Gala debate marks law anniversary

Views: 1,856 views. Comments: No Comment.
Tags: anniversaries, law, philanthropy, summer-2011

Associate Professor David Morrison, The Honourable Justice Margaret A McMurdo AC and Derran Moss

UQ’s TC Beirne School of Law has celebrated its 75th anniversary with a gala “Town and Gown” debate at Customs House.

The entertaining event brought together some of Queensland’s sharpest minds, with academics and legal practitioners engaged in a battle of words and wit on the theme: “It takes 75 years to make sense of the law”. Watch the debate here.

President of the Queensland Court of Appeal, The Honourable Justice Margaret A McMurdo AC, presided over the debate which was attended by almost 200 guests from the legal profession, The University of Queensland and the local community.

Among the guests were many eminent members of the Queensland judiciary, Federal Member for Ryan Jane Prentice MP, and Shadow Attorney-General Senator the Hon George Brandis SC.

The TC Beirne School of Law is the oldest and most successful law school in Queensland and one of Australia’s leading research-intensive law schools.

The school began as a “shadow” faculty on the establishment of the University in 1910, and became a fully functioning law school in 1936, thanks to a generous donation of £20,000 ($3 million in today’s money) from Brisbane businessman Thomas Charles Beirne.

In his welcome address, Vice-Chancellor Professor Paul Greenfield acknowledged the valuable contribution made by the legal profession and the school’s past and present donors – in particular its namesake.

“I hope he would be proud of the procession of students and staff who have benefited from his generosity and vision,” Professor Greenfield said.

By Melissa Reynolds

• Home
• Graduate Contact
• Alumni Profiles
• Global Education: Divining world trends