In the course of our work at the Institute we frequently come across interesting sources of information about legal issues that are helpful for teachers and students studying Legal subjects – this April 2019 update includes Social Media, Videos and Podcasts:
Courts
- The High Court Audiovisual Feed has a range of proceedings that are recorded, and usually uploaded a day or two after the hearing has occurred. Many of the cases on the Current Cases page also have recordings of hearings. Transcripts are available on Austli.
- The NSW Supreme Court Twitter feed helps in obtaining links to new judgments and information form the court, also see NSW Case Law for the full judgments and to search for cases in other NSW Courts
- The NSW Supreme Court has an App for the court building and it is great to download prior to a court visit excursion – iTunes App
- The Search NSW Courts App allows you to interrogate the court lists for all courts and jurisdictions in NSW – iTunes App – Android App
- The Victorian Courts have an App ‘The Daily List’ that assists in planning visits to the court
- The Queensland Supreme Court Legal Updater is a weekly newsletter giving an overview of key cases, legislation and literature in that week, and also links to interesting articles and books about a range of topics that are often relevant to legal studies.
Legal Blogs and Newsletters
- Timebase sends out a newsletter outlining key legislative change in an easy to read blog format
- The LSJ Online is an online version of the the NSW Law Society’s award winning journal and is useful source for current information about the law in NSW.
- Opinions on High in the Melbourne University Law Schools blog on the High Court . It ranges from in depth academic analysis of High Court decisions along with case notes on each case being heard by the High Court.
- The Castan Centre for Human Rights Law has a comprehensive blog that covers national and international human rights issues and case law
- Sydney Criminal Lawyers have a very good blog that covers case law, key legal issues both local and international and also legal concepts
- Bucket Orange is an online legal magazine for young people – it has an excellent legal glossary and articles on key legal issues
- The Conversation has a variety of threads of articles on legal matters both domestically and internationally. It’s articles are very accessible for students and can be a good starting point for class discussion
- Schools Legal is great blog written by a Queensland lawyer and Legal Studies teacher
Media
Social Media
- The High Court now has a Twitter account where is announces court dates and judgements.
- Kirsten Murray is an Legal Educator at the Supreme Court of Qld and has a fantastic Twitter account in which she tweets media mapped to the Qld legal Studies syllabus
- Professor Jeremy Gans of Melbourne Law School tweets daily about case law and his Twitter account is a great source of legal analysis and discussion
- Lisa Parker is a South Australian academic who discusses South Australian case law and broader criminal law issues on her Twitter account
- Michaela Whitbourn is the Sydney Morning Herald’s senior leal journalist. Her Twitter account is great source of ongoing information about important trials and legal issues in NSW.
- Professor David Rolph of Sydney University is an expert of Defamation Law, his Twitter account provides a mix of case law, media articles and analysis of this important area of law
Video
- Scott Wimble is a Legal Studies teacher who makes outstanding videos on key syllabus dot point, subscribe to his YouTube channel here
- The Castan Centre has a very useful series of videos on Human rights entitled ‘Have you got that Right’
- Legal Briefs is a series of videos that examines key areas of law, the videos are accompanied by a Curriculum guide and feature prominent judges, lawyers and legal academics
- Anthony Marinac is an Australian legal academic, his Youtube channel has videos on contracts, torts and a variety of legal topics.
Podcasts
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- Just Cases Podcast is an Australian podcast explores “real cases that have changed the way we live our lives and telling the untold stories of those caught in the crossfire”
- The ABC Radio National Law Report on their website and as a podcast, it discusses topical legal and social justice issues every week
- Gertie’s Law is a wonderful podcast from The Supreme Court of Victoria, it examines in detail the work of the court and includes interviews with judges, court staff and details of cases.
- Hearsay is an Australian legal podcast aimed at legal students and the community.
- The Constitutional is a new podcast from ANU Law School, the examine topics from access to justice to constitutional law
- The ABC True Crime Podcast Unravel, is a podcast where, each season, some of Australia’s best journalists investigate unsolved crimes.
International
- Trump Con Law is an American podcast that examines Constitutional Law from an American contest
- Justice – from Harvard University is an iTunes U course that discusses justice, equality, democracy, and citizenship
- Medium is a blog platform that allows for publication of a range of articles from global authors – the ‘law’ tag can be a useful place to start to get a range of perspectives on various legal issues – for posts on Australia labour law read this blog.
- More Perfect is a podcast that examines the decisions of the US Supreme Court and there effects on ordinary people
- iCivics is a website set up by retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. It has interactive games and other digital resources that could be useful when teaching basic legal concepts or conducting a comparative study of Australia and the United States.
