I N S I D E : T H E N E W B U I L D I N G , M E E T T H E W U L S A C O M M I T T E E , T R AV E L A N D G R A D U AT I N G , H E A R S T O R I E S F R O M T H E

S TA F F.

P R I M A F A C I EI S S U E O N E

How to be a law

student

2 W E L C O M E

I S S U E O N E

L A Y O U T I S P U B L I S H E D B Y M I C H E L S M I T H

S U B S C R I B E AT W W W. B O R D E R M A G A Z I N E . C O M

C O N T R I B U T E R S :

W O R D S B Y: KATE LUNN, WILLIAM LEWIS, JIM LAW, VANESSA GOOD-

MAN, CARL BRANDT, EMMA SPEAKMAN, HYEBIN HAN, LOUISE FORD,

ANDREW HONG, LYDIA TSEN, GAIA CHURCH, COURTNEY GRENFELL,

TREVOR DAYA-WINTERBOTTOM, BRENDA MIDSON, NEIL BOISTER,

JULIET CHEVALIER-WATTS.

COVER ART BY GRACE TAYLOR ILLUSTRATION

3

1E D I T O R I A L S E C T I O N

Meet WULSA

2E D I T O R I A L S E C T I O N

WULSA coming up and Editor’s letter

3F E AT U R E S E C T I O N

Meet the Faculty

4F E AT U R E S E C T I O N

Hamilton?

5F E AT U R E S E C T I O N

New Home

6F E AT U R E S E C T I O N

Law Student 101

7F E AT U R E S E C T I O N

Travel

8E D I T O R I A L S E C T I O N

Just Student Things

9E D I T O R I A L S E C T I O N

Life

T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S

4 W U L S A

K AT E L U N N - P R E S I D E N T

Welcome back to law school everybody! Where the rules are basically made up but unfortunately the points kind of do matter.

No doubt that you’ve had a great summer and are feeling ready to kick into another year!

If you’re new to the law

school - get excited. You’re about to embark on a journey that in-volves exactly three humps, too many closed book examina-tions, and potentially a sticker or two if Marie is marking your LAWS107 essay. Your experi-ence at Waikato will be unique, and as a fourth year I can tell you that it’s totally worth it. While your egotistical friends from Auckland may say that it’ll be “easy at Waikato”, just re-member that Te Piringa was built on three founding princi-ples: law in context, bicultural-ism, and professionalism.

Keep in mind that the other law schools have no prin-ciples whatsoever. I can assure you that it won’t be easy. You’ll have to work hard. But you can definitely do it. Returning stu-dents - you know the drill. Try to get away with buying as few textbooks as possible. Specifical-ly pick papers that are internal-ly assessed or don’t have lectures before 11am. But perhaps 2016 is the year to challenge yourself. Try something new. Whether it’s joining a club, starting a new venture or volunteering, this is the year for you to just do it.

2016; WULSA Commit teeSure, your CV will look

better and you’ll sound more in-teresting during interviews, but more importantly it’s a chance to contribute to the culture on our campus or the livelihood of our city. That’s a pretty exciting thing to be a part of.

If you’re feeling a little over-whelmed or need a bit of as-sistance, just remember that there are heaps of people on campus who can help you. The Careers Office, the counsel-lors, the Student Health Centre, the Waikato Students’ Union, Student Academic Services, and your assigned faculty advisor all have tips and tricks for making your life a little easier and enjoy-able. If you’ve got the this far, you’ve obviously navigated the University’s website before. You can do it again - look into these options if you feel you may need the support.

Don’t forget that WULSA will also have your back - we’re more than happy to help if you have any queries. We’ve got a heap of exciting initiatives planned for this year so be sure to come along.

W I L L I A M L E W I S - V I C E P R E S I -D E N T

Gidday, I’m William and I’m WULSA’s Deputy President. I’m heading into my fourth year in the Tron after tragically having to relocate from the stunning Coromandel coastline for uni. I’m the dark ‘collared shirt guy’ who’s always walking around campus straddling the fine line between ‘sophisticated’ and ‘briefcase wanker’. I’m especially looking forward to meeting all of you newbies this year because if Kate and I can’t latch on to a younger social group now, we will be very lonely fifth years in 2017, still trying to make our way to the real world.

VA N E S S A G O O D M A N - C O M P E T I T I O N S

Kia ora whanau, my name is Vanessa and I am the 2016 WULSA Competitions Officer. For those of you who competed in competitions last year and are already familiar with me, I hope to see you all competing again this year! For those new students I look forward to seeing new faces. I am looking forward to my final year working with WULSA before I graduate and head off into the big bad world! And fingers crossed, score a top position at a great firm. I arrived in the mighty Waikato from the UK 10 years ago and have been here ever since. My interests in-clude many things; from dinner and drinks with friends, to Sing-star battles with my flatmate, hours of TV series, looking after my cats and of course a bit of legal banter here and there.

1

5

2016; WULSA Commit teeAs competitions officer it is my role to organise competitions for law students throughout the year and encourage as many stu-dents as possible to give it a go.

L O U I S E F O R D - S O C I A L

Hey y’all, I’m Louise and I am one of the social officers for WULSA 2016. I’m finally in my fourth year of uni, taking zero fourth year papers because my conjoint of law and science has shuffled me around all over the place. I’m super excited to be a part of the WULSA commit-tee this year and am looking forward to organizing some great events, for example, a ball that you will never forget!! My hobbies include playing pretty much any sport, hanging out with friends and procrastinating my uni life away by watching all 8 seasons of House in the lead up to exams last year. I’m always around uni, generally watching a tv show of some sort on my laptop in the library or having coffee by the lake. I’m a friendly face and am happy to chat if you wanna say hi :)

J I M L A W - S O C I A L

Hey guys and gals! My name is Jim and I’m in my fourth and fi-nal year studying an LLB second majoring in STMG (strategic management). I’m WULSA’s so-cial officer for 2016, and whilst not listening to puns about my last name being Law, I look for-ward to bringing fellow students top notch, stellar events and hope to strengthen social ties within our faculty. Aside from this, my hobbies and interest include eating, buying unneces-sary items of clothing,

and desperately waiting for the next season of GOT (seriously). If you’d like to chat about any-thing social you’re most likely to find me in the law labs, more often than not spinning yarns than actually doing my work.

C A R L B R A N D T - T R E A S U R E R

Hi, I’m Carl, the Treasurer for WULSA in 2016. The oppor-tunity to act in this role for the association is a pleasure and an exciting way to give back to the law student body. I began studying the BMS degree here at Waikato in 2013 before seeing the light and adding law in my second year - a decision I am now very glad to have made. As a big music geek, I spend my free/procrastination time listen-ing to music and keeping up to date with new releases. As Trea-surer it is my job to make sure all the numbers add up, and to create an embezzlement scheme without Kate finding out.

E M M A S P E A K M A N - S P O R T S A N D S O C I E T I E S

Hey guys, I’m Emma and I’m the Sports and Societies officer for WULSA this year. I’m in my second year of my LLB/BMS degree so as you can imagine I spend most of my time silently crying over my textbooks and eating horrendous amounts of chocolate. If I’m not doing this my hobbies include napping when I have assignments due in and spending all of my study link money in Kmart. I’m super excited to be on WULSA this year and I’m especially looking forward to laughing at all the

drunk Aucklander’s during Log O’ Wood. If you ever need to get in touch with me, I’ll prob-ably be the person sleeping on the bean bags on level three of the library. Please waft chocolate under my nose to wake me

A M E L I A W AT S O N - P U B L I C R E L AT I O N S

Hello everyone, my name is Amelia and I am the 2016 Public Relations Officer for WULSA. After being involved with WULSA last year, I was keen to give it another go and ex-perience a different role in my final year at Waikato. As the PR Officer, I’m in charge of all the publications and advertis-ing for WULSA initiatives and events throughout the year. I’m also the chief photographer, so don’t shy away from me if you see me walking around with the camera. I’m now a fourth year LLB(Hons) student and in my (limited) spare time I love to cook delicious food and exercise.

H Y E B I N H A N - E D U C AT I O N

Hi all, my name is Hyebin and I am one of the 2016 WULSA Education Officers. I am born in South Korea and have been raised in Hamilton since kin-dergarten. I’ve ended up staying here for uni, studying a conjoint of Law and social science. I’m a second year student and look-ing forward to another cool year with the WULSA committee!

O R I O N D O U G L A S -

E D U C AT I O N

S.R.A for Student Village. I’m watching you, first years.

The College of Law

Let the College help build

your career, creating a solid

foundation for your chosen

career path.

CALL US 0800 265 529

EMAIL US enquiries@collaw.ac.nz

www.collaw.ac.nz

E D I T O R ’ SL E T T E R

Ela ine Gyde7

I A M N O T V E R Y G O O D AT B E I N G A L A W S T U D E N T, I N F A C T. . . I W O U L D G O S O F A R A S T O S AY T H AT I ’ M R E A L LY R U B B I S H . .

My law school time has looked like this: Amazing, excit-ing but anxious and fearful that I wouldn’t love it when I start-ed, that first half of A semester where you meet more new people than you’ve ever met, and you talk about the weather and what you did in the weekend while you struggle to make the kind of friends that people make in movies. After a teething peri-od I did make friends. Inspiring legal method workshops, where you begin to feel that you actually might be able to do this law thing. I joined twitter. I wanted to move to Wellington, then realised that where you live doesn’t matter and that the friends you have while you’re at university are the most important you’ll ever meet. Exams happened, then I spent the summer as care-free as a student ever can. Then in second year, I fell through a path and sprained my ankle while in Christchurch. I lived by myself, I started having panic attacks, I missed the class where they explain the important secrets of how to be a law student. Torts happened. Writing that jurisprudence essay and feeling at once a part of something bigger and also very small and stupid. I made it through, spent the summer stressing too much. I made someone I really care about cry after a burtal fight. I apologised to them over email while they were exploring China, you should always apologise. Third year I got help for my panic attacks and saw an overload of papers. I changed my BA major from politics to french, and I finally felt content and excited about studying a conjoint degree. I sprained my tailbone sliding down a slide in Wellington. I worked on a general election campaign, confirm-ing that politics is exhausting in a way that law can never be. T Semester Judicial Review reminded me that Law is great. I spent New Years exploring an island in the Marlborough Sounds. In fourth year I fell in love with Equity and Environmental law. I got glasses. I went to Australia a lot, I went to Sri Lanka. I decid-ed I like writing, I tumbled into something too similar to a ro-mantic comedy over study week. I enjoyed my exams. I moved home. Almost everyone I care about graduated and those that didn’t, I appreciated so much more. I helped to make this thing that you’re reading now. I became president of the Waikato De-bating Society. I did things that I didn’t think I’d be brave enough to do- I learnt to like emails. I mostly did my readings because I wanted to.

Basically it’s been a rough, but beautiful time and now that I’m about to graduate, I really hope that each of you get to go through everything that makes a law student, a law student.

Hopefully reading this magazine will help you feel a part of something great, even just a little bit.

CO M P E T I T I O N DAT E S :

C L I E N T I N T E R V I E W I N G :

Prelims: Monday 14th & Tuesday 15th March Semis: Wednesday 16th

March Final: Thursday 17th March

W I T E X :

Prelims: Monday 4th & Tuesday 5th April Semis: Wednesday 6th April

Final: Thursday 7th April

S E N I O R M O OT:

Prelims: Monday 9th & Tuesday 10th May Semis: Monday 16th May Final:

Thursday 19th May

S E N I O R N EG OT I AT I O N :

Prelim: Thursday 2nd June Semis: Tuesday 7th June Final: Thursday 9th

June

8 W H AT ’ S O N

22 0 1 6 : W H AT T O L O O K F O R WA R D T O

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Applications open 17 March 2016 and close 31 March 2016 at noon.

To find out how to apply and what Chapman Tripp has to offer, check out www.graduates.chapmantripp.com.

Experience what life could be like after law school on our 2016/2017 summer clerk programme.

Applications open 17 March 2016 and close 31 March 2016 at noon.

To find out how to apply and what Chapman Tripp has to offer, check out www.graduates.chapmantripp.com.

1 0 F E AT U R E

B R E N D A M I D S O N

1. It was a lot small-er than it is now! I studied at

Waikato in the early days - so there were fewer students

and way fewer staff. There was no Moodle or much in the way of online anything.

Everything was in hard copy including our assignments

which we had to type out (or use a word processor if we were fancy) and hand in at the resource room. Lectur-ers would usually just stand in class and talk (some used overheads, but by no means all). Ah, the good old days...

2. It wasn’t actual-

ly me but one of my friends, let’s call him Paul Smith. Our Ev-idence lecturer tried

to invoke the Socratic method and if you an-swered a question cor-

rectly he would give you a couple of marks. So one day he asked a

question, looked at the roll and said, what do

you think, Paul Smith? Well Paul had no clue so he kept his mouth

shut. The Lecturer then concluded that

Paul Smith was 3. away so he moved

on to some other name. Ten minutes

later the lecturer asks

another question but before he could call on

a name Paul, who to-tally knew this one, blurted out the an-swer. That’s right,

says the lecturer. You can have two marks,

what’s your name? This story proba-

bly would not survive the red chair on Gra-

ham Norton but it was amusing to

us at the time.

4. Crimes! It’s fasci-nating. I loved reading about

the facts of the cases and in particular the spin that the

Judges would put on the facts.

I would probably achieve the same results but wouldn’t

stress so much about getting the As!

5. This relates to the previous question - don’t

worry so much about what mark you get (within reason,

obviously). Aim for good marks, for sure, but don’t

drive yourself into the ground for them. It’s more

important to have a balanced life. At the end of the day,

potential employers are not all looking for the student with the best marks. They are looking for those who can understand and apply

the law, who can write well, but also who can engage

with people and who can

demonstrate a well-balanced approach to life.

T R E V O R D AYA - W I N -T E R B O T T O M

1. I read law for my bachelors degree at Liverpool

John Moores University (1977-1980) in the heart of

the Liverpool CBD which meant that all students either

travelled to school via the Underground Metro or the

ferry across the Mersey. The structure of the law degree

was very different from the New Zealand degree - study-

ing 15 law papers across three years, with no non-law

papers, no computers and all assignments being hand

written and researched in the library using hard copy

materials, and all assessment resting on the written exams

at the end of each year.

3. My favourite classes were Public Interna-

tional Law taught by Profes-sor Malcolm Shaw QC and

Professor Patrick Thornber-

ry CMG in the second year, and Jurisprudence taught by

the renowned Jewish legal scholar Professor Bernard

Jackson in the third year - each of them completely on top of their subject and recognised internationally

for their scholarship and expertise.

T H O S E P E O P L E W H O K E E P S TA N D I N G AT T H E F R O N T O F L E C T U R E S A N D TA L K I N G

W E E M A I L E D S O M E O F T H E FA C U LT Y

to ask them what their time was like when they were studying law.

Questions:

1. Can you briefly describe what your law

school was like when you studied there?

2. What’s one story that stands out as the funniest

(or silliest) thing you did while you were a student?

3. What was your favourite class you took and

why? 4. How do you think you might you fair if

you had to start again as a 1st year student in 2015?

5. What advice would you go back and want to give

yourself while studying (and potential advice for

current students too) ?

M E E T T H E S TA F F

3

1 1

4. The relative pressure faced by law students is far

greater today due to a range of global factors impacting on the

economy and the legal indus-try, and I think that most law

graduates of my generation will be relieved that they do not have

to study in today’s university environment.

5. The best advice is to take advantage of any opportunities

that come your way as a student while at law school - for me this

was to follow the encourage-ment from Patrick Thornberry

and take the opportunity to study abroad for the Diplôme in human right law from the

prestigious Instut International des Droits de l’Homme (Stras-

bour, France) founded by Nobel laureate René Cassin.

J U I L E T C H E VA L I E R - W AT T S

1. It was vibrant and forward thinking.

2. Trying to explain to one of my Professors that a book

voucher I had won as a writ-ing award would be spent on Harry Potter books - I don’t

think he was amused!

3. I had a few, and all of them because of the amazing

lecturers that I had - they included Torts, Contracts

and Human Rights.

4. Knowing what I know now - pretty darned good!

5. Always keep up with the readings. Treat the degree as a full time job and put in

those hours.

N E I L B O I S T E R

1. I went to Law School at the University of Natal in Durban in 1984 and 1985.

It was a two year post-grad-uate LLB of the kind still

available in some Canadian Law Schools. I have to say

that I think that a Post Grad degree was a lot easier. I

had done a BA, gone surf-ing every day for three

years, and so I was settling down to the 21 subjects we had to do. There was only

a choice of two subjects. At the time South Africa

was in political turmoil and there was a lot of political activity on campus. I was

arrested but then again most of us were arrested

so it was no big deal unless you got put in detention

and then it became a very difficult thing. The Law

School had a heavy empha-sis on engagement with

the community, much like Waikato. But like most stu-

dent bodies we were split between those who wanted

to make loads of money and who thought they were

already lawyers (and car-ried brief cases around to

prove it), those who wanted to change the world (and

who dressed appropriately in Indian cotton and leather shoes); and those who were content to cruise along do-ing as little as possible. And like most Law Students we

had to deal with an over-flow of information some of which was comprehen-

sible, some not.

2. When I was a Graduate

Assistant doing my LLM we were visited by a very pompous

judge. He would have taken gold in pomposity. There was build-

ing work going on so on his last day when he was out of his

office we sneaked into the toilets downstairs, took a new yet-to-be installed porcelain toilet and replaced the swivel chair in his

office with the toilet. Needless to say he said nothing.

3. My favourite class was jurisprudence. I liked and still

like theory. I was a raving Marx-ist at the time and it gave me a chance to read a lot of obscure books and hold forth at length

about whey the legal system was structurally part of an oppressive

state apparatus despite its so-called liberal underpinnings. But

to be fair this was simply a way of trying to take a futile written revenge on the tide of rules that was threatening to drown us in

other direr subject areas.

4. Badly because I don’t think anymore in the systematic

structures which you need to assemble in order to get through

first year dand then dismantle when you are on fourth year.

5. Read enough so that when you think about a particu-

lar subject area or part thereof that its clear to you what it means. There is nothing so

easily revealed as a poor grasp of the subject matter during an

exam. Actually forget that. Go to the beach while you can – your working life is longer than you

can possibly imagine.

W R I T E , D R A W , D E S I G N ,

I N T E R V I E W , M A K E S T U F F

F O R P R I M A F A C I E

Email primafaciemagazine@gmail.com to get

published in Issue Two

1 3

1 4 F E AT U R E

Left Waikato University- The Gallagher Performing Arts Centre

Hamilton Gardens

Opposite, Top Garden Place

Opposite, Bottom The Old Hamilton Courthouse

1 5

4S O H O W D O Y O U R E A L LY E N J O Y

T H I S C I T Y ?

• Go out. For walks, for coffee, for meet-ings and events. Go to the arts festivals and the Balloons over Waikato, support community events. go to the Nivara lounge and listen to local musicians. everytime you go out you don’t need to spend money. You’ll meet amazing people and you’ll get to see and do great things.

• Join Twitter, tweet, use the lovethetron hashtag. Or don’t and just tweet about what’s on, what’s happening and what you’d like to happen in the city.

• Vote in the local government elections• Use public transport, cycle or walk.

You’ll get to see gardens full of flow-ers, freshly mowned grass. You’ll get some time to chill while you’re going somewhere.

• Be realistic. Hamilton isn’t ever going to be Melbourne or London but at least there’s none of the problems and hassles that happen in those places.

Next issue we’ll be looking at the great stuff happening in Tauranga- for all the students who are studying over in the Bay!

H A M I LT O N ?

1 6 F E AT U R E

View of the new law and management building tower, from accross the road at the old law school.

After years, a new law school..

1 7

5A N E W H O M E

T H E L A W S C H O O L’ S N E W B U I L D I N G

is finally being built,

Prima Facie got to

have a look around

while construction

was still going on.

The new law school isn’t finished yet, but it’s close. We all watched the tower rise from the side of the management school throughout last year and it’s almost time to start getting used to the new building. We passed it on our way to the library or to class and we stared at it while trying to stay away while typing up assignments in the labs. It’s been a topic of con-versation to pull out when you’re talking to adults, or don’t know what to say “have you

seen the new law school,

what do you think?

I think it’s going to

have amazing views”

Truthfully, a few weeks ago while a friend was back in Hamilton we wandered onto the grass one Sun-day evening. Security drove passed to check we weren’t up to any mischief and then let us just wander around. It was breathtaking, be-cause of the views, but also because there was an excitement in the air about a new chapter of Te Piringa starting in this new building. In 50 years there would still be students, stand-ing on that lawn, mar-velling at the view and feeling excited for the future. Kindly thanks to Diana Maliseva, we got to have a tour of the inside.

After years, a new law school..

1 8

One key problem faced by students today is that aside from the Village Green and some se-cret places that you have to guard with your life (The Gallaghers performing art centre) There aren’t a huge number of places to bump into people or grab coffee or catch up. For law students this is particularly bad, as the main place you know that you’ll bump into people you know, is the library. The Library is a real-ly awful place to meet people because you also should be studying. So in the new law build-ing there are dedicated student lounges. These lounges are at the far end of the building with floor to ceiling windows and views. These lounges will hopefully become the perfect place for building community at Te Piringa.

S T U D E N T L O U N G E S

L A W A N D M A N A G E M E N T B U I L D I N G

F E AT U R E

1 9

Dotted through both the law and management parts of the building are brand new kitch-en units, which will be available for stu-

dents to use. This means that in win-ter you can stay awake through class, by grabbing some hot water for a tea and heating up some lunch before-hand. It means you can save money and help reduce plas-tic waste. So these new kitchens are an extremely excit-ing part of the new building

K I T C H E N S

E V E R Y W H E R E

L A W A N D M A N A G E M E N T B U I L D I N G

The new moot court was being fitted out, when Prima Facie visit-ed The moot court will be used for WULSA compe-titions as well as the moots that take place in classes. It is a huge addition to the building, even

if the thought of mooting makes you terrified- the public gallery will be much more comfortable than the high court. State of the art, the moot court is some-thing to keep an eye out for.

A M O O T C O U R T

M A I N G A L L E R Y L O N D O N

2 0 S T U D Y

6L AW S T U D E N T 1 0 1

N O T T H AT Y O U N E E D E D O U R H E L P

• “Use emojis to keep note

taking interesting and vi-

sual”

• “Read Tony Buzan’s Mindmap-

ping book- use mind maps to

get your head around how all

the cases fit together.”

• “Try to meet people who aren’t

studying law.”

• “Volunteer”

• “Don’t skip too many classes”

• “Join or form your own study

group”

• “Ask for help, whether it’s with

assignment writing or time

management or with something

more serious, there are univer-

sity services that are all specifi-

cally designed to be there to help

you do the best that

W E A S K E D S O M E P E O P L E W H O H AV E B E E N A R O U N D F O R A G E S , H O W T H E Y G O T T H R O U G H L A W S C H O O L A N D W H AT A D V I C E T H E Y W O U L D G I V E T O T H E M S E LV E S I N F I R S T Y E A R . . .

• “Ah, I guess something

along the lines of joining

clubs and checking out the

different things that can

be done at uni but keep-

ing a healthy balance with

study? And, doing read-

ings - or, at least, trying

to do readings!”

• “Definitely echo the club

thing, I made a lot of good

friends there smile emot-

icon. Also would say ask

around for relevant sec-

ond hand books to save

money, or otherwise loan

them from the library

since you can usually get

them out for a couple of

months, and it’s free!”

you can. Try to never procras-

tinate getting help.”

• “Go to WULSA events, they

really need friends, especially

Kate Lunn and William Lewis.”

• “Make time to relax and go

away if you can- even a day

trip to Raglan in the middle of

winter can make a big dif-

ference to how focused you’re

feeling.”

• “Ask the law librarians- refer-

encing is often where you can

get easy marks and the law

librarians are great at explain-

ing law referencing to you.”

• “My advice would be to go for a

walk everyday around campus

if you can.”

• “Don’t get into too much of a

coffee habit, or your wallet and

your brain will be sad and over

caffienated.”

• “Thank your lecturers and

tutors. “

Students are frequently told that just having a degree is

not enough to guarantee a job. Employers are looking for

the whole package: brains and practical skills for the real

world. Luckily, that is where volunteering comes in.

Volunteering doesn’t just look great on your CV. It

offers a range of benefits, such as helping you find

purpose, benefit the wider community, make new

friends, grow your self-esteem, have fun and de-

velop great skills. However, there is always a catch

that makes students shy away from such endeavours:

time.

Once you factor in study, work, a social life and all

the other things that life demands, finding time to

volunteer can be challenging. However, volunteer-

ing opportunities are plentiful in the Waikato and

they don’t have to take up all your time. Even one or

two hours a week can have a positive impact.

Finding the perfect volunteer opportunity for you

really depends on what you’re looking for. If you’re

wanting some real-life lawyer experience, your first

port of call should be Community Law Waikato. If

you’re third year or above, becoming a volunteer

caseworker there is a perfect way to get client in-

terviewing experience and witness real lawyers in

action.

For inside the law school, keep an eye on organisa-

tions such as WULSA, PLSA and Te Whakahiapo.

They all provide opportunities for junior and senior

law students alike to get involved in competitions,

attend events and develop your legal skills, no mat-

ter where you’re at in your degree. There are also

a number of other clubs on campus, ranging from

activism to politics to hobby to sport and everything

else. Keep an eye out for WSU’s Clubs Day to find

out about them, check out their website or just ask

around.

In the community, opportunities are even more

plentiful. If you’re looking for something related to

law, check out organisations such as Just Speak or

Law For Change. If protecting our climate is your

thing, look at Generation Zero. For Hamilton-

specific opportunities, look up the Volunteering

Waikato, Hamilton Homeless Trust or Big Brothers

Big Sisters. The Volunteering Waikato website is a

great place to search through a variety of volunteer-

ing opportunities from a number of organisations to

find what best suits you.

There’s so much out there, but this isn’t an exhaus-

tive list, so hit Google or Facebook and start looking!

HOW TO:V O L U N T E E R B Y G A I A C H U R C H

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2 2 T R AV E L

I spent 5 years at Uni-versity, and with each year came itchier feet. With a love of language and culture, I knew exactly how I would spend my time between fin-ishing Law School and be-ginning work life.

It seems these days that our generation doesn’t like to stay in one place too long. The constant need to satisfy desire and craving, whether it be it travel, or start new ventures, creates a buzz within our generation to constantly evaluate how we spend our days, and mas-ter our search for happiness.

Leaving Universi-ty is like bursting a bubble, into an unchartered territo-ry of freedom. Jumping on a plane to fly to the other side of the world seemed like the perfect way to explore this freedom.

I’ve always been a planner. Cheryl’s questions in mooting always put me on the spot, but if I had done enough preparation I knew I could structure a response as best as possible.

I abandoned this ap-proach with my travel plans and low in behold I bought a one way ticket, to Europe via

Bangkok. With 20 kilograms of

life on my back I went ball-ing my eyes out through In-ternational Departures, after my brother had to kick me through the gate telling me “just go and have some (bloody) fun would ya”.

Bangkok is a phe-nomenal city. For us Kiwi’s its cheap too. Your senses are heightened and most of the time you are in surviv-al mode. I fell in love with street food, and motor bike rides in the rain. Tip #1: never ask for Thai hot.

Next stop Heath-row. London is somewhat a rite of passage for Kiwi’s, but as a beach kid the grey days didn’t tickle my fancy. Nevertheless, exploring the beautiful city and enjoying a few too many Fulham £3 mojitos made me feel like I’d never left Victoria Street.

As it happened I had a friend keen to travel so the next week we jumped on a bus under the Chunnel into Paris. Tip #2: close your eyes when Parisians are driv-ing. From then on it was a 3 month adventure through a stunning European Summer.

I won’t sugar coat shoestring budget travel. Lugging a pack around for 3 months is truly a unique ex-perience wherever you are. 40 degree days, broken down trains, same clothes different

day, foreign maps and faces and lots of bread is the life of a backpacker.

Speaking French and German, my experiences in France and then most of Eastern Europe were unique. It was in these times, and also trying to get by with Italian, and winging Spanish that I found my special place that I someday hope to re-turn to.

As work life looms, it brings excitement and a challenge, funnily enough not all that different than packing a backpack and trav-eling. Having taken a break from “normal” routine for a year, I have a refreshed per-spective of the things I want to gain out of a career, and more importantly life.

We live in an incred-ible country, full of innova-tion and opportunity. If the burden of 5 years of Univer-sity is weighing you down, I would urge you to consider taking a step away from the comfort of home and explore a nomadic life for a while. You’ll soon realise that the simple things make the world go round, but more importantly you will be for-ever grateful for your uni-versity experience and how it shaped your journey too. Tip #3: Book that ticket.

I’m hoping those feet don’t start itching too soon again…

B Y C O U R T N E Y G R E N F E L L

I T C H Y F E E TWhen Courtney graduated, she did what many of us want to do; she packed up her life and ex-plored the world, before coming back to New Zealand to start working at Russel Mcveagh

WA N D E R L U S T

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P H O T O G R A P H S

B Y C O U R T N E Y

G R E N F E L L :

B A R C E L O N A &

V I E W O F F LY I N G

O V E R S PA I N

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Stuff you don' t need

for law school but

kind of want and

maybe need ?

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8

J U S T S T U D E N T T H I N G S

Stuff you don' t need

for law school but

kind of want and

maybe need ?

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Clockwise from top:

A teapot to keep you warm through the winter and because you’re going to one day soon, give up coffee.

A teacup to keep your spirits up.A comfy chair, to read in, to nap in and to throw clothes on.

A book to read that’s not law readings- something aspirational to look forward to until the summer, but something light enough so you’ll actually read it.

A lamp, so you can study late, write assignments late and watch Netflix late.A bag, big enough to fit books but importantly big enough to fit snacks.

A calendar, so you never forget when you have a land law/ admin/ insert other test on.A lunch box, so you don’t spend every penny you have in momento and so you don’t spend

hours waiting in the Bongo line.Glasses, no brainer- if at any point you feel headaches in classes and you don’t have glasses, get your eyesight checked. Could be the difference between passing a paper or not and plus

they look great!

2 6 L I F E

Things to do before you graduate; things to do this year; things to do tomorrow

F O O D W I T H A M E L I A

Every year Uni students repeat the same mantra to them-selves in the first week of March: this year I will spend less money on food. Normally, we make it through O-Week on free sausage sizzles alone before week two rolls around and panic sets in. Sandwiches make us feel like we are still in High School, sal-ads feel ‘too healthy’ and anything else is too hard or too expen-sive and before you know it you’re in the line at Bongo at 1pm on Tuesday feeling like a failure. Among my friends I’m known as one of ‘those people’ who always has their lunch and never buys food. This is partly because homemade food is almost al-ways healthier and tastier, but mostly because I am a stingy stu-dent and making your own food is truly cheaper than buying it.

In the hope of getting some of you through at least two weeks without wasting all your money on expensive Uni food, I’ve put together my top tips for stress-free Uni eating:

- Buy a good container which fits easily in your bag. No one likes leaked food all through their brand new $200 textbook.

- Do a proper grocery shop on a Sunday so you actually have food in your house to begin with.

- Double your dinners. Leftovers are the easiest way to have lunch the next day without any extra effort on your behalf.

- Or better yet cook in bulk on a Sunday – think a big batch of rice which can become a stir fry, or side dish to curry, or (for the day before pay day) mixed with frozen veggies and soy sauce.

- Learn to love eggs. Boiled or fried, in a sandwich or wrap, or as part of fried rice or a salad; they are an easy, protein filled snack or meal component which keep you fuller for longer.

So next Sunday when your week long hangover has final-ly caught up with you, instead of spending the whole day in bed feeling sorry for yourself, try to spend an hour or two thinking of some easy things to eat throughout the week and (if your re-ally motivated) try actually making them in advance. Your bank account and waist line will thank you for it.

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Thank You