Equity and Social Justice

The Equity and Social Justice (‘ESJ’) portfolio was established to address existing issues in equity, wellbeing and social justice within the law school community. The ESJ portfolio includes one ESJ Director, Ambali Pillai, and two Wellbeing & Equity Co-Opts.

Social Justice

• The ESJ portfolio facilitates student engagement with social justice issues and public interest law careers by both directly running events with a social justice focus and supporting MLS student-led organisations such as the Public Interest Law Network and the Global Law Students Association. 

• ESJ organises and runs:

  • The annual MULSS Social Justice Lecture with speakers who have made a difference in the legal social justice space.

  • The Plaintiff-Focused Careers Panel where students who are interested in plaintiff-focused legal careers may hear from experienced legal professionals who have chosen to practice in plaintiff-focused areas of law.

  • As part of a long-standing collaboration with the Public Interest Law Network (‘PILN’), ESJ assists in the hosting of free Public Interest Practice Skills (‘PIPS’) workshops taught by lawyers from a variety of community legal centres.

Equity

• The ESJ portfolio is committed to providing support to students experiencing social and/or financial disadvantage during their time at MLS. ESJ also directly advocates to faculty on behalf of individual students experiencing unfair treatment, such as in seeking extensions or equitable adjustments.  

• In tight collaboration with the WAGDI, Disability, Indigenous and Queer portfolios and the rest of the LSS, the ESJ portfolio provides students with a pathway for strong advocacy with faculty in relation to issues experienced as a result of both discrete and systemic barriers to education.

• ESJ runs two financial equity schemes which operate each semester: The Book Fairy Program and the Equitable Ticketing Scheme.

  • Students experiencing demonstrated financial difficulties or disadvantage may apply for either or both of these programs to seek financial reimbursements for the costs of mandatory textbooks and ticket prices for select LSS events.

Wellbeing

• As your student representatives on the Melbourne Law School’s Student Equality and Wellbeing Committee, the ESJ portfolio has continued to directly liaise with students to ensure that students issues relating to equity and wellbeing are heard and acted upon by Faculty.

• ESJ Wellbeing initiatives include:

  • Running the First Year Survival Panel where student representatives from all levels will be selected to speak to First Year students on how to best tackle starting at Melbourne Law School.

  • Running the Mental Health & Wellbeing Careers Panel where students will have the opportunity to hear from legal professionals from a variety of different law firms on what support and attention is provided to mental health and wellbeing in the legal profession.

  • SWOTVAC & Chill sessions each semester to support students during those long SWOTVAC study hours.

How we can help?

Contact us with any suggestions, feedback or concerns you may have with respect to either your own individual situation or LSS/Faculty programs. The ESJ portfolio is here to help you and whatever you say to us will be confidential.

The ESJ Director, Ambali Pillai, can be contacted through their email address, equity@mulss.com