Student Societies

The UQLS was founded in 1937 by law students to promote the interest of law students. It achieves this through a number of mediums:

• Social Functions

  The UQLS organises a wide variety of social functions throughout the year. These include the Law Ball, Pub Crawl, and Law Dinner. Keynote speakers at previous Law Dinners include The Hon Justice Michael Kirby, The Hon Gough Whitlam and The Hon Malcolm Fraser. The UQLS also hosts regular ‘End of Semester' functions. Events such as these help to promote an enjoyable and inclusive university experience.

  The UQLS also produces 'The L Card' which is provided to all members and provides students with discounted entry to night clubs, as well as discounts at food and retail stores all over Brisbane. Visit www.thelcard.com to see the full list of discounts.

• Teaching and Learning

  A key objective of the UQLS is to promote excellence in both teaching and learning. Three Education Officers are available to represent the concerns of law students to the Law School. A number of study skills seminars are held throughout the year, with the cooperation of Brisbane’s top-tier law firms. A student survey and teaching and learning conference are held annually to facilitate student feedback to the Law School staff on current teaching and assessment methods.

  Two Competition Convenors run mooting, client interviewing, negotiation, witness examination and paper presentation competitions to complement law students' theoretical studies by providing them with the chance to hone their practical skills.

• Cultural and Sporting Events

  A number of cultural and sporting events are organised each year by the UQLS. The Law Revue is a sketch comedy show that allows the theatrically inclined to display their talents to over 1600 people over four nights at the University's Schonell Theatre. The Revue combines singing, dancing and sketch comedy in an hilarious political and social satire.

  In the sporting arena, the annual Law Cup provides a day of friendly competition between law students and practitioners. The UQ Law vs QUT Law Rugby Match provides some light relief mid-way through second semester and the celebratory drinks after UQ's inevitable victory are not to be missed. Moreover, during both first and second semester, the UQLS enters a number of teams in the social netball, touch and soccer competitions organised by UQ Sport.

• Professional Drinks and Careers Fair

  The annual Professional Drinks evening coincides with clerkship recruitment dates and allows students to mingle with HR representatives from the major Brisbane firms, graduates and judges associates' over a few drinks and great food. The UQLS also works with the Queensland Law Society and the other Brisbane law schools in organising the annual careers fair in December.

• Publications

  The UQLS produces four major publications each year. The LLB Electives Guide provides students with the insight they need to make the right decisions about which electives to study by publishing course reviews and mark statistics. Legal Directions provides valuable career information for budding summer clerks and graduates. Obiter is a quarterly magazine that takes a humorous look at the Law School and life in general, while Res Ipsa is the UQLS Annual, chronicling the year that has passed. The UQLS also runs a notepool which produces typed lecture transcripts and notes for many courses, downloadable from the UQLS website.

• Membership

  Membership of the UQLS is open to all students and entitles members to substantial discounts through the L Card, and input into the running of the Society. It is hoped that new students in particular will view membership of the UQLS as an essential and enjoyable part of their LLB.

• Contacts

  The UQLS Office is located in Room W227 of the Forgan Smith Building and is open every day from Monday to Thursday from 11am-2pm. Otherwise you can contact the UQLS on ph 07 3365 1491, email: mail@uqls.com or visit www.uqls.com.

Justice and The Law Society (JATL) is a productive and vital organisation within the TC Beirne School of Law. An active organisation with diverse membership, JATL performs an important role in promoting awareness of women's issues, general legal issues and social justice issues and also provides a forum for members to raise concerns. Membership includes females and males, law and non-law students and professionals within the law and in other fields.

JATL's aims and objectives are to:

• Expose gender inequality within the legal profession, the administration of the law and the wider community and to work for its elimination
• Investigate, publicise and provide information about social justice issues affecting the community
• Increase awareness of social implications of laws and policies and to ensure that legal education is situated within a social context
• Provide networks among members, students, the legal profession and professional women's networks (locally, nationally and internationally)
• Celebrate women's achievements in the law and other areas
• Represent, address and improve women's issues and concerns
• Be a forum for members and others to raise concerns, whether these be directly related to educational matters or to broader community issues
• Maintain a dynamic relationship between JATL and its members, the Law School, staff, sponsors and the profession
• Advocate on behalf of UQ law students for a high quality, fair and equitable legal education
• Be an inclusive and accessible society

The Australian Legal Philosophy Students Association (ALPSA) exists to encourage and reward the study of legal philosophy in Australian law schools and is currently managed by students of the TC Beirne School of Law.

To find out more please visit www.alpsa.net.