DEAN’S AWARDS CEREMONY 2008
Murdoch University School of Law
Wednesday 9 April 2008
2007 Prize Winners

Good evening. My name is Gabriël Moens. I am the Dean of Law. I am delighted to welcome you to the Dean’s Awards Ceremony. Tonight, we are celebrating the considerable achievements of our students and graduates. In effect, this Ceremony is to the Law School what the Oscars are to the Movie industry: it is a celebration of the pursuit of excellence by all those who are involved with the educational and professional functions of this great law school.

In addition to our award-winning students and graduates, I would like to extend a warm welcome to their parents and friends. I also take the opportunity to welcome some of our honoured guests and donors here tonight. They are:
Rochelle Youngson (Freehills)
Sarah Harlock (Mallesons Stephen Jaques)
Peter Murray (Marks & Sands)
Craig Taylor (Paterson & Dowding)
Ivan Hoe (The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Western Australia)
Steven Clune (Deacons)
Karen Vernon (Francis Burt Chambers)
Andrew Pascoe (Allens Arthur Robinson)
Mitch Artus (Downings Legal)
Dr Barbara Meddin (on behalf of the Sarah Meddin Memorial Trust)

The message that I would like to convey to you tonight is that the School is a place of opportunity for all. The opportunities available in the Law School enable our students to become the legal, business and political leaders of tomorrow. In this context, it is satisfying to know that the Law School has a major role in the education and training of those who in the future will assume leading roles in government, law firms, business and the community. It is not a surprise then that the Law School is proud when its students become high achievers because high achievement is an indication of the quality of the work that is performed by staff in the School. In this context, I would like to impress upon you that the School’s mission is all about going the extra mile to ensure that our students graduate with the skills, aptitudes and characteristics that will make them into effective contributors to the professions.

You will be pleased to know that this law school is developing strong and exiting professional relationships with industry. For example, during the last couple of weeks some of my colleagues and I have taken teams of students to various law firms, such as Jackson McDonald, Freehills, Corrs Chambers Westgarth, Mallesons Stephen Jaques, Minter Ellison, as well as the Law Society to give our students a taste of what the real world has to offer. As a School we make a determined effort to ensure that the education we offer is educationally innovative and professionally relevant. This year, as a direct response to requests made to us by the legal profession the School introduced new units, including Indonesian Law, Construction Law, European Union Law and Conflicts of Law, among others. The School now offers on a regular basis Mining and Resources Law and Taxation Law and hopes to introduce Advanced Criminal Law and Succession Law in the not too distant future. A few weeks ago, the School successfully concluded its second Summer Programme in Law which attracted many students from other WA law schools and eastern states’ law schools. In January 2009, the School will offer its Third Summer Programme with units in Sports Law, European Union Law and possibly Islamic Law, which will be taught by American and European law professors.

Indeed, the School is constantly striving to maintain a competitive edge to maintain the relevance of its curriculum and courses. In January 2008, the Law School offered for the first time its innovative Postgraduate Certificate in Chinese Law in Zhengzhou University, in the People’s Republic of China. It was, by any standards, a most successful programme which identified this Law School as a forward-thinking unit which provides cutting-edge knowledge and great opportunities to our students. Whilst the programme was a major successful milestone for the School, we could not possibly have predicted the incredibly bad weather in China, with freezing temperatures and lots of snow. But, as our award-winning students and graduates well know, the study of law is a great adventure that enables students to pioneer their future by discovering new insights into the nature of society and by widening their intellectual horizons.

There are many other imaginative programmes which are, at present, developed in the Law School. For example, it is hoped that as from 2009, the Law School will offer a Summer Programme in Law at the University of Macerata, Italy These programmes and the competence and enthusiasm of the academic and general staff will ensure that this law school assumes its rightful place among the best law schools in Australia.

This law school distinguishes itself from other schools in a number of ways. It provides an excellent and comprehensive advocacy training programme. This is evidenced by the existence within the School of the Western Australian Institute of Dispute Management and the Moot Court Bench, which is responsible for improving the writing and advocacy skills of our students. It is also evidenced by the participation of students in domestic and international mooting competitions, and by the Law School offering specialised units in advocacy. Very recently, the School’s team that participated in the prestigious Willem C Vis competition in Vienna won a Prize for Best Memorandum for the Respondent and proceeded to the Finals of the competition. This is a truly amazing achievement in view of the fact that the best law schools in the world, indeed 203 of them, participated in this event in 2008. Our students also reached the Semi-Finals of the Leuven Pre-Moot in Belgium where they faced Harvard University. Which Australian law school is able to proudly proclaim that it competes against the best in the world? Murdoch Law School! In addition, our Philip Jessup Public International Law Moot team won First Prize for their Brief for the Appellant during the regional competition in Canberra.

This School is also one of only two WA-based Schools that provide hands-on practical education. This is evidenced by the work undertaken by our law clinic, SCALES, which enables our students to work on real cases, involving real situations and real people. In January, SCALES moved into new offices at Rockingham and recently was awarded the 2008 Richard Fletcher Award at the WA Consumer Protection Awards. The Award is for the Tenants Advice and Court Service offered by SCALES.

I would now like to address a few comments to our students and graduates who receive their awards tonight. I would like to emphasise that being the best and the brightest also creates legitimate expectations. Indeed, there is an expectation that you, our award-winning students and graduates, will become effective promoters of this Law School. We want our graduates to support the School that supports them. We want our graduates to remember the names of their teachers who have contributed substantially to their education and had a beneficial impact on their lives. The Law School would like you, outstanding students and graduates, to cherish the values, which our academic and general staff have inculcated in you during your time at the Law School. I express the hope that the graduates among you will maintain contact with the School, for example, by contributing to our seminar and mooting programmes. To that end, the School regularly organises functions for its Alumni, the Moot Court Bench and for SCALES. These functions provide alumni, current students and members of the legal profession with an opportunity to network, to learn from each other and to pursue excellence.

Although my colleagues and I are proud of you, I would nevertheless like to impress upon you that your journey, which is the pursuit of excellence in whatever you do, is only just beginning. From time to time, it will be necessary to recharge yourself intellectually and to identify opportunities which benefit society. As such, it will be important to develop professional friendships which will help you to excel as lawyers and which will enable you to reinvent yourselves when necessary.

The award that you will receive tonight is a reward for past excellence. But it also serves as a reminder that there is an expectation that you will retain your enthusiasm to excel in the future. And in the competitive world in which we live, it will often be necessary for you to create opportunities yourselves, because opportunities will not usually knock on your door. In this context, law will only be one ingredient among many which you will need to develop meaningful opportunities. Hence, a commitment to further interdisciplinary study is advisable, including the humanities and, in particular, history. It always dismays me when I discover that many students are not able to recall, for example, the name of Australia’s first Prime Minister or even when the Commonwealth of Australia was formed. History is important because, if anything at all, it will give you a sense of direction. That reminds me, as a person who was born and raised in Belgium, that on this day, 9 April 1835, King Leopold II of Belgium was born. He was an astute business person who created many business opportunities. He eventually became the founder, the sole owner and sovereign of what is now the Congo. But it also reminds me that opportunities can be used for good and evil purposes. And the Congo is a good example: in the 19th century, the extraction of rubber and ivory in that country relied on forced labour and resulted in the death of millions of Congolese. I know, of course, that our award-winning students and graduates will use their considerable skills and aptitudes for good purposes which serve society well. By the way, today is also the birthday of Hugh Hefner, the founder of PlayBoy Magazine. He was born on 9 April 1920. But, for obvious reasons, I will not promote him as a model for you to emulate.

Last year, in my Dean’s Award Ceremony, I stressed my belief that a willingness to build new programmes and to offer new opportunities to students is what makes a law school into a leading law school. But, at the best of times, building is a difficult exercise. In contrast, destroying is easy. I would like you, award winning students and graduates, to be builders. I reinforce this point tonight by encouraging you not only to dream about the pursuit of opportunity, but to convert your dreams into reality. Certainly, a capacity to build is a rare commodity, but it is vital to succeed in your endeavours. In this law school, nobody, including staff and students, should therefore be afraid to make the sacrifices which inevitably have to be made in our quest for perfection, relevance, excellence and the creation of opportunities.