Best Interests Podcast

La Trobe Law students are taking their legal skills to the podcast studio, undertaking an internship with the Best Interests Children’s Law Podcast

A group of La Trobe Law students are taking their legal skills to the podcast studio, undertaking an internship with the Best Interests Children’s Law Podcast.

The podcast aims to raise awareness about the rights and interests of children – one conversation at a time.

La Trobe Law School partners with the podcast team, providing placement students who conduct legal research and help producers to create the podcast.

Barrister, Arna Delle-Vergini, who produces the Best Interests Children’s Law Podcast and runs the internship program, says it is an opportunity for students to become creatively involved with the law.

“It best suits participants who have an interest in children’s law and people who have an interest in writing, research and how we use different forms of media to raise awareness about the law.”

“Participants need to be very self-motivated to participate in the internship. It is almost exclusively self-paced, remote work. Participants meet with me via zoom on a fortnightly basis to discuss their research topics. Each participant is expected to conduct research for three to four episodes and to prepare an internal briefing on the topic.”

La Trobe Law School students, Vaness Mocibob, Anna Manasseh, Gemma Mathews and Chelsea Borg have all completed placements with Arna and her podcast team.

Anna Manassehsaid the internship experience was invaluable.

"I plan to work in child protection law at some point in my career, so this experience has provided me with an insight into how children and families are affected by the law and some of the challenges they face," she said.

Arna says that students can also get involved in other aspects of podcast-making, beyond legal research.

“They can work on the technical production of the podcast if this interests them or put themselves forward as subject matter experts to be interviewed for one of the episodes alongside a second speaker. Every participant is also offered the opportunity to shadow me in court if advocacy is something they are also interested in, though this is not a requirement of the internship.”

“An added advantage of the program is that participants get to have their name linked with their work on various social media platforms, a great way to start cultivating a brand for themselves!”