LAW10160 Public Interest Advocacy
Effective public interest advocacy requires a broad legal knowledge that transects the traditional demarcations between different branches of the law. Important aspects of other disciplines such as mediation, dispute resolution, and social, political and media skills are also required. This unit aims to introduce students to a broad range of skills and techniques necessary to bring about useful social change in a highly corporatised and technocratic society and to develop their capabilities as effective advocates of public interest concerns in both a formal legal environment, as well as in a broader social context.
In 2011 the School of Law and Justice is again offering this ground breaking unit in public interest advocacy as part of its Byron bay Summer law School. The unit Public Interest Advocacy can be counted towards undergraduate degrees in a number of disciplines, including Law, Arts, Social Sciences. The unit does not require students to have previously completed law units and can be undertaken by any students who already have completed any eight (8) units at the tertiary level.
The face to face component of the unit runs for one week in November (19 – 25) in Byron Bay, followed by a take home exam in December and a major assignment due in late January 2012. The assignment is a practically based project that requires students to prepare a comprehensive strategic campaign plan for an activist or campaign group of their choosing.
The unit is informed by Aidan's ongoing research and engagement in community campaigns and is an excellent way for students to add a ground breaking, unique and highly practical advocacy component to their chosen field of study.
Aidan Ricketts - Unit Assessor
Aidan Ricketts is an experienced university teacher, a qualified educational designer and a prominent social and environmental activist. Aidan has published extensively on topics related to participatory democracy and public interest advocacy and has recently completed a book "The Activists Handbook: A Step By Step Guide to Participatory Democracy" which will be published in London in March 2012 and distributed internationally.
Aidan remains current with emerging trends in activism and public interest advocacy through his ongoing consultancy work providing workshops and mentoring for emergent campaigns, including the highly successful "Save our Foreshores" which has been active in the Whitsundays since 2004, and more recently the "Threatened Coastal Communities Alliance" based in Wooli NSW. In these consultancies Aidan offers strategic planning workshops for emerging campaigns using a variety of conflict mapping processes designed to focus campaigns for maximum effectiveness. Aidan's practical work informs his teaching and publication.
Further information
Updated: 02 March 2012