The academic successes of final year law students at Kent were celebrated on Tuesday with a Congregations ceremony at Canterbury Cathedral and an annual prize-giving reception on campus.
Families, friends and staff took their seats in the Cathedral’s beautiful vaulted nave to watch law students being conferred their degrees by University Chancellor Gavin Esler. More than 35 law students received a Bachelor of Arts with Honours degree and more than 325 students received a Bachelor of Laws with Honours degree.
At a later evening ceremony in the Cathedral, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Keith Mander conferred 105 Master of Laws degrees, six Doctor of Philosophy degrees and one Postgraduate Certificate. Earlier this month, Chancellor Gavin Esler also conferred two Medway law students with their Certificates and 13 Medway law students with their Bachelor of Laws with Honours degrees at a ceremony in Rochester Cathedral.
This year the University has also awarded two Honorary Doctor of Laws degrees; one to the Chair of the International Legal Assistance Consortium Elizabeth Margaret Howe OBE, in recognition of her contribution to Law, and one to Barrister and academic Professor Bob Hepple, (also a former Professor of Law at the University of Kent), in recognition of his lifetime contributions to law and equality in South Africa, the UK and internationally.
Celebrations continued after the ceremony with a drinks reception on the Canterbury campus, hosted by Kent Law School. Head of School, Professor Toni Williams welcomed visitors to a marquee overlooking the city where 30 prizes were presented to Canterbury law students in recognition of their academic successes. A further eight prizes were awarded to Medway law students.
(Lots more pictures available to view on the University of Kent’s Flickr account)
All the prize winners from 2015 are listed below:
Postgraduate prizes (presented by Professor Toni Williams)
- Oxford University Press Prize: for academic excellence in LLM (Master of Laws): Alice Walsh (winner); Synda Obaji, Nikolas Kallenos, Nuruebate Karnsakunthorn and Micca Freeman (runners up)
Undergraduate prizes (presented by Professor Nick Jackson)
Mooting Prizes
- Kent Law Society Prize – best overall mooter (sponsored by Kent Law Society, Sevenoaks): Nicholas Smith
- Weekly Law Reports Prize – best overall Stage 2 & Stage 3 mooters (sponsored by The Incorporated Council of Law Reporting, London): Orestis Anastasiades, Stage 2 and India Flanaga, Stage 3
- Hallett Prize – best external competition mooter (sponsored by Hallett Solicitors, Ashford): Christine Lawton
- Canadian Moot Prize – best performance in the Canadian Moot (donated by Nick Jackson): Catherine McLatchie
- Internal Mooting Prizes – Canterbury: Thomas Bishop, Francesca Charlton, Katie Meir, Nia Braithwaite, Rachel Bale, Christine Lawton, Nicholas Smith, India Flanagan, Guevara Leacock, Demilade Apooyin, Bethanie Brown and Orestis Anastasiades
Law Clinic Prizes
- Oxford University Press Prize – best contribution to Kent Law Clinic by a non-finalist (sponsored by Oxford University Press, Oxford): Nia Braithwaite
- Fairweather Prize – outstanding contribution to the Kent Law Clinic (sponsored by Fairweather Solicitors, Canterbury and presented by Mr Nick Fairweather): Andrew Wilson
- Brachers Access to Justice Prize – outstanding contribution to Access to Justice by a Kent Law Clinic student (sponsored by Brachers Law, Maidstone): Victoria Hughes
Subject Prizes
- European Degree Prize – best performance by a finalist completing a 4 year programme including an Erasmus year (donated and presented by Professor Geoffrey Samuel): Lydia Boateng
- Lawford Davies Denoon – best performance in Law & Medical Ethics (sponsored by Lawford Davies Denoon Solicitors, London): Katy Kennedy
- Canadian Negotiation Prize – best team in the Canadian Negotiation (donated and presented by Nick Jackson): Stacia Franz, Amanda Huxley and Meghan Kinna
- Gardner Croft Prize for Negotiating – outstanding overall Negotiating team (sponsored by Gardner Croft Solicitors, Canterbury and presented by Hugo Barton): Sean Wells and Olatomiwa Popoola
- Gardner Croft Prize for Negotiating – most promising Negotiating team (sponsored by Gardner Croft Solicitors, Canterbury and presented by Hugo Barton): Thomas French and Laura Muraca
- Clement-Walker Prize for Mediation – most outstanding Mediation teams (donated by Janie Clement-Walker): 1) Rachel Bale and Hannah Loosley 2)Meshaal Choudhary and Rachel Easton
- Hillier Prize – best Introduction to Obligations final assessments x 2 (sponsored by The Peter & Michael Hillier Trust and presented by Dr Kirsty Horsey): Morgan Copeman and Andrew Mauti
Stage Prizes
- Hart Publishing Prize – best performance by a Stage 1 student – winner (sponsored by Hart Publishing, Oxford): Amber Dullaway
- Hallett Prize – best performance by a Stage 1 student – runner up (sponsored by Hallett Solicitors, Ashford): Yunming Yu
- Routledge Law Prize – outstanding achievement by a Stage 1 student (sponsored by Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, Oxfordshire): Eman Salem
- Hallett Prize – best performance by a Stage 2 student (sponsored by Hallett Solicitors, Ashford): Orestis Anastasiades
- Sweet & Maxwell Prize – best performance by a finalist (sponsored by Sweet & Maxwell, London): Winner – Jonjo Brady; Runner up – Joseph Hartland
Other Prizes
- Rotary Prize – highest overall degree performance: Jonjo Brady
- Faculty of Social Sciences Prize – distinguished performance in the Stage 3 examinations: Joseph Hartland, Nesar Khan, Rahma Adam, Joshua Parton, Michael Testori
- Hallett Prize – best dissertation in any year (sponsored by Hallett Solicitors, Ashford): Jonjo Brady
- Annual Advocacy Award – best advocate for the Police Probationer’s Mock Trials: Sarah Cohen
- Scott-Moncrieff Essay Prize – best essay on Social Justice (sponsored by Lucy Scott-Moncrieff, Scott Moncrieff Harbour & Sinclair): Demilade Apooyin
- Head of School’s Prize – outstanding student work on Critical Legal Thought: Michael Testori*
- Special Award for KLS Student Community Building – best contribution to Community Building: Mollie Ferguson
- Antony London Prize – best contribution to the Kent Law School (donated by Antony London’s family): Jonjo Brady
- Special Commendation for Outstanding Critical Thought in a Stage 2 module (on recommendation of the Stage 2 Examiners Board): Brenda Brüggen
Medway Prizes (including ex Certificate winners)
- Norman Cooper Advocacy Prize – best UKM mooter (donated by Jeremy Cooper and Kent Law Society): Voke Oniovo-Kukor
- Colley Prize – best performance by a UKM Certificate in Law student in the Public Law module (sponsored by Colley Solicitors, Rochester): Elliott Cox
- Stantons Prize – best performance by a UKM Certificate in Law student (sponsored by Stantons Solicitors, Gravesend): Winner – Voke Oniovo-Kukor
- Director of Certificate in Law Prize – best performance by a UKM Certificate in Law student (donated by Karen Devine): Runner up – Gugandeep Badatch
- Davis, Simmonds & Donaghey Prize – best performance by an ex Certificate in Law Stage 2 student (sponsored by Davis, Simmonds & Donaghey Solicitors, Gillingham): Winner – Lewis Irons; Runner up – Lovia Agyemang
- Jarmans Prize – best performance by an ex Certificate in Law finalist (sponsored by Jarmans Solicitors, Sittingbourne and presented by Bryan Slater): Winner – Ibtisam El Jeaaidi; Runner up – Autumn Newton-Baxendine
Medway Prizes – Finalists (presented at Medway on 7 July 2015)
- Davis, Simmonds & Donaghey Prize – best contribution to KLS at UKM (sponsored by Davis, Simmonds & Donaghey Solicitors, Gillingham): Winner – Louise Johnson
- Lesley Phippen Prize – best contribution to KLS at UKM (donated by Lesley Phippen): Runner up – Helen Chuter
*Michael Testori’s essay, ‘The inescapable prejudicial construction of context, and its “unjust” consequences in asylum claims’, is available to read online. The essay critically examines the context for the determination of claims for asylum in the UK. It explores the inherent limitations faced by judges in their attempts to apply an objective test to the subjective experience of fear that is the basis for any application for asylum. In the citation for his nomination, Michael was praised for a sustained and focused program of research. His nominator said: ‘Michael brought great analytic and theoretical rigour to a highly social justice-focused question, whilst demonstrating equally impressive legal research acumen.’