ALSA is the peak representative body for law students in Australia. As an Australian law student, you are an ALSA member. Your interests are represented by your own university’s LSS, who form part of the ALSA Council. Now you are more than likely asking yourself “how is ALSA different to my own university Law Students’ Society (LSS), and what exactly does ALSA do for me?” Good question.

ALSA’s services can be divided into three broad categories:

1. Acting as a national representative for Australian law students’ interests;
2. Providing direct services for Australian law students; and
3. Providing a knowledge sharing forum for law student societies (LSSs) across Australian universities

1. National Lobbying

ALSA is slightly different to your traditional LSS in that as a national representative body, one of our primary roles is to act as a lobbyist for Australian law student interests. ALSA carries out this role through a number of channels, including making submissions to governments, universities and other stakeholders, and by maintaining relationships with bodies such as the Law Council of Australia (LCA) and the Council of Australian Law Deans (CALD). The ALSA team ensures that where issues require a unified and national response, ALSA has significant weight in its ability to negotiate with other organisations where the individual LSSs would not have a substantial voice.

ALSA is run by an elected Executive and Committee, who consult with the individual LSSs around Australia in order to determine what are the critical issues facing law students at any given moment. These range from traditional education matters, such as funding, assessment policies or scholarship opportunities, to career issues, such as seasonal clerkship guidelines, requirements for admission and non-corporate opportunities.

2. Services for Students

ALSA delivers a number of services directly to students where there are synergies in doing so at a national level. Our primary event is the annual ALSA Conference (held in July) which brings together over 400 law students from Australia and New Zealand for the national finals of legal competitions. In addition, the Conference hosts ALSA Council meetings, Australian Legal Education Forums (ALEF) and plenty of fun times! ALSA also maintains a number of publications focused on all Australian law students, including the Academic Journal, International Careers Handbook and Judges Associates Handbook. These publications are intended to be of benefit to Australian law students in addition to the publications provided by individual LSSs.

3. Knowledge Sharing for Individual LSSs

ALSA provides a knowledge sharing forum to assist the LSS on your campus to be the best it can be. This forum is the ALSA Council, which comprises of the President and an ALSA Representative from each of the 30+ law student societies nationwide. The ALSA Council meets three times a year, and the most important parts of these meetings are knowledge sharing workshops which allow ideas to be shared and taken back home. The ALSA Education team also gathers data from law schools around Australia on issues in legal education which can then be distributed and used by individual LSSs in their own education roles.

The Year Ahead

2009-10 is, as always, an exciting year for ALSA. The Executive and Committee are committed to improving each of the three aspects of ALSA’s activities listed above. We are also committed to improving the standing of Australian Law Students on the Global Stage through building relationships with other peak bodies and promoting Australian Champions’ attendance at international finals of legal competitions.

You will find more information about all of ALSA’s activities by browsing our website – www.alsa.net.au. Many useful resources are also available for Law Students’ Societies through the LSS Login. If you want more information or are interested in getting involved in ALSA, please contact the relevant Executive or Committee member, or if you feel the need; myself directly. My inbox is always open, and my phone is always on!

I wish you all the best in your studies.

Jonathan Augustus
President
Australian Law Students’ Association (ALSA)