ONE of the most senior judges in England will officially open the University of Worcester’s Law School tomorrow (Thursday).
Sir Andrew McFarlane, Lord Justice of Appeal, will be on hand to open the brand new Law Faculty building, which includes a fully accessible mock courtroom, with benches for judges, barristers, defendants, witnesses and public including members of the press.
Lord Justice McFarlane was called to the Bar in 1977 and has appeared at all levels of court including the House of Lords and the European Court of Human Rights. He was appointed as a Lord Justice of Appeal in July 2011 and now sits in the Court of Appeal.
He is also a member of the Privy Council.
The Law suite has been developed in the University’s Jenny Lind building, in the heart of the city, and boasts new seminar and lecture rooms for students.
As part of the new law faculty, the University will also be launching a Legal Advice Centre this month. Law students, with the support of academic staff and local law professionals, will offer free employment law, family and child law advice for city residents.
Bill Davies, Head of the University of Worcester School of Law, said: “It is an honour to have a lawyer of such high standing in the profession coming to open the University of Worcester School of Law.
“We are very excited to have the opportunity to show public representatives and members of the legal profession the new facilities which have been created, which we believe recreate as closely as possible the experience of working in a live courtroom.
Together with our high quality and excellent practical experience this will help make our students very well prepared when they are confronted with major cases and legal issues in their future careers.
“Applications to study Law at the University from next September have increased significantly and there is the potential for a great deal of public benefit from this development.”
Professor David Green, the University’s Vice Chancellor and Chief Executive, said: “With the help of leading members of the law profession in Worcester and outstanding leadership from the University’s Professor of Law and Deputy Vice Chancellor Sarah Greer and Bill Davies, the Head of the School, colleagues have created a truly first class qualifying law degree course here in Worcester.
“We are delighted that 38 students were successful in applying for a place in the first year and that applications for next year are already nearly double.”
