By Esther Watt, NZFGW Fellow
21 October 2010
My year at Gonville and Caius College, University of Cambridge, studying for the LLM has been amazing. Academically, the year has been challenging and very rewarding. I took four papers relating to areas of my interest. Although the LLM paper in which I had hoped to write my thesis was unavailable this year, I was able to examine key aspects of criminal justice and human rights through the Civil Liberties and Philosophy of Criminal Law LLM papers.
The Civil Liberties paper looked at a wide range of issues, including the right to life, terrorism, privacy, freedom of speech, equality and discrimination. This paper involved intense class discussion about the state of the law in these contentious areas. Fortuitously, at the time of the class discussion around right to life and euthanasia, the Director of Public Prosecutions for England was seeking submissions from the public on guidelines he intended to provide relating to the discretion to prosecute in cases of assisted suicide. A group of around eight interested students from the class, including myself, decided to put together a submission to the DPP on the subject. This was one of the more rewarding tasks I have undertaken. We met several times as a group as well as undertaking individual research and analysis. The task involved many hours of discussion between individuals who felt passionate about the issue, often from very different perspectives. The challenge was to take these disparate views and mould them into a cohesive submission on an issue that is inherently fraught. The completion of the submission brought a great sense of achievement to the group.
The Philosophy of Criminal Law paper has been another highlight of the year. It was taught in part by Professor Andrew Simester, one of the authors of the textbook assigned to undergraduate students of Criminal Law in New Zealand, “Principles of Criminal Law†by Simester and Brookbanks. The course involved philosophical analysis of questions of criminal law, such as attempts liability, the harm principle and whether purely offensive conduct should be prohibited. The discussion, led by inspiring academics, required the members of the class to think about these issues on a deeper theoretical and jurisprudential level and develop arguments of principle, often about the relationship between criminal law and morality.
In addition to the academic aspects of the year, Cambridge has provided a wealth of extracurricular opportunities. These have included completing the submission on voluntary euthanasia to the DPP, volunteering to provide assistance to members of the Cambridge community, and attending talks given by inspiring people such as David Coltart, the Minister for Education, Sport and Culture of Zimbabwe, the Hon Judge Kevin Barker of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and Lord Sacks, the Chief Rabbi.
I have been involved in the women’s branch of the Cambridge University Student Union and attended a dinner to celebrate 30 years of women at Caius, attended by 3 very impressive speakers who attended Caius in the early days of women’s admission and each of whom has achieved to the highest level of her chosen profession.
It has been both motivating and humbling to attend a College previously attended by Francis Crick, John Venn of the eponymous diagram, Stephen Hawking and Lord Cooke of Thorndon. It has been a wonderful experience to study at a University so steeped in tradition. As well as the invaluable academic and extracurricular experiences it has provided, I have met and made firm friendships with students from all over the world, which I know I will maintain for life. I am very grateful to the NZFGW and itsmembers for its support, without which I would not have been able to undertake the LLM at Cambridge.
Esther is one of the worthwhile recipients of an NZFGW Fellowship.