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Law in Action at York

At York we have a diverse range of extra curricular activities designed to appeal to a broad spectrum of students interests.

Extra curricular activities are all about enhancing your experience at York, honing your skills and being better prepared for practice. More and more employers are looking for students who have a real interest in the area of law they want to practice in – what better way of demonstrating that than through taking part in an extra curricular activity?

Have a look through the different activities on offer and decide which suit you. If you’re interested in advocacy then take up mooting. If you have always wanted to run a business but never had the chance then sign up for the business game and run a virtual business. Whatever your interests you will find something to take part in - most of all get involved!

If you have your own idea that you would like to develop, then come and talk to us and we will do what we can to support you.

We look forward to seeing you at these events!

Chris Dryland
Senior Lecturer and Extra Curricular Activities Co-ordinator

Extra curricular and employer presentations 2008/09
The Careers Service
Law and Business
Practice Related Activities (GDL)
Extra Curricular Activities 

Extra curricular and employer presentations 2008/09

Each year the College aims to provide you with a wide range of speakers from across the breadth of the legal profession. This year we expect to invite leading practitioners to provide presentations from the Careers Service (How to get a Training Contract / What it is like to work in that area of Law) and from across the compulsory and elective subject areas giving a detailed insight into their areas of work.

Have a look at the calendar below for an indication of the proposed timetable and subjects for this coming year. Please note that dates and speakers may be subject to alteration. Additional dates, subjects and speakers will be notified throughout the year on the college notice boards.

September 2008

October 2008
 

November 2008

January 2009

March 2009

April 2009

May 2009

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The Careers Service

The Careers Service recommends that students attend as many of the above presentations as possible. The programme has been designed to highlight different areas of the law and legal recruitment, and will help you develop a strategy to plan a fulfilling legal career. The workshops will help you decide on which LPC route to follow: Corporate, Commercial and Private or Public Legal Services in addition to exploring alternatives within the legal profession .

You can find out about our other services and activities by visiting our Careers pages     

Law and Business

Nowadays lawyers have to be commercially aware. Whether you plan to work for a magic circle firm or a small high street practice you will need to demonstrate business acumen to survive. This applies equally to advising a board of directors on a takeover or talking to a small start up about the best form of business set up.

To help you to improve your understanding of the business world and to help place your studies here at the College into a practical context, we have put together a range of activities with a distinctly commercial flavour.

All these activities are suitable for both LPC and GDL students.

Business Game

Ever wondered what it would be like to run your own business? Think you’ve got what it takes to take your company to the top of the pile?

Why not test yourself in the annual Business Game. Business games are fantastic opportunities to familiarise yourself with the way businesses operate in a competitive world. Using a simulation of an actual company your decisions will determine issues such as profitability, market share and ultimately the life or death of your company.

Keep an eye on the ECA notice board for details of this exciting competition.  

Organised by Patrick Hubble, Senior Lecturer

Share Race

Fancy taking on and beating the Stock Market?

This competition, run in conjunction with Leeds-based Rensburg Sheppards Investment Management, provides an insight into business and financial markets. The Share Race is a ‘fantasy investment league’ game where competing teams invest a virtual £100,000 in shares according to strict criteria.

Teams get the chance to work together to research investment opportunities using newspapers, journals and websites and then evaluate leading shares before selecting where to invest their money.  It offers realistic business and financial experience and the chance to improve your research and analytical skills.

Last year around 70 students battled it out over a 5 month period and in a very close-run finale, the winning team claimed the cash prize and two bottles of champagne. 

Organised by Kiri Howes, Lecturer

Tax Business Game 

Interested in how your knowledge might be employed outside the legal profession? Ever wondered how all that tax knowledge might be used in the business world?
Here’s your chance to find out in an interactive business game. Working in teams and with current staff from Deloitte Touche, you will use your research and analysis skills to assist the financial running of your business.

This is a highly competitive game giving you the opportunity to challenge the reasoning and decisions of other teams. No previous tax knowledge required!

Organised by Gerry Biles,  Associate Professor

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Practice Related Activities (GDL)

If you are on the GDL you must choose a practice related activity from one of the following four options:

• Streetlaw Plus
• Mooting 
• Court Visits
• Legal News

Apart from Legal News, these options are also available to LPC students.

For Streetlaw please see the Pro-bono programme.

Mooting (for full-time students)

What is a moot?

• it is a mock court hearing where contestants represent two opposing sides in a problem which raises arguable points of law.  Hence the expression – “that is a moot point”!

How does the College do mooting?

• you will moot in teams of two
• we run the mooting as a knock out competition
• all participants will have at least one practice moot before the knock out rounds begin
• there are separate competitions for GDL and LPC

What does mooting involve?

For each round of the competition (until you are knocked out!):-

• you and your partner will be issued with a moot problem
• you work together to research the relevant law
• teams usually divide the issues between them
• you then present your argument before a judge
• you seek to convince the judge that your argument is more persuasive than that of the opposing team.

What decides who wins?

Each moot is judged on:-

• the quality of legal arguments presented
• the presentation skills shown

Who are the judges?

• moots are generally judged by your College lecturers
• for later rounds of the competitions, and for the finals, we may have some external practitioners as visiting judges

Why is mooting a good curriculum related activity?

• increases self confidence
• gives great practice for public speaking
• develops your skills of legal research and argument

Where do I find out more?

If you decide to moot, we will give you further details of the competition rules and guidance on presenting your arguments.

In the meantime

• have a look at www.mooting.net 

Mooting (for weekend study students) 

We are delighted to offer a mooting competition specifically designed to meet the needs of weekend study students.

How will the competition work?

• we run the mooting as a knock out competition
• you will moot in teams of two
• we can accommodate 16 Weekend Learning students - you will have your own competition which will involve a first round, semi-final and final all on dates to be announced but which will be convenient to weekend learning students

GDL Mooting -  organised by Wendy Laws , Senior Lecturer

LPC Mooting  - organised by Lynn Kershaw, Lecturer  

Legal News 

What does it involve?

Researching and presenting in written and oral formats major developments in eight core areas of law.

What are the benefits?

For those doing it, it will provide practice in the vitally important lawyers’ skills of legal research, writing briefing papers and making presentations

For those reading the briefings or attending the presentations, being kept up to date as to changes or interesting developments in these subjects.

How is it organised?

• there will be four teams consisting of eight people (maximum). Each team will research new developments (cases, white papers, bills, Acts, directives, news, etc) in a different paired subject area for each of the four 4-week periods of the activity
• the subject areas are Contract and Tort, Land law and Equity & Trusts, Public law and Crime, and EC law and Human Rights. Two of the four 4-week periods  are in the first term; the remaining two take place between January and March/April
• each fortnight the members of each team will look through newspapers and legal journals and use on-line resources to monitor any developments in their subject areas
• at the end of every fortnight the team will submit a précis of any interesting items for publication to other students and staff via e-mail (or, hopefully in 2008-9 a Blog). At the end of each 4-week period, the team will meet to consider which two or three developments were the most important and/or interesting and will prepare a 15 to 20 minute oral presentation using PowerPoint which considers these developments in more detail. The presentations will be advertised and will be open to any GDL or LPC student to attend as well as members of staff
• help and guidance are provided on how to prepare the copy for e-mail/Blog and on using PowerPoint 

Organised by Malcolm Maddock, Senior Lecturer 

Court visits 

Hooked on Judge John Deed? Fond memories of LA Law?  Yes – read on.

The court visits programme allows you to see first-hand what actually goes on at court. Separate programmes exist for GDL and LPC students.

GDL

Students on the programme are divided into teams of two to four people. Each team will visit at least one (but preferably two or more) local courts and then prepare a presentation on their experiences which will be delivered to the other students taking part in the programme.

Students in previous years have attended the Crown Courts in Leeds, Hull and York, as well as all the local Magistrates’ Courts. Other students have attended York County Court and the Employment Tribunal in Leeds.

For anyone interested in pursuing a career in litigation this programme offers an opportunity to see the reality of court work. It is an excellent introduction to the Litigation course on the LPC.

GDL Court visits - organised by Gary Atkinson, Senior Lecturer

LPC

One of the compulsory subjects on the LPC is Civil Litigation. As part of the Civil Litigation course two weeks are spent looking at advocacy (which is assessed as one of the skills components on the course). This programme allows you to see how civil advocacy is carried out in practice.

Students on the programme are divided into teams of four. Each team will spend a morning sitting alongside a District Judge at York County Court. The team will watch all the cases the judge deals with, and will have the opportunity to ask the judge questions in between cases. Each member of the team will be expected to compile a brief report on their observations.

For anyone who wishes to practice in the civil courts, this is an invaluable opportunity to see how it is done.

LPC Court visits – organised by the Pro Bono Centre

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Extra Curricular Activities

Employment Tribunals

An opportunity to attend a ‘Tribunal at Work’ day in Leeds to observe how Employment cases are conducted in practice. Employment Law is a popular LPC elective subject.

Start with a full briefing by the Chairperson on the cases for the day, observe the proceedings from the gallery and take a tour of the offices. You will have the opportunity to ask questions and discuss the proceedings.

Preference is given to LPC students who have chosen / will choose the Employment Law elective, due to limited places available.
There is also the possibility of GDL and LPC students attending the Tribunal, outside of the ‘Tribunal at Work’ days, to observe the proceedings – subject to demand. 

Organised by Gary Atkinson, Senior Lecturer   

Prison Visit

You might have seen them from the outside, but have you ever been inside a prison? Have you ever wondered what might be a prisoners’ daily routine, or what work goes on inside a prison to prevent re-offending? Students are given the opportunity to visit a local prison, to help them gain an understanding of how the work they may undertake fits into the wider context of the criminal justice system, and the impact actions as criminal lawyers may have on society as a whole. In 2007 students toured HMP Wakefield and had opportunity to meet with the Governor, guards and the prison psychologist.

Organised by Chris Dryland, Senior Lecturer   

Negotiation Competition

Lawyers negotiate in all types of situation, whether it is the fine detail of a contract, or the terms of settlement of a dispute. Like any other skill, the more you practise, the better you get.

There will be opportunity to participate in negotiation workshops during the autumn term. Last year The York Centre hosted the regional final of a negotiation competition sponsored by CEDR (Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution). 

Organised by Mhairi Morter, Senior Lecturer 

Environmental Law Group

Environmental law is an area that impacts on a wide range of legal matters.  Increasingly law firms are providing legal advice in the field of environmental law to clients on a variety of issues including due diligence, development of land and pollution control.

This group meets regularly during the year to explore environmental law issues.  Students bring knowledge from previous education and experience and use this as a foundation for researching topics of interest.  It is of interest to both GDL and LPC students.

In addition to periodic presentations by groups of students there is a programme of external speakers.  These are all practitioners with a particular interest in and experience of environmental law in practice.  We also have links with the United Kingdom Environmental Law Association (UKELA) and in previous years students have attended a student social and careers information evening organised by UKELA which provided them with a valuable insight into a career in environmental law.

Organised by Shona Emmett, Senior Lecturer

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Chris Dryland

"The business game was a fantastic combination of work and play. The competitive aspect made it fun, while the discipline of working within a team and implementing a business plan enabled everyone who took part to develop valuable work skills."

Morgan Hogarth  LPC Student 2005 – 2006 and one of the winning team

Patrick Hubble

Kiri Howes

Gerry Biles

Wendy Laws

Lynn Kershaw

Malcolm Maddock

Gary Atkinson

“A trip to Wakefield Prison should be compulsory for anyone who wants to be a criminal lawyer.”

2007/2008 LPC Student.

Mhairi Morter

Shona Emmett