scholarly journals Multi-disciplinary practice in a community law environment: new models for clinical legal education

2014 ◽  
Vol 19 ◽  
pp. 413 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Foster

<p>The Monash-Oakleigh Legal Service (MOLS) is a community legal service auspiced by Monash University, Melbourne Australia, and partly funded by Victoria Legal Aid. MOLS was principally established to provide practical legal education to Monash law students over 30 years ago, but has since evolved to focus also on serving community legal needs. Incorporated within MOLS is the Family Law Assistance Program (FLAP) which, as the name suggests, deals exclusively with family law matters. FLAP students attend the Family Court each week with lawyers who provide assistance to clients in a duty lawyer capacity, as well as operating four clinical sessions each week within MOLS.</p><p>Like many community legal services, most MOLS clients experience a form of disadvantage and resultant financial difficulty. Consequently, MOLS deals with a range of legal matters including: criminal law, family law, tenancy and neighbourhood disputes, and a number of credit, debt, and<br />bankruptcy issues.</p><p>In July 2010, the Multi-Disciplinary Clinic (MDC) was established at MOLS to provide a holistic service to clients by involving students from three academic disciplines to deal with client issues. Later, in December 2010 (the commencement of the university’s summer semester), students from one other discipline were included in FLAP and a third discipline was also adopted in the following semester.</p>

1981 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 281-307
Author(s):  
Owen Jessep ◽  
Richard Chisholm*

Considerable confusion and difference of opinion exists as to the precise boundaries of jurisdiction in custody matters between Federal and State courts. This Article examines the main cases in which the scope of the Family Court's custody jurisdiction has been in issue, and reviews suggestions made to remedy the problems resulting from the division of jurisdiction. The authors argue for an interpretation of the relevant provisions of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) which is consistent with the trend of High Court authority as to the scope of the marriage power (section 51(xxi) of the Constitution), and which would remove much of the uncertainty concerning the Family Court's jurisdiction.


2012 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
B. C. Nirmal

This article makes some observations about legal education in India by locating it within a wider context of legal education reform that is taking place in Law Schools across the world in the wake of globalizationled and globalization-induced changes in the nature and needs of legal profession. For being both intellectually challenging and professionally relevant, legal education should be more responsible than ever before to the legal needs of the community national as well as international , and the learning needs of students to become professionally competent to play their role in an increasingly transnationalized legal service market. Any effort to restructure and reorient legal education to attain these goals will be an uphill task for any school. This article begins with exploring the implications of globalization for legal education and then turns to nature, aims and objectives of legal education. The article then looks at the possible changes required to be made in the existing curriculum for undergraduate law students in order to make the legal education more relevant and meaningful for its consumers. The focus then shifts to issues concerning methods of teaching, clinical experience and assessment of students. This article then considers issues arising from the proposal of the Bar Council of India to reduce the period of Masters programme and then builds a strong case for strengthening a research tradition in Law Schools. The focus then shifts to measures that are necessary to attract and retain better faculty and also to the regulatory role of the Bar Council of India in the field of legal education. The article concludes with some reflections on the promise of a different vision of legal education.


2015 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 334 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann Thanaraj ◽  
Michael Sales

<p>This practice paper offers a modest proposition that could make law graduates more capable of serving their clients in a modernised and efficient manner. We propose that in addition to law clinics and other forms of experiential activities, law schools could add a new type of clinical component to their curriculum that teaches students to use technology to assist in the delivery of legal services. Digital lawyering skills will help law students learn core competencies needed in an increasingly technological profession, and it may help close the gap between offering access to justice by making legal services available online in the most accessible and convenient way possible and in equipping law graduates with a modernised and digital legal education. </p>


2015 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 591
Author(s):  
Mark Henaghan ◽  
Ruth Ballantyne

This article illustrates the different ways in which Professor Bill Atkin has shown where family law legislative reforms have fallen short in making the rights and well-being of children the paramount consideration in family law disputes, and properly taking account of children's views on matters that affect them. It examines Atkin's thought-provoking analysis of the introduction of the Care of Children Act 2004 and the changes made in recent years to the Child Support Act 1991, the Property (Relationships) Act 1976 and the Family Court system as a whole. The article also explores Atkin's approval of the amendments to the Crimes Act 1961 preventing parents from using physical discipline against their children for the purposes of correction. Overall, the article highlights Atkin's extensive contribution to family law and demonstrates what needs to be changed to ensure New Zealand family law and society becomes more child-focused in the future.


Author(s):  
Sonia Harris-Short ◽  
Joanna Miles ◽  
Rob George

All books in this flagship series contain carefully selected substantial extracts from key cases, legislation, and academic debate, providing able students with a stand-alone resource. This chapter begins with an overview of families and family law in England and Wales today. It then discusses themes and issues in contemporary family law, covering rules versus discretion; women’s and men’s perspectives on family law; sex and gender identity; sexual orientation; cultural diversity; and state intervention versus private ordering, including the role of the family court and of non-court dispute resolution in family cases.


Hawwa ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 265-294
Author(s):  
Monika Lindbekk

Abstract This article aims to contribute to the growing scholarly literature on the implementation of shariʿa-based family law codes by describing and analyzing the gender implications of religiously inspired judicial activism in relation to judicial divorce through khulʿ. The article highlights two functions played by family court judges and other legal professionals. First, I argue that Egyptian family court judges and other court personnel, such as court experts and court-appointed arbiters from al-Azhar, enjoy considerable discretion in interpreting and implementing the personal status codes. Second, the article argues that legal professionals sometimes use the court and other legal spaces as a platform to articulate alternative visions of family and marriage, as well as to voice anxieties over a perceived increase in female-initiated divorce. The article situates these contradictory practices against the background of the contestation of early twenty-first-century reforms, which challenged male authority in the family, in particular the 2000 law of judicial khulʿ.


2021 ◽  
pp. 197-217
Author(s):  
Martin Partington

This chapter discusses the family justice system. It considers the role law plays in regulating the family. The chapter covers the institutional framework of family justice and its transformation. It notes the creation of the Family Court and the pressures on that court. It reviews the remedies which are available in that court, in particular those relating to the protection of children. The chapter briefly considers adoption. It considers other matrimonial matters, in particular the introduction of no-fault divorce and the financial effects of divorce. It considers policy relating to child support, and notes changes to ways of dealing with domestic violence and abuse. It considers the legal practitioners involved in family law issues and how they seek to deal with family disputes on a less adversarial basis. The effect of changes to legal aid for funding for family law cases is discussed.


Author(s):  
Martin Partington

This chapter discusses the family justice system. It considers the role law plays in regulating the family. The chapter covers the institutional framework of family justice and its transformation. It notes the creation of the Family Court and the pressures on that court. It reviews the remedies which are available in that court, in particular those relating to the protection of children. The chapter briefly considers adoption. It considers other matrimonial matters, in particular the financial effects of divorce. It considers policy relating to child support, and notes changes to ways of dealing with domestic violence. It considers the legal practitioners involved in family law issues and how they seek to deal with family disputes on a less adversarial basis. The effect of changes to legal aid for funding for family law cases is discussed.


2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 167-189 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela Melville ◽  
Karen Laing

AbstractIn 2001, the Legal Services Commission (LSC) introduced a new pilot, the Family Advice and Information Network (FAInS), which recognised that family law clients typically face a cluster of legal and non-legal issues. Family lawyers involved in FAInS were encouraged to address a client’s legal problems, and then refer the client to other services for assistance with non-legal issues. In this way, family law clients were to be offered a holistic service, with the lawyer acting as a ‘case manager’ who helped match services to their client’s individual needs. This article presents data drawn from an evaluation of FAInS, and shows that lawyers did not regularly refer their clients to other services, with referrals largely being limited to mediation. We conclude that family lawyers are not necessarily the most appropriate gatekeepers, and propose a number of alternatives for providing a multi-agency approach to resolving family law issues.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Caroline Hickman

<p>This dissertation examines the origins and justification for the “any evidence” rule which has been a feature of New Zealand family law for many years. The rule provides judicial discretion to admit evidence in the Family Court which would be otherwise inadmissible. Its ongoing value has never been closely examined, although the rule has frequently been criticised.  Selected cases have been examined to determine if reliance on the Evidence Act without the “any evidence” rule would have the deleterious outcomes contemplated. Analysis has shown that the rule has very little use and conversely, that the detriment caused by the rule is greater than the harm it was designed to remedy.  Repeal and reform options are considered to better achieve the specific purposes of the various family law statutes as well as improve the integrity of the Family Court process overall.</p>


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