Sydney Law School

Sydney Law School
Shield of Sydney Law School
Established	1855
Type	Public
Dean	Professor Gillian Triggs
Academic staff	172
Students	3,300
Location	Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Affiliations	University of Sydney
Website	sydney.edu.au/law

Sydney Law School (Sydney Law or SLS) is the law faculty of the University of Sydney and is regarded as one of the most prestigious institutions of legal education in Australia and the Asia Pacific. Located in the main Camperdown campus of the University, with some operations at the St. James Campus, it was one of the first established law schools in Australia and is home to the largest academic law library in the country.

Sydney Law School is currently ranked by the Social Science Research Network (SSRN) as the top law school in Australia and 22nd in the world . In terms of legal research, the SSRN also ranks Sydney Law School 4th among the top international law schools . As of 2011, the QS World University Rankings ranks Sydney Law School as the 2nd best law school in Australia, and 11th among law schools in the world. The School has approximately 1700 undergraduate students, 1500 postgraduate coursework students and 100 postgraduate research students. There are now 24 chairs including the Challis Chairs of Law, Jurisprudence and International Law. In 2010, the School replaced its graduate-entry LLB program with the Juris Doctor.

Recently, Sydney Law School won the prestigious international mooting competition, the Philip C. Jessup Cup 2011, defeating Columbia Law School in the finals . Sydney Law has produced a large number of luminaries in law and politics, including four Prime Ministers and 23 Justices of the High Court. The school has also produced 22 Rhodes Scholars.

New Law School building

New Law Building

Sydney Law School has changed locations several times in the past, but has always remained in the centre of the city because of the tradition of teaching by practitioners, and for easy access to the courts and members of the profession. However, the University of Sydney asserts that with changes in the mode of teaching, the advantages of being integrated into the University's main campus have been deemed by them to outweigh the convenience of a central location.^{[citation needed]} Consequently, a new law school was constructed at the main Camperdown campus, adjacent to Fisher Library and on the site of the former Edgeworth David building. Completed in February 2009, the faculty administration began occupation in mid-February, prior to classes beginning in early March.

On 30 April 2009, the new Law School building was officially opened by Quentin Bryce, Governor-General of Australia. Also in attendance were Robert French, Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia, Murray Gleeson, immediately past Chief Justice of the High Court, Jim Spigelman, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, and Malcolm Turnbull, leader of the Federal opposition.

St. James campus

Sydney Law School

The Law School building on Phillip Street in the centre of Sydney's legal and business district was the home of Sydney Law School until early 2009. While the faculty is now located in the New Law School building on the main Camperdown campus of the university, classes and some other functions continue to be hosted on the St. James campus.

The campus is bounded by Elizabeth Street, King Street, and Phillip Street. It is in the heart of Sydney's legal and business districts. It faces the Supreme Court of New South Wales. The building consists of 13 dedicated levels, three of which are underground. Levels one and two house "Harvard-style" lecture theatres. Level three houses a staff car park and other amenities. Level four is the ground entrance level, and houses the assembly hall, a foyer, and some offices. Level five housed University of Sydney Union premises, including the office of the Sydney University Law Society (SULS). Levels seven to ten formerly housed the Sydney University Law Library. Level 12 was the Law School's Information Desk.

The building was constructed in 1969 in the brutalist architectural style. Busts of classical orators and jurists adorn the Phillip Street entrance, while the University of Sydney crest is found on the Elizabeth Street and Phillip Street entrance. The Law School building is located near St. James railway station and is serviced by a bus stop outside its entrance on Elizabeth Street.

Law links

Internally, Sydney Law School encompasses many of the state's legal fraternities^{[citation needed]}, centres,^{[citation needed]} and legal research institutes,^{[citation needed]} and jointly hosts the Australian Centre for Environmental Law (ACEL), the Centre for Asian and Pacific Law in the University of Sydney (CAPLUS), the Centre for Health Governance, Law and Ethics, the Institute of Criminology (University of Sydney), the Julius Stone Institute of Jurisprudence, the Ross Parsons Centre of Commercial, Corporate and Taxation Law, and the Sydney Centre for International and Global Law (SCIGL) as well as the Australian Network for Japanese Law (ANJeL).

Externally, Sydney Law School has partner programs with many of the world's leading law schools and is the only law school in Australia, to have a law exchange programme with Harvard Law School, as well as several other notable Ivy League and Russell Group law schools including: Cornell Law School, the University of Glasgow and the University of Bristol. Sydney Law School was also the 2007 winner of the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition.

Publications

The following publications are produced by the Sydney Law School Law Publishing Unit:

• Sydney Law Review
• Current Issues in Criminal Justice
• Asia Pacific Journal of Environmental Law
• Australian International Law Journal

Student organisations

Two student organisations operate in association with Sydney Law School. The Sydney University Law Society (SULS), formed in 1902, represents all law students at the University. The Chinese Law Students Society (CLSS), formed in 2004, provides services with a more international outlook.

A number of other student societies at the University of Sydney also cater to law students. These include the Korean Law Students Society at the University of Sydney (KLUS), which caters to Korean ethnic students, formed in 1997, and the St. Thomas More Society, which caters to Catholic students.

Alumni

Over its 150 year history, Sydney Law School has produced a diverse and prominent group of alumni. It has produced four prime ministers and 23 out of 41 justices of the High Court. Many justices of the Supreme Court of New South Wales are alumni of Sydney Law School. There is also a justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa among the ranks of Sydney Law School alumni. The following is a list of prominent alumni:

High Court of Australia

• Chief Justices of the High Court of Australia (in chronological order):
  • Sir Garfield Barwick
  • Sir Anthony Mason
  • Murray Gleeson
• Other Justices of the High Court (in chronological order):
  • Sir Edmund Barton
  • Richard O'Connor
  • Albert Piddington
  • Sir George Rich
  • Dr H. V. Evatt
  • Sir Edward McTiernan
  • Sir Dudley Williams
  • Sir Frank Kitto
  • Sir Alan Taylor
  • Sir Victor Windeyer
  • Sir Cyril Walsh
  • Sir Kenneth Jacobs
  • Lionel Murphy
  • Sir William Deane
  • Mary Gaudron
  • Michael Kirby
  • William Gummow
  • Dyson Heydon
  • Susan Crennan
  • Virginia Bell

Supreme Court of New South Wales

• The heads of many sections of the NSW Supreme Court are Sydney alumni:
  • Tom Bathurst - Chief Justice, Supreme Court of NSW
  • James Allsop - President of the NSW Court of Appeal
  • Peter McClellan - Chief Judge at Common Law, Supreme Court of NSW
• The following former Chief Justices are Sydney Law School alumni:
  • Jim Spigelman - Chief Justice (1998-2011)
  • Murray Gleeson - Chief Justice (1988–1998)
  • Sir Laurence Whistler Street - Chief Justice (1974–1988)
  • Sir John Kerr - Chief Justice (1972–1974)
  • Sir Leslie James Herron - Chief Justice (1962–1972)
  • Dr H V Evatt - Chief Justice (1960–1962)
  • Sir Kenneth Whistler Street - Chief Justice (1950–1960)
  • Sir Frederick Richard Jordan - Chief Justice (1934–1949)
  • Sir William Portus Cullen - Chief Justice (1910–1925)

Other legal professions

• Kate O'Regan - Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa from 1994 to 2009.
• Reg Blanch - Chief Judge of NSW District Court
• Marie Beuzeville Byles - First woman to practise as a lawyer in NSW.
• Ada Emily Evans - First woman in Australia to graduate with an LLB (but not permitted to practise).
• Geoffrey Robertson - Human rights lawyer and author.
• Kim Santow - Justice of Appeal in the New South Wales Supreme Court; former Chancellor of the University of Sydney (2001–2007)
• Lucy Turnbull - lawyer; former Lord Mayor of Sydney.

Politics

• President of the United Nations General Assembly (1948–1949), Dr H.V. Evatt
• Governors-General of Australia - Sir John Kerr, Sir William Deane
• Prime Ministers of Australia (in chronological order):
  • Sir Edmund Barton
  • Sir William McMahon
  • Gough Whitlam
  • John Howard
• Federal Opposition Leaders (in chronological order):
  • Malcolm Turnbull
  • Tony Abbott
• Premier of New South Wales:
  • Thomas Bavin
  • Neville Wran
• During the Australian constitutional crisis of 1975, the leaders of all branches of the Australian government were Sydney Law School alumni:
  • Sir John Kerr, Governor General (1974–1977)
  • Sir Garfield Barwick, Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia (1964–1981)
  • Gough Whitlam Prime Minister (1972–1975)
• In 1998 to 2001, again the leaders of all branches of the Australian government were Sydney Law School alumni:
  • Sir William Deane, Governor General (1996–2001)
  • Murray Gleeson, Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia (1998–2008)
  • John Howard, Prime Minister (1996–2007)

Academic

• 22 Rhodes scholars including:
  • Vincent John Flynn 1927
  • David Hargraves Hodgson 1962
  • Geoffrey Robertson 1970
  • Malcolm Turnbull 1978
  • Tony Abbott 1981

Business

• • Malcolm Turnbull
  • James Wolfensohn
  • Rene Rivkin
  • Allan Moss

Arts, media and entertainment

• • Janet Albrechtsen
  • Chas Licciardello
  • David Marr
  • Julian Morrow
  • Andrew O'Keefe
  • Craig Reucassel
  • Peter Weir

Notable professors

• • James Crawford - Former Challis Professor of International Law and Dean
  • Ron McCallum - Former Blake Dawson Waldron Professor in Industrial Law and Dean
  • Ivan Shearer - Former Challis Professor of International Law
  • Julius Stone - Former Challis Professor of Jurisprudence and International Law
  • George Winterton - Former Professor of Constitutional Law

See also

• University of Sydney
• List of University of Sydney people

Further reading

• Mackinolty, John; Judy (1991). A Century Down Town: Sydney University Law School's First Hundred Years. Sydney: Sydney University Law School. 

External links

• Sydney Law School