Law Professors

[sam.utute]

Hi guys,

Just wondering if Professor Azadeh Dastyari is a good lecturer. I'm planning on doing the Intensive Stream for ILR (6 hours every Friday) that she is running.

Now that I think about it, is it worth doing the intensive stream or should I just do it normally (as in the set few hours a week instead of 6). I'm very concerned about the Law component in this degree, mainly because I haven't studied Law or ever really done anything relating to it. I am basically in Prep when it comes to Law. Worth doing the intensive stream to get ahead?

Thanks for your help,
Sam

[ninwa]

ILR content is not particularly gruelling (compared to substantive law subjects) - as long as you have consistent, good study/work habits, you should be fine. It's not really something you want to get behind in. The only issue I see is that ILR is BORING AS ALL HECK and 6 hours of it in one day is hell to me... so like... save up lots of money for coffee or something.

I have heard mixed reviews of Azadeh. Do you have any other options?

[lynt.br]

The intensive stream sounds like a pretty bad idea. Apart from it going to cause clashes all over the place in first week, there really is no need to 'accelerate' ILR.

The ILR course can be divided up into two parts, the first 6 weeks or so is a basic review of our legal history and an overview of our legal system etc. It sounds dry and boring and it is. There is a multiple choice test at the end of this section which is worth 20% or something and is really just an exercise in memorising historical facts from the book/lecture slide (i.e. nothing to be too concerned about).

People who have done legal studies will have a slight advantage during these first 6 weeks because they will already be familiar with our legal system and the terminology. However, they run through the course assuming you have 0 knowledge about anything related to law and the theory and history isn't conceptually difficult or anything, it's just memorising facts. There isn't really any reason to feel seriously disadvantaged having not done legal studies.

The second part of the course is statutory interpretation which will be new content for everyone. This is pretty much what the exam will be testing you on.

Really the whole ILR course is there to give you a 'well rounded education' by teaching you the theory behind th legal system and all of that... It's not a difficult subject and it doesn't really require much work or study compared to other subjects so you can see how there's no real point in rushing through it.

Also, a lot of the ILR lecturers are sessional lecturers meaning they do not regularly lecture at monash. I guess this is because you don't exactly need specialised expertise to teach ILR. Ross Hyams is one of the few Monash lecturers who teaches it every year.

So yeah, no need to worry about ILR. You'll probably be a bit underwhelmed by law in first year. I'd say concentrate most of your time on contract law which has a lot more content and is a lot more work intensive. If you want to get a head start on that, the course starts with Offer, then Acceptance, then Consideration so reading those three sections before hand will give you a pretty good head start.

[sam.utute]

Thanks for the advice. I guess I will stick with the normal stream. Means I have Mondays and Fridays off then

If I do not do the intensive stream, then I will most likely have Pascale Chifflet as the lecturer. Any thoughts on him?

[ninwa]

Have heard great things about Pascale!