CITY UNIVERSITY LONDON

THE INNS OF COURT SCHOOL OF LAW BVC STUDENT ASSOCIATION

CONSTITUTION

1.NAME AND OBJECTS

1.1There shall be an Association of the Bar Vocational Course (BVC) students of the Inns of Court School of Law (ICSL). The name of the Association shall be The ICSL BVC Student Association (the Association).

1.2The Association shall have the following objects:

  1. To further City University’s educational purposes through the BVC.
  1. To represent the interests of the BVC students for the time being of the ICSL by acting as a channel of communication between BVC students and the student representatives on the City Law School’s and ICSL’s academic boards.

City Law School Academic Practice Programmes and Standards Committee (APPSC): one Full-Time BVC student and one Part-Time BVC student

CityLawSchool Board of Studies: one BVC student (either FT or PT)

CityLawSchool Advisory Board: one ICSL students (BVC, LPC or LLM)

  1. In co-operation with the Student Associations of the four Inns of Court, to provide for the educational, social and cultural interests of the BVC students of the ICSL.

1.3The objects shall be pursued in accordance with the equal opportunities policies of CityUniversity.

1.4The members of the Association shall be the BVC students for the time being of the ICSL. Each BVC student shall be automatically considered a member of the Association unless (s)he conveys an intention not to be a member, in writing, to the Association Secretary.

1.5The Association shall determine matters of policy and principle by General Meetings of the members of the Association.

1.6The day to day management of the Association shall be determined by the Executive Committee, subject to such directions as it may be given by a General Meeting.

2.THE GENERAL MEETING

2.1General Meetings shall be held at times convenient to members of the Association at least once a term.

2.2The quorum for General meetings shall be twenty five members of the Association.

2.3No member of the Association shall be excluded from a General Meeting.

2.4No business shall be transacted at a General Meeting which has not been specified on the notice calling the General Meeting, unless it is of a genuine emergency nature.

2.5Minutes of the meetings of the Executive Committee shall be made available for inspection at the next General Meeting, which may reverse or amend any decision of the Executive Committee so reported.

2.6Each General Meeting shall be given the opportunity to question the Officers of the Association on any actions taken by them in the execution of their duties.

2.7Minutes shall be kept of all General Meetings. Together with the agendas of meetings, they shall be published in ‘In Brief’.

2.8The Association President or his or her nominee from among the members of the Executive Committee shall chair General Meetings.

2.9.The Chair shall not vote except that (s)he may give a casting vote in the result of a tie.

3.EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

3.1The Executive Committee of the Association shall consist of the representatives serving on the FT and PT BVC Committees.

3.2The Executive Committee shall have executive responsibility for the day-to-day administration of the affairs of the Association and for the implementation of the decisions of General Meetings. It may not decide matters of policy or principle. The Association President or his or her nominee from among the members of the Executive Committee shall be the chair of the Executive Committee. At meetings of the Executive Committee, the chair shall not vote except that (s)he may give a casting vote in the result of a tie.

3.3The Executive Committee may, in the execution of its duties, set up such sub-committees as it may from time to time require in order to advance the objects of the Association. Such bodies may be established to deal with specific areas such as, inter alia, finance, pupillage affairs, welfare, social events, academic issues and discrimination awareness.

3.4The meetings of the Executive Committee shall be held at times convenient to its members. The Executive Committee shall determine its own procedure for the transaction of its business, and the frequency of its meetings, and shall also determine the rules of procedure and frequency of meetings of any sub-committees.

4.EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

4.1There shall be three Executive Officers of the Executive Committee:

  1. President
  2. Treasurer
  3. Secretary.

4.2The Executive Officers shall be primarily responsible for carrying out the decisions of the Executive Committee.

4.3The Executive Officers shall be selected from among the members of the Executive Committee by the agreement of all such members or, failing such agreement, by secret ballot of all such members.

4.4The President shall be responsible for co-ordinating the activities of the Association, acting as spokesperson and representative of the Association, liaising as appropriate with the BVC Course Director and acting as Chair of the Executive Committee and General Meetings.

4.5The Treasurer shall be responsible for any money transferred to the Association by the ICSL and for the accounts of the Association, including audit of those accounts. In the absence of the President, the Treasurer shall act as spokesperson for, and representative of, the Association, liaising as appropriate with the BVC Course Director.

4.6The Secretary shall be responsible for the convening, and the recording of minutes of, the General Meetings and meetings of the Executive Committee, the receipt of motions and the preparation of reports and agendas.

4.7The members of the Executive Committee who are not Executive Officers shall be required to assist the Executive Officers in the execution of their duties, to assist in the implementation of Association policy and otherwise to scrutinise the work of the Executive Officers.

5.FINANCE

5.1Each year the ICSL shall set aside a fixed sum to advance the objects of the Association. The budget-holder shall be the Course Director of the BVC.

5.2Money may only be transferred by the budget-holder to the Association if:

  1. an application for such a transfer is made by the Association through the Executive Committee
  2. the application is for a specific purpose which is both lawful and within the objects of the Association and
  3. the budget-holder authorises the transfer.

5.3The Executive Committee shall be responsible for ensuring that money transferred by the budget-holder to the Association is used only for the specific purpose for which it was transferred.

5.4There shall be co-signatories to the bank account of the Association who shall be the President and the Treasurer.

5.5Copies of the Association accounts and of the Association’s bank accounts shall be shown to the budget-holder on request.

5.6Members of the Executive Committee shall be personally liable for any debts incurred by the Association and outstanding at the end of the academic year in which they have served as members of the Executive Committee.

Last amended November 2005

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