A plenary panel on “Climate Change and Legal Education” was a highlight of the 2023 UNSW Legal Education Research Conference held on 20-21 November 2023. The plenary featured contributions from:
- Professor Nicole Graham, Associate Dean (Education), Sydney Law School, University of Sydney
- Dr Julia Dehm, La Trobe Law School, La Trobe University
- Professor Kate Galloway, Griffith Law School, Griffith University
- Professor Amanda Kennedy, School of Law, Queensland University of Technology
- Professor Nicole Rogers, Faculty of Law, Bond University
The conference also included a roundtable discussion “Becoming a Climate Conscious Lawyer: The Textbook Project to Transform Legal Pedagogy”
Abstract: There is a growing need to transform legal education to ensure the next generation of lawyers is provided training to be ‘climate conscious’ legal practitioners and have the skills to deliver legal services and promote justice in a climate transformed world. However, there is a relative absence of educational resources to support the mainstreaming of climate change considerations in Australian legal education. The forthcoming open access textbook, Becoming a Climate Conscious Lawyer: Climate Change and the Australian Legal System, seeks to respond to these challenges and provide tools to transform legal teaching and pedagogy in Australia. It will address how climate change impacts and the transition to a low-carbon society will (or already has begun to) transform areas of law relevant to compulsory and elective law subjects. The textbook will also discuss how legal doctrine and practice is implicated, directly or indirectly, in facilitating greenhouse gas emissions leading to climate change. This panel will feature the editors of this textbook, as well as the authors of chapters on property law, criminal law, ethics and professional responsibility and human rights law, who will discuss the challenges of developing innovative and adaptive pedagogical materials to prepare students for their professional lives in light of the global challenge of climate change.
Speakers:
- Julia Dehm, Senior Lecturer, La Trobe University School of Law
- Nicole Graham, Professor, Sydney Law School
- Kate Galloway, Associate Professor, Griffith Law School
- Nicole Rogers, Faculty of Law, Bond University
- Joanna Kyriakakis, Monash University
- Sarah Wright, University of Wollongong
- Anne Matthews, Queensland University of Technology