About Us
The Network is comprised of Australian Law Associate Deans (Teaching and Learning) or equivalent and is led by Co-convenors and Project Officers.
Meet the Co-conveners
As at 1 March 2021 there are two (2) co-convenors of LEAD. Co-convenors plan network priorities, projects, and meetings:
Associate Professor Judith Marychurch
Currently Assistant Dean (Teaching & Learning) at Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne, Judith is the recipient of a national Carrick Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning (2006) and the Vice Chancellor's Outstanding Contribution to Teaching & Learning (OCTAL) Award (2006). In 2013 Judith was selected as a member of the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) Register of Experts in Discipline 0909 Law; Academic administration; and Curriculum development and design.
Associate Professor Kelley Burton
Currently a member of faculty at the School of Law and Criminology, University of the Sunshine Coast, Kelley is a member of various university and faculty decision-making bodies including the USC Academic Board and the Uni SC Learning and Teaching Committee. In 2017 Kelley was awarded a prestigious Australian Award for University Teaching Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning. Kelley has demonstrated leadership in designing innovative resources that demonstrate a strong command of criminal law education and fulfill the future needs of budding lawyers.
Recent conference papers presented by the Lead Executive
Judith Marychurch, Kelley Burton and Julian Laurens, 'LEADing Collegial Culture in Australian Law Schools: Well-being and Motivation through Peer Collaboration' (Paper presented at the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Conference 2021, Perth, Western Australia, online, 26-29 October 2021).
Julian Laurens, Kelley Burton and Judith Marychurch, ‘Student academic achievement and the contemporary Job Market: What role does honours have in effectively differentiating graduates of 21st Century Australian Law Schools?’ (Paper presented at Australasian Law Academics Association Conference, Sydney University and University of Technology, Sydney, online, 4-6 June 2021).
Judith Marychurch, Kelley Burton, Michael Nancarrow and Julian Laurens, ‘Student Evaluations of Teaching during the Covid-19 pandemic: Law academics advocating for alternate measures of teaching quality’ (Paper presented at Asian Law Schools Association Symposium, City University of Hong Kong School of Law, online, 27-28 April 2021).
Judith Marychurch, Kelley Burton, Michael Nancarrow and Julian Laurens, ‘Harmonising Student Evaluations of Teaching in the Neo-Liberal University: Empowering Law Academics to Advocate for other Measures of Teaching Quality’ (Paper presented at Professional Legal Education Conference, Bond University Faculty of Law, online, 1-3 October 2020).
New to the role of Law School ADE or Director Learning & Teaching
Please check out our checklist to help you in the right direction
Curious about the current members of the LEAD Network
Please check out our list of current members
Policy and Position Statements
From time to time LEAD, either alone or collaboratively with another organisation, will release a policy and position statement on matters of interest and relevance to law schools in Australia. Such position statements are to provide recommendations and support to the sector on best practice, and are only released after wide consultation with LEAD members and other relevant stakeholders.
Current position statements:
Legal Education Associate Deans Network (LEAD) Recommendations on Best Practice in Student Evaluations of Teaching during COVID-19 (27 March 2020)
Council of Australian Law Deans (CALD) and Legal Education Associate Deans Network (LEAD) call to Legal Publishers during COVID-19 (15 April 2020)
Network funding
The then Law AD Network received initial funding from the ALTC (then OLT) to facilitate development and distribution of Good Practice Guides in Legal Education, hold network meetings, provide conference assistance and to support the development of a specific website portal to assist in distribution of the Good Practice Guides. That initial funding has expired.
After ongoing discussion between LEAD and the Council for Australian Law Deans (CALD), CALD agreed to provide some limited ongoing funding to support LEAD meeting activities and research projects.
Network priorities
The aim of the Network is promote collaborative approaches to teaching and learning in Australian legal education. The LEAD Network will lead teaching and learning in the discipline of law, as well as encourage and document good practice and establishing a community of practice. The purpose of the initial project was to create processes and strategies to sustain the Network as an ongoing leadership group with regular (twice-yearly), well-timed national meetings, and linked to meetings of either CALD or the Australian Law Academics Association where possible.
The project established a website as a repository for sharing LEAD Network outcomes with the sector, including the dissemination of Good Practice Guides on the threshold leaning outcomes (TLOs) for both the Bachelor of Laws and Juris Doctorate degrees to Australian Universities offering a law degree.
At the first meeting of the then Law AD Network in June 2010, the group provided feedback for the development of the Threshold Learning Outcomes (TLOs) for the Bachelor of Laws. At the second meeting of the Law AD Network, held in Melbourne in September 2010, there was broad support for an ongoing network of Associate Deans, both for the purpose of TLOs, but also for a broader purpose of sharing practices and research relating to teaching and learning in Australian law schools. In March 2011 the Law AD Network also commissioned six Good Practice Guides (GPGs) to implement the Threshold Learning Outcomes (TLOs) for the Bachelors of Laws (with reports due in August 2011). A further three Good Practice Guides were published in May 2013. In May 2011, a group of Law ADs from various Universities have also worked together to create preliminary threshold learning outcomes for the Juris Doctorate (JD) degree.
For further discussion about the benefits and rationale for the Network see the article by original Project Lead Kate Galloway 'Networking supports legal education', Campus Review (May 2012)