UNSW Faculty of Law

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).
UNSW Law School
University of New South Wales Crest
Established 1971
Type Public
Dean Professor Leon Trakman
Staff 112
Students 3600
Location Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Campus Urban
Website www.law.unsw.edu.au

The Faculty of Law of the University of New South Wales is a law school situated in Sydney, Australia. It is comprised of the School of Law, the Australian School of Taxation (Atax), a community legal centre, a centre for continuing legal education, and 12 affiliated research and specialist legal centres. Currently the Faculty teaches approximately 2400 law students and 1400 tax students.[1] The Faculty has a long standing relationship with law firm Freehills, where the firm sponsors the Faculty's law library and pays for return business-class plane tickets and a stipend for academics and their spouses visiting the Faculty [1].

Today, the Faculty is recognised as one of the top law schools in Australia, and distinguishes itself from other Australian legal education bodies for its small and interactive classes[2]. In the past six years, five UNSW law students have won prestigious Rhodes Scholarships. In 1985 the UNSW Law School was one of 13 tertiary law institutions to undergo review/assessment by a committee of the Commonwealth Tertiary Education Commission. In addition to its formal recognition in regard to its breadth of legal education, the committee's convenor, Professor Dennis Pearce, described UNSW Law as "the best law school in the country".[3]

According to 2006 Good Universities Guide, average graduate starting salary is $48000, ranking top among Australian Law Schools.

The new Faculty of Law building
Enlarge
The new Faculty of Law building

Contents

[edit] History

The Faculty opened on 1 March 1971 with 219 undergraduate students[4]. Prior to this, only the University of Sydney offered law degrees in New South Wales. It was established by Act of Parliament to meet the growing demand for a greater choice in tertiary legal education in New South Wales. The task of establishing the new law school was given to Hal Wootten QC, who was appointed Foundation Dean in 1969. When it was first started, it was just a one-man unit in a wooden hut. Within two years of opening its doors, the Law Faculty had outgrown The Huts and, via other interim "homes" occupying five floors of the UNSW Library Tower, in 1975

[edit] Faculty Publications

The UNSW Law Journal is one of Australia's leading academic legal journals and one of the few to be produced entirely by a voluntary student board. Submissions for publication are received from local and international academics, judges, and legal professionals from a wide range of practice areas. The journal has a diverse and influential readership, being distributed among Judges of the High Court of Australia, Federal Court of Australia and Supreme Court of New South Wales, as well as subscribers including government departments, non-government organisations and law firms. More than 250 universities worldwide receive the UNSW Law Journal.

Other Faculty publications and journals include:

[edit] Faculty Components & Centres

[edit] Australian School of Taxation (Atax)

Australian School of Taxationis Australia’s largest and leading taxation school [5]. The momentum of establishing a taxation school was initiated by the Australian Taxation Office.The ATO responded to the needs of the tax profession by entering into an extensive Australia-wide process to select the tertiary institution best able to develop and deliver a broad based and balanced taxation education program to serve all tax professionals. The establishment and management of the school was opened for tender in 1991 and The University of New South Wales won the competitive tender.

In 1997 Atax became part of the Law Faculty

[edit] Australasian Legal Information Institute (Austlii)

Australasian Legal Information Institute is operated jointly by the Faculties of Law at the UTS and the UNSW. It provides one of the largest [6] sources of primary legal materials (legislation, treaties and decisions of courts and tribunals); and secondary legal materials created by public bodies for purposes of public access.

The AustLII collection contains full-text databases of most Australian decisions and legislation. Current databases include Commonwealth, ACT, Northern Territory, Victorian, Tasmanian, Western Australian, NSW and South Australian legislation and regulations, most Federal courts, High Court, Family Court and most state courts and tribunals. AustLII also includes a number of more specialised databases, an extensive law reform collection, a growing law journal collection as well as the most comprehensive index to Australian law on the Net.

AustLII is used by over 80,000 people each working day [7].

[edit] Kingsford Legal Centre

The Faculty has always maintained a strong focus on social justice issues. The faculty hosts the Kingsford Legal Centre which is a community legal centre which provides free legal advice and referral and ongoing assistance to the residents of the local area in relation to legal problems. The Centre takes on cases where there is no other source of assistance or where acting for the client will benefit the community by achieving change in the law or government policy.

The Centre advises on matters including domestic violence, debt, criminal law, employment law, legal aid, discrimination law, victim's compensation, motor vehicle accidents, consumer matters and accidents and injuries.

[edit] Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law

Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law plays a prominent role in the public debate on public issues vital to Australia's future; reconciliation, a Bill of Rights, the rewriting of the Constitution and an Australian Republic. The Centre is a focal point for research into, and discussion of, important questions of public law for the academic, professional and wider community.

The current centre director is Professor George Williams.

[edit] Other Research Centres

There are a number of research centres attached to the faculty of law, including:

[edit] The New Law Building

A new law building, located on lower compus, opened to students on 27 July 2006. The building was officially opened on 21 September 2006 by Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia Murray Gleeson.

The new building is four storeys high, and was designed by Melbourne architects Lyons. Features of the new building include light-filled atria space, open staircases, landscaped courtyards and an agora running up through floors. There are 13 classrooms with 40-plus seats, two Harvard- style lecture rooms with 90 seats and a 350-seat auditorim. Other features include a new Moot Court and student lounge.

It is reported that the new building costed AUD $56 million [2]

[edit] Recent Initiatives

In 2005, the Faculty launched the Law Endowment Campaign to raise funds to support key resarch, social justice and scholarship initiatives over the long term. The first phase of the campaign aims to establish an endowment fund of $10 million through partnerships and gifts from the legal profession, business and alumni. To date, $4 million has been raised [8].

[edit] Student Organisation

The UNSW Law Society is the representative body for all students in the Faculty of Law. The society is considered as one of the most respected student-run law organisations in Australia [9], attracting sponsorhips from prominent national and international organisations. The Law Society is the first student organisation to attract sponsorship off-shore, with Allen & Overy and Linklaters, two of the world’s largest law firms becoming sponsors of the Law Society in 2001.

In 2005, it is reported that different law firms had donated about $150,000 to the UNSW Law Society [3]. According to the society's latest annual report, it will spend $100,000 on "student life enrichment" activities including an annual ball, drinks nights, alumni cocktail events, fundraising dinners, luncheons, a ski trip, a mid-session trip and a High Court tour.

[edit] Notable Alumni

In a mere short history of 30 years, the Faculty has produced a considerable amount of Rhodes Scholars, Fulbright Scholarship, Lionel Murphy overseas scholarship and Goldman Sachs leadership awards winners [10]. Notable alumni include:

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Law faculties practise dressing for success to attract donations, Financial Review, 20th May 2005
  2. ^ Building boom on campus, Law Society Journal NSW, 1st June, 2005.
  3. ^ See note 1

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../u/n/s/UNSW_Faculty_of_Law_65ac.html"