Law Students prepare for 2009 Annual Conference

Law Students prepare for 2009 Annual Conference

More than sixty of New Zealand’s top law students will descend upon Wellington over the first week of September for the New Zealand Law Students’ Association’s (NZLSA) annual conference.

The conference is held from 1 September until 5 September and incorporates the finals of the four law student competitions: Mooting (sponsored by Bell Gully), Negotiation (sponsored by Buddle Findlay), Client Interviewing (sponsored by Russell McVeagh) and Witness Examination (sponsored by Minter Ellison Rudd Watts), as well as guest speakers including Sue Bradford and Dr David Collins QC and the NZLSA AGM. In a tradition started last year the “President’s Award”, sponsored by Anderson Lloyd, will be bestowed upon the University who has the overall best performance in all four competitions.

“Law competitions are an excellent opportunity for law students to gain practical skills essential in the legal profession” NZLSA President Jeni Fountain said. “And this year the standard is incredibly high, as five New Zealand teams made the Australasian Law Students’ Association law competition finals at Brisbane in July – two of whom came out victorious!”

Canterbury University Client Interview champions Julia Whitehead and Guy Carter were the eventual winners of the Australasian competition, beating Victoria University’s Adam Edwards and Jordan Boyd in an all New Zealand final. Also impressive was Yogesh Patel from Victoria University who was named the Australasian winner in the Witness Examination competition.

“We think the results from the 2009 Australian Law Students’ Association Conference competitions are the best ever posted by a New Zealand contingent” says Fountain. “This goes to show the skill level our New Zealand law students’ possess – I can’t wait to see the teams in action at our National finals!”

The Conference will be opened with a dinner hosted by The University of Victoria’s Law Faculty, and will end with a closing dinner sponsored by Russell McVeagh and hosted by the honourable Chris Finlayson at Parliament’s Grand Hall at which the Solicitor General, Dr David Collins QC will be the guest speaker.

An educational forum, this year known as the ‘Brookers Online Education Forum’ will be held on 3 September at the Victoria Law School, where the keynote speakers, including Sue Bradford, will discuss New Zealand’s public referendum policy and procedure.

“In addition to having a great time mixing with other law students from throughout the country, delegates discuss topical matters of importance to New Zealand’s law students. Also for the first time this year, we have delegates coming across from Australia,” Fountain said.

National law firm Simpson Grierson is again sponsoring the conference and, as is traditional, Kensington Swan will host the ‘Break Night Cocktail Party’. “Once again we are grateful for the support from many of New Zealand’s major law firms for the Conference” said Fountain. “New Zealand Law Students are incredibly well supported by the legal profession – particularly our competitions sponsors: Bell Gully; Buddle Findlay; Russell McVeagh and Minter Ellison Rudd Watts – representatives of which will judge the competition finals and present the winners’ trophies at the final dinner.”

The NZLSA represents the interests of New Zealand’s more than four thousand law students.

ENDS