Sydney Law School

The school has also produced 24 Rhodes Scholars and several Gates Scholars. In 2010, the School replaced its graduate-entry Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) degree with the Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree. The LL.B. degree remains as part of an undergraduate double degree program. Today, it has approximately 1,700 LL.B. and J.D. students, 1,500 postgraduate coursework students, and 100 postgraduate research students. There are now 24 chairs, including the Challis Professors of Law, Jurisprudence and International Law.

• Name — Sydney Law School • Type — Public • Dean — Fleur Johns • Parent — University of Sydney • City — Sydney • State — New South Wales • Country — Australia • Students — 2,310 (2019) • Faculty — 106 (2020) • Website — sydney.edu.au/law Sydney Law School (informally Sydney Law or SLS) is the law school at the University of Sydney, Australia's oldest university. Sydney Law School began a full program of legal instruction in 1890 following the appointment of its first dean, having offered legal examinations since 1855. The law school has produced many leaders in law and politics, including six prime ministers, four federal opposition leaders, two governors-generals, eleven federal attorneys-generals, and 20 out of 56 justices of the High Court—more than any other law school in Australia. The school has also produced 24 Rhodes Scholars and several Gates Scholars. In 2010, the School replaced its graduate-entry Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) degree with the Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree. The LL.B. degree remains as part of an undergraduate double degree program. Today, it has approximately 1,700 LL.B. and J.D. students, 1,500 postgraduate coursework students, and 100 postgraduate research students. There are now 24 chairs, including the Challis Professors of Law, Jurisprudence and International Law.

The law school was inaugurated in 1855 and established by the Act to Incorporate and Endow the University of Sydney 1850 (NSW) and an 1855 University Senate by-law, becoming the third faculty (after the Faculty of Arts and Sydney Medical School) of the University of Sydney. The Faculty of Law commenced its work in 1859, primarily as a body of assessment and examination rather than teaching. In 1890, the first chair was appointed to the faculty and a full legal academic programme commenced at the Faculty. Prior to 2011, Sydney Law School was the sole school under the Faculty of Law, under the College of Arts and Humanities, one of the three constituent colleges of the university. As part of a re-organisation of faculty organisation, in 2011 the Faculty of Law was renamed Sydney Law School, adopting the better-known name of its sole school.

Source: The NICA rankings evaluate law schools based on their performance in moot court competitions. The rankings consider two factors: the weight of the competitions, determined by the number of participating law schools, and the advancement of teams within these competitions. The system provides a straightforward comparison of law schools' performance in moot courts. Sydney Law School is consistently a top performer in international moot court competitions, obtaining an average world ranking of 80th and an average Australian ranking of 4th. Sydney Law School International Mooting Rankings 2014–2023 • 2014 — 2015 — 2016 — 2017 — 2018 — 2019 — 2020 — 2021 — 2022 — 2023 — Average • World ranking — 325th — 4th — 6th — 6th — 36th — 12th — 374th — 3rd — 6th — 28th — 80th • Australia ranking — 12th — 1st — 2nd — 1st — 4th — 1st — 14th — 1st — 2nd — 3rd — 4th

• Illustration — Old Law School building The law school building on Phillip Street in the centre of Sydney's legal and business district was the home of the 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, some classes and other functions continued to be hosted on the St James campus until 2015, and students could still submit assignments there. As of 1 July 2015, the building is no longer owned by the university, and the law school's CBD operations have been relocated to 133 Castlereagh Street, Sydney. The former St James campus is bounded by Elizabeth, King and Phillip streets and is opposite the Supreme Court of New South Wales. The building consists of 13 dedicated levels, three of which are underground. Level four is the ground entrance level and housed the assembly hall, a foyer, and some offices; levels one and two housed "Harvard-style" lecture theatres; level three housed a staff car park and other amenities; level five housed University of Sydney Union premises, including the office of the Sydney University Law Society (SULS), until their relocation to the New Law School Building on the Main Campus at Camperdown and Darlington. The Sydney University Law Library and the Faculty of Law's information desk were located on levels seven to ten and twelve, respectively. These facilities have since relocated to level zero to one and level three of the New Law Building, respectively. 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 former St James campus is located near S. James railway station and Martin Place railway station and is serviced by a bus stop outside its entrance on Elizabeth Street.

• Illustration — Herbert Smith Freehills Law Library

The Sydney Law School offers the professional degrees of Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) (combined with another bachelor's degree) for undergraduate-entry, and the Juris Doctor (J.D.) for graduate-entry. The law school also offers higher-research degrees, namely the Masters of Criminology by Research, the Master of Laws by Research, the Doctor of Juridical Science, and the Doctor of Philosophy in Law. In addition to this, the law school offers postgraduate coursework degrees such as the Master of Laws by coursework, and diplomas and non-degree study in specialist areas of law and government for both law and non-law graduates. Sydney Law School has an arrangement with the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford under which high-achieving Sydney students who are accepted into a postgraduate law program at Cambridge or Oxford can commence their postgraduate studies in the second last semester of their Sydney law degree, and count those studies towards their Bachelor of Laws degree.

Sydney Law School has a number of associated Research Centres: • Australian Centre for Climate and Environmental Law (ACCEL) • Centre for Asian and Pacific Law (CAPLUS) • Constitutional Reform Unit • Julius Stone Institute of Jurisprudence • Ross Parsons Centre of Commercial, Corporate and Taxation Law • Sydney Centre for International Law (SCIL) • Sydney Institute of Criminology • Sydney Health Law • Australian Network for Japanese Law (ANJeL)

For admission into the Combined Law program in 2017, domestic students required an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) or equivalent of 99.5, or an International Baccalaureate (IB) score of 43 points. In 2016, the ATAR cut-off was 99.5, with the median ATAR for all students who were accepted for that year being 99.55. Admission to the Master of Laws by coursework program requires a Bachelor of Laws or Juris Doctor with a Distinction average to be competitive. Admission to postgraduate research programs, such as the Doctor of Philosophy in law, generally requires a master's degree or a bachelor's degree with first or second class honours, as well as the acceptance of a satisfactory research proposal and "satisfactory evidence of skills, knowledge and the ability to pursue and complete the proposed program". This may be demonstrated by successful completion of sustained research, scholarly publications, and sustained research in a professional capacity.

Many student organisations operate in association with the Sydney Law School, to cater to law students. 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. The South East Asian Law Society (SEALS), caters to all students and especially those from South East Asian nations. The Korean Law Students Society at the University of Sydney (KLUS), caters to Korean ethnic students, formed in 1997. The St Thomas More Society, caters to Catholic students. The Sydney University Evangelical Union (SUEU) Business & Law Faculty (BIZLAW), caters to Evangelical/Protestant students.

In its over years of history, the Sydney Law School has produced a prominent group of alumni.

• 1890–1910: Pitt Cobbett • 1910–1942: John Peden • 1942–1946: James Williams • 1946–1947: Clive Teece (acting) • 1947–1973: Keith Shatwell • 1974–1977: David Benjafield • 1978–1979: Dyson Heydon • 1980–1985: John Mackinolty • 1986–1989: Colin Phegan • 1990–1992: James Crawford • 1992–1993: Alex Ziegert (acting) • 1993–1994: Colin Phegan (acting) • 1994–1997: David Weisbrot • 1998–1999: Ros Atherton (acting) • 1999–2002: Jeremy Webber • 2002–2007: Ron McCallum • 2007–2012: Gillian Triggs • 2012–2013: Greg Tolhurst (acting) • 2013–2018: Joellen Riley • 2019–2019: Cameron Stewart (acting) • 2019–2024: Simon Bronitt • 2024-2025: Rita Shackel (acting) • 2025-present: Fleur Johns