ALSA COUNCIL

ABOUT THE ALSA COUNCIL

The ALSA Council is a body comprising of the ALSA Executive, the ALSA Committee and two representatives (usually the president and a vice president) from each of the 39 law student societies in Australia.

The Council meets three times a year. As ALSA's managing body, the Council discusses any current issues in ALSA administration. The Council also discusses national issues in legal education to inform the stance that the ALSA Executive & Committee takes on these issues. The Council's most important function is as a knowledge sharing forum for law student societies. Each meeting includes a number of workshops, seminars and break-out groups on topics nominated by councillors based on issues facing their law society.

February Council is an opportunity for incoming LSS/A representatives to get together and prepare for the year. February Council 2017 will be in beautiful Newcastle, we look forward to seeing you there.

FEBRUARY COUNCIL

Agenda

Note that the formal agenda for Council will be released closer to the date.

Thursday (Pre-Council): Beach Afternoon / Evening

Friday (Council Day 1): 9-5pm Council, 6:30pm-late Customs House (Canapes and Drinks)

Saturday (Council Day 2): 9-5pm Council

Sunday (Council Day 3): 9-3pm Council

Important Documents

Action Items

Smart Casual Professional Development Modules

Education VP February Council Action Items

Education VP Presentation - Access & Inclusion Follow Up

Today’s presentation facilitated some robust discussion surrounding the place of students with access and inclusion issues within their law school/faculty and the place of an LSS/LSA in this space. The overall feelings seemed to be that most LSS/LSA’s wanted to do something in this area and were unsure of where to start or how they could actually affect change.

Some concerns that arose were as follows:

Whether by identifying these students they actually feel more excluded.
How we protect the confidentiality of these students if we choose to gather information.
If you don’t have a disability then it’s not up to you to decide what happens to these students- they need to be the champions in their own law school experience.
That it’s not our job to counsel students.
That there is such a range of access and inclusion issues that trying to cater for all of them could be tricky.
That the term ‘disability’ is exclusionary and could be problematic.

Some ideas and positive comments that arose were as follows:

Some LSS/LSA’s act as a bridge between students and services they can access and this is a positive thing.
Some LSS/LSA’s have an inclusion policy. By simply having a policy students feel more visible and connected with their LSS/LSA.
That a survey produced by ALSA and distributed to LSS/LSA’s to get feedback would be a good
That competitions is one area where ALSA has made headway in this space and there is more we can do in this area.

Going forward:

Draft a survey with the education team that will be distributed to interested LSS/LSA’s to allow students to identify barriers to access and inclusion they may face.
Put a call out for interested people to be part of a working group to work on inclusion in competitions.
Decide on a feasible timeline together of when we want a final survey produced and distributed to students.
With the data received from the survey, decide on our next steps.

If you are interested in helping with the above points, please register your interest below -- we'll be in touch.

Name

First Name

Last Name

Email Address

LSS/A Name

Position on LSS/A

I am interested in, and would like to receive updates about, the following items from the presentation:

Competition Rules (i.e. developing best practice competition rules)

Access & Inclusion action items (i.e. survey, publications, etc.)

NB: Interested in Access & Inclusion and Competitions? Make sure you attend the Competitions Breakout Group session.

Survey for LSS/A

REGISTRATION

Registration for ALSA February Council 2017 is now open. For further information about Council, please see above.

Costs

Council - $245 pp (includes accommodation (Fri + Sat), lunch (Fri, Sat + Sun) and dinner/drinks (Fri).
Pre-Council - $90 pp (includes accommodation (Thurs)

Key LOCATIONS and transport information

Hotel: Travelodge Hotel, 12 Steel Street, Newcastle

Newcastle City Hub (Campus): Level 1, University House, The University of Newcastle, King and Auckland St, Newcastle

Customs House: 1 Bond Street, Newcastle

Newcastle Airport: 1 Williamtown Dr, Williamtown NSW 2318

Note: If taking the train from Sydney, go to Hamilton Station and catch the free 110 Shuttle to the hotel.

If you have any questions please email Meena (Conference Convenor).

ALSA September Council 2016 Registrations

Delegation Information

University Name

i.e. Flinders University

Law Student Society/Association Name

i.e. Flinders University Law Student Society

Postal Address of Law Student Society/Association

Delegate #1

Name

First Name

Last Name

Position held in the Law Student Society/Association

LSS/A Email Address

Personal Email Address (optional - for ALSA Alumni Database)

i.e. firstname.lastname@provider.com OR pok3monrock@provider.com

Mobile Number

Registration Option

Council Only = $245 AUD pp
Council + Pre Council = $335 AUD pp

Council

Council + Pre-Council

Dietary Information

Medical Information

Delegate #2

Name

First Name

Last Name

Position held in the Law Student Society/Association

LSS/A Email Address

Personal Email Address (optional - for ALSA Alumni Database)

i.e. firstname.lastname@provider.com OR pok3monrock@provider.com

Mobile Number

Registration Option

Council Only = $245 AUD pp
Council + Pre Council = $335 AUD pp

Council

Council + Pre-Council

Dietary Information

Medical Information