UTS Law Awards ceremony 2021
Kurt Cheng: Good evening everyone, and welcome to the 2021 UTS Law Awards. It's great to see so many of you joining us tonight. And although we would have loved for it to be in person, it's great to see so many familiar names logging in. Before I begin, in the spirit of reconciliation, I would like to acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation upon this ancestral land our UTS campus now stands. I'd also like to pay respect to the elders by past, present, and emerging, acknowledging them as the traditional custodians of knowledge for this land. I'm currently joining from South Hurstville, the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. And I extended this acknowledgement to wherever you are joining us from tonight. A quick introduction, my name is Kurt. I'm a third year law student, and I'm also the student rep for law on the university's academic board and vice president sponsorship for the UTS Law Students' Society.
The past 18 months, as students, has been incredibly tough. Living in this pandemic with challenges for each and every one of us. For me, it's been caregiver responsibilities for my grandparents while studying and working from home. For others, this pandemic, and particularly this current outbreak, has presented unexpected challenges and uncertainty about our studies and future. But I think one thing is for certain, this period in our lifetime has taught us unquantifiable levels of resilience as we adapt and pivot by studying in a global pandemic. This will really set us apart in a post pandemic world, and in particular, for the many opportunities to come. As a dynamic and innovative law school, as students, we adapted to re-imagined course [inaudible] and exams, because our agility to new ways of working and commitment to lifelong learning has, and always will be at the core of everything we do here.
And as for each and every one of us here tonight, as students, staff, and alumni, we're part of a faculty that genuinely fosters a sense of community, during and after our time here. Our generosity in spirit and kindness has always defined us as a faculty. And I'm really, really proud to say that our approach to diversity and inclusion moved beyond principles of accommodation, but to a culture that celebrates and champions the unique contributions and success of every individual. Tonight's award ceremony reflects and acknowledges exactly this, the academic success and contribution of students and staff that make UTS Law such an amazing place to study, work and create life-long memories. So, without further ado, let's kick off. Because we're not able to be together in a room tonight, please use the chat box to share your congratulations with tonight's winners, if you see your friend, teacher, or a colleague.
It's always great to have some commentary, so please, feel free to use it. Next up, I know that we're out of class, but I promise this is a fun quiz to kick us off for the nines. Please head to menti.com and enter the code on the device that you're on, or perhaps even a phone. Staff and family are welcome to joining too. And the person who wins this quiz will also receive a $50 Booktopia voucher for textbooks, which is equivalent to about five pages. Points are calculated by getting the correct answer and how fast you respond. I'll give you about 20 seconds to log in and enter the code.
Fantastic. So, we'll kick off with question one now. Which of the following prominent New South Wales people are not UTS graduates? There's only one correct answer. Fantastic. So, I think the majority of people got that right. And the answer is, Tanya Plibersek. She wasn't a law student, but she completed a bachelor of arts in communications with honors in 1993 and still remains connected to UTS as the federal Shadow Minister for Education in Sydney. Now, onto the second question, who lost a high court challenge against Western Australia's... Sorry, who lost a High Court challenge against Western Australia's coronavirus border closure last year?
That's correct. So, the correct answer is Clive Palmer. Hotelier Julian Gerner was actually based in Melbourne and his case was thrown out, and [inaudible] are currently managing the High Court challenge. Now, have a quick look at the leader board to see how we're tracking. And at the moment it looks like whoever is Linzi. So, whoever Linzi is, feel free to pop your actual name at the end, if you do win. But I do hope you have a textbook in mind that you want to buy with that voucher. So, we head to the question three now, who is the most recently appointed Justice for the High Court of Australia?
Fantastic. So, most people got that right. It is Justice Jacqueline Gleeson, who is the oldest of four children of former Chief Justice, Murray Gleeson and Robyn Gleeson. And she's currently 55 years old. Fantastic. Now, on to the next question, when did UTS celebrate its 40th anniversary as a law school? That's correct, it was in 2017. So, back in 1977, we were known as the New South Wales Institute of Technology and it established the first law school in New South Wales outside the university sector. The UTS Law Students' Society was also established a few years later in 1981. And we're currently celebrating our 40th anniversary, making it older than UTS itself at 33 years old. Now, have a quick look at the winners. And overall, our winner for tonight is Miranda Kaye. We'll definitely be in touch with you for your Booktopia voucher, and I do hope you select a great textbook that you'd like to read. I'd now like to hand over to Associate Dean of Education, Maxine Evers, to award the Dean's Merit List for tonight.
Maxine Evers: Thank you very much, Kurt, and good evening everyone. And congratulations to my colleague, Miranda. I would like to congratulate all our Deans Merit List students who have demonstrated outstanding academic performance in their law subjects in 2020. The students' names will appear on the next couple of slides. Being placed in the Deans Merit List for last year is particularly commendable, given the challenges of study as a result of COVID. And the faculty takes this opportunity to congratulate all recipients. I would like to acknowledge two recipients in particular, who not only were placed on the Deans Merit List, but were also awarded the university medal. Lydia Watson-Moore was a university metal recipient in 2020, and Margaret Cai was the recipient this year. Usually the university medal is awarded at our fantastic graduation ceremonies. That wasn't to be last year, and unfortunately, again this year. So, this is our opportunity to applaud the exceptional achievements of both Lydia and Margaret. Congratulations, Lydia and Margaret. Thank you. Over to you, Kurt
Kurt Cheng: Fantastic. Thanks, Maxine. So, it's been an incredibly tough year as we've been studying in a pandemic, and the majority of us, we have not been on campus for quite some time. So, we've asked some students to send in how they're coping lockdown, and we have a submission from Philippa Clark. He says, "I've been coping with study during lockdown thanks to care packages from amazing interstate friends. Tonight I'm studying with homemade chai from a friend in Melbourne and a coaster crocheted in my favorite colors from a friend in Brisbane." And I believe that is a mug that says, just a hot mess under stress, with Gladys. It almost feels unnatural seeing the premiere not at 11:00 AM. And the next submission that we have is from Sophia Tonoli, who's also on the Deans Merit List and her caption is, "At least I'm not the only one who's lost the plot," with some very cute dogs. Thank you so much, Philippa and Sophie for sending those in, I'm sure many of us resonate on similar wavelengths.
I'd like to move on to introduce our guest student speaker for tonight, Sam Guzman. Sam was the 2020 president of the UTS LSS, who I was very fortunate to work with last year. He's currently a senior paralegal at Allens and the [inaudible] of his degree. I'd like to hand over to Sam to say a few words.
Sam Guzman: Thank you so much for that wonderful introduction, Kurt. And I'd also like to extend a quick thank you as well to faculty for inviting me tonight. And of course, a big congratulations to my fellow award recipients as well who have plenty to celebrate. So, in preparation for this evening, I've been thinking quite a lot about what comes to mind when I think of my experience at UTS Law School so far. Now, if I'm being completely honest, the first thing that actually came to mind was dodgy dumplings, probably because it's something that I really miss during this lockdown, but also because it does bring back a lot of good memories from way back when we were located in building five. But upon some further thought, I think the better word, or the more accurate word that reflects my university experience so far would be the word opportunity.
So, if I may just quickly share a little story about my first year at law school, and I believe there's a slide of little me in law camp over there. So, some of you may already know this, and indeed I'm sure a lot of you may also relate, but I actually came into law school with quite a big case of imposter syndrome. I mean, I came in knowing absolutely no one, having no connections to anyone in the legal industry. And I came in not having done legal studies in high school. And so, I remember my first class, my first ethics class actually, when I came in, I was just so concerned because I had absolutely no idea what to expect. And sure enough, I remember exiting the room and thinking to myself, mate, what on earth have you gotten yourself into? I was so terrified about all of my peers around me who sounded like they knew a lot more than I did. And I was particularly concerned about having to speak up in class in order to pass the class participation requirement as well.
And that's just one of the many times that I was convinced that I was ready to quit law school, which, thankfully, a few years down the track here I am today, still at law school, now speaking to a virtual room of some of the most brilliant people at UTS. So for me, it's really been interesting to reflect on how I made it to this point. And I think ultimately, in all honesty, it's all thanks to the different opportunities that I've been presented as a UTS Law student. And I could go on and on about the different opportunities we're offered from the get-go. I mean, there's additional learning sessions, such as U:Pass, that really helped me throughout my first year. We were offered so many mentoring programs, social events, career development programs, competitions, and let's not forget the many opportunities that are quite unique to UTS as well, such as being able to participate in the Brennan Leadership Program or the Neota Tech Challenge, or even choosing to undertake a legal tech major at UTS.
So, there are just so many opportunities available to us at UTS Law students. And I think looking back, it actually feels to me like I've taken up pretty much every opportunity that was made available to me, which according to my mother, is a few too many given the number of times I've complained about not having enough time to do anything. But it really is because of those opportunities and my decision to take those on that I feel like I've been able to grow so much and overcome that imposter syndrome and whatever other challenges or setbacks that I faced at law school so far. I also think these opportunities are a really good reflection on the different values here at UTS. From the very beginning, we're encouraged to be curious in the way we approach learning, to be proactive in the way that we pursue social justice initiatives, to appreciate the significance of technology and its effects on the law, and to be forward thinking in the way that we approach problem solving.
We also often learn in a very collaborative environment, one where it's really made a point of importance to value diverse perspectives. And I think for me, these are values that really to continue to inspire and drive my decisions up to this day. And I think, very fortunately for us, as a result of the opportunities that we're privileged to take on, we eventually leave the university being very well-rounded individuals, ones who are very well equipped for whatever opportunities we might come across in the future as legal professionals as well. So, with that said, I might just quickly end with a quote from the great fellow law student, Kim Kardashian, who I'm sure has provided a lot of us with comedic relief during exam study periods, who once said, and I quote, "If I knew more, then I could do more."
And on that note, I'm incredibly excited to see what the future holds for each and every one of us, what other opportunities we might choose to take. And I guess more importantly, what we choose to do with that knowledge and the experience that we acquire from those opportunities up until the conclusion of our degrees. So, thank you all once again very much, and let us continue celebrating all of our wonderful achievements.
Kurt Cheng: Thanks, Sam. It's awesome to hear about your experience with the different opportunities at offer and our social justice focus at UTS. I'm sure we can all draw inspiration from your reflection and more importantly, Kim Kardashian's very inspiring words. We'll now move on to the extracurricular participation prizes for tonight's ceremony. So, mooting is a flagship competition of UTS Law, and involves simulated court or arbitration proceeding, usually involving submissions and participating in oral arguments. We're known for our award winning moods, particularly the Pride Moot that was just last night, which was judged by the honorable Michael Kirby. And as for this year's winners, congratulations to the following competitors in these three prestigious moots, including The Oxford International Intellectual Property of law Moot, the Sir Harry Gibbs Constitutional Moot, and the Jessup International Moot.
Now, we move on to the Australian Law Students' Association Competitions. ALSA also runs annual competitions at a national level and the UTS LSS regularly sends students to represent us. Congratulations to these students for taking part in representing UTS in the following competitions, including Witness Examination, Paper Presentation, and Judge Recognition. Next up we have the First Year Peer Mentoring Program, run in conjunction with a UTS Law Sudents' Society. This program is tailored to ease new students in their transition into UTS Law. It provides a great medium for new students to connect with their peers and see new law students, as well as an opportunity to develop their legal study skills. Congratulation to this year's first year mentors. From my own personal experience being a mentor as well, it's been a great program, mentoring younger students coming in. I recall how much I benefited from this program in my first year, so it's incredibly rewarding to return as a mentor and guide new students finding their feet coming into UTS. I'd now like to hand over to Professor Lesley Hitchens for the remainder of tonight with the official deans welcome.
Professor Lesley: Thank you, Kurt. And it's very pleasing for us to have one of our students tonight as the MC for this event. And good evening to all of you, and thank you for your virtual attendance at our annual Law Awards ceremony. This isn't, of course, how we envisaged our ceremony this year. We didn't plan to be online again, but nevertheless we are. And I'm really delighted now to be able to welcome you here this evening, students, family, friends of UTS Law. And really importantly as well, our donors. Our donors who provide our prizes and scholarships. We're especially grateful for your continuing generosity and interest. Your support is more important than ever as universities are going to face increasing challenges in the years ahead, given the challenge of this global pandemic. I have to say that, for me personally, having the event online tonight is a disappointment.
I really love, every year, the opportunity to see the students receive their awards and to meet the families and to meet our friends and supporters. It's like a reunion every year. And I'm sorry that we're not able to do that this year. But nevertheless, it's wonderful that so many of you have tuned in this evening and that you're participating in the chat line on the chat line. And so, please, keep that going. So, why are we here tonight? Tonight is an opportunity to acknowledge the achievements of you, our students. I know that last year and this year have been really a test, a test of your resilience, adaptability, and your desire to succeed no matter what obstacles are put in your path. For me, one of the great privileges of working in a university is that we can see the successes of our graduates as they progress through their careers, and remain connected with them as alumni.
And as we've just seen from hearing from Sam who is just finishing off his degree, we've seen him pass through that period. And I envisage a really promising future for him as well. But that privilege that we have is why I'm also pleased that this evening we are able to have an alumni of UTS Law as our guest speaker this year. It's another opportunity to mark the journey of our graduates and to draw wisdom from them. I'm particularly delighted to announce that our guest speaker, Amani Haydar, is also our UTS Alumni Award winner for law this year. Amani, as you'll hear later in this event, has had an extraordinary life and she will speak about that to us. Welcome, Amani, and thank you for giving us your time tonight.
I want to also take a moment to acknowledge the faculty's academic staff. It is their excellence in research and teaching, supported too, by our dedicated professional staff that sustains the reputation of UTS Law. They give so much, they are so creative, so innovative, so dedicated to the work they do. But last year and this year has been incredibly impressive. And I'm so grateful for the dedication in the face of the pandemic. They have had to move between face-to-face and online teaching, facing the challenges that come through that as COVID has wreaked havoc. And many of them are trying to do that whilst, themselves, having to homeschool or care for young children.
Tonight, we are here to celebrate our students' achievements. Whilst we can't, unfortunately, celebrate with you in person and give you your moment to walk across the stage and receive your award, we nevertheless applaud your hard work and your perseverance. Your achievements reach across a broad spectrum. Many of the awards tonight will honor academic excellence, and that is important, we of course value that highly. But our awards also acknowledge other contributions. Some of them acknowledge success in skills. Success in skills is really crucial for legal professionals and their future careers. Many of the skills are embedded within our formal curriculum, but also beyond through activities and competitions that both the faculty and the student body organize. And you've seen some of those tonight already when Kurt read out the names and read out the various mooting competitions and other competitions. Our awards also recognized the service that many of our students have made to the faculty, the university, and to the wider community.
The recognition we give to these students is as important as the recognition that we give to the academic awards. It is what being a law student at UTS means. Disciplinary excellence, professional skills, critical engagement, and service. To our students, my congratulations to all of you who are receiving awards this evening, and to our donors, family, and friends, thank you too, for your support for the faculty and for our students. We really know how much it matters. Thank you. Now I have the pleasure to award two very special prizes. And next slide. Oh, and they are the deans. Sorry, I'm just having to switch between a number of different... Sorry. So, they are two special prizes, which I award and a small group of people in the faculty... I consult with a small group of faculty. The first prize is the Law Dean's Service Prize. And this prize is awarded to acknowledge a student who has made an outstanding contribution to the university, or the broader community, demonstrating leadership through service with particular reference to social justice. And the award tonight is to Erica Serrano.
Erica is currently the Law Student's Society Social Justice Vice President, but she has actually undertaken a number of other roles, particularly in relation to our Brennan Justice and Leadership Program. She's also a Law Ambassador for us. Erica has given amazing service, both through her leadership and through humility as well, to the faculty and the student community. And it's a great pleasure, Erica, to be able to acknowledge you in that role this evening. The other important prize... Next slide. Thank you. The other important prize that we award is the Dean's Leadership Prize. And this is to acknowledge outstanding student leadership that enhances the quality of the student experience and relations between students and staff within the UTS Law community. You've already got a taste of our winner for this award, Sam Guzman, because you've heard him speak and you have gained a great sense, I think, already of the qualities that Sam has. But one of the reasons I was particularly keen that this award should be given to Sam this year was his leadership as President of the Law Student's Society last year.
That's always a one term presidency. And of course, the students start off with many plans and so forth that they are going to undertake during their term of office. Sadly, of course, the year did not go according to plan because we went into lockdown in early April. And I was so impressed by Sam's leadership. He didn't get disgruntled about that, he didn't get fluffed about the fact that he wasn't able to realize his plans. The Law Student's Society, under his leadership, adapted to a virtual existence. And not only that, they really tried to also adapt in a way that would support the students in the difficult circumstances that they were in. So, they did lots of fun things, they looked after their wellbeing and so forth. And they also did some of their more formal work that they would undertake as well. Sam did an absolutely outstanding job as the LSS president last year. He's undertaken many roles, but for me, that was a real standout.
And so, I'm delighted, Sam, that you are this year's recipient of the Dean's Leadership Prize. And I'm very pleased to hand over to our Director of Students, Professor Tracey Booth, who will present to you the subject prizes.
Professor Tracey: Thank you so much, Lesley. And congratulations everybody, tonight it's just been great so far. Listening to you, Sam, and hearing about everybody's achievements. As you can see behind me, I am coming from Gadigal land. These are the swans at Sydney Park, my very particular friends. And I do want to acknowledge the elders past, present, and emerging and acknowledge that it is Aboriginal land and has not been seated. So yes, I would love now to award the subject prizes, so let's move on. Now, if we were in person, I would be standing here beaming at you all, and the room would be full of goodwill. I am still beaming and there is still a tremendous amount of goodwill. And I'm allowed to read it out, which I'm very excited about. So, first of all, the Australian Insurance Law Association Prize has been awarded to Connor Morton and Lara So.
The Ashurt Litigation Prize has been awarded to, David Baran. The Blackstone Waterhouse Lawyers Prize to, Georgia Chinchilla. Blanchfield Nicholls Partners Family Law Prize to, Nicola Magyary. The City of Sydney Law Society Practical Legal Training Prize to, Rebecca Coorey. And the Clyde & Co Prize to, Timothy Sawers. Well done all of you. Next slide, please. Julian. Okay. So, the David Toolern Memorial Prize goes to Nicola Magyary. The Fragar Prize in Environmental Planning and Development Law has been awarded to, Allegra Parker. Harmers Workplace Lawyers Prize in Labor Law to, Jack Fox. Harmers Workplace Lawyers Prize in Employment Law to, Courtney Hunt-Madden. The King and Wood Mallesons Prize, Lydia Watson-Moore. The Law Partners Personal Injury Lawyers Prize to, [inaudible]. Well done.
Next. Thank you. The Law Society of New South Wales Prize to, Celine Stylianou. The MinterEllison Prize has been awarded to, Jack Fox. The Norton Rose Fulbright Prize has been awarded to, Luke Scrimes. The New South Wales Bar Association Prize has been awarded to, Sophie Crowe. The Peter Egri Memorial Prize goes to, Georgina Hedge. And the Robert Greenwood QC Memorial Prize goes to, Juanita Kelly-Mundine. The Banking Law Prize has been awarded to, Molly Windsor. The Competition Law Prize goes to, Hugh Pearce. The Hon. Helen Sham-Ho Law Postgraduate Prize goes to, Xuelun Chen. The Hon. Helen Sham-Ho Law Undergraduate Prize goes to, Ben Fong. The Hon. Michael Kirby Voiceless Prize for Animal Law has been awarded to, Alana Meaney. And the Thomson Reuters Prize for Advanced Commercial Law goes to, Jemma Stevens.
The Bird and Bird Sports Law Prize has been awarded to, Jordan Bramis and Olivia Wakeling. The Veronica Pike Prize goes to, Alice Jones. And the Thomson Reuters Prize for Media Law has been awarded to, Nathaniel John Van der Reyden. And can I just say, congratulations everybody, what a superb effort. Really, yay you. Thank you. And I now hand you over to Associate Dean Maxine Evers. Thank you.
Maxine Evers: Thank you, Tracey. And can I please also pass on my personal congratulations to all students. And a particular thanks to our donors who continue to support and sponsor our students. It is so important to us as a faculty, that we are able to work with you to ensure that we have such a great quality of our education and fantastic ambassadors in our students. So, I have the pleasure this evening to announce a couple of awards. Two of those are student awards and one is a teacher award. So, the first award I would like to announce this evening is a David and Catherine Barker Mooting Prize. And this prize is donated by our former Dean, Professor David Barker and his wife, Catherine. And our congratulations for this award to, Sarah Avery, who happened to be in the law camp photo that we saw earlier on this evening. So, well done, Sarah.
The second student prize that I'm delighted to be able to award is a Tom Sylva Award. This award is donated by Christine Sylva in memory of her son, Tom. And the recipient for this award is, Morwarid Faiz. And congratulations, Morwarid to you as well. And finally, it gives me absolute pleasure to award the teaching for quality and excellence, the Lyndal Taylor and Emma Holt Teaching Award. This award is established in memory of our colleague, Lyndal Taylor, who passed away several years ago. Lyndal was a great advocate for education in the faculty. It's also a memory of her daughter, Emma Holt. And the winner of the Lyndal Taylor and Emma Holt Teaching Award is our colleague, Renata Grossi. Congratulations, Renata. Thank you. Thank you, Lesley.
Professor Lesley: Thank you, Maxine. And I'd now like to mention some of our particular scholarships, which are so important as well, as I mentioned earlier. So, the first scholarship that I want to refer to is the Erik Dreikurs Scholarship. This scholarship was established by the late Erik Dreikurs, who settled in Australia from Vienna in 1938. It provides support to an undergraduate student with demonstrated motivation, initiative, and financial need. And the scholarship is to the value of $6,000. We might move the slide on. And the awardee for the Erik Dreikurs Scholarship for this year is, Trinity Stockwell. The Ezekiel Solomon Scholarship was established by Ezekiel Solomon, a senior advisor and former longstanding partner at Allens. And it provides support to an undergraduate student with demonstrated motivation, initiative, and financial need. The scholarship is to the value of $5,000. And I'm delighted to say that Saragina Khochaba is the recipient of that scholarship.
The Faculty of Law Equity Scholarship is one that provides support to an undergraduate student with demonstrated motivation, initiative, and financial need. The scholarship is to the value of $20,000 paid over four years. And I'm very pleased that Raphaella Revis is the recipient this year of that award. And finally, the Law Dean's Scholarship is one that recognizes academic excellence and is awarded to a first year undergraduate law student with an [inaudible] of 98 or above. And this scholarship is to the value of $10,000. So, congratulations to, Kristina Dang, the recipient of the Law Dean's Scholarship.
And now, it's my great pleasure to introduce, formerly, our guest speaker for this evening, Amani Haydar. And I think when you hear Amani Haydar speak, you will see that in many ways, she captures the essence of what we continue to really care about in the law faculty. We care about the importance of understanding law, the way that it works, but also the impact that it has on people's lives. Amani is a lawyer, she's a writer and artist who has made a remarkable contribution to the community through her professional, volunteer, creative, and advocacy work, despite having faced incredible trauma. She takes a multidisciplinary approach to raising awareness about gender based violence, law, policy and the effects of structural inequality on women. Last year, Amani was named 2020 Local Woman of The Year for Bankstown and was a finalist for the New South Wales Premier Woman of The Year Award.
She has contributed to a Walkley award winning journalism series, and she has been a finalist in the Archibald Prize for her painting. Her debut memoir, The Mother Wound, was published by Pan Macmillan in June, 2021. I'm delighted now to introduce, Amani Haydar. Thank you, Amani.
Amani Haydar: Good evening everyone. And thank you so much, Professor Lesley Hitchens for that introduction and for inviting me to speak this evening. And a big congratulations to everyone who's won an award tonight. Before I start, I'd like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands from which we are gathering. I'm zooming from [inaudible] Country and pay my respects to elders past, present, and emerging. I recognize that the land I live and work on has never been seated. And I'm mindful that there's a long way to go in the remedying of injustices committed against first nations people, particularly the trauma that the cast rule system inflicts on Aboriginal families. My talk will, as Professor Lesley mentioned, touch on the topic of domestic violence, as well as some lived experience of that. And I encourage anyone who feels that this brings up issues for them to contact 1-800-RESPECT and seek support.
I've got some slides together that we'll go through, but hopefully I won't take too long, and I'll be sharing some of my story with you. So, if we could go to the first slide, please. I finished my studies at UTS in 2012, I graduated with a bachelor of arts in communications and a bachelor of laws, and a fiance in tow. I had already entered the legal world via a summer clerkship, and the path ahead gleamed with opportunity. I could participate in the delivery of justice, build a career, build a future. It was empowering. I come from a family who migrated to Australia, having experienced war and Israeli occupation in the south of Lebanon. My mum was young when she married my father and came to Australia, and had not had the opportunity to attend university. My maternal grandmother had been killed in war while I was a teenager. Like many children of migrants, I saw it as my responsibility to live up to my parents' sacrifices. The privilege of an education drastically changes outcomes for women, and so I also saw it as my role to work towards generational change.
By 2015, I was practicing as a commercial litigation solicitor. I had been exposed to a range of litigious matters involving insurers, public authorities and private commercial clients. I had been able to assist in proceedings in the Supreme Court and the High Court, and was also appearing in the lower courts. In March, 2015, however, I lost my mother, Salwa Haydar to domestic violence. She was the 30th of 81 women to lose their lives violently in Australia that year. If we could just move to the next slide, I'll share an illustration that was published by the ABC at the time of my mom, and her mother, back in Lebanon. In order to deal with the grief and upheaval of that loss, I took time off work indefinitely. The journey ahead would expose me to a side of the law from a vantage point I had never anticipated, that of the victim of crime.
I found myself confronting a lot of the structural barriers that women face because the law does not always reflect the diversity and complexity of our experiences. An example of a systemic barrier that I contended with was in relation to accessing paid parental leave after the birth of my first child. I was five months pregnant when I lost my mom. The time I had taken off from work after my mother's murder meant I was no longer eligible for my paid parental leave. I had fallen outside of the work tests set in the legislation by five days. Using skills acquired through my education and legal practice, I was able to advocate for myself and eventually after my local MP, Jason Claire, and the minister at the time intervened, I was able to access my entitlements. However, the legal loophole was not fixed. And I promised myself that I would write and speak about it wherever I could, until it was. I would go on to appear at my father's trial in 2017 as a witness.
I would be cross-examined and I would also read out the victim impact statement. Along the way, skills and knowledge I've gained in my degree were crucial. I found myself reflecting on the nature of law and justice and remembering a slide that used to be showed at the end of every lecture in one of the subjects I took at UTS. It said, "Don't confuse justice with the law." Next slide. Despite my understanding of procedure and the time I had spent in courtrooms myself, my experience of giving evidence was incredibly disorienting and re-traumatizing. This drove me to think about how other victims might encounter the legal system. What if they have language barriers? A lack of understanding about how the system works or lack of access to trauma informed support. How do people's identities and circumstances, race, gender, and disability intersect to shape the way they experienced the courtroom? As I recovered from that experience and started to participate in advocacy in the domestic violence space, I thought about the role of sentencing and punishment, character references, and how the rules of evidence shaped my own courtroom experiences.
I found myself thinking about not just what the law says or intends, but how it affects people's lives when they're experiencing upheaval and trauma. I even looked at the operation of laws, like the forfeiture rule that we had learned about in real property. Rules we think exist in discrete and rare circumstances but actually have a dramatic impact on people's everyday lives. Next slide. Over time, my thinking around lawyers and legal systems has shifted owing to my professional and personal experiences. I have started to think creatively about the role of the law in my life and career. I'm not currently practicing law in a traditional sense, but I share my skills in various ways by volunteering on the board of my local women's health center, helping to advocate for the rights of victim survivors of abuse, and incorporating legal analysis into my writing. Even my art making practice is heavily shaped by reflections on law, justice and human rights. I encourage students here to think creatively as they embark on their careers. You're not one dimensional. Your job is not your sole identity. And there are multiple paths to justice. Next slide.
I want to finish on an optimistic note. I mentioned earlier, the barriers that I faced regarding the paid parental leave entitlements back in 2015 after my daughter was born. After agitating for change at every opportunity I could, just yesterday I received a call from a local member of parliament, Jason Clare, who had taken my story to parliament, informing me that the law had finally been amended on Tuesday evening to provide for special circumstances. And as mentioned in the explanatory memorandum, those special circumstances will include domestic violence. He had read out my story in parliament on multiple occasions and this small but important change had finally been passed, making it easier for people who find themselves in my shoes to access their entitlements. To me, this type of change is an example of what can be achieved when we think about the social functions of the law, looking beyond individual cases and advocating for creative solutions, flexibility, and better access to the law for everyone. Thank you.
Professor Lesley: Amani, thank you, so much. I wish we could somehow give you a standing ovation. But it was so inspiring to hear from you. To have been through such a traumatic experience, and yet the way in which you've used that and brought to it your skills and experience, and to put yourself then as well in the experience or the place of others who don't bring those skills and experience and knowledge to those situations. And the work that you've done and are continuing to do is, as I say, a real inspiration to us. And it was wonderful to hear from you tonight. And I hope that there'll be opportunities for you to meet and talk to a broader number of students in the future, and that we can continue to be inspired by the work that you do. And I hope too, that there might be ways that we can support you too, as one of our alumni, as one of our family, our UTS Law family.
But thank you, so much. That was just a wonderful, wonderful speech that you've given us. And I can see the chat, everyone is talking about how inspiring it was and so grateful that you were willing to share that tonight. So, thank you.
Amani Haydar: Thank you, Lesley. Thank you for having me.
Professor Lesley: That brings us to the end of our event tonight. And it's been really wonderful to share it with you. Sorry, if I was particularly the person who fluffed lots of lines because I couldn't find bits of paper on the screen. But that's what it is, and that's the world that we live in at the moment. But I'm really grateful to all of you who've been able to join us tonight. And I particularly want to congratulate our students, all of you and your achievements that we've acknowledged tonight. Thank you to Kurt who did a really wonderful job of emceeing this event. And I also want to acknowledge Belinda Carson and Julian Ferguson, whom I noticed was also on the Dean's Merit List, who you haven't seen, but they've been in the background making sure all of this would work tonight.
I'm afraid I've just got to finish on a practical point. And that is, that everyone tonight will receive a printed certificate in the mail in the coming weeks. For those of you who received an award or a subject prize, that will be included on your Australian Higher Education Graduation Statement, which when you do graduate will accompany your testamur, as another document that goes with that. So, finally, thank you very much for joining us here tonight. We wish that you will be safe, and we wish you, particularly our students, that you are able to have a really good experience as the year progresses. Sadly, we're not going to be face-to-face for the rest of this session, but we hope that nevertheless, you will really be able to experience the wonderful work that you've been doing, that you'll be able to continue that as the year proceeds. So, thank you all, and good night.
