The winners of the Law Society elections were announced in the Bunatee Bar last night. The Advocates won all available positions. The elected posts will be filled next year by Jason O’Neill as President, Josh Curry as Vice President, Marie-Claire Campbell as Secretary, Paula Fitzpatrick as Treasurer, Craig Fagan as Editor and Aidan Hughes as Mooting Officer.

BY RUTH MAGENNIS

Hopefully the Advocates will use their newly elected roles to uphold their aim of creating “a visual, student based Law Society which will provide greater support and opportunities for all”. The campaign was a well run one, with support from the popular night club Rain, and they were one of the first teams to have a night out this year, with a launch in Rain on the 16th of March.

The election will allow Marie-Claire Campbell to push through the new proposals for charity work in her new post as Secretary. This includes the creation of a new role of Charity Officer to facilitate students in their participation in charity work, and a Law Charity Day which plans to rival the Mystery Tour as one of the biggest events in the Law Society calendar.

However, there was discontent at the results, with visible upset among the unsuccessful teams last night when the Advocates were announced as the winners. There are also rumours that the opposing teams felt the elections were merely a popularity contest.

One student commented, “I’m really pleased they won, I’d say they’ll be good at getting things done… their campaigning showed they’re on the ball too.” While another student said, “I’m glad they won it. I knew they would, they deserve it hands down. Next year should be a good year for Queen’s lawyers!”

However, another felt that the apathy felt by many students would not change this year, saying, “The law society is completely pointless because they are planning nights out that have been done before…they never live up to their promises.”

Newly elected president, Jason O’Neill says:

“I think our campaign went really well. I was delighted that our whole team got elected despite tough competition from the other candidates. Our aim was to run our campaign in a way that would inform the student body of our policies without using tactics that aim to pester potential voters into submission. I feel that we achieved this. Next year we hope to live up to our election promises and build a more supportive and engaging Law Society. We will broaden the remit of our officers to include a charity portfolio under the position of Secretary and provide enployability skills workshops such as alternative dispute resolution and negotiation under the responsibility of the Mooting Officer. We will also work with the Careers Department to facilitate the greater provision of careers education and advice. On the social side of things we aim to put Law Soc social events back on top of the social calendar, promising bigger, better and more diverse nights out. We hope to achieve these pledges as well as a lot more!”