His Honour Judge Bradley Farr SC from the District Court of Queensland recently visited Griffith Law School thanks to the unique Judge-in-Residence program.
Now in its fifth year, the Dean of Law and Head of Griffith Law School invites a sitting judge from the Federal Court, Supreme Court or District Court to spend a week immersed in the Griffith Law School community.
While law students are given rare access to a judge and their invaluable insight, staff also benefit by building professional connections with the judiciary says Dean of Law and Head of Griffith Law School Associate Professor Therese Wilson.
“It’s fabulous to have someone from the judiciary to come and talk to all of the staff about their research interests and their teaching interests and to really get to understand what it is that we do at Griffith Law School.”
“Judges also get to see how passionate we are about a positive legal education for our students,” she said.
During his visit Judge Farr held lectures on advocacy skills and how criminal procedure operates in court for law students studying Criminal Law at the Gold Coast and Nathan campuses.
Law students were also given the opportunity to think about their future careers with a seminar on becoming a judge’s associate and one-on-one consultations with the Judge.
Associate Professor Therese Wilson says the program is an important bridge for students to the profession.
“I think Griffith law students have a real appreciation of the need to take advantage of every opportunity.”
“Many of our students are first in family to come to university, first in family to law so they don’t have any legal connections through their family. The opportunity to meet one-on-one to discuss a judge’s career and think about their own career is invaluable and our students recognise that,” she said.