To be a successful law student you need to read, read and read some more.

So said UCT's dean of Law, Professor PJ Schwikkard, at the launch of the faculty's first-year book club on 13 February. The first read for the club is In a Different Time by Peter Harris, which tells the story of the Delmas four trial in the late 1980s.

The book, presented to the students free of charge thanks to a generous donation from the Louis Singer Charitable Trust, will prove an invaluable ice-breaker for the some 260 first-years, suggested Professor Alan Rycroft, the brain behind the club.

"It must be intimidating to be in such a large class," he told students. "You now have a reason to talk to others."

And, no, the book will not come up in exams, he consoled students, but may still be weaved into courses.

The idea behind the book club is to graduate well-rounded lawyers.

"The aim is to start building graduate attributes from the ground up, to make our students realise that they are joining a community of people who read critically and debate big issues," Rycroft says.

As part of the initiative, the faculty will host lunchtime seminars by prominent speakers such as the author, as well as Judge Dennis Davis, Professor Pierre de Vos and others.