2024 Law Undergraduate Student Conferences - What happened in Edinburgh

In early 2023, in response to a face-to-face tuition pilot request made by the University, we submitted a proposal to run face to face events in the Law School. These events were to build on the success of the FBL ‘Inspiring Students' conference held in July 2019, which focused on development of academic and employability skills and promoted the importance of developing networks.

A plan for 5 face-to-face events was then also developed in 2021 - ‘Making the most of your level 1 law’, however due to the pandemic, these were delivered online instead.

At the 2023 Board of Studies Student Consultation, students were overwhelmingly positive about the opportunity at face-to-face events to engage with both tutors and peers. They commented that the personal, interactive and participative nature of face-to-face tutorials facilitated the free flow of discussion and shared experience not possible in online events, where students can be more passive. Several students referred to their belief that university is a ‘social’ experience as well as an academic experience which is the appeal of face-to-face events.

Thus, the plan was born for five face-to-face undergraduate law conferences across all four nations - How to succeed: Level 1 and Level 2 Law Conferences 23/24.

Our four-person lead planning team, Lecturers and Senior Lecturers within the Law Student Experience Team, joined forces to lead on authoring, resourcing, operationalising and marketing the events. With input from the Law Teaching Director and contributions from across the Student Experience Team, our Law Tutors and our Academic Coordinators, the events were planned for February 2024.

Held at Edinburgh Napier, Craiglockhart Campus, the Edinburgh conference ran concurrently with the Cardiff conference on the 17^th of February 2024. Alongside colleagues including, Ben Trupia-Melluish (Senior Lecturer and Head of Student Experience, Law) and Janine Fazakerley (Law Programme Manager), we welcomed students and tutors from the Law School. We were also joined by two guests, our highly esteemed retired colleagues: Rae Simpson and Alison Miller.

Keeping the conference on track with her exceptional hosting skills, Jane Hardwick (Lecturer, Student Experience Manager) opened and introduced our keynote address: “Violence Against Women and the Law: can Scotland lead the way?” delivered by the OU Law School’s Professor Olga Jurasz.

What a privilege it was to have Professor Olga Jurasz open this conference. Olga’s research specialises in international law, human rights, and legal responses to violence against women (including online violence). Olga is the Director of the new Centre for Protecting Women Online at the OU, funded by Research England.

Next on the programme was a fascinating conversation hosted by Andrew Maxfield (Lecturer and Student Experience Manager) inviting discussion from Sarah Henderson (Law Teaching Director) and Gillian Mawdsley (Law Tutor) on the topic of devolution, entitled “Lifting the kilt”. The three talked about the devolution of criminal law particularly to Scotland and the way in which the Scottish parliament can pass laws relating to devolved matters, as well as matters which are reserved for Westminster to legislate on. Gillian drew on some very interesting contemporary examples, such as the application of recent laws on the banning of XL bully dogs. There were also interesting student questions and contributions from academics in the room.

Students then split up into ‘skills’ sessions, there were four to choose from, and students were able to attend two before lunch:

1. Snail Mrs Donoghue? How to succeed in reading legal primary sources
2. How to turn a problem into a friend – Using IRAC successfully at level two
3. How to succeed in writing better essays.
4. How the OU law degree works – Making time successfully

All sessions received positive feedback with tutors struggling to get through the materials due to the amount of student contribution and discussion. Thank you, Jen Ang, Gillian Mawdsley, Dominic McGuire and Carol Edwards for your excellent delivery and great support on the day.

The afternoon programme opened with an inspiring presentation from Jen Ang. As well as one of our tutors at the OU, Jen is a Human Rights Lawyer and Founding Director of JustRight Scotland. Jen took us through what a day was like for her in her role, no two days are the same! Her inspirational presentation included overarching advice: to be committed, follow your passion, gain experience and don’t give up.

Students then broke up into module focused workshops, covering the four core modules at Level 1 and 2.

Throughout the day we witnessed students networking with peers and staff, collaborating, swapping numbers, forming study groups. It was fantastic to see.

Students in general gave overwhelmingly positive feedback about the day.

We hope to be back in Edinburgh again soon!

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Grace Allen 

Grace is Senior Lecturer within the Faculty and Business and Law and is an Assistant Head of Student Experience with the Law School. Within this role Grace leads the team of Student Experience Managers who each are line managers for the Associate Lecturer team. Grace sits on the Universities EDI Commitee as the faculty representative and is a member of the Universities BME steering group. Grace is also an Associate lecturer in Business and a Practice Tutor in Apprenticeships.