University of Auckland Law School

The University of Auckland Law School is one of the nine faculties that make up the University of Auckland. It forms part of the city campus but is separate from what is termed the "main campus" which spreads across four blocks, two on each side of Symonds Street. In contrast, the Law School sits between Waterloo Quadrant and Eden Crescent, in buildings formerly used by the High Court of New Zealand in Auckland. Prior to that, the land was used by an ice cream manufacturer, leading to its nickname "the ice cream factory". One courtroom has been retained unaltered for moots.

The law school is accessible by a right of way down a small hill from Waterloo Quadrant. Originally, this was only a mud track nicknamed the Ho Chi Minh trail but this was paved when the Davis Law Library was completed and replaced Eden Crescent as the main entrance into the Law School grounds.

Until 1991, the Law school was formerly based on the top three floors of the University Library building. Acting Dean Peter Watts confirmed in 2004 that after departments in the Faculty of Business and Economics vacate the main "100" sector to relocate to the Owen G Glenn Building, the Law School will relocate to the area currently occupied by the Commerce A, Commerce B and Upper/Lower Lecture Theatre buildings. The Davis Law Library will take up residence in Old Choral Hall after an extensive refit, and it is intended that it will contain some of the most advanced mooting facilities in the Southern Hemisphere.

While the project was due to be completed by 2009, when the Law School's current lease with the Melanesian Mission Trust expires, the delay in completing the Owen G Glenn Building and subsequently the vacating of the area earmarked for the new law school development, have cast this timeline into doubt. Law school lecturers have subsequently confirmed to students that it is highly likely the University will exercise its five year right of renewal in its lease with the Melanesian Mission Trust, meaning that the new law school will not be completed until, at its earliest, 2014.

Student activities

The University of Auckland Law School is the home of volunteer (pro-bono legal services) organisation, the Equal Justice Project (www.equaljustice.co.nz). Founded in 2005, with approximately 120 members it is one of the largest pro bono organisations in New Zealand.

An elected student body, the Auckland University Law Students Society (AULSS Website), represents students and helps organise social events such as "Steins", publication of the serious academic Law Review, an annual Law Revue, mooting competitions, and participation in sports and events such as the Round the Bays fun run. Law students traditionally dominate both competition and administration of both the Auckland University Debating Association and the Auckland Debating Association.

In 2007, University of Auckland students won three of the four competitions at the New Zealand Law Students Association conference in Christchurch: mooting, client interviewing and witness examination. This qualified the mooting and client interviewing teams to represent New Zealand at the worlds in each of their respective disciplines - the mooting team to the 2008 Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition in Washington DC, and the client interviewers to the 2008 worlds in Bangalore, India. New Zealand, as represented by the University of Auckland mooters, advanced to the quarterfinals in Washington before being defeated by the University of New South Wales on a split bench; the best result for an Auckland team in Washington for at least the last ten years.

References

See page 1 (Dean Paul Rishworth's message)