Durham Law School
Durham Law School is the law school of Durham University in Durham, England. In 2017, Durham Law was ranked 4th 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 33rd in the world for law by the 2020 Times Higher Education World University Rankings by Subject, and joint 43rd in the world for law by the 2020 QS World University Rankings by Subject. Small group teaching in tutorials taught in academic staff offices and seminars are a  central part of the School's award-winning legal education. 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. Thom Brooks is Dean of Durham Law School. The School was congratulated by the House of Commons in Early Day Motion 875 in 2018. Programmes. Durham Law School offers a three-year LLB degree and a four-year LLB with Year Abroad degree. They are both Qualifying Law Degree programmes for the purpose of practicing as a  barrister or solicitor in England and Wales. Durham's law students rank among the very best in the UK for employability. The School offers a wide diversity of modules covering virtually every key area of law with particular strengths in public law, human rights, commercial and corporate law, EU law, international law and biolaw (including medical law) as well as Chinese law, comparative law, family law and jurisprudence. 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 and LLM  in International Law and Governance. Research postgraduate degree programmes include a one-year Master of Jurisprudence MJur and PhD in Law. Durham Law School has a staff common room and a postgraduate student suite that each have panoramic views of Durham Cathedral, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Durham Castle is a college of the university. Reputation. Durham Law School has been ranked as the 3rd best Law School in the UK by the Complete University Guide for 2016, behind Cambridge and Oxford respectively, as well as 3rd in the UK for the quality and impact of its research, according to  the most recent Research Excellence Framework (REF) in 2014. It was ranked joint 4th in the UK in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) in terms of the proportion of research activity ranked at the highest 4* level, and was one of only five UK law schools to be awarded the top grading of 5*A in the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE). The School achieved the top rating of "Excellent" for its teaching in its last inspection by the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) and is consistently rated as one of the very top UK law schools in various league tables . Durham Law School has been named the most impressive law school building in the world. The findings were published in 2014 by "Best Choice Schools" who selected the 50 most impressive law schools in the world. Employability. 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). Research. Research centres and groups. 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). Durham's Centre for Chinese Law and Policy is among the largest in Europe. Durham's Dean Thom Brooks introduced Chinese Law into the LLB and LLM curriculum alongside a new annual Chinese law summer school - the first ever in the UK and first time in English outside Asia - in a move described as offering "great career prospects" for Durham Law School graduates beyond what is offered at other UK law schools. Notable individuals. Notable academics. The following notable individuals are or have been academics of Durham Law School: