. NEGOTIATIONS : it is a mock mediation session where solicitors attempt to resolve a dispute and being able to improve your reasoning by getting the other side to agree to an outcome in the best interests of your client.
PAPER PRESENTATION : you write and present about any legal topic you are interested in.
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WHERE TO EAT? BENITO'S: great place to stop for a coffee or snack during lecture breaks. BROADWAY WESTFIELD: You'll find a range of take-away restaurants on level 3 ; Nando's, Grill'd, Zeus, Bondi Pizza, Soul Origin. CENTRAL PARK MALL: AKA 'Grass Building' has different cuisine's on both ground level and level 3, with an outdoor seating area. SPICE ALLEY: there's so many different Asian choices to choose from, it'll take a while to decide on something. *CARD ONLY* TWO WOLVES: serving Mexican food, it's a not-for-profit restaurant, run by volunteers. All of the profits go towards funding mission trips and charity work. UPSIDE CAFÉ: opposite the main campus, this place has super friendly staff and awesome food. Don't miss the hidden courtyard out the back. BROADWAY CROWN: just up from NDS5 and around the corner from the Law Building, it is a perfect spot to relax with friends after class. THE LANSDOWNE: this is a pretty groovy place to hang out, with an upstairs chill-out area with inexpensive meals. Located next door to the LOGOS building
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SOCIAL EVENTS
LAW BALL FIRST YEAR MORNING TEA LAW CRUISE START OF SEM DRINKS MID-SEMESTER PARTY ND GIFT 17
LAW BALL: this is an excuse to let your hair down and relax before the stress of exam week. FIRST YEAR MORNING TEA: held in the first week of Uni, you'll be able to meet other first year law students and students from NDSLS. LAW CRUISE: enjoy the scenic views of Sydney Harbour with your friends, while you dance your heart out on the dance floor. START OF SEM DRINKS: ease your way into the Uni vibe by attending this. It's a good way to bond and make new friends. ND GIFT: challenge yourself and have some fun versing other students in sports such as soccer, basketball and tug of war. 18
HELFPUL LINKS NDSLS: Notre Dame Sydney Law Society https://www.ndsls.org/ ASLA: Australian Law Students' Assoication https://alsa.asn.au/ NSW Young Lawyers: https://www.lawsociety.com.au/ The Co-Op Bookshop: https://www.coop.com.au/ Notre Dame Textbook Exchange: https://www.facebook.com/groups/175486 562544812/ College of Law: https://www.collaw.edu.au/ 19
SOCIAL MEDIA Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/NotreDame SydneyLawSociety/ Join the first year Facebook group! Instagram: @ndsls Snapchat: thendsls
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FINAL WORD FROM THE EDUCATION DIRECTOR... As the Education Director of NDSLS I am very pleased to be welcoming you into the School of Law at the University of Notre Dame. I am sure that you have made the right decision in choosing to study here. I highly encourage you to step out of your comfort zone and get involved in the various events that NDSLS is offering over the course of this year. Not only is it a great way to socialise and make new friends, you are able to get a glimpse into what the law profession has to offer. Don't be the one to sit at the back of the classroom who just rocks up to get their name signed off, get involved - ask questions and make friends. It'll make your experience at Notre Dame a whole lot greater and it will enrich your learning experience. I wish you the very best of luck in your first year of study. I prompt you to make yourself familiar with NDSLS and to ask questions if needed. Just remember if the going gets tough, you just have to keep on keeping on - you've got this! - Ebony Billett, Education Director
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2019 Notre Dame Sydney Law Society First Year Survival Guide