Laying down the law

University of Otago senior law lecturer Associate Prof Marcelo Rodriguez Ferrere has a large audience in fits of laughter as he makes a case on the motion "Otago’s best days are yet to come", during a staff versus former students debate on Saturday.

He and fellow law lecturers Prof Nicola Wheen and Associate Prof Bridgette Toy-Cronin argued the university was "at rock bottom" and things could only get better.

They were up against a strong team of former Otago law students, consisting of Stout Street Chamberslawyer James Every-Palmer (KC), ofWellington, Crown Law lawyer Kate Wevers, of Wellington, and Department of Internal Affairs senior legal adviser Mark Scott, of Wellington, who argued nothing could beat the good old days of student life at the university.

The debate was one of the final events of the Otago Law Faculty’s 150th anniversary conference and reunion at the weekend.