atonement - the two letters.

Atonement Letter #1 (p.85):
"You'd be forgiven for thinking me mad - wandering into your house barefoot, or snapping your antique vase. The truth is, I feel rather light-headed and foolish in your presence, Cee, and I don't think I can blame the heat. Will you forgive me? Robbie."

Atonement Letter #2 (p.86):
"In my dreams, I kiss your cunt, your sweet wet cunt. In my thoughts I make love to you all day long."

...

Definitely a letter worth spending a lifetime atoning for ;)

Look who's watching: Privacy Protection in Australia & the UK...

Story by: Wenee Yap
November 12, 2007

(For portfolio use only - original available here)

Celebrity weddings were never going to be a private affair. Call it our voyeuristic thirst to live vicariously the resplendent lifestyles of the cashed-up and well-publicized - but our hunger to know about the private lives of public figures has made the industry of fame a lucrative venture, particularly for paparazzi and trash magazines. So when Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones exchanged vows, in a Hollywood matrimonial quid pro quo to end all nuptial opulence, they sought to guard against paparazzi invasions of their wedding by signing a contract with OK! magazine, giving the tabloid exclusive photos of the Douglas's tying the knot. But the paparazzi are like sand - no matter what you do, some grains will slip through. OK!'s rival magazine, Hello! acquired unauthorised shots of the event and rushed them to publication ahead of OK!'s official and authorised photos. You know what's coming next - a lawsuit claiming, amongst other grievances, a wrongful invasion of privacy.

The case of Douglas v Hello! Ltd [2006] threw privacy law into the spotlight. Dr David Rolph of the University of Sydney observed its importance in a seminar on a comparative study of privacy protection in the United Kingdom and Australia, as part of the UTS:LAW's Lunchtime Seminar Series. Both jurisdictions, he noted, have been without a tort of privacy. Yet in this case, Dr Rolph highlighted a "fairly frank admission by the minority" that the equitable action for breach of confidence, traditionally confined to commercially-based breaches of confidence, had been expanded to include a second distinct action: "a form of personal privacy action separate from commercial confidence."

Closer to home, the High Court in the landmark case of Australian Broadcasting Corporation v Lenah Game Meats Pty Ltd (2001) suggested "in some tantalising dicta, that there might be a tort of privacy recognised in Australian law," said Dr Rolph. Venturing one step further, Dr Rolph said that if a tort privacy was recognised, "it would be for the benefit of natural persons" not corporations - a view much in line with the notion of privacy as an individual human right.

Should Australia recognise a tort of privacy? If so, will it be by statute, developed by common law or a combination of the two? With the advent of intrusive and freely available surveillance technology like Google Earth, and the capacity for swift mass proliferation of personal information via internet sites such as Facebook, this is a vital issue. Both the New South Wales Law Reform Commission and the Australian Law Reform Commission have thrown their resources into two major papers on the thorny subject of privacy law. Both, said Dr Rolph, have suggested a relatively "open textured" statutory protection of privacy, affording courts the flexibility of interpreting the proposed legislation in a way best suited to ensuring justice is delivered to all parties, depending on the facts of a given case.

Not to be outdone, district and county courts in Queensland and Victoria have recognised an actionable right to privacy, with the judgment in the 2003 Queensland case, which involved a pesky ex-lover turned stalker, offering four essential elements for a common law tort of privacy to be proved.

"The impetus of privacy protection in the UK is celebrities," observed Dr Rolph. By contrast, the push for a tort of privacy in Australia "is coming from genuinely private parties - people without a significant public profile," said Dr Rolph. "If you pop your head above the parapet and you court publicity, but claim to need your privacy protected, it raises the question: how do you balance freedom of expression against a right to privacy?"

The Cost of Law: VSU & Funding Crisis Forces Closure of Award-Winning UTS Community Law Centre

Story: Wenee Yap
Nov 2007

$218,000. This is about a third of the cost of a single-storey house in a moderately-priced Sydney suburb. It is the cost of two full-fee degrees in law or medicine. It is also, according to a UTS Faculty of Law brief, the projected cost of running the UTS Community Law Centre during 2007.

The commercial value of these services? Over $900,000 per year, in an estimate from the same UTS:Law report.

Over its 11 years of operation, dedicated staff and volunteers of the Community Law Centre have given free legal assistance to over 6,700 UTS students and staff; the Centre has also won prominent awards, including the UTS Human Rights Award (1999), the Combined Community Legal Centres Group Award (2005) presented by the Law and Justice Foundation of NSW, and the inaugural UTS Equity and Diversity Award (1999) for its seminal and groundbreaking community-based research and other initiatives. During its lifetime, the centre received grants for projects like the ental Health: Know Your Rights!?website, research into ambling and Crime?and publications such as the Young Peoples Rights Guide?

Despite its vital and valuable contribution to the UTS community, a critical funding crisis caused by voluntary student unionism will force the UTS Community Law Centre to close its doors at the end of this year.

"I think it's devastating. It's a tragedy of enormous proportions, and we can thank the current Federal Government and its policy of Voluntary Student Unionism, together with economic rationalism and bottom-line management, for the closure of the centre," said past director of the UTS Community Law Centre, UTS:Law Senior Lecturer Dr Ian Ellis-Jones. From 1997-2002, Dr Ellis-Jones chaired the Centre's management committee, led high-level research into social issues like problem gambling, drug law reform and the sex workers' industry, and also worked regularly as a volunteer solicitor at the Centre. "The work that I did at the centre was very gratifying, and I am very sad and angry about its closure," said Dr Ellis-Jones. "Community law centres help to ensure that there is some equity and social justice operating in our legal and justice systems so that the less fortunate can have access to legal services that might, and probably would be otherwise unavailable to them."

Current Director of the Centre, UTS:Law Senior Lecturer Jennifer Burn also expressed her sadness at the Centre's imminent closure. We made representations to the University Union and the Council, said Burn. Since the UTS Union withdrew funding in 2005 post-VSU, the UTS Faculty of Law has picked up the bill but can no longer do so. "We prepared funding submissions to external agencies," Burn said. "None of the applications were successful. We haven't been able to secure funding to continue our work."

Dr Ellis-Jones acknowledged the changing nature of legal practice in Australia, observing that the practice of law is becoming increasingly mercantile and commercial, and as a result more unaffordable. "Access to law, equity in the law, and social justice just don't seem to register on the radar these days."

Milton Das, a current fourth year Communications (Writing and Cultural Studies)/Laws student and volunteer at the Community Law Centre, agrees. "Somewhere along the line in your life, you're gonna need legal advice. The community law centre offered this for free and has helped heaps of students along the way. For me, volunteering was an opportunity to get exposure to the practical application of the law, for a meaningful cause."

"I only wish the so-called "big end of town" did more than it does to help in this area,"said Dr Ellis-Jones. "True, there are many fine firms, and practitioners in those firms, who are doing their bit for social justice and greater equity in the law, but, sadly, not enough do. The practice of law in this country and in most other Western nations has become, for the most part, a business rather than a profession, and a very mercantile business at that as well."

In the words of Alan Jay Lerner, "Don't let it be forgot, that once there was a spot, for one brief shining moment that was known as Camelot." At the risk of sounding over-sentimental the UTS Community Law Centre was our Camelot."


----Case Study----

Who needs the services of the UTS Community Law Centre?

Students and staff seeking advice about issues ranging from domestic violence, motor vehicle accidents, consumer debt problems, family law, tenancy disputes.

"Perhaps the most personally satisfying case I was ever involved in was when a UTS student from China came to see me one morning back in the late 1990s when I was working at the centre as a volunteer solicitor," said Dr Ellis-Jones. "While driving, the student had collided with an elderly pedestrian and faced a number of serious criminal charges, dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm. "

"It was one of the freak occurrences which can happen to any of us when we lose our concentration for less than a second," explained Dr Ellis-Jones. He took on the case despite having little background in criminal law.

"I really grew to see the inner goodness in this young man, and to appreciate the significance of those immortal words of Omar Khayyam, namely: "The Moving Finger writes, and, having writ,/ Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit/ Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,/ Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it." I quoted those lines to the magistrate in my plea in mitigation for the guy. He lost his licence for 6 months, which was a most exceptional result in all the circumstances, and it was perhaps the most satisfying thing I have ever done in the law, in my 30 years of being a practising lawyer."

----Achievements & Initiatives of the UTS Community Law Centre----

Public Space: The Journal of Law & Social Justice inaugural edition, 'Sex and Mercy' published in April 2007 with UTS Faculty of Law

Launch of new subject, Community Justice Studies, an opportunity for law students to undertake placements & research, develop and deliver plain language presentations or short courses about community legal issues, with organisations like the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC), NSW Law Reform Commission, Women Legal Service and Law and Justice Foundation.

The Anti-Slavery Project - sponsored by the UTS Community Law Centre, dedicated to eliminating slavery and helping enslaved and trafficked persons

Research partnerships with Harvard Law School, the University of Sydney and Student Associations for the University of Western Sydney and Southern Cross University

Also provides free, confidential legal service to staff and students of the Sydney Institute of Tafe (SIT)

Professional links with solicitors from Clayton UTZ, Blake Dawson Waldron, Allens Arthur Robinson, Legal Aid Commission of NSW and prominent silks including Peter Bodor QC and Malcolm Ramage QC

Practical Legal Training and valuable legal industry exposure for student volunteers
Range of research grants and community legal publications

-----------
With thanks to UTS:Law Senior Lecturers Dr Ian Ellis-Jones & Jennifer Burn for their assistance in researching this article. Your commitment to social justice is inspiring. Thanks also to Milton Das, Communications (Writing)/Law student & UTS: Community Law Centre volunteer (2006-2007)

perfume

'I was always attracted not by some quantifiable, external beauty, but by something deep down, something absolute. Just as some people have a secret love for rainstorms, earthquakes or blackouts. I liked that certain undefinable something directed at me by members of the opposite sex. For want of a better word, call it magnetism. Like it or not, it's a power that ensnares people and reels them in.'The closest comparison might be the power of perfume. Perhaps even the master blender himself can't explain how a fragrance that has a special magnetism is created. Science certainly can't explain it. Still, the fact remains that a certain kind of fragrance can captivate the opposite sex like the scent of an animal in heat. One kind of fragrance might attract 50 out of 100 people. And another scent will attract the other 50. But there are also scents that only one or two people will find wildly exciting. And I have the ability, from far away to sniff out those special scents. When I do, I want to go up to the girl who radiates this aura and say, 'Look, I picked it up. No one else gets it, but I do.'

- South of the Border, West of the Sun. Haruki Murakami.

Leaf.

Finer things have fallen
From leaf to wind
And earth to dust

Once green, cracked thin
The slightest gust
Sweeps up the last brown maple leaf
Swooning to its partner, the wind in coldest autumn
Is but a breath's caress
They dance
In ever graceful turns and arcs
Pirouette spins dizzy
For the wind like any lothario
knows well the steps of love
The low toned promises
Melt and burn

Draw near, black earth
Splinter, brown leaf
The wind loves all and nothing.
Splinter. Splinter to bits.

© Wenee Yap

Dusk Rouge

Sweat into the summer dusk
The red sun blaze
Sinks to burn other places
Other times

Still the remnant heat strips us
A million faces now bare
Gone the impish tease
Risk all romantic, eyes afire
Or furrowed brow student’s frown
Fast advancing shadows melt all such details

The world kneels into night.
Black shapes, limbs without bodies
And whispers, whispers everywhere
To the dip of your back and the sleek of my hair

Tell me, what do fingertips see?
A new face in the darkness.
Mine or yours
Yours or mine.
Time, time
Is gone.
In some other place
In far away climes.

© Wenee Yap

Silver

There. Like water it’s gone.
Irretrievable.
The palm cannot catch
Mercurial, the slip of silver
Precious ore, mined and pure
You and I and all our hours
Thieved by the wind, by the river
By the sea
Sunk into silt beneath
Bare bones for fish

© Wenee Yap

Private Joker

In the space between
Gasp and afterglow
By the slip-fault
Of wood frame and window

She’s taking photographs of a future life
He – smirking heroic
In khaki poised
Patient as death, his kaleshnikov scythe
Awaiting the kill shot
By the slip-fault
Of wood frame and window

Freeze – her forefingers frame the shot.
Blooming
From absent white to blood red

And here, she is
Hunched, nestled in bedsheets
Writing, ‘You’ll see, I’ll forge the world anew
My pen is the barrel of a gun.’

He keeps forgetting she is younger than he.

Down by desert flats the sun
Passes a uniform arc
From horizon to night.
Buildings which would have once blocked its passage
Now rubble.

Her ideals are hard.
They will break before they bend.

He will break her.

© Wenee Yap.

Monkey

Like a shadow in shadow
The night becomes him.

Black monkey in a blue night
Moisture from the rains rising all around him
They fell in afternoon, and give themselves up in the evening hours
They are lovers newly made, tentative and desiring

He climbs the terrace wall, up and over
Always an owl to watch the lit windows
In the branch by his side

Children before bed will be told,
‘He is stronger than an ogre, he can lift whole houses
Shops,
Wine glasses gifted by the Sultan’
In this country where any state ruler can, for a year
Be king.

A glint of silver
A trinket for a woman he has not yet met
In a jazz bar in the blue hours
‘Love,’ he’ll whisper, whisky on his breath
‘Love is a fire’ slipping the stolen necklace
Her breath on his wrist as if she had kissed him

‘Love is spark,’ singing, ‘lost in the dark’

Outside the sun rising, the new rains falling.

© Wenee Yap

Room 101

All I ever asked of you was perfection.
And you fell, of course you fell
Head over feet to my knees
A tumble
A mess, a tangle
Spread as a devout before my toes
Where I wanted you

How I wanted you
Skin bare and profane
Deep in sin
Irresistible, the celestial gravity
Of two bodies
Coming in
The spin

The sight of you
The sight of you blinds me
The world outside goes on beyond
Beyond locked doors

You turned the key
And gave it to me
I slipped it away
For a sunny day

© Wenee Yap

Urban Loneliness

She shivers a thrill
Reeling
Above the sun in its sky so aching
Wheeling on skids an arc
Over the dome, sea blue

I never, never, never
Knew we'd lose so much, so easy
Let it slip. Let the breeze
Steal it over deep wells of oceans
The shimmering Pacific, the indigo Indian
Its air hung heavy with rumours of spices and slaves
Let it carry
Through days and nights of endless time
Which turns as the world turns
A dollar coin flipped on its edge
In spin.

Clammy-cool dusk. An easterly breeze
All the way from New Zealand
Raises every hair on her wrists
Her exposed knees.
She shivers a thrill
Reeling. Alone with the world.
Still breathing.

© Wenee Yap

Agent Orange

Order he embraced with open arms
And handcuffs.
He sought clarity, precision.
He minced no words.
He did what he did because it was right
And good.
Because he could.

When he loved, he loved with purpose
He romanced financier's wives
General's daughters.
Once more, sans feeling
He was, after all, a true professional.

The ebbflow of empires
Of seasons in all splendor and colour
Were but dates to be crossed
Stamped and banished to history
Presidents dispatched. Bombs delivered
Or defused. Cities towering from rubble
Or leveled.
Economies scaled, or broken.

You have no heart. No soul.
Said a lover, deep in twilight's black hours
He left.
On the Parisienne streets, not a soul
The stars hooded from view
He wandered the city lemon-sewer scented sidealleys
Til rose the blue before dawn.
Another day.
Another date.

Stowaway, soul refugee.
Southwest, an airbus flew him
To an expanse of deserts.
New Empires.
New Order.
New histories to be forged.
Pawn of governments, fate
Jealous politics
Slink into the wastes of brittle sand
Free of memory, or history
His soul aglow
In a tinderbox locked
Left by his bedside
revolver.

© Wenee Yap

Other Lovers

Swift is the blood pulse
Beneath your naked skin
Of paper - wet, stretched
Fragile, but firm to touch.

By the slant window
The sun flies west
Jealous moon, bleached light borrower
In cool pursuit
At six am, they switch again
Pursued and hunter
One or the other
Tireless, til Time's end.

You too, are tireless
Kissing me awake
Night or day
Day or night
The stopped wall clock keeps watch
At six o'lock.

We were not the first, are not the last
Lovers, others
Will too, find
The hidden gardens we have known
In dusk summer
In silent winter
In red-twine fall and spring's bloom
Purple iris will reach to tickle
Their ears and fingers
To delight their sense of beauty
These other lovers.

But not you. Not I.
In youth's first flush
Of folly delirium.
We will never be as we are
Now. Fragile.

© Wenee Yap

Peculiar Pelican Pete

Was looking for something to eat
But he couldn't find fish
So he sat on a dish
And nibbled upon his webbed feet.

© Wenee and Juwin, Xmas 2007

Love Poem #13

Every word read
Would break clean your heart
Cleaved half
One for me
One for the sea.

Up and ever caught
In the breathless swell of foam
To wander deep sea caverns off map
Unknown.

Of mine, well
I'll have a locket made
And locked
With copper key I'd keep
Through flecked rust and fickle age
Through nights and days
And taken hours
Time we stole.
Time to pay.

No not yet
Not today.
Today the sun shines bright.
In the east we meet, and are filled with light.

Shadowside

Eyes of deep brown compel you
To do, to go, to leap the breach
The shadowside
Of her half-smile
Of her raised eyebrow

To where, and from where you will never return
A smoulder-red sun slides into dusk
The night trees arch and gather evening in their leaf-fingers
Stars, hide your fires!
A rough-worn palm
An earlobe droop

She is soft to him, she feels it
His desire
Met
Left like the sea
Flow, and ebb

The low-strung moon rippling spilt ink
From shore to oceania.

Ophelia.

Ophelia

© Wenee Yap Jan 2008.

We loved you as Ophelia.

Til you tore my careless heart

Drawn. Quartered.

Delicious.

Again.

You, for whom any passing pilgrim

Would pause to kneel

In worship

You, who despised idols.

Most of all those cast

In your graven image.

Wild like Plath

But not so doomed.

Did you hate this too –

Your silver-spoon privilege

Draped in shabby-chic

Charity bought angst

On loan from the State.

Spare me your doomed Ophelia.

You are no wayward Dylan.

You cannot unpick your shadow

From your sand-grit toes

Here, against the windswept white cliffs

Home to so many mad poets

There is only you

And I.

Remember those posters.

© Wenee Yap

If tomorrow was the last day

Of my brief, bliss inkblot life

I would wake up naked

Beside my lover in the blue hours and love, make

Before breakfast. During, and after

Once more? yes, more.

Meander by the back-alleys that maze to the city

By ten

Hand in hand

To watch the Sunday box-kites take flight

And the skywriters write

Love vows and brand names of shoes

I might buy

As the Central Station clock strikes eleven

I'd have tea and scones by the ponds

Of the rain-puddles

Huddled overnight from a lost storm

That blew through

En route to the South, to the Pacific

My lunch would be grand:

Cheese, crackers and toast

Red wine, a sip, a gift

Uncorked for the cork to leap

In hyperbole arc to the far side

Of Hyde Park

Distressing pigeons in the midst of lovesong

As the sun fell from view I'd

Sample chocolate - Belgian and Swiss

Ten dollars apiece

From the Food Hall below as it closes

By the flood of families

Home-bound for supper

Dinner at seven. Sumptuous.

French? No, Italian

Where all the waiters read Specials

You ask for encore - not for the food but the song in their voices

Fish, seared tender.

Lemon and coriander

Mash in blended cream butter

Mmmm.

Again wine, and fine conversation

About Chechnya and the oncoming zombie apocalypse

The distant of end of times

Delayed to 2014 from 1999.

As once more the blue hours close in

We'd walk where the shore hugs the Harbour

Music wafting like the sea in the breeze

Opera from the House

Jazz saxophonist, old Ella Fitzgerald

His notes on the wind like the scent of the sea

As if a taste left to linger

Or a kiss.

Til dawn our toes would dangle

Tips to dip in the river flow

As fresh current sinks to salt depth

And rumoured sharks roam

Hand in hand

Cheek to cheek

Beneath open skies that arc without end

That turn blue the chambers of the sea.

Fight the Future: Environmental Activist & UTS Human Rights Award Winner, Holly Creenaune...

Published from the original

Story by: Wenee Yap
December 17, 2007.


Eight-thirty pm, Saturday 24th November, 2007. Some wept, some wailed; others cracked open wine bottles with the special-ordered label: Howard's End. Whether you love or hate politics, this time marked the end of an era. Unionists binned WorkChoices on the nightly news. High-ranking Liberals toppled - or were pushed over - like dominoes. Signing Kyoto was just around the corner; Australia was going to come in from the cold on climate change.

For environmental activist and fourth year UTS Journalism/Law student Holly Creenaune (pictured above) who laboured through Howard's plans for nuclear power and his controversial refusal to sign the Kyoto Protocol, it seemed her efforts were at last affirmed by the prodigal entry of a popular Australian government committed to addressing climate change. And hard labour it was. In her time at UTS, Holly has been the first ever National Convener of the Australian Student Environment Network (ASEN), co-ordinated the 2005 and 2006 Students of Sustainability Conferences, been a founding member of the Australian Youth Climate Coalition (AYCC), co-authored the first report in the world on nuclear research and education - 'Opportunities to Waste: Australian Universities and the Nuclear Industry' and participated in the Australian Nuclear Free Alliance, which supports indigenous land owners in their efforts against uranium mining on their traditional land. All while completing a sought-after UTS Journalism/Law double-degree.

"Campaigning and education on human rights and environmental justice is challenging, frustrating, joyful, and deeply rewarding," said Creenaune. "It was fantastic to have my work on climate change, Aboriginal rights and environmental justice recognised by the University. Human rights campaigning, education and research must be front and centre of the efforts of universities, and it was great to have this recognition by UTS."

She admitted that for most people, climate change doesn't immediately spring to mind when they think of human rights. "However," she observed, "climate change affects our most basic of rights - to water, sustenance, livelihood, culture and life. Already, our neighbours in Tuvalu and the Carteret Islands in the Pacific are being forced to flee their homes because of rising sea levels, facing food and water shortages, and experiencing the destruction of their homes, communities and culture."

Driven, intelligent and fiercely committed to her chosen cause, Holly is a formidable force in environmental activism, and her efforts were recently recognised in the prestigious Elizabeth Hastings Memorial Award for Student Community Contribution, presented by High Court Justice Kirby at the 2007 UTS Human Rights Awards. "Young people are facing a future of dangerous climate change - of sea-level rise, of extreme weather patterns, of food scarcity and poverty, and the displacement of hundreds of million climate refugees," said Creenaune. "Climate change is the biggest social, human rights and environmental issue of our generation."

"I am inspired by our strong history of success and our capacity to make real shifts and stop dangerous climate change. Thirty years ago, scores of students supported Aboriginal peoples in organising the Freedom Rides for justice, sovereignty and reconciliation. By 2002, thousands of students travelled to the Kakadu National Park to support Mirrar Traditional owners in blockading and successfully shutting down the huge Jabiluka uranium mine. In the last 2 years, hundreds of students in the Australian Student Environment Network have been shifting universities to renewable energy. I work everyday with Traditional Owners, community members and young people right across Australia for a more just and sustainable world - it is creative, inspiring, and worth every second."

Her experiences as an activist have allowed her to find a wiser, well-tempered route to working with indigenous land owners on many Australian issues, from climate change to sovereignty. Of particular influence were the sentiments of Lila Watson, an Aboriginal activist from Brisbane. Said Watson to Creenaune: "If you have come to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you are coming because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together."

Dubai by the sea: Top UK Law firm Denton Wilde Sapte looking for fresh talent...

Published from the original

Story by: Wenee Yap
January 15, 2008

An indoor ski field that snows. Sixteen Starbucks in one super-shopping complex. A hotel - underwater. All at the edge of the desert, riding the boon of Middle-Eat oil wealth, Dubai is currently the prized destination for high-flying professionals of all fields, from engineers to corporate lawyers. At the fore of its latest recruiting drive for the region is top UK law firm Denton Wilde Sapte, Christopher Aylward (pictured above), who is UTS:LAW graduate and partner of the firm, has flown into Sydney over Christmas and New Year 08 to seek talented law graduates or young lawyers interested in working in the Middle East.

"To say this is a boom region is really understating the situation," said Aylward. "Dubai has a thriving economy. You can do everything, from real estate projects to project finance." Aylward estimates ex-pat numbers in Dubai to be about 80-85%. "Dubai is in a really odd situation: the person who builds a building, the person who picks up the rubbish, plus the person who designs the building, and even the person who owns the building could all be ex-pats."

Aylward describes Dubai as "fascinating, challenging. The financial rewards are considerable, of course. The firm is very collegiate. Within our office we have a great mix of nationality - quite a few Australians, New Zealanders, English, South Africans, Jordanians, and Lebanese. A really good social scene; people work reasonable hours. It's not pulling all-nighters four nights a week. It does allow for balance. We're there to make a profit, obviously, but you're not going to do that if people are stressed or tired."

As a former 'ex-pat kid' himself, Aylward said he was always attracted to the idea of practising law overseas. "It's not the same as London or Sydney or New York," he observed. "Dubai is an emerging market. You're sometimes dealing with less sophisticated companies and banks; at the same time, you're also dealing with high-flyers who have done these kinds of transactions in twenty different jurisdictions. You've got to be able to hold your own."

Aylward is a veteran of ex-pat corporate law, having also worked in Bangkok on the waning end of the Asian Tiger fallout. The Middle East is quite a different prospect. "You need continuity for your clients. It is part of the Arab culture: 'If you show you're committed to us, then we'll show you a great deal of loyalty." The last thing our clients want is to pick up the phone and speak to a different lawyer every time they ring.

So what does it take to succeed in this flourishing mid-East metropolis? "People who have initiative," said Aylward. "We need people who aren't afraid to pick up the phone and communicate with clients - professional services are the nature of our business, after all. If you can do this in under thirty-eight pages of footnoted advice, then we would be interested in hearing from you."

To near and new graduates, UTS:LAW graduate Aylward has this advice: "Do your time in a firm. Make the most of your rotation when you get there, to find out exactly what you want to do - especially in a big firm. If you are in a smaller firm, or the smaller office of a big firm, you can have the opportunity to try a number of different things. We want people who are happy with what they're doing. Within the practise areas that we offer, we're more than happy to move people as suits their interests."

Help! What can I do with my law degree...

Published from the original

Story: Wenee Yap
September 27, 2007

You know the feeling. It's past one in the morning, you're wrestling to write the last thousand words of a law essay due the next day. As you reach for your fifth cup of straight shot espresso, three questions strike you: Why am I doing this? What will it lead to? Will it be worth it?

Now in its third successful year, the UTS:LAW Careers in Law lectures are held to answer just these questions. Featuring two categories, alternate law careers vs. traditional law careers, the lectures covered legal pursuits ranging from barrister, journalist, academic, diplomat, corporate lawyer, mediator, publisher, parliamentary researcher and community lawyer.

Jason Chai - Graduate Trainee, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT)

"I started out in law school thinking that I wanted to work in a big law firm," said the assured and fiercely intelligent Jason Chai. After completing a summer clerkship, and a stint as an Australian Youth Ambassador in Beijing, Chai applied to DFAT's graduate programme, which offers trainees diplomat postings in one of Australia's 95 overseas missions. The expectations were immense. "Within a month of joining the department, I was overseas in a negotiating forum," said Chai.

Career Tip: "When you have a law degree, you start to become cynical; you start to question the underlying assumptions. Intellectually curious, analytical people willing to get under whatever the key message is, able to communicate concisely and work within small team environments - that's what DFAT wants."

Nicole Simon - Lawyer, Finance Group, Minter Ellison

Nicole Simon, former Minter Ellison summer clerk cum graduate solicitor of the top tier law firm, took a more direct route to her current career. "No day at Minters is ever the same," Simon said. Her work delves in intellectual property, banking and finance "on quite a grand scale"; her clients included global 100 companies and major banks. "Working in a big firm gives you a lot of opportunities: whether you shoot for partner, branch off as in-house counsel or gain appointment as a company secretary or director, the world is your oyster."

Career Tip: "Being able to manage, adjust and prioritise your work is obviously an important skill."

Wendy Grey - Consultant, Tax and Legal Services, PricewaterhouseCoopers

Wendy Grey decided against the big law firms, preferring the internationalist aspect of multi-national professional service firms. "Even if you start in one area, you can move around internationally. This is one of the best advantages of the professional services field." Promotion is swift for the gifted. "I expect to move to senior consultant next year. I don't know any law firms where that could happen."

Career Tip: "Remember the 70:30 rule: if you can see yourself enjoying your work 70% of the time, that career might be for you.

Emma Palmer - Graduate, Private Bank, Macquarie Bank

A typical day for Emma Palmer, Private Banker for Australia's eminent Macquarie Bank, might begin with an analysts meeting at 7.45am, reviewing a co-investment deal by mid-morning and meeting with a hedge-fund manager in the afternoon. "Its pretty varied, and that's whats really fantastic about it. I work really closely with the head of the private bank, with really senior people throughout the organisation."

Career Tip: "During the interview process, I found the questions I was asked were really broad ranging. Marks are really only one part of the puzzle."

Chris Merritt - Legal Affairs Editor, The Australian

UTS Alumni Chris Merritt, journalist since his high school days, has now achieved the grail for many Journalism/Law students: Legal Affairs Editor for The Australian.

"It's a very fulfilling job. If theres a story that's happening, it's my job to be on top of it. It's like riding a rollercoaster: the events dictate what you do. You've got to be prepared to work very quickly. What you write appears in print, and if you make a mistake, the world will let you know about it. You have your finger on the pulse. It gives you an opportunity to influence legal policy, legal developments to an extent that most lawyers will never experience. You know. You have the luxury of knowing things most people would never know."

Career Tip: "Write. Write as much as you possibly can. Get it published wherever you can. It's an extremely competitive game. The technical craft of writing will determine success or failure. The legal overlay simply gives you the ability to determine what the important issues are."

Lesley Townsley - Academic, University of Technology, Sydney

Lesley Townsley moved between professions as varied as drug/alcohol abuse counsellor, chef and library technician before settling in her current career as a legal academic. Her work is two-fold: teaching and research. "This is the best job I've ever had. My potential isn't inhibited: I've been doing this for four years, and I'm fully encouraged and supported to reach my potential."

Career Tip: Community service, teaching experience and published academic work are essential. "I was really lucky as a student: I was invited to work with 5 academics on 7 research projects as well as some general research. My advice: if you write a really good essay as a student, try and get it published."

Margot Morris - Lawyer, UTS Community Law Centre

Former Freehills high-flyer Margot Morris found her way into the funding challenged but emotionally rewarding world of community law centres via an unlikely route: a five month pro-bono secondment at the Kingsford Community Law Centre. "Community lawyers are really focused on promoting human rights, using the law to help the most disadvantaged members of our community," said Morris. Her clients, often from non-English speaking backgrounds or with mental health issues, cannot qualify tests for Legal Aid, nor afford a private lawyer.

Career Tip: Volunteer in one of NSW's 35 Community Legal Centres.

Justin Raine - Barrister at Law, Henry Parkes Chambers; Alexander Street SC Barrister at Law, Seven Wentworth

Servants of all, yet of none, so goes the barrister's motto. "Barristers are sole practitioners", said Justin Raine, junior barrister. "It's a blessing, it's a curse sometimes. You answer to no one but yourself and your reputation." As of August, former UTS student Alexander Street SC will have been a barrister for 25 years. "It's an extraordinarily satisfying career: rewarding but very demanding. You are, in essence, in control of your own destiny."

Career Tip: "In Sydney, there are 2000 barristers, enough work for 1000 and it's done by 500," said Raine. "There's no set pathway to the bar, but be prepared not to make money for the first year."

John Hartigan - Director, UTS Legal Services

"I've been a litigator, family lawyer, property and commercial lawyer and in-house counsel. If you're after glamour, the big money, the flash car, you probably should head for the major firms. There is a price to be paid, of course," said Hartigan. "You don't see the kids. I once worked for 16 weekends in a row. There's no work/life balance."

"In-house counsel is an area that's building up. UTS employs four solicitors. Financially, your salary sits between small firms and big firms - though top end senior counsel at BHP does get paid very well."

Career Tip: "Choose well and choose wisely. Research shows you won't stay in the same job. What you will take with you from each job is an incredible experience that will serve you well. Even at a junior level, there are many jobs advertised in Seek, or the Friday Law section of the Financial Review."

Jean-Marcel Malliate MDR - Principal Mediator, InterMEDIATE Dispute Management

"I work as a mediator and also a family dispute resolution practitioner," said Malliate. "Mediators tend to come from the law, social work and psychology. It's often what lawyers do 'as well', though some in-house dispute resolution officers earn $60,000-$70,000.

"Mediation is about helping people get their needs met but firstly asking them and listening to what those needs are. It's about peaceful resolution."

Career Tip: "For fresh graduates, look into sessional opportunities with organisations like Relationships Australia, Centercare, LEADR and Unifam."

Gareth Griffith - Senior Research Officer, NSW Parliament Research Service

As a senior research service officer, UTS:LAW graduate Gareth Griffith delves into two roles: individual research requests by NSW MPs and publishing research papers on topical issues such as his recent co-authored work, 'Protecting Children from Online Sexual Predators.' "Most Parliaments have some research service. Our NSW team consists of 6 research officers, four of whom are from legal backgrounds."

Career Tip: "For lawyers, there's a lot of work within parliamentary committees, the main career path for research officers."

Susan Quinn - Product Manager, Thomson Legal & Regulatory Ltd

As a Product Manager for renowned legal publisher Thomson, Susan Quinn spends most of her time editing or liaising with authors. "I started off in 2001 as an electronic editor, while I still studying Journalism/Law here at UTS," said Quinn. "If you're more interested in academic works and writing, this could be the area for you. Youre given a lot of freedom to put forward your own ideas."

Career Tip: "Entry level editor roles exist in law journals and law reports, leading to positions as senior editor or in commercial product management."

Is it secret? Is it safe? Delving into the future of Australia's Privacy Laws...

Published from the original

Story By: Wenee Yap
December 6, 2007

Facebook is the American Express of the net generation: they don't leave home without checking it at least once for status updates, wall posts, videos, quizzes, and silly gifts. Its Harvard creator Mark Zuckerberg is a millionaire; as a booming social network it has linked long-lost friends and allowed them to share their lives across oceans and missed years through online photo albums, events and other forms of communication. It is also at breaking wave of the latest controversy in Australian privacy law. Around Australia, billboards hired for Virgin's latest advertising campaign feature an exuberant girl giving a 'V' sign, quite apt to promote the brand's hip youth image. Unfortunately, rather than the work of slick production studios, the photo was procured from the Facebook profile of an unsuspecting American. Cue lawsuits.

Such a situation highlights the debate raging around privacy protections and laws in the age of global and swift dissemination mediums like the internet, and news channels and gossip magazines hungering for fresh scandal.

"We have to be realists," said UTS:LAW Lecturer and media law specialist Geoff Holland, who is preparing a paper on potential Australian privacy reforms in the wake of current investigations into the field by the Australian Law Reform Commission and the New South Wales Law Reform Commission. "We as individuals must rely not only on the law, but also take steps ourselves to ensure that information that we put out there is not the type of information that could harm us. With Facebook and MySpace, we might only intend for our friends or family to see this information, but often it's freely available to the world."

Nowhere was this advice more needed and famously ignored than in the case of Paris Hilton and that tape. Cynics might argue that such reckless abandon regarding her privacy was in fact a clever move calculated to propel Paris's mediocrity into fifteen minute infamy, schlock horror films and reality TV.

Publicity does hold commercial value, Holland observed. He believes it is an issue worth considering in Australian law. "If you are relying on publicity on the press, magazines or television showing interest in you to keep up your public image to what extend should you be able to control the information that is presented about you? I think there is a point where the line can be drawn to say, Even if the person is a celebrity, public figure or politician, there is personal information about the individual that should not be freely published without permission. For example, personal issues of health, or sexual matters; unless these matters have a bearing on the public image that has been presented."

Australia is at the crossroads of privacy law. Cases like Lenah Game Meats v ABC left tantalizing High Court dicta which appeared to open the way for recognising a tort of privacy; Grosse v Purvis (2004) and Doe v ABC, both seem to be even bolder. Holland cautioned against taking too much from these latter inferior court judgments, as both resulted from 'very specific issues.' The United States have developed privacy law via case law; the UK broadened its action of 'breach of confidence'to meet its commitments under the European Convention on Human Rights. Holland advocates a legislative approach.

"Response by the legislature is the only way that we can ensure that not only is there adequate protection given to an individual's privacy, but also proper weight given to exceptions to breach of privacy such as the reporting of news, or publicity issues," said Holland.

How far is too far? In the United States, prominent sports figures are now seeking to prevent the publication on their career statistics, claiming such publication is an invasion of their privacy. A legislative approach, Holland argues, would bring certainty to the law and act as a guide to avoid those kind of broad claims.

Currently, Australia's privacy laws only cover information privacy. Both the Commonwealth Privacy Act and the NSW Personal Information and Privacy Act focus on regulating the way government departments and certain corporations can collect and hold personal information about individuals. "It certainly doesn't provide sufficient protection where information is collected outside those very narrow circumstances," said Holland.

Chasing Paradise - An Essay

An essay for Sydney's first African Newspaper

Story by: Wenee Yap

Nov 2007

Dear Reader,

Because we’re all very busy striving for meaning or money or marriage or whatever as they say, might fill that god-shaped hole, I’ll be brief. Let me tell you a story. It’s the story of why I became a law student. It’s also about how you can change the world. Tall order? Perhaps. Not any more so than a promise in the year of election.

April the 14^th is a terrifically exciting date for two reasons: at 11pm one cold night in 1912, a wayward iceberg drove into the side of the behemoth Titanic, fatally sinking it and proving true the title of that great James Bond classic, ‘Never Say Never Again.’ The other reason is that at 11pm, one sultry night in 1986 under the oppressive heat of a perpetual equatorial summer, I found my way from inky nothing into a brave new world. 1986. The Cold War raged quietly. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles kicked ass. Bill and Ted had excellent adventures. Ronald Reagan ruled the free world. New Order rocked. Prince was sexy. Troubling times, I know – but I digress.

Fast forward nineteen years and there I am again – idealistic, ruminative, dressed in a rock star red leather jacket and op-shop jeans, riding a train to my first semester class of law school (Legal Process and History which, though not the fault of its teachers, is about as interesting as parliamentary question time without pro-wrestlers. Or magic mushrooms.) I was self-absorbed and angry because I was young, and I was young and therefore angry and self-absorbed. Gazing out the window, I wondered yet again what possessed me to enrol in law school. It might have been James Spader in Secretary. Whatever the reason, it didn’t involve learning how to lodge a medieval writ in the Court of Star Chamber.

From the corner of my eye, I noticed a mild hubbub – a generously sized pitch-black African woman was shuffling between a slick-suited professional and a tourist couple touting Hawaiian shirts and professional cameras (Canadians, with the social graces of New Yorkers.) The woman gestured to a ruffled paper she held, and the train station map plastered to the wall.

“Government House?” she asked.

“Circular Quay,” slick-suit quipped briskly.

The African woman looked quizzical. “Change at central,” he explained. Not understanding, she looked to the Canadians. “So-ohrry,” they said sheepishly. “We’re going to No-ohrth Sydneeey.”

10.30am. My class began at 11. I have time, I thought. (To those who know me…now you know why I’m always late. You see, I’m helping directionally challenged strangers to their destinations. I wonder if there’s a career in that.)

“I’ll show you,” I called across the carriage, rising to meet the now smiling African woman.

En route, I learned her name – Caroline. Caroline was a Sudanese refugee, invited to an ecumenical morning tea at NSW Government House in Circular Quay. She lived in Fairfield. Not bad for ten minutes of sign language and spats of broken English. A stop for directions and a long uphill walk, and we’d arrived.

“There it is,” I said, given as I am to stating the obvious in awkward moments. “Good luck. I mean…” glancing at my watch – 11.15, oh God – “I hope it’s good. The morning tea, I mean. With biscuits and…tea…” Caroline watched my oratorical fireworks with bemusement.

“I’m sorry, I’m late for class. So…good luck. I’ll see you…” I trailed. Caroline was crying. Not the polite, embarrassed crying characteristic of our stoic society, but real big fat drops of human tears streaming down her face, wetting her collar, running her eyes red. Without warning, she hugged me. A tight rib-breaker of a hug.

“Thank you,” she murmured, “Thank you. You are a good person.”

Don’t get too excited. I can also be very bad. But that’s another story.

Okay. Here’s the sexy, change-the-world part. Remember the slogans of the French Revolution: Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite? These were the values at the heart of the – albeit bloody and perhaps overzealous – birth of modern democracy, the French Revolution, proclaimed circa 1784. Adopted and adapted across the Channel by the far more practical British via a Glorious Revolution, these values lie at the constitutional core of most developed nations, including Australia.

Freedom, equality, brotherhood. High ideals, I know. Here’s the rub: every Australian you have ever met is an immigrant or refugee. From the indigenous peoples paddling across shallower prehistoric seas to white convict chain gangs, to post-WWII Europeans fleeing a war ravaged continent, to Asian professionals crossing the Indian Ocean in the late 1980s and early 1990s, to Muslims, to Africans fleeing new wars over old causes – we are all here, more or less, for the same reason: to forge a better future. Of course, there are extremist elements – bullies - of all kinds who dispute this purpose; these people must be made the minority and have cause to understand that their views are as insignificant as they are.

That aside, how would a true blue Australian embrace these fundamental values of liberte, egalite, fraternite? Isn’t it obvious? African refugees are committed to becoming Australians, and like every wave of immigrants over our history they are facing a steep learning curve when it comes to clash of cultures. As Australians, through our lineage or personal experience, you know what they’re going through. So you must do more than offer African immigrants the freedom to settle in our sun burnt, resource-rich, beach loving, Chaser-appreciating society. You must do more than offer them equality of opportunity with regards to education, jobs, and expression in the media. No, you must go further than tolerance; you must acknowledge and welcome our latest line of immigrants as your neighbours, doctors, teachers, churchgoers, students, lawyers, film-makers, journalists, bankers, mechanics, artists – and at the risk of breaking into black American soul-music – as your brothers and sisters, as your fellow human.

As John Le Carre’s troubled but talented liar-tailor-spy Harry Pendel observed:

“We have everything needed to make paradise. And what do we do?”

Quite simple, really. We build a better world.

I’m an idealist, I know. Perhaps ripe for disenchantment. I’m okay with that. It will be worth it.

Soul song: Friday Night Prayer at the Lighthouse Chapel International

Originally published in Sydney's first African newspaper, est. Nov 2007.

Story: Wenee Yap
Nov 2007.

Between a brothel and a mechanic, two streets from rundown Granville station lies an unlikely source of salvation – every Friday night and Sunday morning an unassuming peach-painted two-storey building plays host to a mottled, predominantly African congregation who gather there to share a soul-songs, gospel and Jesus’ wisdom under cool fluorescent lights and a small but well kept sound system. This is the Lighthouse Chapel International. Most of its Sydney members come from war-ravaged Sierre Leone or more stable African countries like Ghana, South Africa and Kenya. Some come from Asia; others can trace their lineage to Russian aristocracy. What unites them is Christian belief and faith in the equality of opportunity Australia, a land of prosperous immigrants, has to offer to its newest arrivals.

“My way of integration is a 100% through the church,” said Alex Mwangi, a young Kenyan IT professional who started out working midnight shifts in a factory while studying to gain his IT qualification. He now works for Unilever. “My pastor – a great leader – gave me tips on how to get a job, a place to stay.” said Mwangi. “Also, a Christian is a Christian everywhere – we are all Christians and we all love God and that helps our integration in the community, the way of life here.”

Founded in Ghana, the Granville church – one of three in Sydney – was established about ten years ago by Peter and Lillian Nsowah.

“I think a lot of Africans are disappointed when they come to Australia, because they leave behind all their third world problems and are faced with a new set of problems – first world problems,” observed Larissa Kernebone, Masters of Law student at the University of Technology Sydney and member of the church for four years. “A lot come out as students. Many of the church are upper class Africans. They understand that education is what they need to get out of poverty.” Kernebone, who holds an undergraduate degree in Business and is currently helping to set up the Toongabbie Community Legal Centre, is a member of the church with her husband and often gives free tuition to churchgoer students despite her heavy work and study load.

Like Alex, John from Sierre Leone worked at a factory for six months when he first arrived in Australia. “If you just work as a labourer, there are no prospects – you’ll be in the same position for the next 20, 30 years.” John studies Electrical Engineering at Granville TAFE and is now two weeks shy of finishing. Soft-spoken and wise, John was a Christian before he joined the Lighthouse Chapel congregation in Sydney. “Without Him, nothing else makes sense. People who lead such selfish lives – even when they are learned - they’re so messed up.”

John left a Sierre Leone of civil war and chaos. “No order – nothing makes sense, yet they are fighting,” said John. “It’s like what happened in the World War – killing Jew, killing babies. It doesn’t make sense. You see mankind is evil, demonic. You see people chopping others hands off. You see them chop off the limbs off a two year old child. Nobody can define why they did it. Killing innocent people, everybody kills everybody. It’s just evil.”

“I make Australia my home. It’s nice here – the opportunity you have, you go at your own pace. You can help people, even with the little you have. To give is more blessed than even receiving. I thank God I can do that.”

With thanks to Alex, John, Jean, Larissa and all the members of Lighthouse Chapel International (Granville.)

Break-up Blues: Who Pays Under the New Child Support Laws...

Published for portfolio only from the original

Story by: Wenee Yap
October 10, 2007

Fathers post-divorce or separation will likely pay less under new child support reforms introduced following a major review of how child support is assessed in Australia. In what UTS Associate Professor and family law specialist Geoff Monahan describes as the "scheme we had to have" the reforms ushered in by the Child Support Legislation Amendment (Reform of Child Support Scheme - New Formula and Other Measures) Act 2006 effectively turn the existing assessment procedure on its head.

"In a nutshell, you look at what mum earns and what dad earns and put it together - like an 'intact' family," said Monahan. Then you deduct the minimum income you need to live on - your 'self support' amount, often based on relevant government pension figures - and for the non-primary caregiver, who are largely fathers, a further deduction amounting to costs incurred while the child or children were in their care. Such deductions could amount, as in one hypothetical example, to thousands of dollars less in child support paid by non primary caregivers - a boon to fathers' lobby groups, particularly those who have moved into second families. While Monahan noted an increase in Family Tax Benefits paid to primary caregivers, most of whom are mothers, who will now receive 100% of the benefit, the reality is that the overall child support amount will be less than under pre-2006 legislation.

Having undergone at least five major reviews in nearly twenty years, the new scheme was forged from a "handout approach" to recasting "child support as a partnership between parents and the government. [Child welfare] maintenance comes from families first," said Monahan of the government policy behind these reforms. "The government will top it up when appropriate."

"Big winners will be income-earning men - and women. The old formula was regarded as cutting in too hard on the liable parent; so there are no apologies for the reforms. Worst off," observed Monahan, "will be 'welfare-to-work' people," including those on low to no income.

Apart from revamping formulas for child support assessment, the reforms also encourage reconciliation between warring parents, allowing for separation and child support proceedings to be suspended for six months and, said Monahan, "easily reactivated" if attempts to patch things up fail.

Also squarely within its gun sights are "deadbeat mums and dads. In the late 1980s a grim statistic was being used to back calls for reform - that only 30% of eligible mothers were getting any child support at all. Of those," Monahan noted, "only 10% were getting child support regularly. A lot of fathers weren't paying their way." Under the new laws, said Monahan, substantial funding is directed to child support fraud, with an estimated $60 million successfully clawed back.

What's the final word on the child support reforms?

"There's a simplistic elegance to the thinking: take what mum earns and what dad earns, put it together and work from there. At the end of the day, what's the alternative? Back to court? Or some rigid, fixed formula? At least this new formula has flexibility," and an expanded right to appeal administrative child support decisions, said Monahan. "Don't forget - the theory is that children get more expensive as they grow older," he joked in closing. "I call it 'the power of speech.'"

Could brain scanning technology signal the end of telling sweet little lies, or is it just sci-fi...

Published for portfolio only - from the original

Story by: Wenee Yap
December 7, 2007.

You've lied. Don't deny it. To win a job, to pass an exam, to impress your former classmates with your (fictional) Medicins Sans Frontiers fiance at a high school reunion, to fend off telemarketers or charity collectors - whatever your reason, you have at some time in your life bent the truth for the sake of your personal convenience or advantage. For some, your conscience gnaws at you like Poe's telltale heart; others live for the thrill of deceit. What if a brain scan - using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) - could strip away your last bastion of privacy, perhaps even your social right to lie, and expose in detail what you're really thinking?

With many years of experience as a medical radiation scientist working in MRI imaging, UTS:LAW lecturer Leanne Houston (pictured above) is well-poised to plunge into the complex and controversial issues behind fMRI brain scanning and its implications for both the law and in society.

"Many questions arise: Is it an exact science? Who is interpreting these images? What do they really mean?" asked Houston. In the wake of fMRIs' stellar rise in the United States , with the debate raging over its accuracy and use in courts to its commercial application for corporate brand-makers, the technology has suffered as much criticism as success. Critics call it a "risky science" or a "junk science" whereas private organisations such as No Lie MRI have recommended its use in areas such as "risk reduction in dating," to more run-of-the-mill cases of finding out whether your partner or spouse is cheating.

Houston prefers to focus on fMRI's more altruistic applications. "Imagine if you could see if someone was lying - how brilliant for the law," said Houston. Even O.J. Simpson's attorney, Robert Shapiro has endorsed fMRI, saying he would "use it tomorrow in virtually every criminal and civil case on my desk."

"Though he wasn't able to use it on O.J", observed Houston with a smile.

The science behind fMRI in layman's terms, is essentially, your brain is made up of magnetic particles and a lot of water, explained Houston. An MRI is a giant magnetic field. "When you're put in a giant magnetic field and a radiofrequency is applied and then stopped, your hydrogen (in water) molecules flip; it's when they go back to their normal state that they release some energy. If you're using say, the frontal lobe of your brain to think about something there is neural activity in that area - more oxygen is used, therefore more bloodflow detected."

As a study participant, you are put into a scanner, "get asked a few questions, or you're asked to think about something - and the part of your brain which is evoking that sort of stimulation lights up."

With fMRI studies being used to examine areas as broad as a predictor of human behaviour, the brain and lying, to the brains of political swing voters in the upcoming US elections, to determining whether your young child is right or left brain dominant in order to nurture their creativity or logical/deductive side, the pressure for a concerted and conclusive study on the technology has resulted in a $10 million grant to the MacArthur Law and Neuroscience Project in the United States, looking at the viability of the science and its practical application in courts, and in the legal field.

"It hasn't started to take off here in Australia," said Houston, who is using her study leave next year to research into this area. She feels it's "only a matter of time" before the technology and its incumbent debate reaches our shores and will we be prepared for its uses? The privacy implications, she says, are mind-blowing. Marketers, insurance companies, employers as well as courts and law enforcement officers, could potentially have access to your true unadulterated thoughts.

"Perhaps in the not too distant future, police may request a warrant to search your brain. Of course, psychopaths are quite good at disguising their behaviour but can you hide what you're actually thinking?"

Trial by Fire: With all the drama of International Advocacy and Mooting, who needs daytime TV...

Published (for portfolio purposes only) from the original











Story by: Wenee Yap
February 13, 2008

Drive. Camaraderie. A killer will to win. A choking fear of defeat. Really, what more could you want from a summer break?

Welcome to International Advocacy and Mooting (IAM). Offered for the first time over summer 2007-08, it is essentially a seven week crash course for legal mooting newbies, designed to turn eager summer school law students into bleary eyed, sleep deprived teams of crack international law advocates hungry for victory. All in the two months spanning Christmas, New Year's Eve and most of January.

"Mooting is like having a baby," observed IAM subject coordinator and official coach to the UTS Jessup team, Michelle Sanson. "If you knew what you were in for, you'd never have done this. But once you do, you'd never take back the experience." This wisdom, delivered on day one of our IAM class, was evidently Sanson's version of a pep talk. Clearly it was most effective - by the next class, four people had dropped the subject from fright.

The Phillip C. Jessup International Law Moot was the competition of choice amongst this summer's cohort. Focusing on international humanitarian and human rights law, the Jessup Moot is the world's largest competition attracting teams from over 500 law schools from 80 countries. Last year's Jessup Moot title was famously claimed by the University of Sydney; finalist team members are known to have moved in together in order to ensure daily and rigorous preparation for the competition.

By contrast, the four teams of our IAM class, most of whom were students new to mooting, had three weeks to research, draft and finalise ten thousand words worth of legal submissions covering four major points - violation of sovereignty, torture, denial of due process and extradition for war crimes concerning unlawful extraordinary rendition and torture - and a further four weeks to move from jittery, nervous, swaying public speakers to self-assured mooting professionals. A tall order? Indeed. It was best not to dwell on the difficulty of the task at hand; rather, to consider the advice of the once Terminator now Governator Arnold Schwarzzenger in one of his earlier films - 'I don't have time to bleed.'

With this in mind, our team of four - Naomi, Manuel, Sean and I - leapt into action. Naomi was an Israeli-raised Criminology undergraduate with a never-say-die will to win. Her firebrand passion would burn a hole in the ozone if the American SUV had not already done the job; she read two hundred UN Human Rights Commission and EU cases for her oral moot submissions alone. Sean came from one of the state's top selective schools; an Arts (Writing)/Law student, he arrived to class fresh from an intense army reserve boot camp. Manuel was a UWS Arts (Honors)/Law fourth year. And then there was me - no international law experience, no mooting experience, yet filled with a blind bravado that would see me through two colds, countless sleepless nights of moot preparation, and a total alienation of all friends and family due to a refusal to speak in a language other than that of international law for two months. We worked weeks and weekends. We missed Christmas and New Year's Eve. We worked January weeks, missed more weekends.

Was one summer school subject worth such a cost? Most definitely - and let me name the ways. Firstly, I submit that it was a subject that forced us, as law students, to look 'under the skin' of political action and legal argument - to learn how to challenge government action, unjust laws and defend human rights armed with the skillful use of legal knowledge; further, the sheer intensity of the experience forged friendships built on trust, respect and teamwork; further and in the alternative, the high stress factor justified a hefty load of post-moot sleeping, partying and drinking. I rest my case.