Barrett, Calum --- "Editorial" [2014] NZLawStuJl 2; (2014) 3 NZLSJ x

Last Updated: 24 September 2015

EDITORIAL

CALUM BARRETT
BA, LLB, MBHL, UNIVERSITY OF OTAGO

It was nearly a decade ago now that the New Zealand Law Student’s Journal was founded. This issue marks the ninth time that the entirely student run initiative has been published, and it continues to be a testament to the fantastic minds that inhabit New Zealand’s law schools.

Nine years ago, the chief editor of the inaugural edition of this journal was a young law student named Jesse Wall. Now known as Dr Jesse Wall, we are honoured to have Dr Wall write the foreword for this edition, no longer as an editor but in his role as a lecturer at the Otago Law Faculty.

It is never an enjoyable experience receiving the news that your application has been unsuccessful due to “an unusually high number of exceptional applicants”. I feel it is a cliché that many law students know all too well (or at least I know all too well). Unfortunately, I had to send out a large number of such messages to unsuccessful authors this year, the irony of which was not lost on me. The editor of the journal probably repeats this same message every year, but the fact of the matter is we received a staggering amount of submissions; almost twice as many as in previous years. The vast majority of these were absolutely excellent, and it is no exaggeration to say we could have selected three times as many articles for publication and still had an extremely high quality journal on our hands. Unfortunately, the only way the budget would have allowed for this would have been if I had made the font really, really, small.

I would like to thank my editorial team, the student reviewers, and the academic reviewers for their assistance in narrowing down the many fantastic submissions. What remains is what we consider to be the top eight. These cover an expansive range of subjects and truly demonstrate the varied and exciting breadth of opportunities that a degree in law can provide. I am sure that you will find these articles both enjoyable and informative.

Calum Barrett
Editor, New Zealand Law Students’ Journal, 2014