Ambitions and Goals

It is fair to say that the UCC Law Society has always gone from strength to strength, this is no small part due to the inherent desire of new Committees to build on the stellar work of those gone before them. This Society has the potential to make an impact on a national scale by hosting internationally renowned speakers and by developing the legal skills of the next generation of lawyers. As Auditor these are some of the aspects of the Society I would endeavour to enhance:

· PR Sub Committee

As the Society has so many high calibre events each year it is only fair that all reasonable effort is made to promote these to not only Law students and the greater population of UCC but also to the general public. Given the high number of quality events organised by the Society it is unreasonable to have one person solely responsible for all PR matters. To do the promotion of the Society justice I propose to create a PR subcommittee, who would be responsible to the PRO. Delegated responsibilities would include press releases, creating posters, managing online social media accounts and flyering. These important acts would help to substantially increase the society’s presence on campus. For their reward the Pr Subcommittee would receive first preference with regards to tickets of all events organised by the Society as well as free tickets to selected events.

· Moot Development

Moot is the youngest area of the Society. Mooting skills are vital to the practice of law. The importance of these skills is demonstrated by the fact that Moot is a compulsory module in final year BCL. The ability of Moot to develop further was reflected in the high number and quality of students partaking in the competition this year.

I propose to introduce a number of Mooting Seminars to be conducted prior to commencement of the annual Moot competition. This affords first and second year students the opportunity to acquaint themselves with principles of Mooting. Furthermore, I propose to send teams to Moot competitions in Universities across Ireland Much like Speaker Development, which plays a central role in the development of debating in UCC, these could include a small moot contest, of course they need not necessarily be as frequent. Moot has the ability, in time, to grow to the same level as Debating in UCC and a few steps in the right direction is all that may be required for it to grow and flourish.

· Cork Online Law Review Awareness

The Cork Online Law Review (COLR) is now in its tenth year and in that time it has grown to receive international recognition. Something which could potentially help COLR to grow is the increase in PR around campus and nationally after the closing date for the Edition of the year to help promote COLR for the following year. Given the online nature of COLR there is no reason why the 11^th Edition Launch could not be streamed online through the COLR website. The work of the COLR Committee is a yearlong affair and by advertising in advance, submissions for the following Edition could rise. Also the introduction a second workshop in the second term could inspire more people to submit the following year as well as helping people with general legal assignment writing. It may be possible to increase the cash prize for best submission as a greater incentive to improve the already extremely high quality of essay to something in line with the UCD Law Review. This was done by increasing sponsorship; something which shouldn’t be a problem for the prestigious COLR.

· Educational Trip

This year’s inaugural Educational trip to The Hague was a resounding success and complimented the EU 2^nd year class trip nicely. Having had a heavy hand in the organisation of the trip I have witnessed where the trip excelled and also certain aspects where it could be improved.. I would suggest potentially returning to The International Criminal Court in The Hague but also moving to incorporate a visit the International Courts of Justice. I would also seek to take advantage of any Alumni connections to enhance the overall experience of the tour. Of course I would still advocate a rest day in Amsterdam.

· Intimate Law Dinner – Bigger Law Ball

This year’s Dinner was one of the best in years due in no small part to the outstanding work of the Committee of the 81^st Session. Further to this, the Ball was pushed to be the most successful it has ever been. I strongly propose maintaining the Dinner as a relatively Law exclusive affair whilst pushing the Ball to become the biggest on campus. I would follow on from this year’s critically acclaimed act and look to build on the success they helped bring to the event. Key to this mantra is something to draw the crowds. Given that the Law Ball is traditionally one of the final Balls on campus it has the potential to grow exponentially, this can be done by advertising continually from quite early in the year.  It is of course important not to at any point sacrifice the quality of the experience provided and this will be perhaps the biggest challenge but with the cumulative work of the Committee and the Subcommittee this is very much achievable.

· Law Day

It has been attempted over the past few years to establish Law Week as prominent event in The Law Society calendar.  However I would contend that to make the biggest impact possible on the busy UCC calendar it is necessary to compress the week down into a “day”. This day and a half event would incorporate all the usual law week events such as the All-Law Tag Rugby Tournament and a comical debate and would still culminate with The Law Dinner. It should also be said that despite the fact that sponsorship has been offered in the past for a potential Law Day it should always maintain a dominantly charitable aspect. This high intensity ‘Law Day’ is sure to leave its mark on the college.