U
obiter LA W S T U D E N T S ' S O C I E T Y S T
2022 HALF-YEARLY REPORT
acknowledgements acknowledgement of people and country The UTS LSS acknowledges the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation, the Boorooberongal people of the Dharug Nation, the Bidiagal people and the Gamaygal people upon whose ancestral lands our university stands. We would also like to pay respect to the Elders both past and present, acknowledging them as the traditional custodians of knowledge for these lands.
Obiter is published by the UTS Law Students’ Society. [editor in-chief] [designer] [special thanks]
Erika Serrano Cassandra Economides UTS LSS Executive Team
61 BROADWAY, ULTIMO NSW 2007 UTS CENTRAL, LEVEL 14, ROOM 104 PH (02) 9514 3448 FAX (02) 9514 3427 WWW.UTSLSS.COM
Copyright This publication is copyright. Except where permitted under the Copyright Act, no part of this publication may form or by any means (electronic or otherwise) be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any process without specific written consent of the UTS Law Students’ Society. Enquiries are to be addressed to the publishers. Images & Illustrations Unless provided by the designers or commissioned specifically for the purpose of this publication, uncredited photographs have been sourced from royalty-free distributors, licensed under Creative Commons Zero.
1
table of contents [ 01 ]
semester one overview
[02]
president's address
[03]
sponsorship update
[04]
secretary's address
[05]
treasurer's address
[06]
activities address
[07]
careers address
[0 8]
mooting address
[0 9]
skill competitions address
[ 10 ]
education address
[ 11 ]
marketing address
[ 12 ]
social justice address
[ 13 ]
looking forward
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semester one overview Welcome to Obiter, the inaugural edition of the UTS Law Students’ Society Half-Yearly Report. As the largest student organisation at the University of Technology Sydney ('UTS'), the UTS Law Students’ Society ('UTS LSS') aims to enrich the student experience by catering to their education, vocational and social needs. We are proud to be offering our students a vast range of initiatives to support them in becoming forward-thinking graduates of UTS:Law. So far in 2022, the UTS LSS has: Run 100+ events; Created and distributed 4 publications; Sold out of UTS LSS merchandise; and Created 5+ new initiates.
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Image from UTS LSS Clerkship Networking Evening 2022
4
president's address Erika Serrano Welcome edition Students’ Report!
to of
the the
Society My
name
inaugural UTS
Law
Half-Yearly is
Erika
Serrano and I am the UTS LSS President for 2021-2022. This publication was designed as a mechanism to increase
transparency and accountability fsdfsfdfsf from the Society’s Executive, to hopefully mark a new chapter in delivering a running account of the peaks and pits over the first half of tenure. Though this is by no means a new idea, it is my hope that the introduction of this publication will provide our members with a deeper understanding of the various portfolios and events of the UTS LSS, but to also enable our members to analyse the Society’s endeavours and to provide constructive feedback for us to improve moving forward. Each of our Executive members will be exploring the vision of their Portfolios, as well as some highlights and areas for improvement that they’ve identified so far. With that being said, I hope that you enjoy reading about what we have been up to during the last six months!
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2020 was the year of online events; 2021 saw us transition into a hybrid approach; and in 2022, the Society has attempted to deliver as many events in-person as possible, whilst still attempting to deliver accessible, online events in response to student feedback. As we now mark the halfway point of 2022, it is easy to forget the impact of the pandemic less than six months ago. At the start of tenure, the UTS LSS Council was forced to evalaute the delivery of our events, however, in spite of all planning, an element of adaptability was required of us as we navigated the easing of restrictions and the rising COVID case numbers. This was best demonstrated in our first major hurdle, being the cancellation of the 2021 UTS LSS Corrs Chambers Westgarth Law Ball. Despite the incredible efforts of the 2021 and 2022 Activities Portfolios, this was the first instance where we made the decision to prioritise member safety. As we understand that our members are keen to return to the in-person space but value accessibility and convenience, we have taken on board feedback to deliver hybrid models of delivery,
most
noticeable
through
our
competitions, careers and social justice events.
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As the President, though I have no specific
opportunities
in
future,
but
in
the
events to organise, it is my role to lead and
meantime, if you have anything you would
guide the Society in its decision making,
like to see from us, please do not hesitate to
whilst also shaping the internal and external
contact me at president@utslss.com, my
culture. This tenure, I had the vision of
inbox is always open.
refocusing the Society to one that is inclusive, accountable and student focused,
As a final update on changes the Society
catering to student demand and interest.
has committed to undertaking, we have
The work of previous Councils has well and
conducted a review of our internal policies,
truly built the foundations for this to be
and we will be working towards enacting a
possible, but upon taking on the mantle, it is
more
my hope that the UTS LSS is better
inclusion and grievance policy. We are in the
equipped in meeting student needs by
process of seeking consultation and we
diversifying the opportunities available to
hope that these policies will be made
students.
available very soon.
transparent
and
accountable
Our incredible Executive will be able to elaborate on the specific ways we have tried to do this, but as a general insight, we have worked towards creating a broader range of events such as Beyond Coroproate Careers initiatives, increased Junior and Senior Buddy interaction, but also through the passion projects of individual Directors and teams, for example our inaugural Equity and Wellbeing Panel. As
an
attempt
to
increase
accountability and transparency, accountability&transparency
we conducted our very first Member Feedback Forum as part our May Special General
Meeting
which
included
an
anonymous survey option and the ability to attend an in person meeting. Unfortunately, this didn’t receive the engagement we had hoped for with no members attending the in-person meeting, however, we appreciate that some members took the time to provide feedback via a Google Form. We will be working to reevaluate other feedback opportunities
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In all, over the last few months, the UTS LSS Council has strived to do what it has tried to do for the last 40 years, to meet and develop the social, educational and vocational needs of our student members. I look forward to seeing what our incredible team of Directors and Execuctives achieves in the remaining few months, and I look forward to meeting more of our incredible members at future events!
sponsorship update The Sponsorships Portfolio has enjoyed a
projects. Our strong support from sponsors
successful first half of the 2022-23 tenure.
is a testament to the quality of that hard
The tenure kicked off with preparation of
work. We would also like to thank our
the Prospectus which was circulated to
Marketing Portfolio, whose consistent work
sponsors over the December to January
on
period. The Prospectus contains a variety of
sponsored content helps to keep our
offerings, including initiatives across the
member engagement high.
fantastic
marketing
collateral
and
majority of our portfolios. This year, we strove
to
emphasise
sponsorship
Looking to the future, the Sponsorships
opportunities with firms that not only
Portfolio will continue to assist with the
provide direct career outcomes, but also
planning
provide interaction between our students
initiatives, as well as working to improve
and firms in a more organic setting through
future sponsored initiatives in 2022 and
initiatives such as the Buddy Project,
beyond. This year, we are introducing a
competitions and panels. We re-evaluated
feedback form to be sent to sponsors
our pricing based on the value that each
alongside their mid-year update. This will
sponsored
help
initiative
provides
to
our
us
and
delivery
identify
areas
of
sponsored
that
require
students and to firms, and streamlined our
improvement this year and to flag these
offerings to ensure we weren’t offering
areas for next year’s Council. We are
sponsorship of an initiative just for the sake
constantly striving to improve the value we
of sponsorship, but for the benefit of our
provide for our sponsors as well as our
members. We also took on board a range of
members.
feedback from past and current Council members, general members, and the UTS Law Faculty to ensure we were putting our best foot forward. So far this tenure, the UTS LSS has coordinated 31 sponsored initiatives, with more to come in Spring Session. We also widened the pool of firms that support us, welcoming firms of all sizes and specialties. We acknowledge that the increase in sponsored
initiatives
has
been
made
possible by the consistent hard work of past Councils and the amazing innovation of current Council members with their passion projects.
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secretary's address Wendy Lam After a disruptive few years at the hands of a global pandemic, the operation of the UTS Law Students’ Society (‘LSS’) has been irrevocably changed. As we navigate a new normal, the role of the Secretary has primarily centred around providing administrative support to Council. This includes liaising with other bodies where necessary (such as ActivateUTS and the Faculty of Law), ensuring that internal processes have been clearly communicated, and maintaining governance documents. Beyond this, the Secretary is also responsible for overseeing the activities of the
Postgraduate
Representative
and
First
Year
Representatives.
Fauzia Hussein
Postgraduate Representative
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Nathan Politis
First Year Representative 1
Ruby Stewart
First Year Representative 2
Secretary 2022 was off to a busy start with the return of on campus Orientation activities, such as an O’Day stall and Law Tours. Running throughout Orientation Week, Councillors engaged with members and prospective members to inform them of the LSS and our upcoming events and initiatives. In terms of governance, the UTS LSS held a Special General Meeting on 7 May 2022 to pass a motion to amend our Constitution. The purpose of these changes was to ensure that there was a clear constitutional perspective regarding confidentiality and improper use of information by both current and former Councillors. These updates are reflected in the version of the Constitution available on our website. This semester also saw the return of an in person Australian Law Students’ Association (ALSA) Conference, with the UTS LSS sending a formidable delegation to the Conference in the following competitions: Client Interview, Negotiation, Witness Examination and Paper Presentation.
Postgraduate Representative Autumn Session has been an eventful period for our Postgraduate Representative, Fauzia Hussein. The Gadens Postgraduate CV and Skills Workshop continued to be an informative and engaging session for our postgraduate members who are looking towards making their start within the legal industry. This semester also saw the launch of the JD Newsletter, which provides a bi-monthly update to Juris Doctor students regarding the upcoming initiatives they can get involved with. Further, there have been a number of initiatives in collaboration with UTS Careers such as the Electives Casual Drop-In Sessions and Group Careers Conversation.
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First Year Representatives This semester, we welcomed our two First Year Representatives, Nathan Politis and Ruby Stewart. Having been elected at First Year Camp, they have since settled into their roles on Council and will endeavour to be a stronger presence for our first year cohort in Spring through planned fortnightly updates on the ‘UTS LSS First Year Law Students 2022’ Facebook group. They will also be running an exciting new first year event early in Spring session.
Upcoming In the coming semester, the LSS will be working on improving our Inclusion Policy to ensure that it serves the needs of our members. Similarly, we will also be working on a Grievance Policy, which will clearly outline the procedures the LSS will take in investigating misconduct. The Annual General Meeting and Elections for Council will also be taking place in Spring session. If you have any questions, feedback or suggestions, please feel free to reach out to me at secretary@utslss.com.
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Image of UTS Building 2 Library
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treasurer's address Marco Loprevite The first half of 2022, for the Treasury, has
funding
gone
year,
significant price increases due to the
reinstating the charity status of the UTS LSS
economic influences of COVID-19. This was
has been our main goal, and something we
done in the hopes of making events more
have
towards.
accessible to all UTS LSS members. This was
Unfortunately, COVID-19 postponed these
also accompanied by a significant increase
plans last tenure and as a result, we were
in budget allocated to the UTS LSS’ equity
unsure
schemes.
off
without
been
hitch.
working
whether
achievable
a
this
This
steadily
this year.
goal
was
Despite
even
towards
events
expecting
these
struggles, we are on track to have our status
This year, the UTS LSS came out with new
reinstated well before the end of the year.
merchandise which has proven to be a
We made the decision to focus on this goal
great source of income for the Society. All
for
credit goes to the Marketing Portfolio for
the
semester
because
it
would
guarantee the financial stability of the
their
creativity.
The
continuation
of
Society going forward. In doing so, we
merchandise sales has allowed the society
believe that reinstating the Society’s charity
to be less reliant on other sources of
status will allow the Treasury to provide
income such as sponsorship funding.
further benefits to students in the form of more affordable events.
In the upcoming session, the Treasury is hoping to make the financial reports of the Society more transparent. In saying this, there are always financial reports at the end of Council minutes presenting the Society’s profit and loss on a month to month basis. However, a goal for the Treasury in the
The UTS LSS implemented a new POS
semester ahead is to make this information
system this year to reduce transaction costs
more readily and easily available.
and make it easier for members to purchase tickets and sell merchandise. The Treasury has been focused on lowering ticket funding
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prices
and
increasing
allocated
The year ahead is looking bright for the Treasury and the UTS LSS as a whole.
UTS LSS William Roberts Smile Project 2022
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Vice-President
(activities) address Chandra Renouf The 2022 Activities Team vision has been to
the last couple of years. As a result of
encourage inclusivity through innovation.
running all initiatives in-person so far, we
This means that we constantly seek to ask
have noticed a significant change to our Law
ourselves how we are adding value to the
School
UTS LSS student population, and reflect on
bonding
ways in which we can improve the quality
happening than ever before.
culture; and
with
more
friendship
inter-year facilitation
and impact of our initiatives. We are now over halfway through our tenure which has allowed us to evaluate our work as a team and Portfolio. On a general note, we are extremely proud of how our Portfolio has welcomed and engaged a more diverse pool of UTS LSS Members which we have noticed through seeing many new faces at both Socials and Sports initiatives. Moreover, following 2020 and 2021, it has been an absolute delight to bring back in-person initiatives following all of the COVID-19 struggles that came with the
Lucie Vayriot Socials Director 1
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Serena Chedid Socials Director 2
Brydon Truong Sports Director
Socials On the Socials front, we have run six in-person events so far, which were the annual End of Semester Party (held late last year), First Year Law Camp, First Year Law Drinks, Start of Semester Party, Law Cruise, and the brand new Sip and Sing. We are very pleased to say that each and every one of these events sold-out and were a huge success as we constantly thought about how to make them different and how to bring all of our unique ideas to fruition.
Sport On the Sports front, we had planned to run four initiatives this Semester, however, only two of them ran, including Kickstart and Social Sport. We received excellent feedback for each of these initiatives, thus we are seeking to run both of them again in the second semester. Although an Interfaculty Sports Day with the UTS Medical and Health Society (MedSoc) and the UTS Business Society (BSoc) was scheduled to go ahead, the initiative had to be postponed at the last minute due to wet weather conditions and subsequent ground closures. We are hoping to bring this event back in Spring Session.
Upcoming Going forward into the next semester, the Activities Portfolio is extremely excited about the jam-packed semester that we are going to have. We truly believe that this session, we will be running a highly diverse range of initiatives which will seek to suit a wider range of interests. A few things to look forward to include a Pub Crawl, Hip-Hop class, Intervarsity Sports Day, and of course, the ever-famous Law Ball. We are very grateful to have an extremely supportive team culture between the four of us which has helped to elevate the standard of each and every one of our initiatives. On that note, we thank everyone who has been by our side for every step of the way thus far including the UTS LSS Council, and the greater UTS:Law School student community. We cannot wait to continue bringing bigger and better things to our members!
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Vice-President
(careers) address Melanie Najdovski The Careers Portfolio has had an exciting and busy semester in equal parts. Coming into tenure, we had the collective goal of moulding the Portfolio into a welcoming space for students that genuinely seeks to cater for their needs by focusing on three elements: 1. Increasing accessibility and breaking down misconceptions or barriers for student groups that often lack access to invaluable careers support. 2. Humanising the legal profession through common experience. 3. Diversifying our focus to shed light on careers beyond corporate law. With that vision in mind, the Careers Team has been hard at work delivering a range of initiatives.
Miranda Clinton
Careers (Activities) Director 1
Sai Muthukumar
Careers (Activities) Director 2
Alex Haggerty
Careers (Publications) Director
Beyond Corporate Mentoring Program Excitingly, we launched the first ever UTS LSS Beyond Corporate Mentoring Program! This pairs students with professionals from areas beyond corporate law, including media law, advocacy, legal tech and immigration law. While the Program spans throughout the year until October, it has already proven to be a great success. With 16 pairings, we received almost double the number of applicants than could be accepted, and we sincerely hope that the Program can be built upon and expanded in the future!
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Clerkship Seminar Series This year, we hosted 4 weeks’ worth of online clerkship seminars, with 13 sponsor firms presenting on the range of clerkship opportunities and application tips. This is a jump from the three weeks hosted last year, accompanied by an overall increase in engagement in terms of both attendance and questions in the seminar. We hope you enjoyed these seminars as much as we did.
Clerkships Networking Evening As one of the highlights of the semester, our Clerkship Networking Evening (CNE) was a major success! With all 120 ticket allocations being exhausted and 14 participating sponsor firms, CNE was a night full of meaningful discussions and of course - freebies. The room was full of wonderful people representing women, people of colour, the queer community, migrants, and first generation university students to name a few. We are also pleased to have received positive feedback from both students and sponsors.
Image from UTS LSS Clerkship Networking Evening 2022
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Skills Workshops Our Skills Workshops were also a success, with three online workshops taking place covering topics including application tips and job searching.
Clerkship Guide Our Clerkship Guide for 2022 has been crafted with students at heart, focussing not only on the
opportunities
sponsors
provide, but also on sharing real stories
from
students
providing
practical
Through
clerk
and
advice. ‘spotlight’
interviews, collaborations with UTS Careers, wellbeing tips and practical application advice, the Clerkship
Guide
has
been
innovated into a publication that seeks to ‘humanise’ the clerkship application process through a holistic lens.
Conclusion That’s a wrap for Autumn 2022, and we cannot wait for you to experience all of our Spring initiatives - both new and old. Thank you to everyone who has attended a Careers event or supported in any way, and please do not hesitate to reach out to me via email at vpca@utslss.com should you have any questions or suggestions.
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Image from UTS LSS Clerkship Networking Evening 2022
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Vice-President
(mooting) address Tiana De Silva The Mooting Portfolio is one of the
Court judges for over half their moots.
UTS LSS’s newest portfolios! Having
This year, the mooting team is pleased
split from the wider Competitions
to announce that we are on the way to
Portfolio in 2020, our vision this year
exceeding this number and hope to
has been to elevate the quality and
continue being able to retain such
success of our student competitions
highly-esteemed benches. The use of
and seemlessly transition back into in-
real judges elevates the overall quality
person moots. As we now edge
and appeal of our moots and overall,
towards semester 2 of this tenure, we
adds to the authenticity that mock
are excited to share our achievements
trials aim to achieve. Finally, another
and reflect upon the months ahead.
key
achievement
of
the
subject
mooting portfolio was the return to inThe mooting portfolio is one of earliest
person moots. While the start of the
portfolios who kick-off the UTS LSS
tenure saw the brief return of COVID-
tenure, bringing out student members
19, we have since been able to return
a range of subject moots, commencing
to holding both semi-finals and Grand-
with the Sally Varnham Torts Law
finals in person. The mooting portfolio
Moot which was held prior to the start
will
of semester 1 over the summer break.
feedback from our student mooters,
This year, the subject mooting team
as we review the feasibility of returning
has been driven by key motivators
the general rounds to in-person as
such as continuing to retain Supreme
well!
be
regularly
reassessing
the
Court Justices for our Grand Final benches, reaching and engaging with
Another exciting focus of this year was
new
to
and
improving
21
old the
student efficiency
mooters, of
accept
as
many
intervarsity
the
opportunities that came along. This
administration of our moots and
year, the UTS LSS was invited to a
returning to in-person general rounds
diverse range of intervarsity initiatives,
and semi-finals. During 2021, the
all of which were unable to be
previous subject mooting team was
engaged in due to some instances of
able to retain Supreme and Federal
late notification, however, an exciting
Court
new
new IVC moot which the LSS engaged in
was
the
Computational
HSF Law
International Mooting
Competition, run in collaboration with ANU. Perhaps the most exciting moot we run, is our flagship IVC Legal Technology Moot, which for the first time will be sponsored by Ashurst. Last year saw a massive number of
Andrew Huynh
Subject Mooting Director 1
teams participating in this initiative, and we hope that this year’s fully inperson competition will see an equally engaging event. Going forward into Spring session, we are pleased to announce the launch of our brand new Mooting Mentoring Program. The program has been meticulously planned by our Mooting Development Director and is the first
Jisoo Park
Subject Mooting Director 2
program the UTS LSS has run of its kind. We hope that by offering this initiative, both new mooters and experienced gain the benefit of expert knowledge and advice on all aspects of mooting!
John Pak
The mooting portfolio thanks all those who have supported us in our tenure through their participation, volunteering and attendance at our moots. We are looking forward to bring your another session of jampacked mooting events!
Intervaristy Competitions (Mooting) Director
Dante Liu
Mooting Development Director
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skills competitions address Introduction Skills
Competitions
Negotiation, Competitions
at
Witness
UTS
include
Client
Interview,
Examination,
and
Written
Skills
Affidavit
Drafting
and
Paper
including
Presentation. This portfolio recently split from the broader Competitions
Portfolio
similarly
to
Mooting.
These
competitions provide our students with the opportunity to practice the practical skills required of lawyers.
Nicole Badr
Vice-President (Skills Competitions)
Negotiation My vision for the UTS LSS Negotiation Competition is to create an accessible competition that allows individuals of all levels of experiences to become involved. In the Open Negotiation
Competition,
this
meant
providing
new
competitors with feedback which may have otherwise been provided in the junior competition. This year a key difficulty was the effect of COVID-19 on most rounds of the
Jemma Newton Negotiation Director
competition. I created a hybrid competition which allowed judges and competitors to compete online where necessary, which increased the ability of competitors to compete throughout the semester. However, this did require flexibility on the part of judges and competitors as many of the movements online did occur with late notice.
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Client Interview The Open Client Interview Competition has been a joy to host this semester. The competition found itself with a good balance of experienced and first-time competitors allowing the for the highest quality of performance. The biggest challenge the competitors faced this semester was the challenge of returning to the in-person format, given the different dynamics of an online format. The judges this
Maria Mubeen
Client Interviewing Director
semester have been this semester have been incredible in sharing their knowledge and expertise with the competitors. Moving forward I would like to invite more experienced and academic judges given their impact on the competition and its participants this semester.
Witness Examination The Open Witness Examination Competition ran wonderfully this year. It was a challenge for all involved to return to competing in person, but the hybrid online/in person features of the UTS Trial Courts allowed for a great amount of flexibility with volunteer witnesses and competitors experiencing illness. It was inspiring to see how dedicated all competitors were. Notably, only one competitor had competed in Open
Michael Hughes
Witness Examination Director
Witness Examination before. We are hoping to improve this for next year by encouraging all competitors to assist with the Junior competition and learn by teaching in order to improve and return next year.
Intervarsity Skills Competitions The UTS LSS Maddocks Intervarsity Negotiations Competition proved to be a great success with seven universities and fourteen teams competing from across the country (including WA and SA). The diverse backgrounds and competition experience amongst participants provided a high quality tournament, especially for the return to in person for the first time in three years. Looking forward, I hope that the
Blake Sanchez-Cruz Intervarsity Competitions (Skills) Director
competition can expand even further than what we achieved this year in terms of Image from UTS LSS Clerkship Networking Evening 2022
participating interstate universities and perhaps in terms of the amount of rounds for further engagement. Overall, the competition was outstanding, intriguing and highly competitive.
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Vice-President
(education) address Anthony Ayoub The Education Portfolio has been extremely busy in the Autumn Session. Whether this is through mentoring programs, panel discussions, therapy dogs or a podcast, the Education Portfolio has worked collaboratively to deliver rewarding opportunities for its members.
Buddy Project This year’s goal was to increase the awareness of the Buddy Project and to sustain a model of continued engagement. This translated into facilitating events which would maintain buddy relationships long after the initial Launch. In Autumn, we hosted our initial Launch, where the Project reached 285 Junior and Senior Buddies - a record since its inception in 2014.
2014. More excitingly, student feedback prevailed and the inaugural Sip and Sing night was held. Buddies had the opportunity to mingle and sing to their heart’s content - all while embracing the theme ‘iconic duos and trios’. With two Buddy Events scheduled for Spring, we believe events of this nature are a great stepping stone to further enhancing continued engagement between the various cohorts.
Peer Mentoring The Program has expanded to include Criminal Law and Procedure, which was a goal to diversify the subjects on offer. With monthly workshops and an online presence in the hundreds, we attempted to bring back in-person workshops to facilitate an on-campus experience. Unfortunately, this was not as successful as we had hoped causing us to revert to an online mode. In Spring Session, we will seek to evaluate student feedback on the preferred mode of delivery.
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Publications The Bar Productions is the UTS LSS’ staple podcast. Initiated in 2020, The Bar has been a forum of discussion for pressing topics. In Autumn, we had the opportunity to host guests with various areas of specialty. From criminal and environmental law experts to The Hon Michael Kirby AC CMG, we sought to engage with our members to ascertain their preferred topic areas. Further, it was a goal to increase the online presence of The Bar on Instagram. With regular student takeovers and expanding the satirical component of The Bar Newspaper, we have been fortunate to shape a relatable element to the page. In addition to the Law School Manual, Camp Survival Guide and The Full Bench I, the inaugural UTS LSS Electives Guide is being developed. This publication was a gap that the LSS faced, as it aims to highlight the various electives on offer at UTS Law. It will provide students with invaluable information during the subject selection process with the input of academic staff and former students.
Jeylan Riza
Peter Markopoulos
Education (External) Director
Education (Internal) Director
Georgia Neaverson
Alyssya Warty-Hasan
Education (Publications) Director 1
Education (Publications) Director 2
meet the team
Mac Middleton Wellbeing Director
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Wellbeing Student wellbeing remains at the forefront of the Education Portfolio. With the inaugural Eqity x Wellbeing panel run in collaboration with the Social Justice Portfolio, students were provided with insights into the intersection between mental health and equitable access to services, - through the lens of the law. The event achieved a resounding 55 attendees. Further, we also hosted the first edition of Smile Project, where students had the opportunity to take a break from their studies and enjoy a sausage sizzle and pet some therapy dogs. We were able to raise $130 towards Beyond Blue.
External The Advocates Mentoring Program is a student-barrister mentoring program. This year, we achieved 22 student applicants compared to 60 in 2021. While the program has been reformed to provide greater structure and transparency to applicants on how to engage in mentoring sessions, we will seek to evaluate through student surveys why engagement had drastically declined.
Conclusion In all, it has been a productive semester and we are looking forward to continuing to provide enriching opportunities for our members in Spring Session. Please do not hesitate to contact me at vpe@utslss.com.
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Image from UTS LSS William Roberts Smile Project 2022
28
Vice-President
(marketing) address Cassandra Economides The UTS LSS is an incredibly special community that stands out through the achievements of our students and the welcoming environment. In 2022, the Marketing Portfolio’s vision was to increase personability to reflect the strong UTS LSS community. Half-way through tenure, we can proudly say this vision has come to life in many ways.
Humans of UTS Law Humans of UTS Law features were created last tenure to showcase individuals in our community who each hold unique experiences or achievements alongside their Law degree. We have built on this initiative by making this series a regular feature on our Instagram and by diversifying the students that we feature. Our team agrees that creating these features is one of the most enjoyable aspects of UTS LSS Marketing, as it involves meeting new people hearing about their unique experiences, and helping to communicate their achievements to our audience. Notably, our Humans of UTS Law posts have been received well amongst our audience, always receiving high levels audience, always of
engagement
and
positive
feedback. This is one way in which the Marketing Portfolio has successfully brought our vision of increasing personability on our social media to life. We are always looking for new people to feature; nominate yourself or someone you know via the link in our Instagram bio.
Sharing Successes Another focus this year has been the creation and publishing of event recaps to reflect on the success of UTS LSS initiatives, along with promoting achievements of UTS Law students in competitions. These posts have been received well across our audience, receiving ground-breaking levels of engagement; in fact, our most liked photo on Instagram is our First Year Law Camp 2022 Recap, receiving over 350 likes.
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Merchandise The UTS LSS has had our first merchandise drop of tenure, which sold out in record time. We
have
taken
on
member
feedback,
acknowledging that there is a high demand for us to produce hoodies. We plan to expand our merchandise to include hoodies as per the demand of our members.
Website Our website has undergone major renovations by the IT Director, with a focus on improving accessibility of content including present and past publications. In the remaining tenure, we hope to add a personable touch on our website to further see our vision play out by having photo albums from our events and initiatives on the website.
Alexander Chan
Brittany Cairns
Marketing Director 1
Marketing Director 2
Lara Wilson
Paris Mitropoulos
Marketing Director 3
Marketing Director 4
meet the team
Claudia Seuloski IT Director
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TikTok The Marketing Portfolio has been hard at work to improve our presence on TikTok, publishing relatable content focused on the university experience. Our total like-count has grown from 400 likes to over 23,000 likes within half a year. This significant growth over such a short period of time is one of the major successes we have faced thus far in tenure, and speaks to the dedication of the Marketing Team.
Conclusion Marketing would like to extend a massive thank you for all the support we have received so far in tenure. We cannot wait for everyone to see what we have planned next semester!
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Vice-President
(social justice)
address Georgina Hedge 2022 Vision Upon entering the UTS LSS’ 2022 tenure, the Social Justice Portfolio had two key overriding visions. These goals were: 1. Expanding the portfolios’ impact across the UTS LSS; and 2. Fostering a proactive society-wide social justice culture. This vision was founded upon our strong belief in the unique ability of the Society to facilitate community-level change, alongside a passion for seeing students engage with initiatives that speak to their own social justice interests. The 2022 SJ portfolio is proud of the initiatives we have run in Autumn session, and believe that our events have served this vision. Through a balance of in-person and online initiatives, team SJ hopes that our initiatives serve a diverse range of interests in social justice across our UTS LSS community.
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Existing Initiatives We aimed to improve the utility of our existing initiatives across the Autumn Session. Our Autumn Textbook Equity Scheme exponentially increased in its reach to students, which raised a serious discussion regarding the longevity of the scheme when we are limited to a small library of physical textbooks. We aimed to make our Trivia Night less tokenistic through
Emma Gaston Equity Director
grassroots fundraising for Jeans for Genes. Further, we continued our wonderful relationship with the UNSW Law Society and Sydney University Law Society through a fantastic Intervarsity Women’s Conference, with a diverse range of incredible speakers including Mel Scott and Lydia Shelly.
Monica Keech
Brennan Program Director 1
We also enjoyed another great session of Justice Talks, and
Vishaya Pracy
Brennan Program Director 2
a new and improved RASA Week, with both a film screening, and a panel on the Afghanistan Crisis. Our Brennan team delivered another fantastic Westmead Toy Drive, with over 100 baby toys donated to the hospital.
Rianne Hamad Diversity Director
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New Initiatives The Social Justice Portfolio was excited to introduce a central new initiative in Autumn session, being our inaugural UTS LSS Baker McKenzie Equity x Wellbeing Panel. This panel provided students with the opportunity to engage with the intersection between equity and wellbeing, and learn strategies for managing burnout. With over 55 attendees, the Social Justice team was proud to deliver this initiative to our community, filling a needed gap in our initiatives by directly providing strategies to deal with mental health struggles.
Looking Into Spring In moving forward to the Spring Session, the Social Justice portfolio is excited for a huge semester of events. Alongside some of our staple initiatives in the social justice calendar, such as the Maddocks Social Justice Conference, and the Intervarsity Pride Moot, we are excited to usher in a number of new initiatives. This will include the exciting launch of our new social justice blog, Words on Justice, the launch of the University Essentials Equity Scheme, and the inaugural UTS LSS Brennan Program Sustainability Week. We are also looking forward to spearheading the updating of the LSS’ Inclusion Policy, which will reflect the society’s broader commitment to running inclusive initiatives. The Social Justice Portfolio encourages all members of the UTS LSS to reach out to vpsj@utslss.com if they have any ideas for our team. We aim to remain responsive to the interests of our broader community, and hope that our efforts throughout Autumn have shown our great commitment to contributing to positive change within our law student community.
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Image from UTS LSS Ashurst Autumn Charity Trivia Night 2022
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Image of UTS LSS Council 2022
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looking f
The UTS LSS is driven by its student members, to create and facilitate initiatives that serve their needs and interests. We welcome your feedback as we look to plan for the remainder of our tenure, and we look forward to welcoming you to many more events over the next few months.
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forward
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