54°46′30″N 1°34′29″W / 54.775082°N 1.574678°W
 Entrance to Durham Law School | |
| Type | Law school |
|---|---|
| Established | 1969 |
Parent institution | Durham University |
| Dean | Volker Roeben |
| Address | Durham University , , Palatine Centre Stockton Road Durham DH1 3LE |
| Website | www |
Durham Law School is the law school of Durham University in Durham, England. In 2022, Durham Law was ranked 5th in the UK in a league table which averaged the rankings of the Complete University Guide, The Guardian and the Times University League Table. Durham Law School is ranked 42nd in the world for law in the 2023 Times Higher Education ranking[1] and 46th in the world for law by the 2023 QS ranking.
Durham Law School has particular research strengths in the areas of Public Law & Human Rights, Commercial & Corporate Law, EU & International Law and Bio-law with further strengths in Chinese Law and Legal Philosophy.
The school was founded in 1969. It was congratulated on its 50th anniversary in a House of Commons early day motion in 2018.[2]
Durham Law School is housed in the BREEAM excellent-rated Palatine Centre, on Durham University's Lower Mountjoy site. This was named as the most impressive law school building in the world by Best Choice Schools in 2014.[3][4] The building includes a moot court and the 90-seat Harvard-style Hogan Lovells lecture theatre.[5][6]
Undergraduate teaching is delivered through lectures, seminars and small group tutorials. Extra-curricula opportunities include mooting and pro bono legal work.[7]
Durham Law School offers a three-year LLB degree and a four-year LLB with Year Abroad degree.[8] They are both Qualifying Law Degree programmes for the purpose of practicing as a barrister or solicitor in England and Wales. The course includes modules on Chinese law, launched in response to the needs of City firms.[9] The law school also runs a Chinese law summer school – the first in the UK and first in English outside Asia – in a move described by the Times as offering "great career prospects" for Durham Law School graduates beyond what is offered at other UK law schools.[10]
Taught postgraduate LLM degree programmes include a general Master of Laws LLM, LLM in Corporate Law, LLM in European Trade and Commercial Law, LLM in International Trade and Commercial Law, LLM in International Law and Governance, LLM in International Environmental Law and LLM in Medical Law and Ethics.[11]
Research postgraduate degree programmes include a one-year Master of Jurisprudence MJur and PhD in Law.[12]
| National rankings | |
|---|---|
| Complete (2024)[13] | 5 |
| Guardian (2024)[14] | 6 |
| Times / Sunday Times (2024)[15] | 6 |
| Global rankings | |
| ARWU (2023)[16] | 101-150 |
| QS (2024)[17] | 43 |
| THE (2024)[18] | 34 |
In 2015, the Chambers Student triennial survey of which universities law firm trainees had attended ranked Durham third behind Oxford and Cambridge, supplying 7.6 per cent of law trainees in the UK (up from 4th in 2012). The survey also placed Durham second (behind Manchester) in supplying national firms (up from 11th in 2012) and third in supplying US firms in London (up from 5th in 2012).[19][20]
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Durham Law School supports a range of institutes, centres and groups open to academic staff and law students. These include: the Centre for Chinese Law and Policy (CCLP), the Centre for Criminal Law and Criminal Justice (CCLCJ), the Centre for Ethics and Law in the Life Sciences (Durham CELLS), the Durham European Law Institute (DELI), the Centre for Gender Equal Media (GEM), Gender and Law at Durham (GLAD), the Human Rights Centre (HRC), the Institute of Commercial and Corporate Law (ICCL), Islam, Law and Modernity (ILM) and Law and Global Justice at Durham (LGJ).[21]
Durham's Centre for Chinese Law and Policy is among the largest in Europe.[22]
The following notable individuals are or have been academics of Durham Law School:
