Offer, Kate --- "A Brief History of the Western Australian Teachers of Law Forum" [2023] WALawTRw 3; (2023) 1 Western Australian Law Teachers' Review v

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A Brief History of the Western Australian Teachers of Law Forum

The Western Australian Teachers of Law (WAToL) Forum, which brings together all teachers of law, including law librarians, from all five Western Australian universities, first took place at the University of Western Australia in July 2017. The aim of the conference was to create a forum for the discussion and sharing of ideas about teaching law, as well as establishing and promoting collegial networks and collaborations for teachers of law in Western Australia. WAToL has been an overwhelming success, having run every year since 2017, but for a brief hiatus in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The idea for a local teaching conference for law teachers was first suggested by Professor Natalie Skead at the University of Western Australia, and was seized upon by myself and some key collaborators – namely Professor Joan Squelch (from The University of Notre Dame Australia) and Dr Anna Bunn (of Curtin University). We had noticed that we generally only met our Western Australian colleagues whilst interstate when attending national conferences, and we knew that having a local version would give us the opportunity to meet our local colleagues in an enjoyable and relaxed forum. Of course, the immense value of a local organisation was made even more clear to us in Western Australia as our borders were closed from April 2020 to March 2022.

It is so gratifying to see the success of WAToL, and now to welcome the development of our very own journal, WALTR, shepherded especially by colleagues Aidan Ricciardo and Christina Do.

Kate Offer

Senior Lecturer and Deputy Head of School (Learning & Teaching) at the UWA Law School, The University of Western Australia