Moving to Melbourne- some questions about work

cleedon6
The only question I can answer is the quarantine one - yes - your pets will still need to be quarantined - Hawaii is no different to US in that regard.

I'll ask one of the Melbourne members to look in.

btw - welcome to A2K

Hello cleedon6!

I'm msolga, a Melbourne A2K member. I just received margo's message & will take a closer look at your questions tomorrow. (sorry!) I've just returned home from a late work meeting & I'm afraid I'm not at my most alert right this minute.

I'm curious, why Melbourne? I mean I love the place, it being home. But most overseas folk think Sydney when they think Oz. Very discerning of you! :wink:

This might not be of any help whatsoever but just in case....

My ex was a solicitor in Sydney when I met her and when she moved to Adelaide with me she worked in a law firm in Adelaide that had an Italian lawyer with them working in the commercial field. He was not admitted to practice in South Australia but worked as a consultant for the law firm mainly working with South Australian based Italian-speaking clients who wanted to get commercial deals in Italy. Because of his Italian background, his being a lawyer practising in Italy and his bi-lingual abilities he was pretty valuable to them. He eventually went back to Milan and is now representing several Australian firms in the commercial field there and doing representative work for governments.

Okay it isn't directly applicable but it may be that your husband can work as a consultant for a law firm without being admitted to practice in Victoria. And I do know that here when a lawyer hits an *ahem* hurdle and is not allowed to practise for a while that they can work as consultants with sympathetic firms.

Just a thought, good luck to you both. Oh and Melbourne is a very nice city, very cultured, great restaurants, beautiful parks and some stunning buildings and lovely wide streets. And it has trams. And excellent pubs. And I don't even live there so I'm not biased

Thanks for that, goodfielder. Your knowledge of who can/can't practise law in Oz is way more than mine, which is zilch! I'd intended to do a little online investigating to see what I could dig up.

Oh, re Melbourne: Very discerning of you, too! :wink: Not a bad place to live at all!


( A thought: How nice! A bit of Sydney/Adelaide/Melbourne online collaboration to assist an o/s member. )

cleedon6

I will some searching for sources of information about law practice in melbourne when a wee bit more compus.

In 90 minutes MsOlga will be on holidays for 2 weeks - but no guarantee of increasing "compus-ment" there!

... only one thing I'm going to say in response to that, margo:





Phffffffffffffffffffffftttttttttttt!

Department of Immigration for your visa enquiries:

http://www.immi.gov.au/

Australian govt Department of Agriculture, Fisheries & Wildlife:

http://www.affa.gov.au/

Look under POPULAR PAGES for regulations re importing cats & dogs into Australia.

It's difficult to advise about renting in Melbourne without knowing which suburb/s or general area that you intend to live in. Most property rental is done through local real estate agents in particular areas. Do you have any idea at this stage? I can certainly suggest agents but need some starting point. Melbourne is a big place! It'd probably be best to find a rental property once you're actually here, rather than trying to do it online. I think you'd get a much better picture of the options & costs that way.


Sorry, I'm not able to help with your law/employment questions. Maybe some other Oz A2Kers can help here?

In regard to recommending neighbourhoods, it depends on your preferred lifestyle & place of employment. A lot of suburban sprawl here & it's a good idea not to locate yourselves too far from work to avoid spending ages commuting daily. I have a personal preference for the inner suburban areas. A lot more interesting than the outer suburbs (I think), though houses & yards will be smaller. But being close to the centre has lots of compensations. A more communal feel, lots of interesting entertainment, cafes (some really good, cheap ethnic ones of just about any variety!), bookshops, political activity, better access to public transport, etc, etc.

Tell me more about your preference & I'll be able to suggest more.

Oh, & if you're into sport, Melbourne's the place for you. I forgot to mention that. Personally I'm not, but it's really BIG here - "the sports capital of Australia", or so we're told!

What's on in Melbourne this month:

http://www.thatsmelbourne.com.au/content.asp?Document_ID=1988

Law Institute of Victoria website:

http://www.liv.asn.au/regulation/practising/practising-Steps.html#Heading2

Who can practise law in Victoria?

Check out this section:

Registered foreign practitioners

If you are currently registered to practise law in a jurisdiction outside of Australia, you may be eligible under ss.63F-63ZC of the Legal Practice Act 1996 to practise law in Victoria as a registered foreign practitioner.


I hope this helps.

An excellent sustained effort there msolga

For our inquirer - Melbourne, like Sydney and a few other cities in Oz has some law firms which an American lawyer might recognise, yes even the legal profession is subject to hyper-trans-super-multi-nationalism.

http://www.yellowpages.com.au/

A bit crude but perhaps a search in the law firms might work. Oh and I nearly forgot, Melbourne has heaps of local/community legal aid offices as well.

The best known being Fitzroy Legal Service:

http://www.communitylaw.org.au/fitzroy/

It's done a fantastic job for the community for years & years ...

And, hey, look! They have job vacancies!

This is all VERY helpful. Thank you so much!

As for neighborhoods... we would like to be in the inner suburbs. Preferably near the University, so that I can commute via tram and near CBD so that my husband will have a short(er) commute as well. If we could both commute via tram, that would be ideal. We will only have one car. We will also need a house, with a small yard for a dog.

as long as your sport is football - and preferably AFL at that!

Hello & thanks for the thanks! I know you're not Atta-what's-it whose taken over this site today, so I presume it was you, cleedon6, offering the thanks?

Now, we're getting somewhere! If you can tell me (roughly) some idea of what you'd like to spend on rent & the number of bedrooms, etc you'd like ... plus other "musts" we can seriously pinpoint some suitable locations for your next home!

Melbourne University, the most prestigious of the "big 3" universities in Melbourne, is located in Carlton. (There are many other institutes of higher learning that are now called "universities,too, BTW) Is this the one you had in mind? It's very close to the centre of the city, next door, in fact. A very nice place, BTW, full of lovely old Victorian terrace houses plus some very inappropriate recent high rise developments. But that's another story ....

Anyway, if it IS Melbourne Uni that you mean, you have LOTS of great suitable living options options nearby & a bit further out. The more "trendified" suburbs (like Carlton) have been taken over by wealthy professionals, so unless you want to spend a lot of $$$ on rent, I'd suggest moving a bit further out. If you are happy to investigate some of the more interesting (in my opinion) suburbs, I'd suggest looking in the inner north-west, fanning out from Carlton. Much more diversity, dynamic ethnic-mixed populations & most importantly MUCH cheaper! Anyway, let me know & I'll be more specific. I'd strongly urge you, though, to wait till you get here before you rent your property. Stay somewhere cheap, get on public transport or buy some bikes & check out the options for yourself! Also you won't get ripped off by some online "bargain" that might not turn out to be what you have in mind!

Good luck & feel free to ask more questions!
(BTW, this is msolga speaking, in case you haven't figured that out. :wink:)