LSE Law School

LSE Law School is the law school of the London School of Economics. It was founded in 1919 with the appointment of H. C. Beveridge as Professor of Law. David Kershaw is the current dean of the LSE Law School. It is one of the LSE's largest departments, with over 60 academic staff.

LSE Law School is located on Lincoln's Inn Fields in the Cheng Kin Ku Building (abbreviated as CKK, formerly the New Academic Building, NAB), named in honour of LSE donor Vincent Cheng’s father.

History
The teaching of law at the LSE dates back to its foundation in 1895, when commercial and industrial law was one of the nine courses offered. In 1906 it became part of the intercollegiate faculty of law of the University of London, along with departments in University College London and King's College London; this would continue for undergraduate courses into the 1960s. H. C. Gutteridge was appointed as the first full-time professor of law and 'Sir Ernest Cassel professor of industrial and commercial law', in 1919. He led an expansion of the school from one full-time professor, five part-time lecturers and two other party-time teachers in 1924 to a full-time staff of ten, with four professors, two readers and for lecturers, in 1934, forming the largest law department of any London college.

From 1930 to 1959, David Hughes Parry held the professorship of English Law and in 1937, the Modern Law Review founded at the school. Arnold McNair and Robert Jennings taught at the school, both later becoming presidents of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), while Hersch Lauterbach moved from the Department of International Relations to the law school, later becoming a judge on the ICJ.

The law school strongly grew in size in the 1940s and 1950s. German-Jewish jurists fleeing Nazi persecution in the 1930s, including Otto Kahn-Freud and Hermann Mannheim, strongly contributed to the school's further development. Jim Gower was inaugurated as Cassel professor in 1949. By the 1980s, more women than men were studying the LLB at LSE Law School.

Teaching
LSE Law School offers undergraduate (LLB, BA Law and Anthropology), taught postgraduate (LLM, Executive LLM), and research (PhD) degrees. It also offers a joint LLB/JD (Juris Doctor) degree with Columbia Law School at Columbia University in the US.

Research
LSE Law School has traditionally maintained close academic ties with the Modern Law Review, which was founded at ths school, and hosts its annual Chorley Lecture, named in honour of Robert Chorley, 1st Baron Chorley.

Reputation and rankings
LSE Law School is ranked #7 globally in the 2024 QS World University subject ranking for law and legal studies, #3 in the 2023 Guardian UK universities ranking for Law, #3 in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings for law (UK), and #4 in the Complete University Guide subject ranking for law.

Notable alumni
LSE Law School has graduated a number of notable alumni, including B. R. Ambedkar, Cherie Blair, Shami Chakrabarti, Eugenia Charles, John Compton, Jean Corston, Linda Dobbs, Audrey Eu, Lord Tony Grabiner, Makhdoom Ali Khan, Mia Mottley, Dorab Patel, P. J. Patterson, Mónica Feria Tinta, and Veerasamy Ringadoo. '''

Current and former professors at LSE Law School include Julia Black, Robert Chorley, 1st Baron Chorley, Hugh Collins, Ross Cranston, Paul Davies, A. V. Dicey, Neil Duxbury, Judith Freedman, Conor Gearty, Laurence Gower, Christopher Greenwood, Rosalyn Higgins, Lady Higgins, Jeremy Horder, Derry Irvine, Emily Jackson, Otto Kahn-Freund, David Kershaw, Nicola Lacey,  Niamh Moloney, David Hughes Parry, Thomas Poole, Henry Slesser, Stanley Alexander de Smith, Cedric Thornberry, Sarah Worthington, Bill Wedderburn, Baron Wedderburn of Charlton, Glanville Williams and Michael Zander.