Law Soc spent €76,628 in total running their society last year. The society it can be revealed drew in €25,300 from sponsorship, with their main sponsor Matheson, an Irish law firm giving the society €20,000.
The highest percentage of the €76,628 spent was on competitive debating, which took up nearly 40% of the society’s budget. These cost were primarily due to putting up those involved in debating in hostels.
The other big portion of expenditure for the society last year was spent on their Freshers’ Week stand and goodie bags. These bags included 2,500 cans of coke, 2,500 bottle of fruit juice, as well as 300 pizzas and 250 boxes of chicken wings ordered by the society during the week.
The society made €6,004 from Freshers’ Week membership sign ups. They increased their membership by 29% from 2013/14, up to 3,112 students from 2,401 the previous year.
Law Soc also made a €5,000 profit from the Law Ball it ran, selling tickets for €65. They society got A&L Goodbody (another law firm based in Dublin) to sponsor the Ball for €4000, covering some of the costs. The Law Ball brought in €22,000 for the society, and cost €17,000 to run.
In total Law Soc brought in €31,304 between sponsorship, Law Ball tickets and Freshers membership, but spent €76,628. Other income not revealed in the report would be grants the society received from the Finance Committee in UCD to run the society for the year.
The National Model United Nations trip was also a large expense for the society. For example, the price of putting 18 delegates up in a New York hotel was estimated by the society to cost €10,752.
The auditor of the society from last year James Green reviewed the year in the report, writing that he felt “what made the society great this year was how it managed to connect and engage with people like it hasn’t done before.”
On the increase in membership for the society Green’s report outlined it had been a welcome move in the right direction. “We also broke the 3,000 mark for the first time in several years but even more importantly reverse the downward trend in membership figures for the first time in even longer”.
The report also reveals that five years ago the “Law Society suffered financial catastrophe with a large debt stretching well into the thousands.
The report also reveals that five years ago the “Law Society suffered financial catastrophe with a large debt stretching well into the thousands.” The report continues to outline that in “the aftermath of that, a constitutional amendment requiring the creation of a capital account requiring 10% of future profits to be placed in the capital account.” The constitutional amendment may never have been adhered to as the report claims “in spite of this [amendment], no real steps had been taken to open a capital account.” The society this year have now put €10,000 in the account, and left some additional surplus in the society account for this year’s committee.
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Jack Power | Editor
