Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge

The Faculty of Law at the University of Cambridge in September 2005
Undergraduates	700
Postgraduates	250
Location	Cambridge , Cambridgeshire , United Kingdom
Campus	Sidgwick Site

The Faculty of Law, Cambridge is the law school of the University of Cambridge. It's where students go to learn all about law and how it works.

People have been studying law at Cambridge University for a very long time, since the 1200s! The faculty has the oldest law teaching job in the English-speaking world. It's called the Regius Professorship of Civil Law. This special job was started by King Henry VIII way back in 1540.

Today, the Faculty of Law includes the Institute of Criminology, which studies crime. It also has 11 research centers. One of these is the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law, which is a top place for studying laws between countries. The faculty has many teachers, including 31 professors. Around 700 undergraduate students and 250 postgraduate students study here. It's also home to the Cambridge University Law Society, which is one of the biggest student-run law groups in the United Kingdom.

What Can You Study Here?

The main undergraduate degree at Cambridge is called the BA Tripos. It helps students understand the basic ideas of law from an academic point of view. This means they learn about the why and how of law, not just how to be a lawyer.

The faculty also offers many advanced degrees for students who want to study law even more. These include:

• The LLM
• The MCL
• The MLitt
• The MPhil in Criminology (studying crime)
• The MPhil in Criminological Research
• The M.St in Applied Criminology, Penology and Management
• The M.St in Applied Criminology and Police Management
• The PhD in Criminology
• The PhD in Law

They also offer special diplomas for legal studies and international law.

How Good is Cambridge Law?

Cambridge is often seen as the best law school in the UK. Many important rankings agree on this. It is currently ranked first by The Guardian, The Times/The Sunday Times' Good University Guide, and The Complete University Guide.

Since 2010, The Guardian has ranked Cambridge first six times. The Complete University Guide has given Cambridge the top spot since 2013. The Times Good University Guide has also ranked Cambridge as number one for law since 2014.

In 2021, the Times Higher Education said Cambridge was the second best university in the world for law. The QS World University Rankings also ranked Cambridge as the world's third best for law and legal studies in 2021.

Amazing Buildings and Libraries

The David Williams Building

The Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge in the evening

The Faculty of Law is located in the David Williams Building. This building is on the university's Sidgwick Site in Cambridge. It is named after Professor Sir David Williams, who was a very important person at the university.

The building opened in 1996. It was designed by a famous architect named Lord Norman Foster. He also designed other well-known buildings like 30 St Mary Axe (the "Gherkin" in London). The David Williams Building holds the university's main law library, offices, classrooms, and common areas for students.

The interior of the faculty building

The Squire Law Library

The Squire Law Library is a huge library inside the David Williams Building. It takes up most of the first, second, and third floors. It is one of the three largest law collections in the UK, with over 180,000 books!

The library has a lot of books on UK law and the law of other major English-speaking countries like the United States and Canada. It also has many books on international law and the laws of the European Union, France, and Germany. Students can also use many important legal databases here.

The Squire Law Library started in 1904 with only 8,000 books. It has grown a lot since then! Most individual colleges at Cambridge also have their own smaller law libraries. The Lauterpacht Centre for International Law has its own library too, full of international law books.

Student Groups

There are several groups and societies for law students at Cambridge:

• Cambridge University Law Society
• Cambridge Societies at the Inns of Court (these are groups for students interested in becoming barristers)
• Graduate Law Society
• The Cambridge University Society for Women Lawyers
• Cambridge University Students' Pro Bono Society (students help people with legal issues for free)
• Cambridge Pro Bono Project

Many of the individual colleges also have their own law societies for students.

Notable People

Many famous people have studied or taught at the Faculty of Law. Some of the important professors who teach here hold special named positions:

• Downing Professor of the Laws of England
• Regius Professor of Civil Law
• Rouse Ball Professor of English Law
• Whewell Professor of International Law
• Sir David Williams Professor of Public Law
• S.J. Berwin Professor of Corporate Law
• Harold Samuel Professor of Law and Environmental Policy