Forty years on: a legal review
Issue 20 | Spring/Summer 2007
Report: Penny Rankin
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the first Bachelor of Jurisprudence (BJuris) student graduation. Eight of the 34 alumni from the law class of 1967 share their career highlights and University recollections.
The Honourable Justice Nahum Mushin (BJuris 1967, LLB 1971)
Current role: Judge of the Family Court of Australia
Career highlights: Appointment as a judge to the Family Court
of Australia in 1990; consulting to the Victorian Law Reform
Committee; appointment as executive member of the family law
section of the Law Council of Australia; and an abiding interest in
cultural diversity.
Monash memory: I remember the opening
lecture by the then Dean of Law, Professor
David Derham. I also have good memories
of the many excellent teachers, long-standing
friendships and the University's involvement in
major issues of the day.
Mr Richard Dufty (BJuris 1967, LLB 1969)
Current role: Consultant, Garland Hawthorn Brahe
Career highlights: At Rogers and Gaylard, where I was a partner for
20 years, I became involved in the liquor industry in addition to securities
and commercial work. For over 30 years I have assisted clients from
international hotels to corner stores to obtain, maintain and protect their
liquor licences.
Monash memory: The lectures frequently were not
(lectures). Students were pinned to the wall by Professor
David Jackson whilst he cross-examined them on the
idiosyncrasies of property law. Then, perhaps escaping
to an English 1 lecture … even then, my essay on
Edmund Spenser's 'The Faerie Queene' attracted the
comment that I showed 'a lawyer's tendency to dissect
and thus destroy'.
Maxwell Beck (BJuris 1967, LLB 1969)
Current role: Retired --
Former Victorian magistrate and coroner
Career highlights: Prior to being appointed as
a magistrate, I practiced as a solicitor in Bendigo
where I established my own law firm. It still
operates today under the name of Beck Legal.
I was the first country solicitor to be appointed a
Victorian magistrate.
Monash memory: It was a great privilege and a wonderful experience to
be part of the small group of students who were the founding members of
the Monash Law School. Back then, we knew that the Law School had no
established reputation and that we were at the cutting edge to carve one out. We
were all confident that it would become one of the world's top law schools.
Mr Lex Silvester (BJuris 1967, LLB 1969)
Current role: Barrister, William Forster Chambers in Darwin
Career highlights: Surviving Cyclone Tracy;
creating Seven Spirit Bay Wilderness Lodge in
Gurig National Park in 1990; going to the Bar in
1994; having my daughter Sophie follow me into
the law, and my son Tom studying to do so.
Monash memory: Monash taught us how
lawyers could be agents of change. I think it fair to say that Monash Law
was a crucible of the type of learning in which the seeds of this were
firmly planted, even if I didn't really understand that at the time. It was
a pleasure to study law at Monash and I have always been grateful for
the privilege.
John Burns (BJuris 1967, LLB 1969)
Current role: Co-host of Melbourne's 3AW Breakfast with Ross
and John (the highest rating radio program in Australia)
Career highlights: Leaving the law profession after practicing as a
barrister for 27 years.
Monash memory: Arriving at home after lectures with my riding
boots covered in red mud; being able to spend
break up day at the Notting Hill Hotel from
opening to closing and spending a total of 15
shillings; and socialising in the Hargrave Library
where everybody smoked cigarettes.
Professor Bob Williams (BJuris 1967, LLB(Hons) 1969, LLD 2002)
Current role: Sir John Barry Chair of Law, Monash University
Career highlights: My period as Dean of Law at Monash from 1988
to 1998. This was a difficult period for universities, covering the
Dawkins reforms and a great increase in student numbers. I regarded
the opportunity of steering the Faculty through the period as a great
opportunity and privilege.
Monash memory: My strongest recollection is
of the very collegiate nature of the (1967 alumni)
group. As a group, there was a strong sense that
we were creating the traditions and standards that
would be the basis for the future.
Mr Martin Hudson (BJuris 1967, LLB 1969)
Current role: Chief legal officer and company
secretary, Foster's Group Limited
Career highlights: Four years as chief general
counsel and company secretary at Southcorp
Limited -- heavily engaged in changes after
its 'merger' with Rosemount, and leading the
company's defence against the successful takeover
by Foster's.
Monash memory: I do recall a fairly small (Clayton) campus, bursting
at the seams as the building program tried to keep pace with the growing
student numbers. The move out of temporary 'digs' in the old Hargrave
building to our own purpose-built law school was quite an event .
Mr Barry Moore (BJuris 1967, LLB 1969)
Current role: Retired -- Former general manager of business development at the Australian
Medical Research and Development (AMRAD)
Corporation
Career highlights: As general manager of
business development at AMRAD Corporation,
I was responsible for the management,
development and licensing in/out of the intellectual property portfolio in
the medical research area.
Monash memory: My contemporaries at Monash will best remember me
more for my cards and snooker prowess in the 'Caf ' rather than for my
attention to lectures. However, I could not have had the ability or confidence to
pursue my varied and interesting career path without the Monash grounding.
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