The Origin of the Murdoch Student Law Society – 30 Years of MSLS

By Riya Shah

This year, the Murdoch Student Law Society is celebrating its 30th year of representing the law students at Murdoch University. In this article, we look back 30 years to reminisce on the beginning of MSLS to remember both how and why it was created. 

In early 1990, Murdoch University opened its doors for the first time to students wanting to study law. Three days after the opening of Murdoch Law School, half of the Law School’s first cohort gathered near the Environmental Sciences Building to discuss starting a representative body for law students. Murdoch Law School’s first dean Professor Ralph Simmonds (now Justice Simmonds at the WA Supreme Court) encouraged these students to band together to set up a student society.

Following this initial meeting, talk of this potential law student society spread to the other student organisations, including the Murdoch Guild. The Guild was initially firmly against a law student society on the basis that it was “elitist” because it excluded non-law students from joining. Nevertheless, the Guild’s Vice President collaborated with the law students to build an inclusive body which served to both represent the law students at Murdoch University while being open to non-law students. The name of the society also reflects this inclusivity – rather than being called the “Murdoch Law Students’ Society” (which denotes that the society is limited to law students), it was titled the “Murdoch Student Law Society”. After figuring out the nuts and bolts of the society, MSLS saw the genesis of its first committee:

·        The President, Mark Dean;

·        The Vice-President, Sharon Law;

·        The Treasurer, Grant Gernhoffer;

·        The Secretary, Julian Atkinson;

·        The Socials Events Committee Member, Dave Stewart.

In MSLS’ first year, the committee introduced a regular newsletter which would include both articles written by students and professionals. The name of this newsletter was a matter of intense debate for many weeks. Sharon, the Society’s Vice President was a major fan of the movie Dead Poets Society and took inspiration from Mr Keating’s (played by Robin William) famous line “Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary.” The committee liked the idea of a Latin title and all agreed on Carpe Diem as the newsletter’s title.

Three decades later, both MSLS and Carpe Diem have withstood the test of time. It’s nice to know that even after all this time, MSLS still plays a vital role in the law student experience at Murdoch University. MSLS would like to thank our members, past and present, alongside the staff at the Murdoch Law School for supporting us for the past 30 years.

Riya Shah

Education & Careers Vice President of MSLS