October edition
Congratulations on making it through the second month of the semester! The Students’ Law Society (SLS) would like to provide the following updates:
2L Recruit Chats
This event was held on October 2 and was designed to help 2Ls connect with upper-year students to ask specific questions about various employers in an informal and student-only setting. We had over 20 3Ls who worked at various employers—including large and mid-size full-service firms, government, public interest, and labour and employment firms—volunteer their time and expertise. The SLS would like to thank all the 3L volunteers who made this event successful. The SLS would also like to thank the Career Development Office for making students feel well-supported through mock interviews, student panels, and the Leadership Skills Program series. Good luck to all the 2Ls who are participating in the recruit!
Accessibility Roundtable
Late last academic year, Dean Jutta Brunnée agreed to establish an Accessibility Roundtable, which would meet regularly during the 2023-24 academic year and advocate for improved accessibility at the law school. On October 2, the Accessibility Roundtable had its first meeting. They decided that it would be best to release a survey to collect student opinions on various topics, including the accommodations and considerations process, accessing disability resources, physical spaces, and how to better integrate accessibility into campus culture. The survey was released on October 16, in collaboration with the Disabled Law Students’ Association. Responses will be collected until November 3 and will help guide the agenda planning for future meetings.
Clothing Sale
Our very own law school-branded merch was released October 3, and our hats sold out on the first day! As for what is left, we have only a few quarter zips (embroidered with class years) and sweatpants available in the larger sizes. A special thank you to Chris Kozak (2L), VP Social, who worked hard throughout the summer preparing the clothing order so it would be ready for fall. Once we sell out, the SLS will organize another clothing sale. Don’t fret, we will have more hats next time!
Club Funding
Every semester, the Social and Finance Committee (SFC) allocates $5,000 to support club events. In prior years, the SFC required clubs to request funding 14 days before their proposed event. However, this year, the SFC changed its policy and now requires that all clubs submit funding requests for their Fall semester events by October 1. This change was driven by the fact that in prior years, the SFC was quite conservative in granting funding requests due to the concern that there might be requests later in the semester that required significant funding. Thus, this semester the SFC experimented with a hard deadline in order to allocate club funding more appropriately and to have a better idea of the events being planned. That being said, club leaders have expressed dissatisfaction with this new system, as it requires them to prepare many of the logistics for events early in the semester. The SFC has not yet made a decision on whether we will have a similar deadline for the Winter semester. If you are a club leader and have an opinion, please contact us!
Halloween
Finally, the SLS is hosting a Halloween party at the law school on Friday, October 27! This is the SLS’s flagship event in the Fall semester, and we cannot wait for students to experience this event. Moreover, we will have a scary movie night, a pumpkin carving event, Halloween trivia, and more throughout the week leading up to the party!
