Following a donation of £20 million by Dickson Poon in 2012, the school was renamed in his honour.[3] The current dean of the school is Professor Dan Hunter.[4]
History
Law has been taught at King's College London since 1831. It was originally taught within the Senior Department.[5] The professor of law was supported only by the fees of their students, with no guaranteed income, and law classes were not popular in the early days of the college. The first professor of law and jurisprudence was John James Park, who was replaced on his death in 1833 by John William Spurrier, who resigned in 1835. He was replaced by Richard Preston, who offered to resign in 1838 in favour of "any gentleman who can secure a class"; Edward Bullock took over the chair in December of that year.[6] In 1840 the "senior department" was renamed the "department of general literature and science" in response to the establishment of the departments of medicine and engineering.[7]
This did not lead to any change in the fortunes in the law department and on the departure of Bullock in 1849 the college established a committee to consider the teaching of law, which advised that "What should be aimed at is to give to all, whether intended to be practical lawyers or not, such sound elementary information as may make the former more fitted to enter readily and usefully on a strictly professional course of study; and to give to the latter that acquaintance with the constitution of the country and the spirit and outline of its legal system without which no gentleman or member of any profession can be considered completely educated." The professorship was thus revived in 1851, with G. K. Richards being initially appointed in March 1851 but then resigning without ever lecturing and being replaced by James Stephen in November 1851.[8] At about the same time, a chair of international law was established in 1848 and filled by Travers Twiss in 1849. This was also unsuccessful and lapsed on Twiss's departure to become Regius Professor of Civil Law at Oxford in 1855.[9]
The teaching of commercial law began in 1853, with the appointment of Leone Levi as an external lecturer – unable to be appointed a professor as he was a member of the Free Church of Scotland, and all professors except those in modern languages and oriental literature were required to be members of the Church of England. After some controversy, Levi joined the Church of England in 1855 and was appointed professor of commerce and commercial law the same year, a post he held until his death in 1888. Levi was also made the first dean of the evening department in 1869–70.[10]
At the time of the reconstitution of the University of London as a federal teaching university in 1898, the teaching of law at King's was entirely in evening classes. From 1904 the teaching became aligned with the London LLB degree curriculum and in 1906, due to continuing low student numbers, an inter-collegiate scheme was launched with UCL and the LSE to avoid overlapping teaching, with King's teaching jurisprudence at intermediate level and laws of contract, tort, evidence, property, commerce and private international law at final exam level. By 1912, student numbers had risen to 22 registered at King's and 46 attending King's law classes but registered at other colleges.[11] The Faculty of Laws was founded in 1909, initially in association with the LSE, and became known as the School of Law in 1991.[5] The school took its current name in 2012 in recognition of Hong Kong businessman Sir Dickson Poon, who made a gift of £20 million to the school. It is thought to be the largest-ever donation to a British or European law faculty at the time.[12]
The school is in the heart of legal London. It was previously housed in a row of buildings adjacent to the Strand and Embankment along the River Thames. On 7 December 2009, it was announced that the school would relocate to the East Wing of Somerset House, a prominent example of neo-classical architecture, designed by Sir William Chambers in the late eighteenth century on the site of an earlier Tudor palace. Negotiations for the new lease are said to have taken some 180 years.[13][14] In February 2012, the refurbished East Wing was officially opened by the patron of the college, Queen Elizabeth II.[15]
The first dean of the school was David Caron,[16] formerly of the University of California, Berkeley. Caron's appointment followed the renaming of the school and its new focus on transnational law. The school is also one of the ten international law schools that are members of the Center for Transnational Legal Studies (CTLS). Caron describes the typical graduate of the school as "a transnational, global, lawyer with [...] roots in the historic tradition of the English common law that has influenced, and in turn been influenced by, much of the world, and in the more recent tradition of European Union law. They 'think global' because we teach them with a transnational perspective."[17]
The school offers a four-year LLB in law with transnational legal studies as part of its work with the Centre for Transnational Legal Studies. In 2012, the school saw the admission of its first cohort for its LLB in philosophy, politics, and law, a four-year multi-disciplinary degree that will build on the work of the Yeoh Tiong Lay Centre for Philosophy, Politics & Law.
The school also offers Ivy-League style scholarships based on academic merit awarded to students who demonstrate academic excellence, outstanding potential, and life ambition.[19][20][21]
Graduate programmes include full-time and part-time LLM and MA programmes, as well as distance-learning courses for legal practitioners. Since 2007 the school has conferred its own Master of Laws (LLM) degree, having previously been a contributor to the University of London intercollegiate programme. Those who study for the degree may elect to take a specialisation in one of several of the school's strengths, including international commercial law, international financial law and European Union law. The school also offers a dual degree with ESSEC Business School in France[22] and the Global School of Law in Lisbon.[23]
The school offers a full-time graduate research programme leading to the award of the PhD in law. The school has 80 doctoral researchers. The school has hosted the annual International Graduate Legal Research Conference since 2007. The Graduate Legal Research Society arranges educational and social events for the doctoral researcher community and liaises with school management on behalf of the community.
The school is host to research projects funded by the British Academy, the Economic and Social Research Council, and the European Commission. The school includes various research centres and groups which serve as focal points for research activity. These include the Centre of European Law, established in 1974, the Centre of Medical Law and Ethics, established in 1978, and the Centre of British Constitutional Law and History, established in 1988.
In 2013, the Yeoh Tiong Lay Centre for Politics, Philosophy & Law was established following a £7 million gift from Mark Yeoh (LLB graduate) and his family.[24]
The school has undertaken significant investment in the field of transnational law in recent years and has established an Institute of Transnational Law led by Peer Zumbansen.
Publications
The school publishes the scholarly King's Law Journal, as well as the King's Student Law Review. The Centre of European Law publishes a paper series, Working Papers in European Law. The International State Crime Initiative publishes a range of reports, commentaries, and other materials on state crime. The faculty at the school are regular authors of monographs, scholarly treatises and articles, and contributions to periodicals. Latest publications from the Dickson Poon School of Law are available on King's Research Portal.[25]
Reputation
It is one of the highest ranked institutions for the study of law in the United Kingdom and the world.[26] In 2024, the Dickson Poon School of Law ranked 15th in the world and 4th in Europe in the QS World University Rankings.[27]
Notable faculty
Ben Bowling, professor of criminology and criminal justice and former acting dean of the Dickson Poon School of Law
David Caron, professor of law and former dean of the Dickson Poon School of Law
Gillian Douglas, professor of family law and dean of the Dickson Poon School of Law
Sir Francis Jacobs, professor of European law and president of the Centre for European Law[28]
Igor Judge, Baron Judge, Dickson Poon distinguished visitor, Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales (2008-2013), convenor of the Crossbench Peers in the House of Lords
Lady Hale, visiting professor, president of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom (2017-2020)
Toby Landau, QC, visiting professor, a renowned British lawyer and arbitration expert[29]
Lois Michele Young, Permanent Representative of Belize to the United Nations
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