Editor's weekly: Students behaving badly

First up for us was the University of Kent in the glorious cathedral city of Canterbury. The event was more low-key than say the likes of the Universities of Oxford and Manchester’s law fairs but nonetheless attracted over 250 students eager to impress future employers.

Since it was my first law fair of the season I can’t say for sure whether the mild sense of panic in the Eliot building reflected the mood of law students at other universities. I am certain, however, that the party is well and truly over and any student who thinks they can wander around a law fair grabbing whatever freebies they can get hold of is seriously misguided.

Walking around the law fair at Kent I noticed the distinct lack of giveaways meaning I only managed to pick up a couple of pens and a DLA Piper stress ball shaped like a lemon (don’t even ask). Indeed, as graduate recruitment budgets are squeezed many firms have decided to ditch their law fair freebies this year.

And as we reported on Monday (12 October) magic circle firm Linklaters has decided to drop its giveaways and donate the money it is saving to a charity based in Hackney, East London (read article).

Meanwhile, no law fair blog would be complete without some examples of students behaving inappropriately. Indeed, I thought Lawyer2B.com’s advice on how to survive law fairs was pretty comprehensive – but apparently not. So here are a few more tips on how not to behave at a law fair (these are based on actual student behaviour at law fairs this year):

1. Don’t use your mobile while speaking to a law firm rep - it shows a lack of manners
2. Don’t wonder around sucking on a lollipop – you’re not a toddler any more
3. Don’t chat up the law fair reps - if you want to go out on the pull then stick to the students’ union
4. Don’t ask a rep if they are a law firm - it shows you have done no preparation for the fair
5. Don’t ask a rep if they have any free carrier bags
6. And NEVER turn up drunk and start throwing freebies at law fair reps!

Hope to see you around preferably in a sober state during my travels over the forthcoming weeks (incidentally, I’m at Nottingham law fair next Thursday).

husnara.begum@lawyer2b.com

PS – it’s competition time again!

LexisNexis has launched new software to help law students to cite case law accurately. LexisCheck is essentially a “spell-check” for legal citations. The simple to use software scans through Word documents and automatically identifies citations and then displays, with a traffic light signal, whether the citation can be considered ‘reasonable’, to be used with ‘caution’ or ‘unreliable.’ Not only will it make your work more accurate it will save you lots of time too. I know that when I was a law student I would’ve loved to have something like this to help me.

To celebrate the launch LexisNexis are giving away the following prizes:

Top prize (1 person only) - One year’s free subscription to LexisCheck, one day’s ‘work experience’ with LexisNexis’s court reporting team in London (including £50 towards the cost of travel). This would involve a day in court listening to substantive judgments with a legal expert who can explain the ins and outs of the process. The winner will also receive a guided tour of the Royal Courts of Justice and lunch at Middle Temple Hall. And to take advantage of all the spare time that LexisCheck frees up we’ll also throw £20 of Odeon cinema vouchers.

Second prizes (3 in total) - One year’s free subscription to LexisCheck and £20 of Odeon cinema vouchers.

Third prizes (20 in total) - £10 Odeon cinema vouchers.

To enter the competition email the answer to the following question to me at husnara.begum@lawyer2b.com: What is the correct citation for the famous negligence case Donoghue v Stevenson?

A) Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] AC 562

B) Donoghue v Stevenson [1934] AC 562

C) Donoghue v Stevenson [1935] AC 562

Please include your full name, university and course and a mobile phone number for us to contact you. The deadline for entering is 31 October 2009. Good luck!