Home / Publications / ALRC Brief – August 2011 / ALRC legal intern program
ALRC Brief – August 2011
From the President's desk
Senate Inquiry into the role and functions of the ALRC
Current inquiries update
Reform roundup
ALRC legal intern program
Last modified on 16 August, 2011.
The ALRC looks forward to welcoming four new interns in August for our second semester program. The ALRC had over 50 applications for the internship program this round, and the four successful applicants will be working on the National Classification Scheme Review and the Commonwealth Laws and Family Violence Inquiry.
Robert Chiarella—Robert is in his final year of law at University of Sydney, where he also has completed a BA with first class honours in history. He has worked as a volunteer at Redfern Legal Aid and as a clerk at Blake Dawson.
Adam Arnold—Adam is in his final year of Combined law at the UNSW. He has completed an internship at the Cyberspace Law and Policy Centre where he was involved in research on the proposed mandatory internet filter. He has also done an internship at the Dept of PM & C. Adam has also researched the effect of cybercrime laws on the privacy of individuals.
Nina Abbey—Nina is in her penultimate year of Communications and Law at UTS. In 2010 she was awarded a High Distinction and Best Performance in the subject Media Law.
Sean Lau—Sean is in his 4th year of Arts (Philosophy)/Law at UNSW. He has done an internship at PIAC where he did a research project on Australia's treatment of detainees in the Middle East. He is on the Executive Committee of the UNSW Law Journal.
The ALRC has also been extremely fortunate to have a legal intern from Harvard University for the past year. Kathryn Nielson (right) applied to us last year as part of a Harvard fellowship program where they support a student through a fellowship grant to be based overseas for one year as part of their studies. Kathryn applied to us, having heard about our work from other Harvard students who had done internships at the ALRC, or as she put it, seeing 'the glowing reviews of the organisation in the database of past volunteer reviews'. Kathryn graduated from Harvard Law School completing her JD (equivalent to an LLB) as well as an AB in Philosophy. She has worked as a student attorney at the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, and as a paralegal at the New York law firm of Paul, Weiss. She has also done an internship at the Public Defender's Office and in South Africa with the organisation, Lawyers for Human Rights, in Johannesburg.
Over the past year Kathryn has worked on Family Violence Inquiry and the National Classification Scheme Review. Kathryn has truly become part of our legal team and her contribution to the ALRC has been of an very high standard. We say farewell to her this week and it will be a very sad occasion indeed.
We were also fortunate to have a legal intern from the University of Maryland, Baltimore, Jennifer Ruiz (left), who was sponsored to spend five weeks with us. Jennifer also completed a BA in Political Science at the Florida International University and has worked as a judicial intern at the Court of Special Appeals and as a law clerk at the US Attorney-General's office in Baltimore. Jennifer worked on the National Classification Scheme Review. Jennifer recorded a brief interview with us, describing her experience as an intern at the ALRC. Play audio >>
Opportunities for law students
Applications for the final round of internships for 2011 (Summer Internships 2011/2012) close on Friday 28 October 2011.
More on legal internsips >>
We also encourage law students to take part in the Kirby Cup, which this year is concerned with two areas of law, copyright and classification, the latter particularly topical in light of the ALRC's current review of the National Classification Scheme. papers are due to the ALRC by 26 August 2011.
More on the Kirby Cup >>