UCL Faculty of Laws
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Established | 1826 |
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Dean | Dame Hazel Genn DBE QC FBA |
Students | 1096 |
Location | Endsleigh Gardens, London |
Website | www.ucl.ac.uk/laws |
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The University College London Faculty of Laws is one of the world’s premier law schools. It has a world-class reputation and is currently the top ranked law school in the UK.[1] It is renowned for the quality of its teaching and for its cutting edge legal research.[2]
As a member of the Russell Group, the Faculty receives a high number of applications from students at both undergraduate and graduate level. Due to the large number undergraduate applications, candidates are required to undertake the National Admissions Test For Law (LNAT)[3] as part of the admissions procedure.
There are a number of high quality journals which are published by the Faculty including Current Legal Problems, Current Legal Issues, and the UCL Jurisprudence Review. In addition, the Faculty hosts a number of public lectures each week (including the Current Legal Problems series) on a wide range of legal topics. These lectures are delivered by eminent academics from major universities around the world, senior members of the judiciary, and leading legal practitioners. The lectures are free and are well attended.
History
The Faculty of Laws is one of the oldest law schools in England. It was established in 1826 as one of the faculties of UCL. It was the first law school in England to offer a systematic university education to men and women (irrespective of religious beliefs and social backgrounds). The Faculty’s first professor was the noted legal philosopher, John Austin (legal philosopher) (Professor of Jurisprudence). Andrew Amos, a successful barrister, became the first Professor of English Law (and later Professor of Medical Jurisprudence).
Present Day
The Faculty of Laws has a student body comprising over 450 undergraduates, 350 taught graduates, and some 40 research students.[4] The Faculty currently offers a number of different undergraduate and graduate degrees.
Academic Reputation
The UCL Faculty of Laws is regarded by some as "the best law faculty in the UK."[5] It is consistently ranked as one of the top law schools in the world.
The Faculty was placed joint 1st in the UK for the proportion of its research activity in the top two star categories (75% 4*/3*) in the latest Research Assessment Exercise (RAE).[6] The quality of teaching at UCL Laws is world-class. In 2009, the Independent University Guide ranking it joint first alongside with Oxford University.[7]
On a recent peer-review assessment conducted by the Sunday Times, the Faculty recorded perfect scores for teaching and reasearch quality, confirming its reputation as UCL’s most outstanding department and the UK’s most respected law school.[8]
In 2009, the Faculty enjoyed a 100% graduate employment rate, compared to 99.7% at Oxford, 98% at Cambridge and 97% at LSE.[9] Many graduates go on to pursue legal careers in magic circle law firms and leading barristers’ chambers.[10]
Admissions
Undergraduate Admissions
With an average annual acceptance rate of less than 1 in 20, undergraduate admissions is one of the most selective in the UK. The Faculty admitted 195 students from over 3,000 applications in 2008, up from 146 in 2007.
With an international reputation rivalled only by Oxford and Cambridge,[16] competition for places is fierce. Entry standards are high with the standard currently a minimum of three A grades at A level[17] and a high LNAT score. There are no places available through the UCAS clearing process[18].
Graduate Admissions
UCL Law Faculty admits approximately 350 students each to its graduate LLM course every year.[19] The one-year (full-time) and two-year (part-time) LLM are extremely competitive with students applying from over 100 countries.
Location
The Faculty of Laws is based at Bentham House, Endsleigh Gardens. It is a few minutes’ walk from the main UCL campus. The facilities at Bentham House include many teaching rooms, a courtroom for moots, a spacious student lounge, a coffee bar and two computer cluster rooms.
UCL Law Society
The vast majority of students become members of the UCL Law Society upon matriculation. The Law Society is led by the President and 15 other officers who are (apart from the First Year Representative) elected in March towards the end of the academic year. The Law Society organises a wide range of events for members including competitions in mooting, debating, negotiation and client interviewing. There is also a strong focus on career development with regular events with leading law firms and barristers’ chambers such as Clifford Chance, Slaughter and May, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Allen & Overy and Linklaters.
Professors
The Faculty has 55 full-time academic staff, including 29 professors, many visiting professors and distinguished judicial and other visiting academic staff. The current list of professors include:
- Eric Barendt - Professor of Media Law
- Robert Chambers - Professor of Property Law
- Ian Dennis - Professor of English Law
- Alison Diduck - Professor of Law
- Ronald Dworkin - Bentham Professor of Jurisprudence
- Joerg Fedtke - Professor of Comparative Law
- Ian Fletcher - Professor of International Commercial Law
- Michael Freeman - Professor of English Law
- Dame Hazel Genn DBE QC - Professor of Empirical Legal Studies
- Stephen Guest - Professor of Legal Philosophy
- Jeffrey Jowell QC - Research Professor of Public Law
- Valentine Korah - Emeritus Professor of Competition Law
- Sir Hugh Laddie QC - late Professor of Intellectual Property Law
- Maria Lee - Professor of Law
- Andrew Lewis - Professor of Comparative Legal History
- John Lowry - Professor of Law
- Richard Macrory CBE - Professor of Environmental Law
- Riz Mokal - Professor of Law and Legal Theory
- Hiroshi Oda - Professor of Japanese Law
- Dawn Oliver - Professor of Constitutional Law
- James Penner - Professor of Property Law
- Pascoe Pleasence - Professor of Empirical Legal Studies
- Philip Rawlings - Professor of Law
- Rick Rawlings - Professor of Public Law
- Catherine Redgwell - Professor of International Law
- Philippe Sands QC - Professor of Law
- Philip Schofield - Professor of History of Legal and Political Thought
- Joanne Scott - Professor of European Law
- Robert Stevens - Professor of Commercial Law
- Robert Sullivan - Professor of Law
- Tim Swanson - Professor of Law and Economics
- William Twining - Emeritus Quain Professor of Jurisprudence
- Lord Woolf - former Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales
Visiting Professors
- Daniel Alexander QC
- Anthony Aust
- Antonio Bavasso - Antitrust Group, Allen & Overy
- Tom Burke
- Richard Calnan - Partner, Norton Rose
- Winston Chu
- Michael Crystall QC
- Frederique Dahan
- Eileen Denza
- Alejandro Escobar - Partner, Latham & Watkins
- David S. Evans - Vice Chairman, LECG Europe
- Håkan Friman
- Cyril Glasser - Consultant Sheridans
- Vera Gowlland-Debbas
- Ron Harmer
- Judge Frederic Jenny
- John Kallaugher - Head of Competition Law, Latham & Watkins
- Antonio Parra
- Graham Penn - Partner, Sidley Austin
- Ned Swan
- Robert Volterra - Partner, Latham & Watkins
- Edward Walker-Arnott - former Senior Partner, now consultant, Herbert Smith
- Elizabeth Wilmshurst
Alumni
Judiciary
- A.S. Anand — Chief Justice of India (1998-2001)
- Dame Margaret Booth — High Court Judge
- Herbert Cozens-Hardy, 1st Baron Cozens-Hardy — Master of the Rolls (1907-1918)
- Samuel Azu Crabbe — Chief Justice of Ghana (1973-1977)
- Sudhi Ranjan Das — Chief Justice of India (1955-1959)
- Taslim Elias — Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria (1972-1975); Judge of the International Court of Justice (1976-1991); President of the International Court of Justice (1982-1985)
- Lord Goldsmith QC — Attorney General for England and Wales (2001-2007)
- Hassan Bubacar Jallow — current Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (2003-present);former Attorney-General, Minister of Justice and Judge of the Supreme Court of Gambia
- Sir George Jessel — first Jewish Solicitor General for England and Wales (1871-1873); first Jewish regular member of the Privy Council; first Jewish judge in UK; Master of the Rolls( 1873-1883)
- Simon Li — former Vice-President of Court of Appeals (Hong Kong) and first ethnic Chinese High Court Judge (Hong Kong)
- Sir Gavin Lightman QC — High Court Judge (Chancery Division), England
- Baroness Scotland PC QC — Attorney General for England and Wales (2007-present); first black woman to be appointed Queen's Counsel
- Sir Thomas Scrutton — Lord Justice of Appeal (1916–34)
- Thirugnana Sampanthar Sinnathuray — Judge of the High Court of Singapore
- Chao Hick Tin — Vice-President of the Court of Appeal of Singapore; Attorney-General of Singapore (2006-2008)
- Sir Alfred Wills (1828-1912) — High Court Judge); presided over the trial of Oscar Wilde
- Lord Woolf — Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales
- Sir Ti-Liang Yang GBM — Chief Justice of Hong Kong
Other
- Ghazi Abdul Rahman Algosaibi — Saudi Arabian Ambassador to Bahrain (1984 to 1992); Saudi Arabian Ambassador to United Kingdom and Ireland (1992-2002)
- Justice Gabriel Bach — Justice of the Supreme Court of Israel
- Sir John Baker QC FBA — legal historian; Downing Professor of the Laws of England, University of Cambridge
- Peter Birks QC FBA — Regius Professor of Civil Law, University of Oxford
- Sir Ellis Clarke — Governor-General of Trinidad and Tobago (1973-1976); President of Trinidad and Tobago (1976-1986)
- Terry Davis — Secretary General of the Council of Europe
- Lord Dear — Her Majesty's Inspector of Constabulary (1990-1997)
- Baroness Flather — first Asian woman to receive a peerage
- Daniel Fung SC — Solicitor-General of Hong Kong
- Mahatma Gandhi — Indian Nationalist and Spiritual Leader
- Edwin Glasgow CBE QC — Counsel in the Bloody Sunday Inquiry
- Lord Hart — former Special Adviser to the Lord Chancellor (1998-2007)
- Chaim Herzog — President of Israel (1983-1993)
- Joshua Jeyaretnam — Singapore politician and former leader of the Workers' Party of Singapore
- Lord Jones — British politician and businessman; Minister of State for Trade
- Julie Maxton - Registrar of the University of Oxford (first woman in 550 years)
- Leonard Sainer — Solicitor and retailer
- Rabindranath Tagore (did not graduate) — Bengali poet; Nobel Prize in Literature (1913); first Asian Nobel Laureate
- Tan Boon Teik — former Attorney-General of Singapore (1969-1992)
- Lord Young — Secretary of State for Employment (1985-1987); Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1987-1989)
- Wu Ting Fang (1842 - 1923) — the first ethnic Chinese person to be called to the Bar in England
Footnotes
- ^ http://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/single.htm?ipg=8727
- ^ http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/sunday_times_university_guide/article4765366.ece
- ^ http://www.ucl.ac.uk/media/library/LNAT
- ^ http://www.ucl.ac.uk/laws/faculty/
- ^ http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/good_university_guide/article526344.ece
- ^ http://www.rae.ac.uk/results/qualityProfile.aspx?id=38&type=uoa
- ^ http://www.independent.co.uk/student/into-university/az-degrees/law-758545.html
- ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_College_London_Law_Faculty#cite_note-timesonline.co.uk-0
- ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_College_London_Law_Faculty#cite_note-independent.co.uk-5
- ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_College_London_Law_Faculty#cite_note-independent.co.uk-5