1999 Law Handbook - Introduction to the faculty

Introduction to the faculty

The Monash Law Faculty takes pride in its reputation as Australia's best all round law school with a strong focus on quality and the achievement of high standards in both its teaching and research activities. It is located on the Clayton campus in its own building to the south of the Menzies building. With more than sixty full-time academic staff and a total enrolment of more than 2000 undergraduate and graduate students, the Monash Law Faculty is large by both Australian and international standards.
In spite of its size the faculty has a strong sense of community and operates in a collegial environment in which students as well as staff are invited to share in decision-making processes affecting their interests. Students for example are represented on most committees of the faculty and make a major contribution to the work and the affairs of the faculty and their collaboration is regarded as essential to the achievement of our overall educational aims.
Underlying the faculty's commitment to excellence and continuing search for ways to improve on past performance are the following objectives:

to continue to provide high quality services to students, who are the primary focus of our endeavours;
to continue to provide undergraduate and graduate courses which are both intellectually rigorous and respond to changing social needs;
to pursue excellence in teaching, learning and education;
to foster excellence in research through leadership, rigorous inquiry and innovation;
to develop further our community culture and collegial environment;
to continue building relationships with the legal profession;
to initiate and contribute to the consideration of legal issues in the legal profession and the wider community.

We regard our unique strengths as:

the quality and diversity of our staff - in teaching skills, intellectual and professional skills, research and practice interests, knowledge and experience, and enthusiasm;
the quality and diversity of our students - as a result both of our entry standards and our alternative entry mechanisms;
the diversity and depth of our undergraduate curriculum - high quality compulsory subjects, plus the broadest range of elective offerings;
our library - simply one of the very best law libraries in Australia, and one of the most technologically advanced;
our culture and environment - a community of students and staff who are dedicated, involved and provide support, encouragement and recognition for all to achieve excellence;

We aim to preserve and enhance these strengths while looking to develop others that will place us in the best position to improve and prosper in a competitive global environment.
In the changing times we now live in, educational providers need to prepare their students for uncertainty. In acknowledgement of this necessity we have continued the tradition of providing our students with 'a broad liberal education' and a thorough grounding in both the theoretical and practical elements of the law in their undergraduate law studies. We see our obligation as preparing students for legal practice in the 21st century and also providing the best education for those students who may decide to pursue careers, not as legal practitioners, but as academics and members of the wider business and professional community - and for jobs which have still to be invented!
It is significant that in a period of great technological, scientific and social innovation, legal skills are in higher demand than ever before - perhaps to be attributed to the intellectual rigour of legal education and the training it provides in analysing and making decisions based on complex issues-based information. Not surprising then that law graduates are to be found in many roles in a wide cross-section of professions. Our academic lawyers are also valued critics of the law and of government and are well represented in the senior ranks of corporations, in the judiciary and in those of the public service and federal and state politics.
Women are also increasingly making their mark in the field of law in terms both of overall numbers entering the profession, and those achieving senior office. This trend is also evident in law school enrolments: 51% of undergraduate students at Monash Law Faculty, (and a similar number of our academic staff), are now female.
It is likely that as the law changes and develops in new directions, more legal practitioners will enrol in some form of postgraduate study in order to stay up to date in their field of practice. The faculty is continually re-evaluating our graduate teaching program to provide the highest quality postgraduate and continuing education in law, in an environment that is flexible and responsive to the needs of graduates. One initiative in this direction has been to supplement the traditional research/thesis-oriented masters and PhD course offered by the faculty with a variety of other study options to suit the part-time student, including graduate diplomas and 'single subjects'.