Law students from the UQ Pro Bono Centre have been invited to make several presentations through the High Schools Program recently. The Centre plans to make future presentations available, as an online resource, to remote and non-metropolitan secondary schools through the UQ Cyberlibrary. The inaugural Domestic Violence and the Law presentation was made to senior All Hallows’ School students and UQ Cyberlibrary recorded the session. which Another presentation was made to senior students at Groves Christian College in Kingston. These sessions introduced Year 11 and 12 students to the legal understandings and responses to family and domestic violence in intimate partner relationships in Queensland.
Dr Bartlett, an academic who assists UQ students in the program said, “The classes provide our law students with invaluable experience in developing and presenting topical legal issues in a simple and accurate way for a non-specialist audience. We are able to educate high school students across the state about this important issue in a way that is accessible through young people talking together”.
The Domestic Violence and the Law Program is a new addition to the Pro Bono High Schools Program, which already includes Asylum and Refugee Law and International Humanitarian Law. The lessons, presented by current law students, provide information about different forms of domestic and family violence and who, in our communities, may be particularly vulnerable to these types of violence. It introduces students to legal definitions and responses to domestic violence in Queensland. Through the use of case studies, students are asked to think about challenges in ensuring that the law responds appropriately to different relationships and emerging issues including the use of technology to victimise a current or former partner. Additional resources and online links are provided with further information on where to go for assistance.
To find out more about the Domestic Violence and the Law Program email: dv@law.uq.edu.au
