CTLS Program

This subject is not offered in 2013.

The equivalent of four optional subjects and will vary according to the subjects chosen by each student. Note that this course is a full time commitment and attendance is compulsory and monitored.

Permission from the subject coordinator, PLUS the following subjects:

None.

None.

None.

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. Since September 2008 it has taught semester length programs in transnational legal studies in the heart of London’s legal quarter.

In the fourth, fifth or sixth semester of the JD program, students may attend the CTLS for an intensive semester focussed on transnational, international and comparative law. Study at the CTLS is at an advanced level, and the program is taught by faculty members from 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. The diversity of the student and teaching body will ensure students gain an advanced understanding of issues in international, transnational and comparative law that are currently facing the law, legal profession and legal institutions.

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 exercises to introduce students to each other and to the different perspectives that they bring to the CTLS. Subjects that have been offered in the past 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:

• Have a specialised understanding of the complex 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;
• Have a high-level awareness of key factors influencing international institutions from the perspective of law, policy, politics, diplomacy, and management.

Each subject taught in the CTLS program will have an individual assessment regime. The Melbourne Law School will be in a position to advise when assessment details are made available.

Students may be required to purchase texts relating to individual areas of study.

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

On completion of the subject, students will have skills in the following areas:

• Creative and technical skills to understand and critically reflect upon sophisticated concepts relating to transnational legal issues generally, and discreet areas of law studied in particular;
• The capacity to communicate those concepts, clearly and appropriately, to a range of specialist and non-specialist audiences;
• Advanced cognitive skills to solve complex transnational and international problems by practical application of often complex legal principles; and
• 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.