Wielding the law as a tool for good

Associate Professor Ramona Vijeyarasa has seen first-hand the ways in which the law fails women.  An international human rights lawyer and the Program Head of the UTS Juris Doctor, Ramona spent years working in the not-for-profit sector, travelling the world and hearing stories of women who needed the law to make a meaningful difference to the way they lived their lives.  

“I think it really homed in on the idea that whether you’re a Brazilian woman living in a slum or you’re a farmer in Liberia or a single mother living in the floating villages of Cambodia, the law rarely works the way it’s meant to for women,” says Ramona. 

These years spent working with women and grassroots activists motivated the creation of the Gender Legislative Index, a world-first tool that uses both human and machine learning evaluations to identify opportunities for gender equitable law reform. The Index supported the establishment of Australia’s first-ever parliamentary Gender and Equality Audit Committee in Tasmania.  

Ramona’s work, which also includes The Woman President, a high-profile book on female presidents and their impacts on global lawmaking, has been recognised with a series of international awards. 

These achievements are concrete examples of Ramona’s commitment to reshaping the law to drive more socially just and equitable outcomes, not only for women but for people around the world. It’s a value that’s central to both her research and teaching and reflected within the JD program and across the UTS Faculty of Law. 

Commitment to social justice 

“The whole faculty has a deep commitment to social justice. I think it's what really sets us apart,” Ramona says.  

“Within the Juris Doctor specifically, so many of our teaching staff are genuinely changing the way the law is practised in Australia.  

“We’re not afraid, as educators, to lead difficult conversations. We don’t just teach about how law is; we also challenge our students to critique the way law should be.” 

The Juris Doctor is a postgraduate law qualification that’s open to people from law and non-law backgrounds alike. As a result, it attracts a wide range of students, from recent graduates through to mid-life career changers from all different fields.  

This diversity is part of what makes the JD such a vibrant and collegial qualification. And, as someone who made her own career shift into academia, Ramona understands the uncertainty that some students can feel when starting the degree.  

“For many of the students who are part of the program, there’s a nervousness around postgraduate study, particularly for those who haven’t attended university for a long time,” she says.   

In response, Ramona and her team have created a range of programs and services designed to support postgraduate students throughout the JD. These include the Postgraduate Lounge, a dedicated space within UTS Law where postgraduate students can study, network with one another or warm up a meal before an evening class, and the JD Plus program, which connects JD students with industry professionals and UTS law alumni, as well as with masterclasses and professional networking events.  

The faculty also offers a series of mentoring programs for high-achieving first-year students, First Nations students and students on humanitarian visas.   

“We’re always asking ourselves: what can we do to help our students succeed? It’s not just about getting through the degree; it’s defining what success means to them and helping them achieve that,” Ramona says. 

Fresh approach to the law   

In the classroom, Ramona and her colleagues introduce students to future-focused course content that explores the pressing issues shaping the contemporary and future legal profession. Subjects are also taught through an equity lens that encourages students to think about how their own professional practice can contribute to more just outcomes.   

In Property Law, for example, students engage with discussion about Indigenous land rights, while the Ethics, Law and Justice subjects probes the importance of representation in the legal profession, “not just of women but people of colour and socioeconomic diversity,” Ramona says.  

“If you don’t have a legal profession that reflects the people it represents, will people still believe in the justice system?”  

In many ways, the curriculum reflects Ramona’s belief that law has the potential to drive meaningful social change. Teaching the next generation of graduates to wield that power responsibly is key to her mission.  

“It’s easy to simply teach the black letter of the law but given the injustice that we see around us — not just in Australia but globally — we feel it’s important to equip our students with the mindset to think differently about the law and the practical tools to challenge and help reform it,” she says.