I have watched talented students navigate this degree with the same intelligence and drive as anyone else in the profession, and then hesitate at the threshold of it. Not from lack of ability. From lack of confidence navigating a profession whose pathways often feel unwritten. The connections that open doors. The rooms you are supposed to be in before anyone tells you they exist. The unwritten rules of professional entry that some students arrive already knowing, and others spend years trying to decode.
ALSA was built to close that distance now, not eventually.
The skills that matter most in a legal career are rarely taught in a law school classroom. How to walk into a networking event with a purpose and leave with a genuine connection. How to write with the kind of precision and authority that gets noticed. How to carry yourself in a room where you are the only person in it who looks like you, and do it without feeling pressured to dilute the perspective that shaped you. Law school teaches you the law. ALSA teaches you what else you need.
We connect students directly to law firm partners, barristers, and practitioners who are actively looking for talent. We facilitate semester-long mentorships with professionals who have navigated this profession from similar starting points. We run workshops, we host events, and through this newsletter, we put the work and voices of Auckland's Asian law students directly in front of the people who make hiring decisions.
ALSA was built with a simple belief: talent should not be constrained by lack of access, information, or professional proximity. This is Issue 1. There is a great deal more to come.
None of this happens without the 17 people who put their hands up to build it with me. To the founding committee: thank you.
What's On
Aden, David, and Shan are your Engagement Officers for 2026. Law school is intense by design, and their role is to create space alongside that intensity. The engagement programme is built on the belief that the strongest professional relationships in this field are formed before anyone has a business card. Their events are not professional development repackaged as social occasions. They are a genuine part of what it means to belong to this community, shaped around what students actually want and need.
Inaugural Launch Night
On 30 April, ALSA held its Inaugural Launch Night. The room reflected exactly why this organisation needed to exist: motivated students, practising lawyers, sponsors, and supporters all in the same space, at the start of something. The night featured keynote remarks from Dr Mai Chen, one of New Zealand's most prominent legal figures, remarks from Mingze Sun, barrister at FortyEight Shortland, a speech from Naisi Chen, a former Member of Parliament, and an address from Bernadette Wilson, National Director of IPLS. All four spoke to the importance of preparing yourself early for the realities of a legal career. IPLS came on board as the Inaugural Sponsor. The energy in the room confirmed what the founding team had already known. There was real appetite for this.
The night established ALSA's identity. Everything it was built on was present: confidence, competence, community. The speakers were chosen because of what they represent as much as what they have achieved. Dr Mai Chen, Mingze Sun, Naisi Chen, and Bernadette Wilson have each made it to the top of this profession. Not all of them came from the same starting point, and not all of them saw themselves reflected in the profession when they were starting out. They made it through anyway.
That is what the room needed to see. Not an abstract promise that the profession is open to you, but people who have faced the reality of being different from those around them and come through it at the highest levels. For students wondering whether there is a place for them at the senior end of this profession, the answer was in the room. You can be proud of where you come from. There are people ahead of you who prove it.
More events are coming throughout the semester. If you are not already in our community server, join us on Discord to stay in the loop.
ALSA Inaugural Launch Night · 30 April 2026
See all the photos from the Inaugural Launch Night. View the photos →
What We Are Running This Year
Amber and Tri are your Academic Officers for 2026. Their work is built around one conviction: law school teaches you the law, but rarely the professional skills that define how far you go once you leave. Legal writing under pressure, cultural fluency in client relationships, exam technique that holds under scrutiny. Those are the gaps their programme is built to close, using practitioners who navigate these realities every day.
Your best legal work deserves more than a grade. Submissions are reviewed by two legal professionals with experience as Judge's Clerks. The winning piece is published in this newsletter and read by law firm partners, barristers, and practitioners across Auckland.
Write a critical analysis or opinion on a topic from your coursework. Full topic lists, requirements, and the entry form are at the link below. AI is strictly prohibited.
Submissions close 30 July 2026. No extensions. Feedback to every entrant by 15 August 2026.
View full rules & submitALSA: Learning to Learn
ALSA ran its first academic workshop, facilitated by Mingze Sun, barrister at FortyEight Shortland. Registration closed within 24 hours of opening. We had over 40 students in the room.
The session was built around a simple premise: most students who underperform academically are not short on effort or intelligence. They are short on methods. Mingze worked through how to structure a reading session so material actually holds, how to distinguish what is being examined from what is merely being taught, and how to build knowledge that holds up under exam pressure rather than fragmenting at the last minute. The second half covered assessment performance directly: how to structure a legal answer that demonstrates reasoning rather than just reciting doctrine, how to apply the law without over-explaining it, and how to manage time effectively to maximise marks across all questions in an exam.
The session was designed primarily for Part I and II students. The engagement in the room was strong. We are already working on what the equivalent looks like for Part III and IV students later in the year. If you want to be notified when the next workshop opens, make sure you are signed up as an ALSA member.
ALSA Inaugural Workshop: Learning to Learn · 18 May 2026
See all the photos from the Learning to Learn workshop. View the photos →
Building Your Map of the Profession
Kevin and Daniel are your Development Officers for 2026. Their work is built around making ALSA members visible to the profession, and making the profession visible to them. The networking programme puts students directly in front of practitioners they would not otherwise meet. The Professional Spotlight puts student and graduate work in front of the people who make hiring decisions.
Professional Spotlight
Every issue, we feature a student and a graduate lawyer who are doing excellent work beyond their degree. We run two features in every issue: a spotlight on a current student who is contributing to their community and showing leadership outside the classroom, and a spotlight on a graduate lawyer whose early career work is worth recognising. Each spotlight is a short personal feature. Nominations are open to all members.
Nominate for Issue 2
We are looking for two people to feature: a current law student showing leadership outside the classroom, and a graduate lawyer whose early career work deserves recognition. Nominations take two minutes. Put someone forward, or put your own name in.
Submit a NominationLegal Careers Board
From Issue 2, every issue carries open roles, clerkship opportunities, and career updates from our law firm partners. If your firm wants to reach our membership, get in touch through our contact page.
Inaugural Networking Night: Family and Criminal Law
On 3 June, ALSA held its Inaugural Networking Night, bringing together practitioners in family law and criminal law with ALSA members for an evening at IPLS. Both areas rarely surface through the university's formal career channels, and the conversations reflected that: students came with genuine curiosity, and the practitioners gave them real answers. The room was full.
The family and criminal law night is the first in a series ALSA is building across the semester. Each event is designed around a different area of practice, and each one is chosen deliberately. The networking programme is not built around large commercial law firms alone. The legal profession is broader than the firms that recruit in March, and an LLB opens far more doors than most students are shown during their degree. The events are built to map that full range: boutique and specialist practices, in-house legal teams, Crown Law, the Public Defence Service, barrister's chambers, and community law. Most students arrive at clerkship season having been exposed almost exclusively to one corner of the profession. These events exist so that does not have to be true for ALSA members.
ALSA Inaugural Networking Night: Criminal & Family Law · 3 June 2026
See all the photos from the Inaugural Networking Night. View the photos →
Mentoring Programme
Cayla and Charlotte are your Mentoring Officers for 2026. Their programme is built around a gap most student mentoring programmes do not address: the transition from final year into the profession. Rather than pairing juniors with seniors within the degree, ALSA pairs students approaching graduation with practitioners who have recently navigated exactly the move those students are about to make. People who have been through the clerkship process, the career decisions, and the early years of practice, and who are willing to share what they actually know.
The programme runs through Semester 2, from July to October. Applications are open to students in their third year and above. We encourage applying early. This is a semester-long relationship, not a one-time coffee chat. Mentors will provide ongoing guidance through the semester, helping mentees understand how the profession works, what strong clerkship applications look like, and how to make decisions about their career with better information than most students have access to.
Mentors are matched based on shared interests and similarities in background and career direction. We aim for two mentees per mentor, though this will depend on each mentor's capacity and what they are genuinely able to commit to. The programme is built around quality over volume. For mentors, it is an opportunity to invest meaningfully in the next generation of Auckland lawyers. For mentees, it is access to guidance that is specific, honest, and relevant to where you actually are in your degree. The 2026 programme is semester-long by design. As the programme matures and we build the mentor network, we intend to expand to a full academic year from 2027 onwards.
The Mentoring Programme runs through Semester 2. Mentee applications are open now. If you are a legal professional interested in becoming a mentor, applications are also open and we want to hear from you.