Adam May
Course Leader, GDLPQualifications
Adam is a passionate educator and lawyer who is an active participant in the positive transformation of justice, the legal profession, and the broader community through his demonstrated track record of continuing dedication to quality education.
Prior to working at ACAP, Adam was Manager Education Services at Leo Cussen Centre for Law: a corporate legal practitioner with a practical working interest in education and training, as well as a manager of regulatory compliance and special projects related to the development of training programs as well as being Chair of the Academic Board.
I know as a practical educator that people learn most from experiencing. People sometimes learn from listening though they often learn less from ‘being told’. Sharing real life legal practice experiences together with evidential and anecdotal insights into the profession, guided by simulating that experience or providing an actual similar real experience, can engage our lawyers of the future.
Adam MayBiography
Adam has regularly instructed in training programs (in Victoria, Western Australia, Queensland, and Tasmania) for lawyers and entry level lawyers in areas such as: Communication and Presentation Skills, Work Management and Business Skills, Problem Solving, Plain English, Ethics, Dispute Resolution, Lawyer’s Skills and Risk Management. He is also a renowned expert in educational design and assessment.
Adam has been an award-winning writer (awarded by the Prime Minister of Australia), an actor and a passionate educator. His work in education (trained in Primary, Secondary and Vocational Education) began with teaching in disadvantaged socio-economic contexts followed by a broad range of teaching, lecturing in Vocational and Higher Education as well as research and high-level policy making. He has also worked in legal practice and support across a wide range of practice areas. Adam has also trained judges and magistrates at the Judicial College as well as delivering customised entry level and Continuing Professional Development training to a wide variety of firms and corporate clients.
Conference presentations
- ‘Entry level lawyers, innovation and technology’ – Australasian Professional Legal Education Council (APLEC) Conference, Hong Kong 2018 with Debra Cherry.
- ‘The importance of Practical Legal Training autonomy in training the best entry level lawyers for the future’ – Australasian Professional Legal Education Council (APLEC) Conference, Melbourne 2017.
- ‘Improving the Communication Skills of Lawyers’ – Australasian Professional Legal Education Council (APLEC) Conference Auckland 2014, Institute of Professional Legal Studies, University of Auckland, New Zealand.
- ‘Benchmarks for the Australasian Professional Legal Education Council (APLEC) Practical Legal Training Programs: A Glimpse of the Holy Grail’, APLEC Conference Adelaide 2013, Flinders University/The Law Society/Adelaide Law School – with Adrian Deans and Graham Jobling.
- ‘Benchmarking Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice Programs’, APLEC Conference Tasmania 2012, University of Tasmania – with Adrian Deans, Ian McCall and Graham Jobling.
- ‘Designing the Horror File: improving the learning of Risk Management in Practical Legal Training’, APLEC Conference Tasmania 2012, University of Tasmania.
- ‘Problem Solving: Fresh Ways of Seeing and Training’, APLEC Conference Sydney 2011, University of Technology, Sydney.
Expert comment topics
- Law
- Legal Practice
- Legal Education
- Lawyer’s Skills