Law Society students launch their own essay competition

The Hills Road Law Society recently held their first ever student-run essay competition at the college, giving students the opportunity to explore a legal topic beyond the classroom.

Led by Law Society co-leaders, and current Year 13 students, Sofia Olanrewaju, Isabella Wade and Jerome Turrenne Rogers, the competition was designed not only to test students’ knowledge, but to push them to think more broadly about how law operates in modern contexts.

Exploring International Space Law

Choosing the topic proved to be one of the most important decisions. Society co-leader Sofia Olanrewaju [image below, standing right] explained that the team deliberately avoided a conventional question, instead selecting one on the international regulation of space.

“We wanted something less typical that would really encourage students to do their own research and learn something new,” she said.

“Space law stood out as an area with limited debate, but huge relevance beyond our atmosphere.”

Law society co-leaders: Jerome, Isabella and Sofia

The society leaders were interested to identify a common theme in the essays they received. While some students approached the topic from a global perspective, considering issues such as fairness and access to resources between developed and developing countries, many chose to focus on environmental concerns linked to space activity.

Society co-leader Isabella Wade [image right, centre] explained, "Many students considered matters of environmental damage caused by the use of outer space, in the form of atmospheric pollution due to spacecraft and satellite debris."

"This ecological perspective certainly reflects increased concern for the environment in modern society," she added.

Competition entrants with their certificates

New perspectives

To help them with reviewing and marking the submissions, the student organisers developed a structured and collaborative marking process. A shared mark scheme was created, focusing on legal accuracy, structure, argumentation, originality and written expression. Each essay was assessed against these criteria before top entries were cross-marked to ensure consistency. [shown left: entrants with their certificates]

Isabella highlighted the benefits of taking on a peer review role as a competition organiser. “Marking from the perspective of a reader rather than a writer helped me reflect on my own work and identify areas for improvement,” she said.

“It was also great to see students applying advice from our essay-writing sessions, particularly in critically evaluating space-related laws.”

L R Soha Saqib Ilona Akritova Eliska Hradilova

A valuable experience

Providing personalised feedback was a key priority for the Law Society, as it served as a great motivation for students to understand not just their results, but how to improv. Sofia remarked, “It was important to explain the reasoning behind our judgements. We also found the process really insightful: reading different perspectives and arguments was incredibly interesting.”

All students who took part received certificates recognising their work, with first place being awarded to Eliska Hradilova [image right, far right].

Hear from the winner, Eliska

Reflecting on the competition, Eliska said it gave her the opportunity to fully develop her own ideas and arguments, and encouraged her to enter similar competitions in the future.

Soha Saqib [image above, far left], who received a commendation, echoed this: “I had never encountered international space law before, but that made it more enjoyable. It helped me develop my essay-writing skills while exploring a complex and contested area of law.”

Inspiring future cohorts

For the organisers, the competition represents more than a one-off event.

Isabella hopes it will become a lasting part of the society: “We would love to see future leaders continue running this competition and encourage even more students to take part.”

Sofia agreed, adding that increased promotion could help expand participation next time. “The engagement we saw shows there’s real interest in developing writing, research and time management skills through law,” she said.

"We wanted to create an opportunity for students to explore an interesting legal topic outside of lessons and experience what legal essay competitions are like. It's been great to see the range of ideas people brought to the question."
Law Society student leaders