Further Points

House Meetings

This year’s House Meetings were as enlightening as ever. In First Year I aided the Society in bringing Robert Fisk to UCC. This event packed out Boole 4 and there is no reason why such a big speaker couldn’t be attracted by the Society to UCC again. This event proved in total to be effectively cost neutral to the Society. Legal forums were the original the basis for House Meetings and a return to these was seen during the 80^th Session. These centred on informal discussions involving lecturers and students relating to current legal cases and issues. As Auditor I would work with the Internal Convenor to establish these forums in such a way as to compliment the House Meetings.

Conference

Conference has the ability to be still further expanded and make national headlines given the high quality of speakers there is no reason why a greater audience couldn’t be attracted to the Conference. As Auditor I would seek to bring a prolific speaker who compliments the topic of the conference. It is possible for this to be done through increased sponsorship without incurring any additional costs to students.

Debating

Debating is one of the core pillars of the Society and it is only fair to say that interdependence with the Philosophical Society over the years has strengthened both Societies’ pedigree, most notably in the hosting of Worlds Debati8ng Championship in 2009. The issue has always been raised of how to attract more First Years into debating. This year Maidens had one of its highest entry rates yet a large number of people failed to attend and/or compete.

To tackle this issue I would propose to operate a number of special Speaker Development sessions in the weeks preceding Maidens in which an experienced debater is given a number of maidens to oversee and advise.  These would be very much a quick beginner’s guide to debating and would serve as a stepping stone into actual debating competitions. The potential rebranding of these sessions would remove any preconceptions people may have of debating. The value to a law student of confident public speaking and the ability to hold a persuasive argument should be heavily emphasised.

Education

This year’s Careers fair was deemed by all to have been most informative and many left with new potential work aspects in mind. I would propose the increased use of informal talks such as the successful postgraduate talk this year to inform students of all possible avenues after they have completed their BCL, hopefully taking advantage of any Alumni connections.  The Education Officer’s ability to efficiently liaise with faculty has proved invaluable and for this reason I would suggest increasing the number of Student Needs and Academic Development meetings. Now that the opportunity to sit the Law Society of Ireland exams in Cork has been removed I will endeavour as Auditor of the 82^nd Session to ensure that all possible arrangements are made to facilitate those forced to sit the exams in Dublin.  

Alumni

The Society’s most valuable assets are without doubt its members, both past and current. As it stands there is no comprehensive database of all past members of the Society. I would propose looking at working with the Faculty, Graduation Office of UCC and the Communications & Media Office to start composing a list of Alumni. This list would prove most beneficial to students attempting to establish themselves in the legal sphere and further afield. Given the high calibre of the UCC Law graduates this is something which could contribute highly to the current education of students through the means of House Meetings, forums and seminars. This is quite a large task and would require ongoing dedication but initially could be delegated to a position on the PR subcommittee.

New Constitution

It is proposed to establish a new Law Society Constitution on the night of Hustings (22^nd of March) However the term new should be used loosely. The new constitution incorporates some much need housekeeping, clarification of titles and moving the election of Internal Convenor to the night of Hustings. I have had a substantial input into the redrafting of the constitution and would ask all students to accept the new draft. A copy of which should be available on the Law Society’s Facebook page.