Michael Murray is an Australian author and commentator on corporate and personal insolvency law and related issues, in Australia and internationally. He has a strong law and policy background, is independent of any connections, and his views are his own. He gives no legal advice.
This is a free access website containing various on-going commentary about a range of issues in law, legal policy and reform, with some particular emphasis on corporate and personal insolvency, professional regulation, technology, ethics, law reform and the courts and the legislature.
peter@murrayslegal.com.au
m +8613 801 763 568
michael@murrayslegal.com.au
m +61 402 248 353
Copyright 2019 Murrays Legal
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A History of Australian Legal Education, by David Barker
I was pleased to have attended the recent book launch of A History of Australian Legal Education written by my colleague Professor David Barker.
The book examines the history and development of legal education in Australia by tracing the establishment of university law schools and other forms of legal education in the States and Territories from the time of European settlement to the present day. While early Australian legal education was founded on the historic practices adopted in England and Wales, the circumstances of the Australian colonies, and then States, have led to legal education taking its own path.
Among the extensive detail of the book, some interesting facts about our legal education history are that:
The book considers the critical role played by legal education in shaping the culture of law and thus determining how well the legal system operates in practice. In addition, it examines a major challenge for legal educators, namely, the tension between ‘training’ and ‘educating’, which has given rise to a plethora of inquiries and reports in Australia and which has been the theme of the Academy of Law events this year.
Professor Barker in the end argues that legal education can satisfactorily meet the twin objectives of both training individuals as legal practitioners and providing them a liberal education that facilitates the acquisition of knowledge and transferable skills.
This book comes from Professor Barker’s doctoral thesis, his PhD in law being awarded by Macquarie University in 2016.
It is very readable, and although it may not reach the heights of David’s earlier best seller, Law made simple, now in its 8th edition in the UK, it will be read by the many lawyers who lived through the history it describes, and by many others interested in the development of legal education.
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