Australia's leading law school marks 160th anniversary

The University of Melbourne will this year celebrate 160 years of legal education.

Melbourne University Old Arts building

Melbourne Law School will mark this important milestone with a series of flagship events across the year, including a gala dinner on 3 June 2017 featuring a keynote address from MLS alumnus James Gorman, CEO of Morgan Stanley.

Melbourne Law School Dean Professor Carolyn Evans said the 160th anniversary provided an important opportunity to honour the people, traditions and achievements of the law school community.

“Melbourne Law School has a proud history of excellence in teaching, research and innovation,” Professor Evans said.

“The University of Melbourne was the first in Australia to offer legal studies, with 33 students enrolled in the first classes in 1857.

“Since those early days, Melbourne Law School has educated generations of law graduates. Those graduates have gone on to excel in the legal profession, but have also included leading politicians, business people, workers in NGOs, and authors. Law graduates are going on to an increasingly diverse set of career outcomes and in an ever widening group of countries.”

Professor Evans said understanding and respecting the history of the law school was an important part of delivering the law school’s future vision.

“We have always endeavoured to deliver the best possible education for all our students, preparing them for a changing legal landscape in Australia and internationally,” Professor Evans said.

“While we are pleased to celebrate the rich history of the Law School and to learn from it, we are also committed to continuing to innovative, change and respond to the rapid developments in the legal profession. The shift to being a graduate only school ten years ago is a wonderful example of Melbourne’s on-going willingness to take a leadership role in legal education.

“We are looking forward to coming together with our community to celebrate this important milestone.”

Learn more about Melbourne Law School’s 160th Anniversary celebrations.