A quarter century on
Alumni and staff who were part of the Faculty of Law in the first half of the 1990s came together in September for a night of nostalgia and celebration to acknowledge 25 years having passed since graduating.
A group of 45 alumni gathered for an evening function in Wellington to reconnect with friends, classmates and former Faculty members, and to meet current Faculty members. The reunion was prompted by an alumna, Belinda Moffat, who wanted to reconnect with fellow alumni after returning from 10 years in London.
“I graduated from Victoria University of Wellington in 1994, and I have very fond memories of a challenging and satisfying degree, and wonderful friendships,” says Belinda, who is now Chief Executive of the Broadcasting Standards Authority. “We had a lot of entertaining personalities in our classes, both students and lecturers. A year or so ago, a few of us thought ‘Wouldn’t it be great to find out where all of our classmates are now?’ I knew that some had become MPs, some were vets, some were London-based barristers, some were cooks. I wanted to find an opportunity for us to spark up any old friendships that might have faded over the years. Most of all I had a sense that our year group would have made a good contribution to New Zealand or global society, so I was curious to find out more.” Belinda says one of the highlights of the event was seeing old friendships being renewed. “The buzz of conversation and laughter was a wonderful sound. Some had travelled from Australia, Auckland and Tauranga—it was fantastic to have such a diverse group of former students and staff in the same room together.”
Fletcher Boswell, President of the Victoria University of Wellington Law Students’ Society, and Melissa Harward, President of the Feminist Law Society, attended the event. “After listening to what Law School was like in the ‘90s, it was clear that some things had changed significantly and some not at all,” says Fletcher. “I think this year has been a notable one for the legal profession, with many junior lawyers and law students calling for change—for a stronger emphasis on wellbeing and ensuring that students and lawyers take care of themselves as well as each other as they begin their careers. It was nice how supportive and positive the alumni I spoke to were about this. It was also great seeing how close they were, even after several decades. Within 10 minutes of being there, people seemed to slip straight back into the student culture of the 1990s.”
“The atmosphere was really cool,” says Melissa. “Fletcher and I said afterwards that we couldn’t wait to see what our cohort would look like after 25 years of law behind us. I felt really privileged to meet so many accomplished lawyers who had been through similar things.”
This article was originally featured in the 2018 edition of our annual alumni magazine, V.alum. If you would like to receive V.alum, either electronically or in hardcopy, please sign up here.