Associate Professor Jane Power

Director, Professional Legal Education

B.Juris., LLB (UWA) Graduate Diploma of Education (Secondary Education), PhD (UNDA) 

Email: jane.power@nd.edu.au
Phone: 9433 0732

• Biography

  Jane completed her Law Degree at The University of Western Australia in 1983. She immediately commenced practice as an Articled Clerk with the Legal Aid Commission of Western Australia. She specialised mainly in the area of Family Law. Jane continued to work in a part time capacity after the birth of the first of her three children, again concentrating in Family Law but also Juvenile Justice and minor Criminal Law. In addition to working for the Commission in Perth, she spent a number of years assisting as Duty Counsel and in the Advice Bureau in the Fremantle jurisdiction. She has also worked for a medium sized local firm and a sole practitioner.

  Jane continues to hold her Practice Certificate. She is responsible for the School's Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programme, for practitioners and serves on numerous practitioner related bodies.  She is also responsible for coordinating the UNDA Legal Clinic.

  Jane was nominated, and accepted, to be a participant in the Australian Women Lawyers as Active Citizens Online Exhibition (www.womenaustralia.info/lawyers) which highlights the vital contributions of Australian women lawyers as active citizens. In 2017 Jane was named Senior Woman Lawyer of the Year in the WLWA Awards.

• Teaching areas

  Jane's teaching responsibilities include Ethics and the Law, and Law in Context. Her research areas include Education Law, and she retains an interest in Advocacy and Dispute Resolution.

• Research expertise and supervision

  Jane’s PhD was conferred in 2015. The title of her PhD was ‘Courage to Move Beyond the Past: Common Law and Canonical Structures for the Governance of Congregational Schools in the 21st Century’. Jane continues to supervise and mark Honours theses.

• Professional affiliations

  Law Society of Western Australia (LSWA)
  Women Lawyers of Western Australia (WLWA)
  WLWA Gender Bias Taskforce Review Steering Committee member
  WLWA Gender Bias Taskforce Review Chapter 2 co-convener
  WLWA Gender Bias Taskforce Review Report Implementation committee member
  LSWA Graduate Recruitment and Academic Standards Committee member (convener 2009-14)
  LSWA Mental Health and Wellbeing Committee member (2012 - 14)
  Australia and New Zealand Education Law Association (ANZELA, Vice President, WA Chapter)
  Australian Law Teachers' Association (ALTA) member
  Australia and New Zealand Legal History Association (ANZLHS) member

• Community engagement

  Board Member Aquinas College
  Member, Catholic Women’s Mentoring
  Co-Examiner, WA Curriculum Council, Politics and Law Year 12, Stage 3A and 3B (2008 - 2010)
  Co-Marker, co-Examiner, Curriculum Council, Politics and Law Year 12, Stage 3A and 3B (2010)
  Pairwise Marking Politics and Law Years 11 and 12 (2007)
  Member, Panel for Example Exam Politics and Law Year 12 (2007)
  Member Nominating Panel for Politics and Law (2005 - 07)
  Chairperson Iona Presentation College Board (2002 - 2010)
  Member Iona Presentation Primary School Board (2001 - 2002)

• Awards

  WLWA Senior Lawyer of the Year Award (2017)
  Nominee, Online Exhibition of Trailblazing Women in the Law Project (2015)
  Nominee, WA Law Society Lawyer of the Year Award (2013)
  Nominee, WLWA Senior Woman Lawyer of the Year Award (2012)
  UNDA Faculty of Education ACE Award for highest place in Grad Dip Ed (2004)