| UCL Faculty of Laws | |
| Established: | 1827 |
| Undergrad: | 825 |
| Postgrad: | 450 |
| Academic Staff: | 90 |
The UCL Faculty of Laws is the law school of University College London (UCL), a member institution of the federal University of London. It is one of UCL's 11 constituent faculties and is based in London, United Kingdom.[1]
With a history dating back to 1827, the faculty was the first law school in England to admit students regardless of their religion, the first to admit women on equal terms with men, the first to award a law degree to a woman, Eliza Orme, and appointed one of the first three female law professors in the UK, Valentine Korah, who pioneered the study of competition law in Europe.[2] [3]
The faculty in 2022-23 reported a student body comprising 825 enrolled undergraduates, 450 taught full and part time post-graduates and around 50 research (MPhil/PhD) students,[4] and offers a variety of undergraduate and graduate degrees.[5] It publishes a number of journals, including Current Legal Problems and the UCL Journal of Law and Jurisprudence. It is the only university in the UK to hold a legal aid contract, which forms part of its Integrated Legal Advice Clinic (iLAC).[6]
The faculty traces its roots to the appointment of the noted legal philosopher, John Austin, as Professor of Jurisprudence in 1827. Andrew Amos, a successful barrister, became the first Professor of English Law (and later Professor of Medical Jurisprudence). However, numbers fell off after the Law Society and the Inner Temple began offering lectures in law in 1833, leading both professors (who were paid by the number of student taught) to resign. Alexander Murison was professor of Roman Law from 1884 to 1925, still paid "five shillings in the guinea" from the student fees; his successor, Herbert Felix Jolowicz, was guaranteed an income of £800 a year.[7] The royal commission of 1898 that led to the reformation of the University of London as a federal institution found that the law classes at UCL were not well attended and, with the Inns of Court having declined to join the federal university, concluded that the teaching in UCL and King's College was insufficient to allow a faculty of laws to be formed.[8] However, an intercollegiate faculty of laws was established in 1906, bringing together UCL, King's and the LSE.[9]
The UCL Faculty of Laws expanded rapidly in the 1960s and soon outgrew its office space. The Faculty of Laws building, later named Bentham House, was bought by the college in 1965. Expanding beyond its traditional strengths of Roman law and jurisprudence, the faculty appointed the UK's first Professor of Air and Space Law in 1967 and offered courses in Russian and Soviet Law.[10] In the mid-2000s, the faculty expanded into the adjacent 1970s building in Endsleigh Street, now the Gideon Schreier Wing.[11]
Previous deans of the faculty include Bin Cheng,[12] Jeffrey Jowell,[13] Dawn Oliver,[14] and Dame Hazel Genn.[15] Eloise Scotford has been dean since 2022.[16] [17]
The faculty is based at Bentham House, Endsleigh Gardens, a Grade II listed building a few minutes walk from the main UCL campus. The building is named after philosopher, jurist and reformer Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832), who is closely associated with UCL, and whose collected works are published by the faculty as part of the Bentham Project.[18] The main building was originally constructed in 1954–8 as a headquarters for the National Union of General and Municipal Workers: the exterior decoration includes at fifth-floor level five relief sculptures of industrial workers by Esmond Burton.[19]
Facilities at Bentham House include teaching rooms, lecture halls, a courtroom for moots, a student lounge, a coffee bar and two computer cluster rooms.[5]
In the mid-2010s, Bentham House was redeveloped for £18.5m by architects Levitt Bernstein, a project which was completed in 2018.[20]
The faculty was placed first in the UK for the quality of its research in the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF).[21] The faculty's Judicial Institute, launched in 2010, was the first specialist academic centre for research and teaching about the judiciary to be established in the UK.[22] UCL Laws is home to a number of associated research centres, groups and institutes:[23]
The faculty reported in 2010 that it receives around 2,500 applications for approximately 140 undergraduate places each year.[24] The minimum entry requirements are A*AA grades at A-level, and a high LNAT score.[25] All candidates to whom an offer is contemplated being made who are identified as requiring particular consideration are interviewed.[25] There are no places available through the UCAS clearing process.[24]
The faculty admits approximately 350 students to its on campus LLM course each year, receiving an average of 2,500 applicants for admission.[5] Further, along with Queen Mary University of London's respective law faculty it is also responsible for a joint LLM by examination awarded by the University of London at large.
The minimum entry requirements for the MPhil and PhD research degrees are a bachelor's degree with first or high upper second honours together with an LLM with an average grade of 65% (ideally with evidence of first class ability).[26]
The faculty publishes a number of journals, including Current Legal Problems, first published in 1948,[27] and the student journal, UCL Journal of Law and Jurisprudence.[28]
The faculty hosts a number of free public lectures each week (including, since 1947, 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.[29]
The faculty was ranked second in the UK for law in The Guardian University Guide 2025,[30] first in the Times Good University Guide 2025,[31] second in the Complete University Guide 2025,[32] 12th globally in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2024 by subject: law,[33] and 14th globally in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2024: Law & Legal Studies.[34] In analysis of the 2021 Research Excellence Framework results by Times Higher Education, the Faculty of Laws was ranked first in the United Kingdom for the quality of its research.[35]
The Faculty has a large number of academic staff active in research across legal domains. These include:
See main article: List of University College London people in the Law.