Welcome new students

Welcome to the Monash Law Faculty! Your selection into law reflects your hard work and achievements.

During your first year in the Faculty you will be facing many new challenges. For those of you who have come straight from school, you will be experiencing University life for the first time. For Postgraduate students, it may be some time since you last studied. You will need to juggle social life, campus activities, work and your academic studies.

For those of you who are already graduates, who are transferring from other Monash faculties or from other universities, are mature-age entrants who have had other careers or are undertaking postgraduate studies you will need to acquire the skills necessary for studying law. All law students must learn how to use the law library, research both print and computer-based data sources and acquire the techniques necessary for discovering and applying statute and case law. All law students must also be proficient in word processing, e-mail and use of the Internet. If you are a postgraduate student you may have to tailor your workload to suit your professional goals and personal commitments but you still need to make time to learn these skills.

At first you may find settling into the Faculty difficult. Many of you will have excelled in your studies or previous careers and you may have been at or near the top of your cohort of students. In the Law Faculty, however, you will be compared with your intellectual peers, many of whom will have done as well or better than you academically.

Sometimes you will find this unsettling, but it will also be intellectually enriching and exciting. Although we provide a helpful and supportive environment for our students, your enjoyment and success will largely depend on your own investment of time and intellectual effort. For students prepared to make this investment we offer an excellent legal education, which will equip you for a range of careers including private practice as a barrister or solicitor, and work in industry, commerce, government and law reform. During your time here you will have the opportunity to learn, question and criticise the legal principles which govern the relationships between individuals, and between individuals and the state. You will find some areas of the law difficult and some parts of the course complex. You will refine your skills of intellectual analysis and argument, develop your reasoning ability and enhance your oral and written presentation skills. You will learn about the social purposes and effects of law and become better equipped to challenge and improve unjust laws or laws which need refinement to achieve their purpose. You will develop as a person, make friendships which last throughout your life and leave the Faculty well prepared for an interesting professional career.

During your course you should take advantage of the many opportunities to study abroad on exchange, but particularly at Monash’s Prato and Malaysian campuses. For undergraduate and Juris Doctor students you may wish to gain practical experience at one of our two Community Legal Centres at Springvale and Clayton. All undergraduate and postgraduate students are also able to participate in the many extra-curricular activities offered by the Monash Law Students’ Society (LSS).

The co-operative relationship between the Law Faculty and the LSS is an important feature of legal education at Monash. Student representatives sit on the Faculty Board and on Faculty committees. The Law Students’ Society organises student-run tutorials and a variety of law-related competitions and other activities.

I wish you every success in your law studies and hope that you will make the most of your time here.