The importance of volunteering work for lawyers will be stressed by a student valedictorian at a University of Queensland graduation ceremony tonight.
Sarah McCosker will urge graduands at UQ`s Business Economics and Law Faculty ceremony at Mayne Hall, St Lucia, at 6pm to use their degrees for service to the community as well as their professional careers.
Ms McCosker, who was awarded an Arts degree with first class honours in 1999, will be admitted to a Law degree by her uncle, UQ Deputy Chancellor Robert Wensley.
Ms McCosker has a distinguished academic record, achieving several Dean`s Commendations for high achievement, and being awarded the Corrs Chambers Westgarth Prize for 2000 and the Allen, Allen and Hemsley Law Prize for Overall Excellence in 2000.
She was a member of the Jessup International Law Moot team which contested the Australian finals in Canberra in 2001. The UQ team won the Red Cross prize for their written submission and Ms McCosker was declared Best Oralist in the preliminary rounds. During her final year of law she worked as an Associate to a Judge of the Supreme Court of Queensland, and she is currently preparing for her admission as a barrister later this year.
An active member of the UQ Law Society and the Women and The Law Society, she has been involved in the annual UQ Law Revue for the past five years, co-directing and producing the revue in 2000. She was also heavily involved in the United Nations Students Association, serving as President for two years, and organising a community aid trip to Nepal in 1999, where she worked with seven other UQ students on community development projects. She has been a volunteer with the Red Cross for the past two years, and is also a volunteer at a Brisbane community legal centre.
Australia`s High Commissioner to India Ms Penny Wensley AO, who is Ms McCosker`s mother, will be guest speaker at the ceremony.
Ms Wensley, who is an Adjunct Professor in UQ`s School of Political Science and International Studies, is a former UQ Alumnus of the Year (1994) and was Australia`s Ambassador to the United Nations in New York (1997-2001), and Ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva (1993-1996).
Ms McCosker is the third generation her family to achieve a first class honours degree. Her late grandmother, nee Doris McCulloch, received a first class Arts honors degree majoring in English in 1939, while Ms Wensley is also a first class honors recipient in English language and literature and French.
Other graduands of media interest include:
• Mr David De Jersey, who is an Associate to High Court of Australia Judge, the Honourable Justice Ian Callinan, will be awarded first class honours in law at the 6pm ceremony. Mr De Jersey, who was awarded an Arts degree in 1999, majoring in Government, also is the recipient of several Dean’s commendations for high achievement and was awarded the Ross Anderson Memorial Prize in 1998, and an electronic commerce prize in 2000.
"It`s fashionable right now to engage in `lawyer bashing`,” Mr De Jersey said. “Ignore it. Studying law can be very rewarding and fulfilling, and as I`ve found out working as a High Court associate this year, it can lead to some extraordinary employment opportunities."
Mr De Jersey worked as an articled clerk/junior solicitor for law firm Tress Cocks & Maddox Lawyers, and next will complete his articles at Allens Arthur Robinson, an international law firm based in Australia with offices throughout Asia.
His parents, the Honourable Chief Justice Paul De Jersey AC and Mrs De Jersey, and his sisters, Alison and Carolyn, also UQ graduates, will attend the ceremony.
• Dr Michael Trimarchi will be awarded a PhD in UQ’s School of Management for his thesis on trade interactions between Hong Kong Chinese intermediaries (or traders) who buy goods from mainland Chinese sellers, and then onsell the goods to buyers in Western markets.
Dr Trimarchi, who is a lecturer in marketing and business at the University of the Sunshine Coast, said there had been little previous research conducted on business relationships between Hong Kong Chinese and mainland Chinese business partners, and Hong Kong Chinese and Western business partners.
The thesis included a total of 38 Case Study Interviews (five in mainland China and 33 in Hong Kong).
A significant finding/tendency in this research was that there was a reluctance for business partners in China not to establish close personal ties with non relatives; including relationships between mainland Chinese and Hong Kong Chinese actors. The research identified three primary strategies which Hong Kong firms use to develop their network positions within mainland China.
The research also includes implications for Western managers who wish to develop their business network connections with the Hong Kongans; for the purpose of sourcing goods produced in mainland China. This includes factors to assist partner choice when dealing with Hong Kong traders, and five broad elements to assist Westerners to develop and manage such relationships.
Media: for further information, contact UQ Graduations Officer Peter Brady (telephone 07 3365 9194) or Jan King at UQ Communications (mobile 0413 601 248).
