Diana Bowman, RMIT: Prioritizing Law Mentorship for Student Success

• RMIT University law dean Diana Bowman views mentorship as a core aspect of her leadership and aims to instill its importance in students early.
• She plans to expand the law school's staff while maintaining a close-knit environment to foster strong connections between faculty and students.
• Initiatives include strengthening the RMIT law student society and organizing events to connect students, alumni, and online learners across Melbourne.
• Bowman is developing new legal tech courses in Australia that will feature international study opportunities, such as a program focused on smart cities in South Korea.
• She advocates for legal professionals to mentor others as they advance, passing on insights and opportunities received throughout their careers.

Mentors matter. Finding some good mentors in your career will enrich what you do and how you do it.

Diana Bowman, the current dean of law at RMIT University, views mentorship as a fundamental component of her professional responsibilities. Her role extends beyond administrative duties to encompass the promotion and expansion of the law school, demonstrating leadership, and actively guiding her team's development. She firmly believes that the success achieved by her team directly reflects her own accomplishments.

While there are strategic plans to augment both the academic and administrative staff within the RMIT University law school, Dean Bowman has expressed an intention to keep the institution relatively small for the foreseeable future. This deliberate approach aims to cultivate robust relationships between faculty members and students, fostering an environment where individuals are known personally, thereby enhancing the overall educational experience.

Dean Bowman strongly asserts that "Mentors matter. Finding some good mentors in your career will enrich what you do and how you do it." This crucial insight is a lesson she is committed to instilling in students from the earliest stages of their legal education. To achieve this, she intends to build upon the existing foundation of the RMIT University law student society, an organization that has historically played a vital role in connecting graduates with current students.

Upcoming initiatives include a series of events designed to bring the law school team together with alumni, online students, and current Juris Doctor candidates across various locations in Melbourne and Greater Melbourne. The objective is to forge connections spanning different academic programs and graduation years, fostering a sense of community and social interaction. This interconnectedness is seen as essential for mutual support among students and alumni, ultimately contributing to the school's brand development and recognition within Australian legal academia.

Beyond her leadership role, Dean Bowman is also actively engaged in teaching courses. Her return to Australian legal academic roots, following an extensive period in the United States, necessitated some adjustments to course content. However, she enthusiastically embraces the opportunity to integrate an international perspective, drawing from her experiences in countries such as Belgium, the Netherlands, the UK, South Africa, and North America.

Among her key plans is the development of a specialized program offering legal tech courses in Australia, which will incorporate an international study component for students. Demonstrating this global focus, Dean Bowman herself undertook a study tour to New Zealand in July, where she explored therapeutic justice, law reform, and innovative justice models. The inaugural course she will lead, scheduled for next year, will be a study abroad program concentrating on smart and sustainable cities in South Korea.

Having personally benefited from continuous learning throughout her distinguished legal career, Dean Bowman is a staunch advocate for the principle of giving back to the profession. She articulates a clear responsibility for those who advance in their legal careers to actively mentor others and facilitate their growth.

This commitment stems from the recognition that individuals often receive numerous opportunities and invaluable insights from others, which would otherwise be unattainable. Consequently, she emphasizes the critical importance of passing these accumulated experiences and knowledge along to the next generation of legal professionals, ensuring a continuous cycle of support and development within the legal community.

This story discusses the importance of mentorship in the legal profession and future directions for legal education at RMIT University, including legal tech and international study. It does not present a direct, actionable legal or compliance implication for practicing lawyers or compliance officers.

Source: Original reporting via Australasian Lawyer