Melbourne law students compete to create best legal help website

29 October 2015

Melbourne Law School students have designed and built a range of legal help websites to provide the public with fast, accurate and cost-effective information about common legal problems including inaccurate credit reports, handling and managing fines, and assessing employment rights.

University of Melbourne Law School
Melbourne Law School is the #1 law school in Australia!*

The legal expertise websites are designed to replicate the thought processes and actions of a lawyer and provide tailored legal information to non-lawyers and the not-for-profit sector as part of the Melbourne Law School’s Juris Doctor degree.
Students competed for the title of ‘The Slater and Gordon Award for Law Apps’ before a panel of judges, where their projects were assessed on their usefulness, completeness, ambition and creativity, design and presentation.
Dean of Melbourne Law School Professor Carolyn Evans said that new technologies were providing innovative solutions in the law.
“Legal expert systems are a growing part of the legal landscape, assisting Australian and international lawyers to provide fast, accurate and cost-effective answers to common legal problems,” Professor Evans said.
Subject teacher, Mr Gary Cazalet, said the subject offered at the Melbourne Law School received support from Georgetown University, law firm Slater and Gordon and technology platform Neota Logic—a platform providing non-programmers with the tools to efficiently build, test, maintain, and deploy expert applications.
“During the development of their websites, students receive substantial and ongoing advice from Neota Logic’s experts both in Australia and the US, enabling students to create applications of the highest quality,” Mr Cazalet said.
Slater and Gordon Managing Director Andrew Grech said the group was proud to support the next generation of lawyers as they develop new and innovative ways to improve access to information and justice.
“The legal profession is not immune to disruption and it’s pleasing to see that future lawyers are already developing an understanding of the need to innovate,” he said.
* Melbourne Law School is ranked #8 in the world and #1 in Australia according to the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2015 – Law.

University of Melbourne Law School Juris Doctor program

Program: Juris Doctor (JD)
Location: Melbourne, Victoria
Semester intake: February
Duration: 3 years (standard course structure); 2 or 2.5 years (accelerated course structure)
Application Deadline: Melbourne Law School has a general application deadline of November 30 each year. It is recommended that you apply as early as possible.
Entry Requirements
Melbourne JD applicants must have

  • completed an undergraduate degree in any discipline; and
  • completed the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT).

Apply to Melbourne Law School!

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Discover more about the Melbourne JD program! Email OzTREKK’s Australian Law Schools Admissions Officer Shannon Tilston for more information at shannon@oztrekk.com.

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