Local law fraternity meets Head of Law School

Fraser Coast students studying law through USQ's distance program had the chance to meet the Head of the University’s Law School in Hervey Bay.

Professor Mike Robertson, who heads up the USQ Law School, attended a cocktail evening at USQ Fraser Coast for local legal professionals and USQ law students.

There are 23 students in the region who are studying for their law degrees through USQ. The USQ School of Law is just over four years old, which means many of the first intake of students have just graduated or a due to graduate soon. Professor Robertson said there were about 600 law students at USQ, many of them studying part-time while working.

'Two-thirds of them are studying via distance, and some of them are here (on the Fraser Coast),' he said. 'We are interested in the quality of legal education; we are interested in making a contribution to the legal profession in Australia.

'One of the members of our advisory committee is none other than (retired High Court Judge) Michael Kirby who elected to join our committee in the interests of giving us some support in these early years.'

Professor Robertson also spoke about whether legal professionalism was under threat. He said there needed to be far more attention paid to the integrity dimensions of legal practice.

'Forget about the rules for a moment,' he said. 'Let’s talk about what it means to be a lawyer with integrity, with sound judgement, with an eye on virtue. I think this is a collective responsibility that falls in part to the legal profession.

'I see instances of development in this area, where many senior practitioners accept that being ethical is not just being rule compliant. But this is obviously a responsibility that falls on others as well, including law schools. In our law school we are trying to take up this challenge. I personally think that some judges should be doing a lot more.

'As a matter of fact, many judges deliver fine speeches at graduation events and at bar association dinners, etc, and they extol the virtues of ethical legal practice. However when you look at what some judges say in their judgements, they take a very narrow line on what it means to be an ethical practitioner.'