Ryan Harvey, a commerce/law student of Macquarie University, has been named The College of Law - Law Student of the Year Award at the 2011 Lawyers Weekly Awards, sponsored by Bentley Motors, at a gala ceremony held at the Sydney Opera House on Thursday night.

With a weighted average mark of 85 (high distinction) and several awards already under his belt, including the Law Society of NSW Prize for Sustained Academic Proficiency, Harvey impressed the judges with his "high aspirations" and "wide variety of legal and community activities".

In 2009, Harvey was employed as a summer clerk in the Sydney office of Allens Arthur Robinson and currently works as the personal research assistant to a senior partner in the firm's banking and financial services practice group

Next year he will begin as associate to the Honourable Justice John Dyson Heydon AC.

Judges commended Harvey's ability to "balance top academic achievement with contributions to not-for-profit causes" including his leadership in the Macquarie University Law Society and the university's student political and volunteer community. This year, Harvey also represented Australia in the Commonwealth Moot Competition.

Competition for the Law Student of the Year Award was exceptionally close this year, with each of the finalists already making their mark on the legal profession.

University of New South Wales law student Courtney Young was a close runner up to Harvey and took out the judge's highly commended award. Young graduated from UNSW this year and now works as an associate to Judge Flannery in the District Court of NSW. She is also a research assistant at the Australian Prisons Project for UNSW and has lectured in criminal law.

Other finalists of the Law Student of theYear included Ben Bullock from Murdoch University, Alexandra Clare from Australian National University, Joanna Vincent from the University of Western Australia, and Monash University's Michael Zhou.

Read more about the achievements of the 2011 student finalists

>> Meet the 2011 Lawyers Weekly Awards Finalists: Law Student of the Year

Read the full details of each of the winners & finalists for each award:

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