Bristol Law School
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| Type | Public |
|---|---|
| Established | 1969 |
| Dean | James Holland |
| Students | 2,000 1700 FT 300 PT |
| Location | , , 51°30′01″N 2°32′51″W / 51.50021°N 2.54749°W |
| Campus | urban |
| Website | bls.uwe.ac.uk |
Bristol Law School (BLS), formerly known as the Faculty of Law, is a school at the University of the West of England. It is a member of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities.
Established in 1969 Bristol Law School has since grown into one of the largest law school in England and Wales with nearly two thousand students enrolled (seventeen hundred full time students). The School provides both academic and professional legal studies. Outside Oxford, the School has the best law library in the south of England. It also has a number of mock court rooms.
Departments
The school is divided into two departments:
- The Department of Law
- Bristol Institute of Legal Practice
Department of Law
The Department of Law provides a range of undergraduate, postgraduate masters and doctoral level:
The Department has a strong tradition of student mooting and debating. The Department's internal competition, sponsored by Lyons Davidson, takes place each academic year from October. The intervarsity West of England Mooting Competition, is sponsored by St John's Chambers, Bristol. BLS students won the Princess Alexandra Cup (an inter-varsity debating competition at Lancaster University) in December 2006.[citation needed]
Bristol Institute of Legal Practice
The Bristol Institute of Legal Practice (“BILP”) provides professional legal education and training for students and legal professionals. BILP has approaching 1,000 students on its full time, part time, short course and CPD programmes and is recognised[citation needed] as one of the leading providers of professional legal education in the UK. It has over 50 professionally qualified tutors teaching mainly in their areas of practice expertise.
A wide range of courses are on offer, including:
- Legal Practice Course (full-time)
- Legal Practice Course (part-time by way of Open Learning)
- Bar Professional Training Course (full-time)
- Bar Professional Training Course (part-time by way of Open Learning)
- Common Professional Examination Graduate Diploma in Law (full-time)
- Common Professional Examination Graduate Diploma in Law (part-time by distance learning and residential sessions)
- LLM in Advanced Legal Practice
- Professional Skills Course
- Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Courses and Conferences
In addition, BILP provides consultancy and a range of tailor-made in-house courses for a number of firms in Bristol, the City of London and elsewhere in the UK.
Research
Legal scholarship and research forms an important part of Bristol Law School's activity. Many staff in the School are engaged in research of national and international significance. Much of the research activity in Bristol Law School is carried out under the auspices of the Centre for Legal Research - BLS CLR. Staff undertake research in all of the main legal research traditions, and are well represented in both the doctrinal research tradition and socio-legal research. They undertake research for a variety of organisations, and recent and current projects have been funded by the Legal Services Commission, the Home Office, the Alcohol Education Researhc Council, and a number of police forces.[citation needed] Recent and current research contracts include research for the Legal Aid Board (now the Legal Services Commission) on contracting of criminal defence services, for the Legal Services Commission on the public defender service, for the Alcohol Education Research Council on changes to liquor licensing procedure, for Orange UK and for the Home Office on the social effects of car crime. Within the Centre for Legal Research are a number of specialised units:
- Commercial Law Unit - http://law.uwe.ac.uk/research/commercial-law-unit.cfm
- Criminal Justice Unit - http://law.uwe.ac.uk/research/criminal-justice-unit/index.cfm
- Environmental Law Unit with leading law firm Burgess Salmon - http://law.uwe.ac.uk/research/environmental-law-unit.cfm
- International Law & Human Rights Unit - http://law.uwe.ac.uk/research/human-rights-unit.cfm
CLARS
Bristol Law School is a partner in a pro bono law clinic, the Community Legal Advice and Representation Service (CLARS). CLARS is a unique[clarification needed] collaboration between the law students of Bristol Law School, the Department of Law at the University of Bristol, Bristol Citizens Advice Bureau and practising barristers on the Western Circuit.
External links
