UNSW Faculty of Law

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UNSW Law School
Established: 1971
Type: Public
Dean: Professor David Dixon
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 comprises 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]

Contents

[edit] Reputation

The new law building
The new law building

Today, the Faculty is recognised as one of the top law schools in Australia. In 2006 and 2007, the Federal Government's assessment of excellence in tertiary education found UNSW leads all Australian universities for the quality of learning and teaching in law.[2][3] The Faculty distinguishes itself from other Australian legal education bodies for its small and interactive classes.[1]

In the past six years, five UNSW law students have won 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".[1]

According to the 2006 Good Universities Guide, average graduate starting salary is $48000, ranking top among Australian Law Schools.[4]

[edit] History

The Faculty opened on 1 March 1971 with 219 undergraduate students.[1] 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 moved to occupy five floors of the UNSW Library Tower. In 2006 the Faculty moved to a new law building on lower campus.

In 2005, the Faculty launched the Law Endowment Campaign to raise funds to support key research, 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.[5]

The Faculty has a long standing relationship with law firm Freehills, which sponsors the Faculty's law library.[6]

[edit] Campus

The Landerer Moot Court in the Law Building
The Landerer Moot Court in the Law Building

A new law building, located on lower campus, opened to students on 27 July 2006. The building was officially opened on 21 September 2006 by Chief Justice 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 auditorium. Other features include a new Moot Court and student lounge.

It is reported that the new building cost AUD $56 million.[7]

[edit] Faculty components and centres

[edit] Australian School of Taxation (Atax)

The Australian School of Taxation is Australia's largest and leading taxation school [1]. 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 a 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 [2] 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.[8]

[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] 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] Student organisation

The UNSW Law Society is the representative body for all students in the Faculty of Law. It is responsible for coordinating a variety of areas and portfolios, including: education and competitions, careers, social events, student publications, speakers forum, student support and equity.

[edit] Social Events

Some of the many student-organised social events include: an annual law ball, drinks and games nights, alumni cocktail events, an annual ski trip, first-year law camp, UNSW Law Revue, and a law student concert ('Lawlapalooza').

[edit] Competitions

The Society facilitates a highly organised and widely participated-in competitions scheme.

Students are encouraged to compete in four different levels of internal mooting competitions, depending on the stage of their degree. The best performers in these competitions are supported to compete in inter-varsity competitions, such as the National Australian Law Students Association moot. Adjudicators are drawn from a large pool of senior students, graduates, and members of the profession, such as solicitors and barristers. Internal finals are presided over by judges of the Supreme Court of New South Wales.

There are a variety of other competitions organised by the Society, including Trial Advocacy (previously called "Witness Examination"), Negotiation, and Client Counseling.

[edit] Mentoring

The Law Mentoring Support Network is a program organised by law students and supported by the Law Faculty which aims to bridge high school and university life through peer mentoring. First year students are encouraged to meet fellow students through social events and are assigned senior student mentors, who ease them into law school life in weekly group sessions with other students.

[edit] Sponsorship

The Law Society attracts a variety of sponsorships from prominent national and international organisations.[3] Indeed, the 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 was reported that different law firms had donated about $150,000 to the UNSW Law Society.[6]

[edit] Notable alumni

Over a 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.[9] Notable alumni include:

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d History of UNSW Faculty of Law
  2. ^ 2007 Learning and Teaching Performance Fund announcement by Federal Minister for Education, 7 December 2006
  3. ^ 2008 Learning and Teaching Performance Fund announcement by Federal Minister for Education, 3 October 2007
  4. ^ http://ratings.thegoodguides.com.au/
  5. ^ Clark, Alex, "Changing Face of Law", Uniken, August 2006, pp. 8-10.
  6. ^ a b "Law faculties practise dressing for success to attract donations", Financial Review, 20th May 2005
  7. ^ "Building boom on campus", Law Society Journal NSW, 1st June, 2005.
  8. ^ AustLII - About AustLII: AustLII Overview
  9. ^ http://law.unsw.edu.au/about_us/

[edit] External links