| Dean's Welcome
 May
I welcome you most warmly to the ANU College of Law
website.
I am delighted to say that, in late 2007, I was reappointed
for my third five-year term as Dean. This is an unusually long time to
serve in such a demanding position, that is often seen to divert outstanding
scholars and teachers from their true calling. Yet I am enjoying it more
than ever. Why? Because I derive enormous satisfaction from leading a
law school that conducts important and socially useful research; imparts
the results of that research to some of the best and brightest students
in Australia; and engages with the community in a wide range of what we
call 'outreach' activities: advising government, sitting on tribunals,
giving pro bono legal advice, running conferences, talking to high school
students, commenting in the media on the issues of the day, and having
countless other community interactions.
In all of these ways, my colleagues add value to our society
through their work. And that is what we wish for our graduates
throughout their careers as lawyers. This can happen in two
ways.
First, lawyers are important in ensuring certainty, transparency,
and fairness in the day-to-day application of the system of
rules that govern our lives. The rule of law is vital to the
efficacy of business and personal transactions, and to keeping
the acts and decisions of officials within lawful bounds.
Without a class of experts knowledgeable in and faithful to
the fundamental values of the law, society could descend into
chaos, and turn not on due process and equality but on privilege
and raw power.
Yet, important as this is, it is not enough. Legislators
and judges can make bad laws. Society changes and the law
lags behind. So lawyers must be concerned not just with what
the law is, but, secondly, with what it might or should become.
Even the lawyer who is asked simply to advise on what the
law is fails in that duty if he or she fails to anticipate
what the law—often in a state of flux—is likely
to become. But, more importantly, those who understand the
law are best placed to advise on how it might be improved
and on how the legal system might better serve the ends of
justice.
Consequently, concern about law reform and social justice
is a strong component of the ethos of the ANU College of Law.
The highest standards of teaching and research, and the production
of lawyers of the highest competence, are important goals
in their own right, but are also necessary preconditions to
the effectiveness of agitation for law reform and social justice.
They are a platform for adding value to society through vindication
of the fundamental values of the law and through the relentless
pursuit of improvement in the law and the operation of the
legal system.
We endeavour at the ANU College of Law to implement this ethic in our
work and to instil it in our students. This is a large part of the reason
why I find being Dean so satisfying—and this despite the occasional
stereotype one encounters of lawyers as obstructors of progress or merely
self-interested seekers of material wealth. We strive at the ANU College
of Law to counter those stereotypes and to foster awareness of their inaptness.
Many people browse this website. If you are an academic lawyer
or scholar from another university in Australia or overseas,
and, having heard, perhaps, about the exceptional collegiality
of our law school community, are thinking about visiting or
seeking a position at ANU, you will be particularly interested
to look at the extraordinary breadth and depth of the research
that is conducted here. I invite you to do so.
If you are a prospective student, you will no doubt want
to survey our range of offerings, though you may be somewhat
unsure of what law is all about. In particular, you may be
unsure of whether the study of law is about training for professional
practice, or is about understanding law and its role in society
as a purely intellectual discipline, or is about acquiring
skills: research skills, skills of analysis, capacity for
legal reasoning and logical argument, communication skills,
negotiation skills, advocacy skills, and problem-solving skills—to
some extent, all generic skills that will equip you for many
different vocations. The truth is that the study of law is
about all of these things. That is what makes it so challenging,
so exciting, and so rewarding—and so potentially useful
in the service of society.
In any case, I invite you all to learn
more about the ANU College of Law, its mission, its capacity, and
its record. Don't hesitate to contact me if I can be of assistance.
Professor Michael Coper
Robert Garran Professor and Dean of Law
ANU College of Law
March 2008
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