Open Polytechnic Legal Executive students top national exams

Thursday, 20 March 2014, 2:06 pm
Press Release: Open Polytechnic

Open Polytechnic Legal Executive students achieve top places in national exams

Open Polytechnic students have claimed four of the six top places in the New Zealand Law Society’s (NZLS) 2013 Legal Executive Diploma national examinations.

Top places were achieved by Hannah Brosnahan- Introduction to the Legal System exam, Stephanie Waterhouse – Introduction to Law Office Practice exam, Katie Videbeck – Litigation Law and Practice exam and Megan Stoks – Property Law and Practice exam.

Of particular note, Stephanie Waterhouse’s top exam mark was an unbeatable 100% and Megan Stoks, who as well as receiving the top national mark in her respective exam, was the top graduating student for 2013 and also won the Thomson Reuters prize for Overall Highest Achiever in the NZLS Executive Diploma at the Open Polytechnic and will receive $500 worth of Thomson Reuters products.

Megan, who has been juggling her studies on top of working in a reception-administration role for chartered accountancy practice Lay Dodd Partners of Epsom, Auckland, says her overall achievement was ‘pleasantly unexpected’.

“I was very surprised considering I haven’t had any practical experience in a law office environment,” she says.

Megan says her success would not have been possible without the support she has received from both her family and her employer.

“My family has been most helpful and my employer enabled me to adjust my working hours in order for me to be able to attend my exams, so I am thankful to them.”

Open Polytechnic Legal Executive Programme Leader, Cedric Hunt, says he was delighted to learn of the successes of Open Polytechnic students in last year’s exams.

“It is wonderful to see student effort rewarded by success. As well as these top achievers, pass rates of Open Polytechnic students averaged 93%, well ahead of the national average.”

All four winning Open Polytechnic students will receive a $150 prize from the New Zealand Law Society for their efforts. Megan Stoks and Hannah Brosnahan will also receive Thomson Reuters prizes for being the highest achieving Open Polytechnic students in their subjects.

In 2013 students from seven different tertiary providers around the country sat one or more of the six examinations that make up the NZLS Executive Diploma.

About Open Polytechnic
The Open Polytechnic is New Zealand’s specialist provider of open and distance learning, enrolling over 34,000 part-time students per year. The majority of students are adult learners combining work and study, making the Open Polytechnic one of New Zealand’s major educators of people in the workforce.

www.openpolytechnic.ac.nz

ENDS

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