Global advocacy

The Monash Law faculty, through its International Institute of Forensic Studies, and with the Australian Advocacy Institute, is providing expert witness training and advocacy skills to the United Nations. ROBYN ANNS reports.

Professor George Hampel and his wife Adjunct Professor Felicity Hampel.

For the past 10 years the United Nations' war crimes tribunal in The Hague has heard charges of genocide, persecution and extermination relating to the Bosnian war of the early 1990s.

Over the past two years, The Hague has also been the setting for a Monash team that instructs war crimes tribunal prosecutors in the examination and cross-examination of expert witnesses and appellate advocacy.

The team of academics and lawyers is led by Professor The Honourable George Hampel QC, with his wife Law Adjunct Professor Felicity Hampel SC.

Professor Hampel is founder and director of the International Institute for Forensic Studies (IIFS) at Monash, and chairman of the Australian Advocacy Institute (AAI). The IIFS was established in 2001 to conduct research and develop programs for non-legal professionals in how to deliver expert testimony in the courtroom. The AAI, established by the Law Council of Australia in 1991 to improve advocacy skills among lawyers, is now also located at the Monash Law School.

Professor Hampel's passion for quality in advocacy was fired in the early days of his career. As a young barrister he would often sit in court, dismayed at the poor representation provided by some of his learned colleagues.

"I was astonished that the legal profession allowed people to hold themselves out as advocates and pick up their advocacy skills on the job," Professor Hampel explains. "With no advocacy training available even at the basic level, barristers could be on their feet, pleading their case and making fundamental errors, often with disappointing results for their clients."

The AAI's advocacy skills training is recognised worldwide. It was first introduced to the Australian profession by Professor Hampel and now forms the basis of the Readers courses for the Australian Bars. It was also introduced to the English and Scottish Bars in 1995 and has extended to workshops in the US, England, Singapore, Malaysia and other countries with an adversarial justice system.

"In our training workshops we focus on preparation and analysis skills - the skills and disciplines involved in examination and cross-examination of witnesses - presentation of legal argument and handling of expert evidence," Professor Hampel says. "There is a strong emphasis on courtroom communication skills, which enhance persuasion and, therefore, the art of advocacy."

Since their return from The Hague, the Monash team has also been asked to teach in Sarajevo.

"In effect, a new legal system is being developed there because it was basically destroyed during the Bosnian war 10 years ago," Professor Hampel says. "The Monash team's assistance through the IIFS will involve developing that country's legal system so that it can better deal with expert evidence."

In October this year, after hosting an international conference on expert evidence at the Monash Centre in Prato, the Hampel team will train prosecutors in the city of Arusha in Tanzania, where the Rwandan War Crimes trials are being held.

Professor Hampel says the demand for advocacy training is constantly growing. "The strength of our teaching is that it comes from experienced professionals who also have an academic perspective. We combine rich practical experience and knowledge with effective skills teaching methods," he says.

"The work by the Australian Advocacy Institute, together with the Monash Law School, raises the reputation and profile of both institutions as well as the Australian profession as a whole."

Action: For more information visit the Law website or the advocacy website.