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Durham Law School

Law school in Durham, England From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Durham Law School
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54.775082°N 1.574678°W / 54.775082; -1.574678

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Durham Law School is the law school of Durham University in Durham, England. It has research centres in biolaw and medical law, Chinese law, commercial and corporate law, criminal law, European law, human rights and public law, international law, and sustainable development.

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History

Law degrees have been awarded at Durham University since the university's inception in the 1830s, mainly to graduates working in law, and there was a reader in law from 1833 to 1872 who gave occasional lectures on the subject. Regular law lectures began in 1907 at Armstrong College in Newcastle (now Newcastle University) and the first formal law school was established there in 1923. After Newcastle became independent of Durham in 1963, law teaching was introduced in Durham in 1964.[1] Durham Law School as a formal institution within the university was founded in 1969. It was congratulated on its 50th anniversary in a House of Commons early day motion in 2018.[2]

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Location

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]

Academic profile

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Programmes

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]

Reputation and rankings

Quick facts National rankings, Complete (2026) ...

For 2026, Durham Law School was ranked third in the UK by the Complete University Guide, behind only Cambridge and UCL,[19] fourth by the Guardian University Guide,[20] and joint fourth by the Times Good University Guide.[21] Internationally, Durham Law School was ranked 55th in the world for law in the 2025 Times Higher Education ranking,[22] 57th in the world for law by the 2024 QS ranking.[23] and in the 151–200 range by the Academic Ranking of World Universities.[24]

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 in supplying national firms (up from 11th in 2012) and third in supplying US firms in London (up from 5th in 2012).[25][26]

Research

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The Palatine Centre, home to Durham Law School

Engagement with public policy

Professor Emma Cave chaired a Nuffield Council on Bioethics working group on Stem Cell-Based Embryo Models in 2024, setting out governance proposals.[27][28] She also chaired the General Medical Council Good Medical Practice Advisory Forum, resulting in new good medical practice guidance in 2024.[29]

Professor Clare McGlynn has partnered with GLAMOUR magazine, the End Violence Against Women Coalition and Not Your Porn to campaign for legislation against image-based abuse.[30]

Professor Thom Brooks wrote the report The Life in the United Kingdom Citizenship Test: Is It Unfit for Purpose? in 2013.[31] His recommendations were subsequently backed by the House of Lords Select Committee on Citizenship and Civic Participation, the House of Lords Liaison Committee and the House of Lords Justice and Home Affairs Committee.[32]

Research centres and groups

Durham Law School supports a range of research institutes, centres and groups. As of 2025, these include: the centre for Chinese law and policy, the centre for criminal law and criminal justice, the centre for ethics and law in the life sciences, the centre for sustainable development law and policy, the Durham centre for Indian law and policy, the Durham centre for law and philosophy, the Durham European law institute, the Durham international dispute resolution institute, the human rights and public law centre, the institute of commercial and corporate law, and law and global justice at Durham.[33]

Durham's centre for Chinese law and policy was among the largest in Europe as of 2019.[34]

Durham CELLS (Centre for Ethics and Law in the Life Sciences) is a research centre based in the law school.[35] It focuses on the legal and ethical issues raised by biological science, medicine and regulation: biolaw and bioethics. It was founded in December 2011 by Shaun Pattinson[36] and has members from anthropology, biology, law, medicine, philosophy, sociology and theology.[37] Emma Cave is its director.

Durham CELLS is an established expert research centre in biolaw and bioethics.[38][39] Its activities include:

  • running a research blog on issues relating to the ethical, social and regulatory issues raised by the life sciences,[40][41]
  • running a blog on obstetric violence, supported by conferences and seminars,[42][43][44]
  • engaging school students with biomedicine and bioethics,[45][46][47] and
  • supporting ethics advisory committees.[48][49]
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Notable people

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Current academics

The following notable individuals are academics in Durham Law School:

Former academics

The following notable individuals have been academics in Durham Law School:

Alumni

Judiciary

Barristers

Politics

Media

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References

External links

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