On 25 April, the University of Pretoria’s Law Faculty hosted its annual faculty festival in collaboration with Werkmans Attorneys. The event was organised by the Law House EC of 2023/2024. The usually quiet faculty revealed a rarely experienced alternative side, showing that the Law Faculty knows a thing or two about having fun and taking time to blow off some steam.
The festival commenced with a schedule jam-packed with an assortment of student-friendly, fun activities that saw lecturers and students exchanging conversations, while others were taking photos in the photo booth or titillating their taste buds with various food trucks offering cuisine characteristic of the Law Faculty festival. At the touch karaoke event, students chose their favourite songs, with some singing Chris Brown’s “Loyal” while others channelled their inner Cardi B by rapping to “Money”.
The 2024 edition rolled out with a unique approach: a double-barreled schedule where all events kicked off and ended simultaneously, offering a full day of events. Festival activities ranged from Dragon Punch arcade game to Gladiator Ring, where lecturers and students would joust it out and determine who had the most skill. The highlight at the Gladiator Ring was the battle of the Private Law lecturers, Makumya M’membe and Elisa Rinaldi. The gladiators delivered their finest skills, much to the delight of the spectators. Basketball enthusiasts delivered their Stephen Curry skills while racing against time, while others channelled their inner Laila and Mohammed Ali selves. Scores of enthusiasts congregated around the Dragon Punch arcade game. Special events included Legal Jenga and 30 Seconds with NADEL.
PDBY interviewed Itumeleng Moloi, the chairperson of NADEL SC UP and first year LLB student who shared her appreciation of the 2024 Law Faculty Festival, “It’s been a beautiful day. We are grateful to the Law House for inviting us here; it’s really a game changer.” Similarly, Tshegofatso Makofane, a BA Law graduate, said, “I feel like this is a great initiative that the faculty is doing [because] as students we need time to blow off steam. I am for this kind of event, [since] uni is hectic, especially doing law at Africa’s best law faculty.”
