Murdoch Student Law Society
Committee Minutes
Date: March 22nd, 2017
Time: 3:30pm
Venue: Law 1.103
Attendees:
Andy Shacks President (Chair)
Angela Khemlani Treasurer
Andy Hunter Secretary (Minuter)
Adriana Costanzo Education Vice-President (‘EVP’)
Riley Mercer Socials and Sporting Vice-President (‘SVP’)
Carmen Grobbelaar Competitions Vice-President (‘CVP’)
Elisha Rayner Publications Vice-President (‘PVP’)
Amy Weston Café Manager
Sunand Fernandez Finance Officer
Troy Sauzier Information Technology Officer (‘IT’)
Chelsea White Education Officer
Kashmirra Thevar Careers Officer
Sarah Payne Social Officer
Ruby Lee Sporting Officer
Sam Coten Competition Officer
Nicola Greenshields Publications Officer
Gemma Szumilak Social Justice Officer (‘SJ Officer’)
Reynald Ipapo Legal Studies Representative
Lucy Stronach Criminology Representative
Alex Pirone General Committee
Sienna Warne General Committee
Apologies:
Danielle Karsten Competition Officer
Jason Weeks Mature Age & Graduate Representaive
Position Vacant Marketing Officer
Observers:
Cody Stevenson First Year Representative Nominee
Karla Fernandes First Year Representative Nominee
Daniel Baker Sub-Committee Nominee
Troy Gittos Sub-Committee Nominee
1. Confirmation of previous Committee Minutes
a) Minutes confirmation
Minutes are to be confirmed from the meeting of the 13/02/17.
2. Portfolio Discussion Items
a) President
President: Income from sponsorship is currently at a similar amount to the previous year’s. We have a larger number of sponsoring firms engaged.
President: Some major sponsors have decreased their contribution, including Allens, DLA Piper, and KWM. Freehills has remained at a similar level, Ashurst has increased, and we have newly engaged with Legal Super and reconnected with Lavan Legal. Other novel sponsorship opportunities are still also being pursued.
b) Finance Team
Treasurer: We have been gradually receiving sponsorship payments recently.
Treasurer: Please ensure that budgets for events are forwarded to me, and that tickets are to commence being sold at least 2 weeks prior to the event.
Sienna: Do we have a final profit/loss from Law Camp? Treasurer/SVP: Not yet, but we will have one soon. At a current estimate, the loss this year was significantly lower than previous years’.
i) Café Stock
Treasurer: Significant amounts of cold drinks have been going missing from the café, and I would like café staff to start doing a regular stock-take every shift to assist in preventing this issue. Café staff are only entitled to have hot drinks for free while working – please don’t take cold drinks without paying for them.
It Officer: Counting drinks on every shift won’t end up happening. Stock -takes will need to be done based off orders. Treasurer: Some sales aren’t being put through the POS system, which makes it difficult to track. The Finance Officer will be taking an inventory as soon as POSsible.
ii) New POS system
Treasurer: We will soon be getting a new POS system along with a café iPad, there a few options we are currently considering.
Finance Officer: I am leaning towards a company called ‘Square’ providing our new POS system. It has a 1.9% fee for sales, and includes a free card machine. This option is cheaper than most other available. I have tested a demo system and think it is suitable for the MSLS Café’s purposes. The company sells us the card processors, and the POS system is free. This option will cost one up-front payment of $560, and no ongoing costs.
SVP: Have you had previous experience with MYOB or another reputable system, and is this option compatible? Finance Officer: Yes it is. SVP: Is it east to cache off to EFTPOS and to cash? Finance Officer: Yes. President: Could IT Officer look into and oversee the implementation of this system, as well as the Café Manager.
SVP: What is the plan to prevent theft of the iPad to be purchased along with this system? EVP: We could keep the tablet in the law school office to store overnight. Café Manager: It will need to be locked up somewhere.
iii) Coffee Sales
Finance Officer: Thus far for the year we have sold 419 member-priced coffees, and 269 non-member coffees.
iv) Bank card usage
Treasurer: There is currently only one card available for use. If any Committee member needs to access funds, Treasurer needs to be aware at least the day beforehand. Treasurer: You must always return the bank card to me after using it, instead of passing it to another Committee member who may need it. This is so I can keep track of who is holding it.
Sienna and Secretary advise that the Committee get multiple bank cards. President: We will arrange another couple of bank cards over the next couple of weeks.
President: The signatory changeover forms need to be filed with the bank.
Socials Officer: On certain days competition rounds and socials will be running on the same day.
Alex: Could we write a list on Monday for what will be needed during the week? EVP: We can set an account up with Woolworths, and will not need to use a card for competition catering or for any other purchases from Woolworths. President: The Finance Officer will look into opening an account with Woolworths.
c) Education and Careers Team
EVP: Thank you to all Committee for attending the Careers Conference today, and thank you to Lucy and Reynald for staffing the MSLS Café all day.
EVP: The Perth Law Careers Fair and Murdoch Careers Fair are both coming up in May. Between now and then will be the education and careers seminar series, which will be advertised later.
i) Women’s Mentoring Program
Education Officer: Signups for mentoring have now closed. We have received 37 signups. The program will commence next week, beginning with a seminar presented by a lawyer, hosted on campus. Lavan Legal have expressed interest in sponsoring the morning tea. WILWA (Women in Law WA) have been very supportive of the program – they would like their banner to be put up at events and write-ups of the program following it.
Careers Officer: The Careers Guide and Clerkship Guide content are both finalized, other than waiting on a few small articles. They will both be passed to PVP asap, once these articles are finished. Could all Committee please like all notices posted on the education and careers Facebook page.
President: The work commitment and attention to detail with the Careers Guide is huge. EVP: All credit for this year’s Guide goes to Kashmirra.
d) Secretary
i) Open Office Election By-Laws
Secretary presented draft of Open Office Election By-Law, which was discussed in detail. A concern was raised by IT Officer regarding a conflict with the Constitution as the By-Law did not provide for a Returning Officer as required by the Constitution. The Secretary will amend the By-Law to ensure compliance prior to next Committee meeting. It was decided that vacancies could not be filled at this current meeting with the election policy being incomplete and not passed.
Secretary: I welcome further comments or concerns to be sent to me to assist with redrafting the By-Law.
ii) First Year Representative Election
Karla Fernandez and Cody Stevenson won the election for First Year Representatives, and are required to be elected to sub-committee.
Motion: That Karla Fernandez and Cody Stevenson are elected to the position of First Year Representatives for 2017. Proposed by Secretary, seconded by President. 21 in favour, 0 against, 0 abstentions. Motion passed. (MSLS/2017/05)
Daniel Baker and Troy Gittos attended this meeting to nominate for the position of Marketing Officer, however as the election By-law was not passed, it was decided that they could instead be elected to sub-committee positions within the publications and marketing portfolio to assist the publications and marketing team.
Motion: That Daniel Baker is appointed to the publications and marketing sub-committee. Proposed by President, seconded by Secretary. 16 in favour, 3 against (Sienna noted – objected to a lack of advertisement/notice of the marketing officer position vacancy), 0 abstentions. Motion passed. (MSLS/2017/06)
Motion: That Troy Gittos is appointed to the publications and marketing sub-committee. Proposed by President, seconded by Secretary. 16 in favour, 3 against (Sienna noted – objected to a lack of advertisement/notice of the marketing officer position vacancy), 0 abstentions. Motion passed. (MSLS/2017/07)
iii) Criminal Law Moot Cancellation
Secretary: For the past 4 years (or slightly more), a key component of the Criminal Law unit in the second semester of every law student’s first year was the Criminal Law Moot. This is an optional moot, the results of which amounted to 10% of a student’s grade for the semester. Those that chose to not participate in the moot could opt to have their final exam grade weighted 10% higher instead. Prior to this, there was a Torts Moot run in the Torts unit in the second semester of first year law that was identical in substance.
Secretary: This year, the Criminal Law unit is being coordinated by a different lecturer than previously, and the new lecturer has chosen to not run the Criminal Law Moot. I strongly feel that having a practical moot component incorporated into the first year of all law students’ degrees at Murdoch is an essential part of our law school, and not doing so would greatly detriment student’s experience and the law school at large.
Secretary: The mooting component of first year introduces students to the mooting program at Murdoch, and encourages them to get further involved in later years. Having the moot incorporated within a unit and having law faculty supported advertising and coordination of the moot has a substantially more effective reach than independently coordinated MSLS competitions (for example the Criminal Law Moot previously has 80-90 signups, whereas the MSLS Mooting competitions never have more than 30). Moots are also fantastic ways to gain an in-depth, practical understanding of the application of the law, and I believe that at least one moot should be incorporated into the overall course structure of a Murdoch Law degree.
EVP: The Criminal Law unit is the most appropriate unit for a moot component to be incorporated.
Sienna: If the Criminal Law Moot does not run, will MSLS be running it? CVP: I will be running Novice Moot and will be able to include first year competitors in that this year. Lorraine has offered to support us run this competition in semester two in substitution for the Criminal Law Moot. Secretary: That will hopefully fill the gap this year, however I believe that not having a moot incorporated within a unit will still be of great detriment, particularly to the number of students that will get involved.
Secretary: The Law School is currently investigating alternative options to run a moot following discussion regarding the issue. I have made them aware of my concerns on this matter. To emphasise the importance of this issue however, I would like to present a paper to the Law School from MSLS, rather than solely from myself. I will write up a position piece and present it to Committee for approval.
iv) Membership
Secretary: I have been investigating various options to host the MSLS Membership database. I contacted two businesses that offer online platforms to host membership services databases, and was quoted over $10,000 by both. These were high-end, comprehensive services, many of which MSLS would not need. Both representatives advised, when queried on a more suitable option for MSLS, to simply set up an EFTPOS system through the MSLS website, and to sell memberships and collect information there, rather than attempting to implement a cookie-cutter third-party provider’s system.
Secretary: I have asked the IT Officer to investigate and implement a card payment system to be hosted on the MSLS website. This should hopefully be able to also be used for social event tickets and merchandise sales. However this is not likely possible to implement for this year, and will need to be prepared for the following year’s Committee.
EVP: I would like to lower the quorum requirement for the AGM to be a fixed number, rather than its current 10% due to difficulties making quorum each year. Could we hold an SGM this year to amend the Constitution and lower the quorum requirement? Secretary: I don’t believe it will be difficult to make quorum this year, with a slightly lower current membership-base, and affiliate members (students not studying legal studies, criminology, law, or business law) not being voting/counted members for the quorum requirement. I will run the membership database with the Law School to determine how many actual voting members we have prior to the AGM. I don’t think it is worthwhile to hold an SGM for this amendment, and if we wish we may make this amendment at the AGM.
v) Corporations Act Amendments
Secretary: We are required to make changes to our Constitution to comply with the new requirements under the Corporations Act. These changes need to be made and effected by 2019. I will draft the required changes prior to this year’s AGM to be passed then.
vi) Guild Grant
MSLS has had our grant application with the Murdoch Guild approved for up to $1,000. This grant may go towards, competition, event, and meeting catering, competition trophies, sporting jerseys, the purchase of a standing banner, and various advertising and marketing expenses. I shall be collecting receipts from purchases in semester one along with the Treasurer to claim reimbursements for these expenses.