Editorial “Equal justice under law is perhaps the most inspiring ideal of our society. It is one of the ends for which our entire legal system exists...it is fundamental that justice should be the same, in substance and availability.” - Lewis Powell, Jr. Welcome to the final edition of The Full Bench for 2015!
Writing this final editorial was somewhat bittersweet as we say adieu to TFB for yet another year. There are no doubts that 2015 has been an exceptional year for The Full Bench. Across four editions, we’ve had 47 student contributors, four articles written by esteemed members of the UTS:Law faculty and an exclusive interview with the newly appointed and first female Crown Solicitor in NSW. TFB has delivered evocative, well-researched and seamlessly executed pieces for our readers, covering a wide range of issues, from legal liberties to human (in)securities to mental illness among lawyers and now finally, to social change. It’s safe to say that TFB has done it all this year. Of course, none of the above would have been possible without the guidance and support of a few outstanding people. To Ashleigh Barnes (President) and Vanessa Jiang (Vice President, Education), thank you for being grammatical wizards and a constant source of encouragement. To Simon Blanckensee, your creativity has transformed TFB into the polished and professional publication it has become. To the wonderful TFB subcommittee, Kieran, Adriana, Bianca and Neeharika, you have been complete assets; the unrivalled quality of TFB in 2015 is entirely down to you. Finally, to all of our contributors this year, thank you one hundred times over for your meticulous research, masterful writing and above all, your willingness to go above and beyond to investigate legal issues outside the classroom. In this final edition, ‘Lawmakers and Social Changes’, the TFB team and our contributors seek to reveal how the law is deeply implicated in our economic, political, and social worlds. In this way, the pursuit of social change invariably involves an engagement with the law. LYDIA GRAMMENO explores the legal and ethical issues that continue to compound the debate surrounding the legalisation of assisted death in ‘Dignity, Democracy and the Rights of the Terminally Ill’. ‘Australia’s Shame: Intimate Partner Violence Against Women’ is a delicate investigation by FRANCESCA ELIAS-ARCIULI into the protection currently afforded to female victims of domestic violence, and asks is it enough? BIANCA BALZER, in ‘Ending Guerrilla Lawfare’ delves into the topical issue of ‘environmental lawfare’ and assesses whether environmental interest groups are in danger of losing their standing in environmental matters. In celebration of the high calibre of legal writing produced by UTS:Law students in 2015, we present to you our swan song. As students who seek to understand how law can be harnessed for social change, or who wish to pursue careers as social change agents, we encourage you to read and reflect on the contents of this fourth and final instalment of The Full Bench. Nicola Colagiuri, Publications Director, UTS Law Students’ Society
Lawmakers and Social Changes
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