CTLS Program

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2011:

Permission from the subject coordinator, PLUS the following subjects:

The Melbourne Law School welcomes applications from students with disabilities. It is University and Law School policy to take all reasonable steps to enable the participation of students with disabilities, and reasonable adjustments will be made to enhance a student’s participation in the School’s programs.

The inherent academic requirements for the study in the Melbourne Law School are:

1. The ability to attend classes and actively engage in the analysis of complex materials and debate;
2. The ability to read, analyse and comprehend complex written legal materials and complex interdisciplinary materials;
3. The ability to clearly and independently communicate in writing a knowledge and application of legal principles and interdisciplinary materials and critically evaluate these;
4. The ability to clearly and independently communicate orally a knowledge and application of legal principles and interdisciplinary materials and critically evaluate these;
5. The ability to work independently and as a part of a group;
6. The ability to present orally and in writing legal analysis to a professional standard.

Students must possess behavioural and social attributes that enable them to participate in a complex learning environment. Students are required to take responsibility for their own participation and learning. They also contribute to the learning of other students in collaborative learning environments, demonstrating interpersonal skills and an understanding of the needs of other students. Assessment may include the outcomes of tasks completed in collaboration with other students.

Students who feel their disability will prevent them from participating in tasks involving these inherent academic requirements are encouraged to contact the Disability Liaison Unit: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/.

This subject addresses the need for law graduates to have experience in, and be comfortable dealing with, legal problems that cross national boundaries, legal systems and legal cultures. Whether law graduates are looking to work in commercial law, intellectual property, taxation, human rights law, labour law or any other field, international and transnational law will be an essential aspect of their work.

The Centre for Transnational Legal Studies (CTLS) is a joint venture of leading global law schools, coordinated by Georgetown University’s Law Centre. From September 2008 it will teach semester length programmes in transnational legal studies in the heart of London’s legal quarter. The programme will bring together faculty and students from several of the world’s top law schools to study transnational legal issues in a multicultural and transnational setting. Melbourne law School JD students may attend the Centre for an intensive semester focussed on transnational, international and comparative law in the fourth semester of the JD programme.

Each year the programme will be taught by faculty from each of the law schools involved in the CTLS, including Free University of Berlin, the University of Fribourg, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, King’s College London, the University of Melbourne, the National University of Singapore, the University of Sao Paolo, the University of Torino and the University of Toronto. Students will be drawn from these universities and others, providing a richly diverse student body.

Melbourne Law School students will undertake a core course focused on transnational legal theory and three optional subjects from the suite of subjects on offer. Several classes will be co-taught by professors from different countries, to facilitate comparative analysis and discussion. The program will also include a weekly workshop featuring some of the world’s leading scholars and practitioners of international, transnational, and comparative law, and participatory exercise to introduce students to each other and to the different perspectives that they bring to the Centre. Subjects that are expected to be taught include: The Law of Work in the Global Economy; Transnational Issues in Art, Culture, and Law; The Theory and Practice of Copyright Law: Comparative Transnational Aspects; International Investment Law; Globalisation; Governance and Justice; Contract theory in Comparative Perspective.

A candidate who has successfully completed this suite of subjects will be exposed to the following concepts:

• Understand the relationship between international institutions and international law;
• Have a detailed knowledge of a range of international institutions and the legal issues they face;
• Understand the role of different actors within international institutions and how various institutions relate to each other;
• Be familiar with key factors influencing international institutions from the perspective of law, policy, politics, diplomacy, and management.

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

On completion of the subject, students should have developed the following generic skills:

• Attitudes towards knowledge that include valuing truth, openness to new ideas and ethics associated with knowledge creation and usage;
• The capacity for close reading and analysis of a range of sources;
• The capacity for critical and independent thought and reflection;
• The capacity to solve problems, including through the collection and evaluation of information;
• The capacity to communicate, both orally and in writing;
• The capacity to plan and manage time;
• Intercultural sensitivity and understanding.
  

Students are selected into this subject via an application process. Please refer to the Law School subject page for application information.

Any travel and accommodation costs associated with this subject are not included in tuition fees.