For 80 years the Holdsworth Club has helped students balance their studies with a wide range of extra-curricular activities. The Club is one of the most vibrant student societies at Birmingham and is the biggest law society for students in England.
The Club is run by our students, who elect a committee each year to provide advice, support, and social and careers events.
Social activities
The only things that will take up as much space on your calendar as lectures, seminars and essays are the social events organised by the Holdsworth Club. Freshers week doesn’t exist. For Law students it extends throughout the whole first month of the year
Annual events include the legendary ‘LAWD’ (Law Annual Weekend Drinks) bar crawl, a ‘Medics vs Lawyers’ bar crawl, and this year the ‘Bona Fide Weekender’ where over 350 students from law schools around the country will meet in Birmingham to raise money for charity.
Each year 100 Club members go to Alton Towers for a day of thrills and stomach-turning G-forces, and this year took it to a whole new level with an unforgettable Halloween trip including scary fancy dress, hundreds of fireworks and lasers and an exclusive tour of the haunted manor.
Mooting
A “Moot” is a mock trial. Students lock horns with each other in oratorical fury, arguing cases relating to significant and often topical legal issues. Two separate competitions run throughout the year, the Freshers Cup and the Camm Cup, and whether or not someone has experience they are most welcome to participate. The latter is fiercely competitive and the final is judged by a senior member of the judiciary.
Debating
Although not strictly part of the Holdsworth Club, the University of Birmingham Debating Society is closely connected with it, since many lawyers relish the opportunity to engage in contentious debates on current events and legal topics. It can be just a bit of fun for some students, but others enjoy pushing their public speaking to the limit and compete in some of the many national debating competitions held all around the country.
Careers
The benefit of being at one of the top law schools in the country is that prospective employers will do anything to make themselves known to you.
For those students who wish to pursue a legal career, a series of presentation evenings are run on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. These are useful when it comes to making vacation and training contract applications. They usually involve travelling to the office of the prospective firm, being wined and dined, watching an informative presentation, and then the most important part of all – talking with partners and trainees to get all your questions answered so you develop a feel for the firm
ICSA
The Inns of Court Student Association is an opportunity for aspiring barristers to get their foot in the door. Trips to various Inns of Court take place where students can sit down to a meal and converse with senior barristers and judges. These opportunities are very popular and students gain valuable insight into what it takes to get to the Bar.
Sport
The Holdsworth Club competes at many sports including netball, football and hockey. Each year we have competitions with our sponsor law firms. This gives students a chance to get friendly with practising lawyers and impress prospective employers with their sporting prowess.
Drama
The Holdsworth Drama Society was formed in 2005, and since then has expanded into a huge student society. Previous productions include ‘The Importance of Being Ernest’, ‘A Midsummer Nights Dream’ and ‘Romeo and Juliet’. This is an amateur dramatic society so everyone is welcome, with or without previous stage experience.
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