Student Reflection - Ian Fortier

Australia is a country that is wonderful and beautiful. There is never a dull day when visiting this land. During our trip we saw rain forests, animals that are native to the country, and visited with professionals who have first hand knowledge in the field of international white-collar crime. It’s hard to pick just one day that stood out as my favorite. The most memorable person who spoke to our class was Paul Hinz. Hinz works for PWC in their forensic accounting division. He took us through the steps for how to determine if an employee or if the corporation as a whole has committed a crime of fraud. In true law school fashion we conducted a hypothetical as a class. The part that I found the most interesting is that PWC or EY do not have any subpoena power. This means that they find links and other types of evidence to build their case for the client that hired them. The process seems complicated and time consuming.

During the farewell dinner a group of us took a photo with on of the most iconic buildings in the world as our backdrop. Australia is an amazing place and is a must see when traveling the world. A group of us also arrived early enough to spend New Years Eve in Barangaroo park, where we got to see the most amazing views to began our new year.

Student Reflection - Darryl Mullally

First of all, 7 days in Sydney is nowhere near enough. I deeply regret not coming early and spending an extra week sightseeing before the course began. Although I’m not ready to leave, I’m very happy with the experiences and lessons that I can take home with me. Australia is easily the most beautiful place I’ve ever visited, and is home to some of the friendliest people I’ve ever encountered. I’ve been called “darling” and “my love” more times in the last 7 days than I have in my entire life.

I was initially scared to travel alone, and had experienced regret several times throughout my travel between airports prior to my arrival. However, as soon as I stepped out of the elevator after taking the train from the airport to Circular Quay, it felt like my heart was going to explode. I loved the buildings, the view of the harbor, and the weather. I was disgusting from 33 straight hours of travel, but could not wait to explore. On the plane I was worried about exploring alone, but instantly felt so liberated. I enjoyed walking the streets having no clue where I was headed, and stopping in to an unknown bistro to have lunch alone. I would have never done something like this back home.

In addition to the tourist aspect, I took so much away from the educational components of the trip. Since I haven’t decided what area of the law I plan to practice, white collar crime was fascinating to explore, and the inner workings of white collar crime were almost thrilling. While I enjoyed all of the speakers, I was especially interested in the presentation by Paul Hinz. The recreation of an actual case, along with the step by step explanations of his work (as well as the walls he ran into) were exciting, and made me feel like that is a line of work I could truly enjoy. I am scared of falling into a monotonous career, and the investigation aspect of white collar crime seems as if it would provide the exact opposite as far as work routine. I also enjoyed the visit with Judge Zahra, as well as the observation of the proceedings in the NSW court. It was somewhat startling to hear how powerless he feels judges are here, as well as how weak the penalties for white collar crime are. It really resonated with me to hear two different speakers, at two separate events share the same quote regarding the inefficiency of white collar legislation by saying that committing these types of crimes in Australia is “worth it.” I’m extremely interested in learning more about the severity of white collar crime punishments and penalties in America, as well as in following Australia as they (hopefully) make strides in the direction of creating more detrimental legislation.

Student Reflection - Ryan Murray

My time in Australia has been memorable and eventful to say the least. After arriving to the country early and exploring, the final week with the class was better than I expected. I enjoyed the talks with professionals across Sydney working to combat white-collar crime. The thing I found most interesting is that all of the speakers agreed the punishments for white-collar violations were insufficient to discourage the unwanted behavior. The whole trip opened my eyes to white-collar problems I had never thought of and to the world. It has been one of the best experiences of my life.

Student Reflection - Britny Hoag

This trip to Australia has really turned into an experience of a lifetime for me. It was my first time leaving the country and stepping on foreign soil, and I could not be happier with the way these last 17 days have turned out! I've seen and learned so many different things not only about the history of Australia, but the laws, culture, and even wildlife! For example, Aussie's don't believe in ice..so you will never get ice in any drink...ever...unless you specifically request it.

I traveled from Sydney, to Brisbane, then to Cairns and all the way back down to Sydney again; essentially traveling more than half of the east coast of Australia! I snorkeled in the Great Barrier Reef, got spit on by Archer fish in the Daintree Rainforest river, and unintentionally swam in a shark infested harbour at Manly Wharf. I've witnessed the kindness of strangers here, felt the proud and strong belief within the aboriginal community, and stood in the office of hard working attorneys, judges, and business men and women from around the world who all have one thing in common: they've fallen in love with the city of Sydney. If there is one thing this trip did, it certainly opened my eyes to how vast and enormous our world truly is. From the different cultures of people who live every day side by side, to the greatly different standards in the law, and even to the small but deadly critters that live in the wild. But I still saw the similarities within the foundations of humanity through the governmental people we met as a class and also individuals of the community we happened to chat with while riding the train or walking at Circular Quay. In conclusion, this was by far the best trip of my life thus far, and I can't wait to come back to the city that has stolen my heart too!

Ps. I know everyone back home is probably wondering about what Vegemite tastes like and if the toilets truly flush the opposite direction than in America? Vegemite is awful and the toilets don't flush backwards, the water just rushes in everywhere. I know, mind = blown

Student Reflection - Kourtney Imig

Our class has enjoyed many days filed with great information. One day our class adventured out to the Blue Mountains in a tour bus. During the tour, we had a wonderful tour guide named Michael and he guided us through the Blue Mountains and the Three Sister Rock formation. He gave us all different types of facts and information about Australia.

Another day that I enjoyed is when we went to a firm called PwC. PwC is responsible for proactive, strategic responses to threats in companies. They are also there to build trust in society and solve problems. We heard from two individuals. The first individual, Narreen Young, is a consultant who works with aboriginal and indigence groups. She is there to create good relations between the different cultures and businesses.

The second individual, Paul Hinz, is also a consultant. He is an accountant and investigates fraud situations that are brought to PwC. He showed us how fraudulent activity can occur within a company. He also walked us through an investigation that he worked on and what they did to figure out what the fraudulent activity was and provide evidence. It was very interesting to see what steps were taken to figure out if there was fraudulent activity.

Overall, the experience and learning about crime and fraudulent activity and being able to connect it to everything we learn as a class was beneficial.

Student Reflection - Sheena Hart

On Monday 1/09/17, we attended briefings with the US IRS criminal investigation director, Tai Lee. I thought Mr. Lee's work was fascinating. He discussed how there are only ten IRS criminal investigation sites in the world. Mr. Lee is located in Sydney, Australia but investigates fraud and money laundering throughout Asia as well as in Australia. It was interesting to me that he is rotated out every four years to a different post. He explained how he never thought being an accountant and investigator for the IRS would take him around the world. His lecture has encouraged me to look into the types of job opportunities available in government whereas I previously never thought those opportunities existed.

Student Reflection - Lisa Scott

What I have found interesting so far is the how the Australian government is making strides to right the wrongs done to the aboriginal people. I appreciated that the opening dinner included Auntie Margaret to get a cultural perspective of what issues the country has and how it has an impact on the legal system as a whole even though that was not our focus for the trip. The opening served as a good basis to appreciate the other historical components that we learned about.