Past events

(Re)assessing the “Grand Bargain”: The history and current status of compensation for work injury in the U.S.

This public lecture outlined the history and current status of workers’ compensation in the U.S., with a review of some of the contextual forces that continue to shape the contours of the programs in the states. Presented by Emily Spieler, Edwin W. Hadley Professor of Law and Emeritus Dean at Northeastern University School of Law, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.

Responding to the litigant in person challenge: Where to from here?

Class actions, litigation funding and access to justice

The Victorian Law Reform Commission (VLRC) is currently inquiring into access to justice issues arising in connection with class actions and litigation funding. In this lecture, A/Prof Michael Legg (UNSW Law) addressed selected questions raised in the VLRC's discussion paper dealing with the regulation of litigation funders and lawyers, including common fund orders and contingency fees, the certification of class actions and the settlement of class actions.

The School Lawyer Program: Providing accessible legal services to young people

ACJI collaborated with the Progressive Law Network to host a public lecture on the School Lawyer Program. This innovative program improves access to justice by providing accessible legal services to young people within their school community. Presented by Vincent Shin, Shorna Moore, Monique Hurley and Semisi Kailahi.

Careers in Legal Tech and Entrepreneurship

ACJI collaborated with the Monash Law Students' Society to bring students a panel discussion about how thinking innovatively can shape their future career. Attendees had the opportunity to hear from legal innovators and entrepreneurs on how they’ve harnessed technology to solve legal problems.

Speakers: Eloise Burge, litigation Lawyer turned User Experience Designer at Portable, Kate Ashmor, founder of Melbourne-based ‘digital’ law firm, Ashmor Legal, and Alex Lia, founder of legal services business, Lexicon Law , and current Arts/Law student.

Community Courts: Producing Better Results Internationally Using Procedural Justice, Therapeutic and Problem-Solving Principles

Jurisdictions across the world are establishing community courts to build trust between court, police and community, to reduce crime, recidivism and incarceration while saving millions of dollars. In this presentation, Judge Alex Calabrese from Red Hook Community Justice Center discussed the principles used by community courts to produce better results for courts, communities, police, victims and offenders.

Legal Ethics and Climate Change
Confidentiality vs Professional Duties

Is there an emerging duty on lawyers to protect shareholder value by blowing whistles about their clients' activities? Legal ethics has traditionally valued client confidentiality above all other professional duties, but confidentiality generally is disintegrating and the underlying loyalties of lawyers are increasingly important. Presented by Prof Adrian Evans, this webinar explored these and related issues, including the notion of excessive adversarialism, lawyers' honesty and their connections to the Australian Solicitors' Conduct Rules.

Independent Medical Examinations, Sick Leave and Return to Work: international perspectives

Visiting researcher Associate Professor Silje Maeland presented recent research comparing sick leave decisions by GPs, insurance physicians and occupational physicians in several different countries (Norway, Sweden, Denmark, France, The Netherlands). She also introduced work currently underway in Norway evaluating the impact of independent medical examinations on return to work, using an unusual RCT design.

Mediation: Saving Your Small Business
A Panel Discussion

ACJI partnered with Monash Business School to host a panel discussion with leading experts: Professor Anne Lytle, (Monash Business School), Ms Anne Sutherland-Kelly, (ACJI/Monash Law School) and special guest from the Office of the Victorian Small Business Commissioner, Mr Lou Vatousios and Ms Anna McRae-Anderson. The event was chaired by ACJI's Dr Paula Gerber, Co-Director. Lean more about the panellists

Webcast: Mediation and High Conflict People

Featuring Bill Eddy LCSW Esq, President of the High Conflict Institute in California, this webcast explored mediation in high conflict disputes. Hear about ‘New Ways for Mediation’, a new, highly-structured method developed by Bill Eddy in his professional family mediation practice. It is specifically designed for mediating high-conflict disputes by guiding the parties in using simple self-management skills to their maximum ability.

31 August 2016

2016  Civil Justice Research and Teaching Conference

ACJI hosted the peak annual conference of civil procedure academics from Australia and New Zealand.

2016 Civil Justice Forum

ACJI hosted an expert forum on The Future of Civil Procedure – Innovation and Inertia. The keynote address by the Hon Marilyn Warren, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria was followed by an address from Colin Rule, COO of Modria, exploring the impact of technology on the justice. Other presenters focused on costs, wellbeing and redress arrangements, including an address by Gail Furness SC, Counsel Assisting the Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse.

'Collaborative decision making'
presented by Tina Nabatchi

Calling practitioners interested in collaborative decision making, dispute system design and dispute resolution…

ACJI in partnership with the Australia and NZ School of Government (ANZSOG) proudly hosted an engaging discussion with Professor Tina Nabatchi, from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University.

Tina drew lessons for our own workplaces from her long standing empirical research in this area, with particular attention to the United States Postal Service REDRESS program and the US Government's use of ADR to resolve EEO complaints.

Professor Tina Nabatchi

Wednesday 4 November 2015

More Information:

Download Flyer (PDF, 0.21 MB)

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'Future of the Courts'
presented by Judge Kevin Burke

Former Congresswoman Barbara Jordan once said that,

"What the people want is an America as good as its promise."

That is what they want of their courts.

People want courts that are fair, efficient and effective.  And in a democratic society, they want a court system that is a strong (yet respectful) branch of government.

Judge Kevin Burke shares his thoughts about how courts can – and indeed must – achieve fairness which is the core challenge of the future for courts.  All judges talk about fairness, but until recently few measured fairness.  What you measure reflects what you care about.  So to achieve our promise, courts must measure fairness, efficiency and effectiveness.

Wednesday 11 November 2015

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'Technology Innovation' Panel Discussion

Thursday 15 October 2015

More Information:

Download Flyer (PDF, 0.75 MB)

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2 New Methods for Managing High Conflict in the Workplace

You know who they are! Today's workplace includes some customers, employees & managers whose behaviour is "high-conflict" – including yelling, lying, blaming, spreading rumours & generally sapping the organization's time, energy & money.

This public lecture provided an overview of methods for managing high-conflict people with two approaches: "The CARS Method" for managing high-conflict situations by anyone, and "New Ways for Work" – a new coaching method that uses a workbook for 3-12 sessions with employees and managers who need to improve their workplace behaviour or want to advance in their careers.

This was a preview of the 2-day Workshop: It's All Your Fault at Work! that Mr. Eddy presented on 10 - 11 September at Monash University Law Chambers.

Monday 31 August 2015

Symposium:  Access to Justice - taking the next steps

The Productivity Commission's Access to Justice Inquiry report was released on 3 December 2014. The report looks at the accessibility of the justice system, the use of alternative forms of dispute resolution, the regulation of the legal profession and the structure and operations of ombudsmen, tribunals and courts. It also discusses private funding of litigation; and the provision of legal aid, both broadly, and specifically to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

In the light of this ground breaking report, the Australian Centre for Justice Innovation at Monash University and the Australasian Institute for Judicial Administration hosted a one-day Symposium that brought together senior judicial officers, researchers and policy-makers from around Australia to explore and discuss the opportunities and challenges arising from the Access to Justice Arrangements Inquiry report.

The Symposium considered how the issues of costs, timeliness, obligations and processes impact upon accessing the justice system as well as examining issues relating to Legal Aid and Legal Centres. The Symposium featured keynote speakers and panel discussions from senior judicial officers, administrators and researchers.

Friday 26 June 2015

More Information:
Download the Program (402 kb)
Download the symposium papers

Public Lecture-
Self- Representation: Justice Without Lawyers?

Presented by our own Professor Tania Sourdin, Gabi Crafti, Barrister of the Victorian Bar and Shane Draper, Self Represented Litigants Coordinator of the Supreme Court of Victoria, this lecture explored the way in which people are involved in representing themselves in higher courts. Whilst self representation is the norm in many tribunals and in some courts it raises particular issues in higher courts.

The session focused on current process, referral mechanisms and techniques to support Self Representative Litigants (SRLs), from a systemic support perspective. As part of this exploration, the session considered the reasons why some people self represent, and the risks associated with self representation.  The session considered the difficult and obsessive behaviours exhibited by a small proportion of SRLs, and the judicial responses to them.

In addition, the lecture focused on the Vexatious Proceedings Act, its genesis, its purpose, how it is intended to operate and how it has been applied in the courts. It was informative and practical, providing information and guidance to practitioners and clients who might be opposed to SRLs.

Thursday 25 June 2015

More Information:
See promotional flyer

Public  Lecture:  An economist and a lawyer went to lunch... reflections of the  Productivity Commission's Access to Civil Justice Inquiry, by Dr Warren  Mundy, Commissioner (pdf 46kb)

In this lecture, Dr Mundy reflected on the findings and recommendations of the Productivity Commission's inquiry into Access to Civil Justice.  In particular, the application of economics to the  examination of civil justice policy and institutions were explored and there was discussion on future  challenges to improving access to civil justice.

Public Lecture: Early Neutral Evaluation: A useful addition to the ADR smorgasbord?

Presented by Chief Magistrate of Victoria, Peter Lauritsen and Dr Paula Gerber

Public lecture:4 Tips for Managing High Conflict People (PDF, 0.07 MB)

Bill Eddy presented his ground-breaking work in the area of high-conflict personalities in the context of legal and other disputes.

Public lecture - How a Commitment to Fairness Might Just Save the Courts

Public Lecture - Winning at Mediation: The ICC Competition
Description: Free public lecture led by ACJI Director, Professor Tania Sourdin, with the Monash University mediation team who won Silver at the prestigious International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Mediation Competition in Paris on 12 February 2014.

The Business of Mediation: decisions you need to make
Description: Panel discussion moderated by Andrew Moffat, and featuring Cathy Gale, Anne Sutherland-Kelly and Michael Tiernan, who will share their experience of developing commercially successful mediation practices in different fields.

4 Tips for Managing High Conflict People
Description:Free Public lecture with guest international lecturer Bill Eddy

The "Borat Problem" in Negotiation
Description:Free Public lecture with guest international lecturer Professor Russell Korobkin

Merry Christmas Yuendumu… and what a riot it was
Description: Monash University's Australian Centre for Justice Innovation (ACJI) invites you to a public seminar by Ippei Okazaki – Director, Community Justice Centre (NT) – and a launch of the online release of Australasian Dispute Resolution, edited by Professor Tania Sourdin.

Pre-action Requirements in England – Reflecting on Recent Developments
Description: Public lecture with Professor I.R. Scott, Emeritus Professor of the Faculty of Law at the University of Birmingham

4 Tips for Managing High Conflict People
Description:Public lecture with guest international lecturer Bill Eddy

How Can You Tell If It Is High Quality Mediation?
Description: Free public lecture with guest international lecturer Gary Weiner