Mr Bennetts presentation to delegates from Indonesian universities, CSOs, DPOs, National Board of Legal Development and the National Planning and Development Agency.
Visit from Monashs Family Law Assistance Program urges law students to participate in university legal aid clinics
In May 2014, two representatives from Monash’s Family Law Assistance Program (FLAP) were invited to participate in a series of strategy meetings aimed at strengthening services provided by Professional Practice courses and university legal aid clinics in Indonesia. Mr Malcolm Bennett (Principal Lawyer and Monash Lecturer) and Ms Jennifer Lindstrom (Lawyer and Program Administrator) were invited to represent the Monash Law Faculty and meet with deans and lecturers from Law faculties around Indonesia.
As part of these meetings, Mr Bennett and Ms Lindstrom presented papers on the operations of FLAP. This included matters such as preparing students for participation in clinics, maintaining the quality of services and data collection. At the conclusion of the meetings,recommendations were made to encourage students to participate in university clinics by integrating practical subjects into the curriculum and developing information exchange and database systems.
As a precursor to this visit, Ms Cate Sumner, Lead Advisor of the AIPJ’s Legal Identity Program visited FLAP with delegates from Indonesian universities and the judiciary in 2010 and 2013. The purpose of these visits was to observe the operation of FLAP, a unique family law clinic in Australia that provides legal advisory services to clients in court and in a legal clinic on Monash University’s Clayton campus, part of the Monash Oakleigh Legal Service. The operation of FLAP is considered particularly relevant to Indonesia where there are a significant number of legal aid providers. A number of these operate through university legal aid clinics.
The two FLAP representatives were invited to participate in this initiative by the Australia-Indonesia Partnership for Justice, a five year program focused on realising the rights of Indonesians, particularly poor women, vulnerable children and the disabled. The rights to legal identity, fair proceedings, and legal information are seen as crucial to achieving basic economic and social rights.
