Failed student teacher William Lee calls La Trobe University lawyers ‘poison’ in failed Supreme Court appeal

A wannabe teacher who flunked his masters has called the lawyers representing his former uni a “black box to the system” in a bitter court dispute over a failed grade.

Failed teaching student William Lee has appeal to reduce costs over failed-grade legal battle squashed in the Supreme Court.

A wannabe teacher has been taught a valuable lesson in court after trying to take on his uni over a flunked subject.

Failed La Trobe University Masters of Secondary Teaching student William Lee appeared at the Supreme Court on Thursday in an attempt to reduce cost orders made against him after he tried to appeal a failed grade.

It comes after Mr Lee failed a teaching placement unit after being assessed as “not meeting expectations” in November 2023.

After seeking — and failing — to have the assessment grade overturned by both the university’s student conduct investigations team and the university ombudsman, the would-be high school teacher turned to the Supreme Court where he scored a hat-trick of failed attempts.

The ticked-off teaching student tried to appeal the failed grade last year but was unsuccessful, lodging his application 51 days after the deadline.

Mr Lee failed the placement unit of the teaching degree at La Trobe University. Picture: Zoe Phillips

At the conclusion of the grade appeal Mr Lee was ordered to pay the university’s costs which amounted to $40,000.

But it would not end there as Mr Lee returned to the Supreme Court on Thursday to appeal the costs amount, referring to the documents submitted by La Trobe University lawyers as a “black box of the legal system”.

Representing himself, Mr Lee made an impassioned plea to Justice Kerri Judd KC, calling the costs “unreasonable and disproportionate”.

Mr Lee — who is unemployed and reliant on Centrelink payments — said the “excessive and unbelievable” costs were an “abuse of the court process”, blaming the “over-billing” on redacted invoices.

Mr Lee appealed the costs he was ordered to pay in the Supreme Court on Thursday. Picture: Nadir Kinani

“This is a systemic pattern of over-billing,” he said.

“It’s a black box — we can’t rely on evidence when we don’t know exactly what happened.

“It’s poison in the system, it’s abuse of the court process to put such a heavily redacted document into a file.”

Justice Judd KC disagreed, saying “litigation is expensive, particularly in the Supreme Court”.

“The $40,000 ordered was well within the discretion of the associate justice,” she said.

Mr Lee’s appeal was squashed, and he was ordered to pay a further $25,000, taking his costs bill to $65,000.