Book Review: In the Shadow of the Law

This text utilises and draws upon the experience and backgrounds of a host of contributors.

The text comprises 24 chapters with five parts which covers all areas of social work and the way in which the law impacts upon it.  The five parts are Foundations for Practice, Legal Considerations and Social Work Practice, Practice with Diverse Populations, Practice with Diverse Jurisdictions and Chart.

The book makes good use of charts and tables and, importantly, scenarios which give the reader some real life examples which enhances the reading and learning experience. It has been written in such a way as to make the contents easily digestible to a non-lawyer reader and student. The book focuses on the practical application that the law has for social work and human services in Australian and the challenges social workers face in that work.

Although this book is written specifically for social work practice, there are many areas within the book that would be very useful to other allied health professionals and even lawyers, as it covers areas such as domestic violence, suspected child abuse, and includes a discussion of the mediation of disputes in various Courts and tribunals in Australia which form part of the Australian Family Law system where those disputes involve allegations of child sexual abuse — a real contribution of social work to the legal process.  The chapter on evidence is very relevant to any witness or expert witness who is to give evidence in Court. The chapter discusses the way in which a person is to give evidence and the process by which evidence is adduced.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of the topics contained in the text.

The book is 499 pages in length and at the price of $74.95 RRP, represents exceptional value for money for such a valuable resource.⁴

James McNab

Footnotes

1. Philip Swain – retired in 2007 and has practiced as both a lawyer and a social worker. He was also the Associate Professor of the School of Solcial Wowrk at Melbourne University and was in fact head of the School of Social Work 2001-2003. He has produced many articles and has co-authored publications and was also the editor for the two previous editions of this book.
2. http://www.federationpress.com.au
3. Simon Rice – Simon Rice is a lawyer and is the Associate Professor of Law at the Australian National University College of Law in Canberra. He has previously held posts in other universities such as Macquarie University, Sydney University and the University of New South Wales where he has taught various subjects such as litigation, juris prudence and clinical legal education. He has also held a position as part time judicial member of the NSW Administrative Decisions Tribunal. He is an experienced lawyer and has held many positions with various community legal centres and is actively involved  in assisting the provision of legal services to marginalise members of our society. He has also authored various publication.

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   The publisher’s web page for the book may be found at http://www.federationpress.com.au/bookstore/books.asp?p=23