St Mary’s Host Annual Law Forum

On Tuesday 16th October, St Mary’s law students from the LLB Law, LLB Law with Criminology and BA Business Law programmes were joined by an esteemed panel of legal professionals for an evening of inspiration, discussion and networking.

This year’s event took place in the Waldegrave Drawing Room. The panellists were asked to speak for 10 minutes each about their role within the legal profession and to share their experiences of both training and practice. The panel was convened and chaired by Lloyd Gash, Senior Lecturer in Law. Following the talks students were given the chance to ask questions from the floor, with refreshments and time to network with the speakers afterwards. 

The St Mary’s Law Programme Team greatly values the important links with members of the legal profession that this kind of event has generated over the years for the benefit of the students. This year’s Law Forum was the fifth of its kind in the annual series to be held on campus at St Mary’s, and it was particularly encouraging to note the breadth of organisations represented on the panel, some of whom have St Mary’s law students on work placements.

This year’s panel included:

Alice Brunning: Associate, Taylor Vinters

His Honour Judge Peter Lodder QC: Senior Circuit Judge and Recorder of Richmond-Upon-Thames

Kellie Williams-Jauvel: Partner, Morrisons Solicitors LLP

Jason Smalley: Consultant General Counsel, The Legal Director and Visiting Senior Fellow, St Mary’s University

Evelyn Ofori-Koree: Principal Solicitor and Director, Descartes Solicitors. Immigration Law seat on Law Society Council and Committee Member of the Law Society Ethnic Minority Division

Leo Licheri-Hood: St Mary’s LLB Law Graduate, LPC student, future trainee solicitor at Dechert LLP

John Luckhurst: Senior Partner, Michael Demidecki & Co

Opi Outhwaite: Senior Lecturer, LLM Co-Programme Director, St Mary’s University

Students from every year group were in attendance on the night, as well as postgraduate students and prospective applicants from Open Day events who were warmly invited to join the event and take part in the discussions.

Senior Lecturer in Law Lloyd Gash said, “As ever, it was heart-warming to see the value that current and prospective students were able to take from this event in hearing from and speaking with the fantastic panellists. I was inspired by the stories, experiences and tips for success that were shared with us. Thank you to the panellists for giving up their time to spend the evening with us.”     

Law Programme Director Jenny Henry, added, “I found this an uplifting and thought provoking evening and know that the students did too. There were quite a few highlights, including Judge Lodder’s case involving the head of a dismembered body being cooked in an oven, which certainly kept the students’ attention.

“We had the whole Law Programmes ‘community’ there-all year groups and even a few prospective students as well. Many students have commented subsequently how much they enjoyed the event and the opportunity to network afterwards with the panellists. ”