Welcome from the Dean

Welcome to Newcastle University Law School and to our webpages. I invite you to visit this site and learn more about our faculty, academic programmes, research, and student experience.

As a small law school in a strong research-based university, we offer an intimate, vibrant, and exciting environment in which to study law. Our community of scholars is deeply committed to teaching, which is research-driven and aimed at developing fundamental disciplinary knowledge, analytical capabilities, legal reasoning, research skills, and argumentation techniques. Whether you are a prospective student interested in becoming a legal practitioner, or one aspiring for a career in business, public service, policy advocacy, the NGO sector, international relations, or the media, Newcastle Law School will provide you with a high quality education designed to maximise your chances of success.

The study of black-letter legal rules and their application forms the staple diet of legal education - Newcastle Law School does that, and more. Our academics draw on insights from other disciplines to enrich their scholarly writing and to provide a wider context to their teaching. The School's distinctive Professional Program integrates the academic study of law, practical legal training, and clinical practice. Through our investment in clinical legal education, we provide students with the unique opportunity to see law in action. The University of Newcastle Legal Centre is a practice facility, where students learn while helping real clients. Such hands-on practical learning has another positive outcome - it reinforces the law's potential for community service, the pursuit of justice, and social change. The Legal Centre's passion for providing access to justice for people in need is demonstrated by some of its more innovative programs, such as 'Law on the Beach' and the Homelessness and Law Project.

As the incoming dean of Newcastle Law School, I am committed to building upon the law school's strengths to take it to even greater heights. In particular, we will aim to imbue our academic programmes with a more transnational focus in order to reflect the reality that many aspects of modern diurnal life have international contacts. In everything that we do, we will be guided by the imperative to measure our success by the accomplishments of our graduates, the ability of our research to advance knowledge, and by our contribution to the community.

I invite you to visit and join us in this exciting journey.

Sincerely,

Professor Sandeep Gopalan
Dean, Newcastle Law School