Dean's Message

Welcome to Melbourne Law School. Our faculty has a rich history, having been the first to teach law in Australia. Equally important, this is a faculty firmly committed to being at the vanguard of legal education, in particular by offering Australia's most globalized programme of instruction. And all in the heart of what The Economist has declared to be the world's most livable city! Perhaps, like me, you’re a newcomer to the Law School. Or maybe you’ve been here a while and are continuing your studies. Whatever your status, we’re here at a wonderful moment of educational innovation.

Last year, Melbourne Law School celebrated 150 years of law teaching, a milestone in the history of the Law School, the University of Melbourne and legal education in this country. In 2008, we are building on what’s gone before, while taking on the name ‘Melbourne Law School’ (formerly, we were the ‘Faculty of Law’) as we’ve moved to become a fully-graduate law school in line with the – also recently-launched – ‘Melbourne Model’ of university education. This shift, formalised by the admission in 2008 of only graduate students to pursue the Juris Doctor (JD) degree, will equate legal education at Melbourne with the dominant global approach to legal education under which specialist professional education in law is anchored in a broad undergraduate experience – thus opening the doors to ever more creative and challenging forms of learning.

The changes we’re implementing will benefit not only the incoming JD class, but also the continuing LLB, Masters and Research Higher Degree students who will share access to challenging series of speakers and events, have the privilege of affiliating themselves with one or more of the School’s cutting-edge research institutes and groups, and enjoy common access to a streamlined Student Centre to meet all academic needs in a “one stop shopping,” highly professional environment. Many more exciting changes will be rolled out over the course of this and the next few years, all of which are designed to ensure that Melbourne remains at the pinnacle of legal education in Australia.

Not content to be Australia’s finest law school, we intend to take our place as one of the leading law schools in the world. To this end, we will continue to bring distinguished international experts to teach and lecture at Melbourne and to open doors for you, our students, to further your education and to take up careers of global reach. Most fundamentally, we will ensure that a broad, outward- looking perspective infuses the whole of our teaching and learning process, in all of our programs.

Professor James C. Hathaway 
Dean