Professor Fleur Johns, Dean and Head of School, shares a welcome message.

Welcome to Sydney Law School, a place with an unparalleled tradition of leadership and impact in the law.

We are a diverse community of scholars, educators, and students collectively committed to doing outstanding and meaningful work in the law and beyond, in dialogue with the practising profession, and in service of the many communities of which we are part.

At Sydney Law School, we work with our students to nurture generations of exceptional legal professionals and leaders, as well as those who deploy legal training beyond the law to lead and contribute in other important ways.

Our graduates are intelligent, skilled, adaptable, collaborative, curious and driven by a strong sense of ethical responsibility and commitment to the pursuit of justice.

Our networks and partnerships span the globe, and our alumni have left their mark in a remarkable range of capacities and contexts.

I am proud to be part of such an extraordinary, dynamic community – one that aspires to become ever more inclusive and collaborative.

Our venerable legacy since 1855 inauguration is littered with firsts. We were the first Australian law school to admit women, for instance. Yet we treat this legacy as a source of inspiration, not entitlement.

Our mission is to afford students a transformative educational experience combining rigorous academic training with opportunities to gain practical experience (through student internships, clinics and our law reform support program), engage in considered debate (including through mooting), and encounter diverse perspectives (in the classroom and through our unmatched range of study abroad, exchange, and international pathways programs) – all in an environment that is at once challenging and supportive.

Across all our programs, we are committed to expanding the opportunities that we offer our students as well as pursuing greater equity and enhancing connectedness.

In research, our common purpose is the tackling of hard, high-stakes questions with rigour, creativity, and respect for difference, across the many fields of law and adjacent disciplines in which we work.

Our research centres and institutes advance this purpose in their respective areas of specialty. In this, we collaborate widely, including with a wide range of practitioners, firms, governments, community organisations and other law schools. We welcome esteemed and emerging scholars from around the world as visitors. We are always keen to hear from those interested in partnering with us.

Our School is located on the lands of the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, lands never ceded. We count among our neighbours the Redfern community where Australia’s first Indigenous-controlled community services were established in the 1970s, including the nation’s first Aboriginal Legal Service. We seek to honour and learn from this history in genuine partnership with First Nations scholars and communities. In this we have taken important steps but still have a long way to go.

We are proud to be recognised as one of the nation’s and the world’s leading law schools, but we do not rest on our laurels. Whether you are a current or prospective student or research partner, or a member of our cherished alumni, I invite you to connect with us. Join us as we continue to reimagine, shape, and activate the law for the good of communities local and global.

Professor Fleur Johns FASSA
Head of School and Dean, Sydney Law School