The Beginning of the End

I can remember my first class at law school, Contracts, and thinking how far away the end seemed. I knew 3 years wasn't all that long and that I would be finishing much sooner than some of my colleagues but I couldn't begin to imagine the end ever actually arriving. And now it's here. This past week marked the beginning of the end of my law degree as my final semester got underway. I have 4 classes: Equity and Trusts, Evidence, Criminal Justice and Law Internship. The law internship is really a sort of research assignment that is supervised by a legal practitioner. My supervisor will be Matt O'Brien from ACT Legal Aid's criminal law division. I'm meeting with him in a few days to discuss a topic and then I'll get underway. Otherwise my classes seem pretty standard so far. I just hope that I pass all my courses on the first go, in other words, that I don't have to sit any supplementary exams because that will delay my graduation by a semester. My family is coming down for my expected graduation and I don't want to disappoint them.

The Australian rules football country championships were played in the Canberra region this week and I managed to officiate some games. There was a call for volunteer boundary umpires and I put my hand up and was appointed to 2 games in Queanbeyan. These are fairly high quality as they are state teams. There were only 2 17-minute halves which made the running load much lighter than otherwise; a typical game in the Canberra league is 20-25 minute quarters (depending on the grade). I went alright in the 1st game but as it progressed I could feel my ITB seizing up. The ITB, or iliotibial band, is a tendon which runs down the thigh and joins with another muscle at the knee. A few days ago I had had a pretty solid run and I had tweaked it a bit. The ITB is notoriously difficult to stretch and once irritated, it really hurts. I managed to get the 1st half of the 2nd game down before I couldn't run anymore. I was somewhat irritated that I couldn't finish off the game and it was only because of this knee thing. It was my first attempt at boundary umpiring and even though I only had to make 1 decision, I am told I was fairly impressive. I'm taking a week off training just to give my leg a rest and I'll see about further boundary umpiring afterwards. I still continue to goal umpire without issue.

An interesting piece of news that crossed my desk was the report that Helena Guergis has been cleared by the RCMP. Guergis, who was a junior minister in the Canadian government and had a rather famous, if somewhat overstated, rant in the Charlottetown airport, was removed from cabinet and caucus following "serious allegations". To date, Guergis has not been told these allegations and no one outside the PM's close circle seems to know either. With the RCMP investigation concluded, it made me think of my administrative law principles; the principles that govern when someone can seek judicial review of a government decision. Although I doubt Guergis would be able to seek judicial review, I think there was a complete failure of what is called natural justice (procedural fairness), which would ordinarily give someone the ability to contest the decision in court. In a famous Australian case (VEAL v MIMIA), the High Court held that whenever a person is accused of something, even if the reviewing body takes no notice of it, that person must be given a chance to respond to those allegations. In that case, the refugee applicant designated VEAL, was the subject of a letter to the refugee board which accused them of committing crimes against humanity or something like that. The letter asked that the writer's identity be kept secret and although the board said that the letter existed, they gave it no weight in their decision. Nevertheless, the High Court said that natural justice/procedural fairness required that the allegations (but not the identity of the author) be disclosed. I think Guergis' case falls squarely in this camp.

The Guergis Affair also made me think of historical precedents such as the Star Chamber and bills of attainder. The Star Chamber was an inquisitorial court whose meetings were secret. A person could be compelled to testify against themselves and secret decisions could be reached finding people guilty of sedition or treason. Bills of attainder were acts of Parliament that found someone guilty of treason without a trial per se. I think that Guergis' situation falls very close to both of these.

I watched the CBC's Peter Mansbridge interview with Guergis online. I didn't think it was a particularly great interview for her, but I don't think it harmed her and maybe helped her a bit. If nothing else, it served to underline the issues in her dismissal. While the allegations still remain undisclosed, from what I read online, there is a chorus to have them revealed. I think that they should be if for no other reason than that public money has now been expended on the RCMP investigation and the public should know why that money was spent. Of course, I also think the Guergis should be told the allegations anyway because it would be fair to do so. We'll have to see how this plays out over the coming weeks and especially at the next election.

The Beautiful Game

The most important event this past week was the World Cup. It is touted as the world's largest single sporting event, and with good cause. I have heard statistics that well over 1 billion people watch the final live when it is played and I'm sure the statistic rises every time, and at a greater rate than population increase. Unfortunately, today's globalized world means that although you can watch a game on television live, it may be at an inconvenient time. Accordingly, the final was played at 04:30 Monday morning Canberra time.

I woke up to watch the game and went down to Fenner Hall's large TV room where many others had gathered. We all watched intently as the Spanish national team, Los Rojas (The Reds) took on the Clockwork Orange of the Netherlands. I gathered from the responses of the crowd that most of my fellow Fennerites were cheering for Spain, which put me in a minority. The Dutch had been to the World Cup twice before and I thought it was time they deserved to win. As you may know, the game was rather disappointing and neither team played with any vigour, as well as giving the referee plenty of excuses to bring out the cards. At the end of the first half, feeling the TV room was too crowded, I went upstairs to my room and watched the game on my computer. ANU has a website which lets you watch certain channels on the computer. The second half was much like the first, though there were a few more opportunities. Eventually, in overtime, at the 116th minute, the Spanish managed to get one past the Dutch keeper and hoisted the World Cup. Spain was the Number 1 team in the world so I can't fault them for winning, but I did hope the Dutch would pull through. I suspect many South Africans, particularly the Afrikaaners (descendants of Dutch immigrants), were cheering the Clockwork Orange. Well, all that's left is to wait another 4 years to see who makes it in Brazil.

Here's an interesting connection between Spain and Holland you might not know about. In the Dutch national anthem, it mentions that Prince (later King) William of Orange pledges his loyalty to the King of Spain. This may sound bizarre, and in a way it is, but the Netherlands were once part of Spain, and were in fact called the Spanish Netherlands. For its part, the Spanish national anthem is the only one in the world without words. There were words originally when the anthem was written in the 1970s or 1980s but they were dismissed for being too nationalistic. Which begs the question, isn't it alright for a national anthem to be nationalistic?

I was pleased to read on the internet a review of Ottawa by a visiting American travel writer. He called the city "unselfconsciously cool" and that it is a far cry from its other motto, "the city that never wakes." I have noticed that many travel books have made mention of the fact that Ottawa really has quite a lot to offer and that it's reputation, while perhaps originally justified, is no longer deserved. I hope this is taken on board by tourists and other Canadians.

Finally, PM Julia Gillard has called an election for August 21st in what will become an epic battle of the leaders. It will be a chance for voters to decide if Julia is fit enough to be given a proper mandate or if the manner of her ascent makes her undeserving. I've never been in Australia for an election but I can't wait until things really get going. Elections are always so much fun. I am pleased to see that the CBC is reporting this story as well and I do anticipate some coverage, if the last election is anything to go by. I think Australia is coming out of its shell of obscurity, which will no doubt delight the author Bill Bryson who mentioned this obscurity in his book In a Sunburned Country/Down Under.

Learning the Law

I received my marks for the semester and I was very excited at the results. I had already received a Distinction for my postgraduate course but I was on tenterhooks waiting for the results of my other courses. I received a Pass for Litigation and Dispute Management, which I was happy enough with. It was a tricky exam and it was the day after Property, another tricky compulsory course. Speaking of Property, I received a Credit for that course and I was very glad. My exam was worth 100% of my mark and the result indicates which means that I am finished above the average. A Credit is a very good result for the Property Law course, or so I'm told. And finally, I received a Distinction in Intellectual Property, where it seems I have a slight talent. I have good reason to believe that I received a High Distinction on the final exam. I also received a congratulatory e-mail from the professor informing me that I finished 3rd in the class! I must say, I do enjoy intellectual property, though I don't really know why. I have been known to get impassioned about some issues, notably the Land Down Under Case and Google Street View privacy concerns. All in all, I think this has been my 2nd best semester. All that remains is to successfully complete my final semester.

For most of the week, my time has been taken up by a course known as Becoming a Practitioner, the preliminary course for the Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice, the piece of paper that lets you be admitted. The course, which is actually a series of workshops and activities ran from Monday-Friday 09:00-17:00 virtually every day, except for Friday when we were let out at lunch. For the course, we learned how to properly draft a letter to a client (plain English), how to draft a will/legal provision (plain English), how to negotiate and how to appear in court (complicated English). The most fun was had on Friday when we were assessed on our negotiation and advocacy techniques. The negotiation exercise involved teams of individuals (we had been assigned on Tuesday) playing the part of various interest groups in a harbour construction plan. As it turned out, my group represented the unions and we did very well. We managed to secure the on of the best possible outcomes for our constituency, which gave me confidence for my advocacy assessment. The advocacy assessment was just a mock submission to a lawyer playing the part of a judge or magistrate. I did a plea in mitigation, essentially trying to get a light sentence for my client; it turned out alright. I think I've got the basics down now. I still have to submit 2 short written assessment, but I suspect they will not prove troublesome.

I mentioned earlier about my passion for the Land Down Under Case and the judgment was recently handed down. I first mentioned this matter in my post titled I'm a Noun and an Adjective dated 7/02/10. To refresh your memories, the owners of the copyright in the song Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree, Larrikin Music, sued the band Men at Work for infringement. Men at Work's most famous song is a 1982 piece entitled Land Down Under and it contains a famous flute riff that Larrikin alleged was too close to the tune of their song. In February, the judge of the Federal Court hearing the matter ruled in Larrikin's favour but the actual damages judgment was only just handed down. Larrikin had been asking for 60% of all royalties, past and future, to be paid but, luckily, the judge found that that was unreasonable and excessive. He ordered that 5% of all future royalties only would be paid to Larrikin. While I think this is a fantastic result for Men at Work, I still think the whole case should have been dismissed. Thankfully, Men at Work are still contemplating appealing the original ruling which I still have trouble fathoming.

Without getting into too much detail, there is an equitable doctrine called laches (pronounced "lash") which states that if a person takes too long to bring a matter to court, it will be dismissed barring a compelling reason. The song Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree was written for a Girl Guides song competition back in the 1930s. After a series of transactions, Larrikin acquired the copyright in 2000. The song Land Down Under was composed in 1979, although it only became truly popular in 1982, and it became one of the most popular songs of the decade, and not only in Australia. However, it seems that no one noticed the similarity until it was the answer to a question on the popular TV show Spicks and Specks in 2007. It was only then that Larrikin brought suit. Now, my reasoning is that it is reasonable to assume that in all that time (over 30 years now) that both songs have been in existence, the copyright holder of the earlier song would have heard Land Down Under. Furthermore, as no suit was brought until now, it can be assumed that the association was so slight as to escape notice or was made but not objected to. In an event, I think that the doctrine of laches should have stepped in to end the matter. As it turns out, apparently that wasn't even argued but I think it's a good argument. I hope it's argued in the appeal. I still think that the original judgment for Larrikin was one of the worst decisions of the Federal Court.

I'd also like to note that I saw in the news that Canada's new Governor-General will be David Johnston, an academic I've never heard of. Let's see how he does in the job.

Deep Space

In the last week, I've managed to see some far-flung localities around Canberra. One of my floormates is away on a trip around the USA for a few weeks and she allowed me use of her car. I decided that I would visit some of the ACT's lesser known, yet still considerably interesting, attractions. Also, it would give me practice for driving later this year when my parents and brother visit and we all travel to Tasmania. The only trick is to remember what side of the road to be on. Once that's sorted out, the rest comes naturally.

One of the first places I visited was the dog racing track in Symonston, an eastern suburb of Canberra. ACTTAB has a presence there and as I had never been there before, I drove out on a race night. The track itself isn't very interesting, although it does have a somewhat stylish bistro. It forms an interesting comparison to the horse racing track where I have worked quite often. The main difference is that greyhound racing appears to attract clientele from a lower socio-economic class than horse racing. I suppose if horse racing is the sport of kings, dog racing is the sport of yeomen.

The next day I took a trip out to 2 abandoned space tracking station sites --- Orroral and Honeysuckle Creek. Though both have been completely abandoned and all of their buildings demolished, they do form part of Namadgi National Park and are upkept as historic sites. They both also served very important functions in NASA's space programs. In the 1960s, NASA built 3 complexes in the valleys of the ACT to assist with the space program, although only 1 of those still operates.

Orroral Tracking Station operated from 1965-1984, not a very long time as things go, as a near Earth object tracking station. In other words, Orroral's function was to track satellites and, if necessary, receive and transmit data to them. To that end, it was a fairly expansive and well-used site. According to the literature there now, while in operation, Orroral was constantly used. Eventually, as part of NASA's consolidation in the 1980s, Orroral was closed down and its components were either demolished or moved to the Tidbinbilla Deep Space Complex, now known as the Canberra Deep Space Complex. Now, the Orroral site is in a very picturesque valley of Namadgi National Park. When I arrived there in the morning, there was not a soul around, although there was one other car present. I wandered around and photographed as much as I could and imagined what it must have been like in its heyday.

My next stop was Honeysuckle Creek in the next valley. Although considerably smaller than Orroral, for a while this was the most important tracking station on Earth. Honeysuckle Creek was built specifically for the Apollo space missions and despite what the movie The Dish might have you believe, it was actually Honeysuckle Creek that captured the first TV images from the Moon and transmitted them to the rest of the anxious world. After the end of the Apollo program, Honeysuckle Creek was also decommissioned. Like Orroral, the sight has been turned into a historic sight and you can walk around the area. It's completely surrounded by forest and I even saw 2 kangaroos as I wandered around. Again, there was not a soul around and I was pleased to have this important site all to myself.

In other astronomic news, there was a lunar eclipse last Saturday, as I imagine the whole world saw. Unfortunately, that day Canberra had rain and much of the night sky was clouded out. I did see the eclipse through some breaks in the clouds but nothing spectacular.

I suppose the rest of this week's news is rather mundane. Although Canada Day occurred recently, naturally it is not a big occasion in Australia. I celebrated by wearing a Canada Day Festival t-shirt and an official Canada Olympic winter hat. I also watched some of the celebration via Ottawa's webcams, but it's no substitute for actually being there. A friend from another floor was moving out so I bought his small fridge. Now I can enjoy milk in the comfort of my own room.

I suppose I do have some more exciting and bizarre news. First, in the bizarre column, I entered the communal men's bathroom the other day and I heard someone watching TV in one of the cubicles. I do not know how that was possible, save by some small portable device, or even why it would be desirable. Surely one could wait? It's probably the most bizarre things I've ever heard in a toilet. In the more exciting news section, a cousin of mine, Laura, will be visiting me in August, I think. She is teaching English in South Korea at the moment but her time there is expiring and she plans to take a detour before returning to Canada. I haven't seen her in ages and it will be good to catch up. She was always such fun to be around.

I did have one really funny joke last week. While playing Dungeons and Dragons, I suggested that for our current mission, which involved demolition, I should just start randomly throwing grenades. The Dungeon Master said, "Congratulations, you've just destroyed the orphanage." I then replied, "So what? Who's going to miss them, their parents?" It thought it was really funny.