Dean's message

It is an absolute privilege to lead one of the best law schools in the world. I’m enormously proud of our world-class legal researchers (rated No. 1 in the most recent UK REF exercise) who are also dedicated and excellent teachers. I am also very proud of our wonderful students, achieving great things with us in Bentham House, and who soon become alumni, going on to make incredible contributions to the legal profession and society around the world after they graduate. However, I am most proud of how we do our work researching and learning about the law.

UCL Laws is a deeply values-driven institution, where excellence and humanity are twinned at the heart of our foundations and our priorities. Studying at UCL Laws is an intellectually transformative experience. Our students develop confidence, critical thinking skills, intellectual open-mindedness, close attention to detail, oral argumentation ability, appreciation of diverse viewpoints, in addition to a deep understanding of the rule of law, legal doctrine, the philosophy of law, law in context, social structures and governance, commercial practices and social justice issues. 

These different facets of a UCL Laws degree, whether at undergraduate or at a more advanced postgraduate level, inculcate excellent legal thinking. Excellent legal thinking opens up an invaluable platform for contribution to society. It provides the basis for a professional qualification route for a successful career in the law, but it also facilitates positive contribution to society in myriad ways, whether through working on social justice issues or having highly developed skills for constructive debate, governance, commercial negotiation and civic engagement. Law is a social institution, and learning the law is a skill for building a positive society. In this regard, our uncompromising academic standards at UCL Laws – in teaching and in research – are vital. Robust foundations of legal knowledge are the foundations of strong educational and social institutions, ever more important in a time of contested truth, rapidly formed opinions, increasingly automated or digitised processes and challenges to the rule of law. 

Moreover, we are a Faculty founded on values of inclusion. Students and thinkers from all backgrounds have always been welcome at UCL Laws – we were the first UK law school to admit students regardless of religious background and the first to admit women on the same basis as men. This tradition continues today, as we welcome students from around the world to our programmes each year (from over 80 countries), and with our dedicated outreach programme (Target Law) for secondary students from disadvantaged backgrounds with the aspiration and potential to enter a top law school. The inclusive foundations of our law school are also foundations of excellence. Diverse perspectives about the law, bringing together new ideas and testing others rigorously and respectfully, leads to better knowledge and better understanding of law and legal systems. Our inclusive law school is also practised through our work in the community. We run an oversubscribed pro bono programme, offering over 100 placements each year to students to work with third sector organisations, and our award-winning UCL Centre for Access to Justice and its Integrated Legal Advice Clinic in Stratford provide vital legal aid support in East London.

It is my mission as Dean to further the UCL Laws values of excellence and humanity as we face new social conditions and challenges, capitalising on our foundations and our success, and ensuring that our Faculty’s much-valued global community continues its phenomenal story of producing and promoting legal excellence in service of society.

Professor Eloise Scotford
Dean of UCL Laws