LLB students participating in Pro bono training, ahead of undertaking social welfare placements across legal advice centres and charities in London

As part of our partnership with the Pro Bono Community programme, Law students from across our LLB programmes have now been placed with a range of legal advice centres, citizens’ advice bureaus, charities and NGOs, including: Age UK Islington, Age UK Lambeth, Citizens Advice Harrow, Citizens Advice Havering, Citizens Advice Kensington and Chelsea, Coram Children’s Legal Centre, Island Advice Centre (Tower Hamlets) and South East London Mind.

Activities undertaken vary but can include for example tasks such as: triaging new clients, signposting or referring clients, providing information and advice on next steps, form filling, assessing entitlements, liaising with third parties on behalf of clients, supporting supervisors with activities such legal research, analysis and preparing documents and bundles for Tribunal hearings.

The Pro Bono programme gives our students the opportunity to apply to work as a volunteer in social welfare agencies, legal advice centres and charities across London, putting theory into practice and gaining invaluable experience of advising clients, mainly around welfare law issues.

It involves volunteering for one day a week, for six months , and we give our students space to do that by freeing at least one day per week in their timetable, for volunteering and part time work as well as engaging with study trips and other ‘beyond the classroom’ activities.

You can find examples here of placements that students have done in the past in the context of this programme: https://lnkd.in/gTy5RVD

Pro Bono Community also provide the training that prepares our students for these placements.

The training was held across two Saturdays earlier this term. More than 30 students attended, half of them moving on to take the placement, while the other half used the training as an opportunity to obtain skills and relevant certification of attendance from Pro Bono and Goldsmiths.

The training programme provided volunteers with an overview of welfare benefits law, and included group work, exercises and case studies. It placed emphasis on interpersonal and practical skills as well as recent social welfare reforms, before focussing on a range of welfare benefits law topics serving to contextualise the work that students will undertake as volunteers.

The Pro Bono initiative at Goldsmiths Law offers an example of the dynamic career skills opportunities that our students are given during their studies. We trust these are then reflected, and explain, our outstanding graduate outcome survey results as well as our sector leading NSS results (on learning opportunities and the student experience).

credit: @facundoarrizabalaga

18 students from across a range of Goldsmiths departments, including Politics and International Relations, Sociology, ICCE and Law, attended the 2024 Orwell Memorial Lecture delivered by Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, on ‘The Feeling of Freedom’. Nazanin was detained in Iran in April 2016 and was held hostage for six years. Many people campaigned for her during her incarceration, leading to her release in March 2022.

Nazanin delivered a powerful and uplifting memorial lecture, drawing on her harrowing experience of being incarcerated for 6 years in Iran (for having simply been a British-Iranian woman, in the wrong place at the wrong time). Only you would not know it was a harrowing and soul-destroying time, listening to her lecture; she instead chose to concentrate on the power of the human soul and mind, especially when it finds solace in community with others. Nazanin spoke from the heart about the relationships with other Iranian incarcerated women, and with books, with literature and philosophy, that allowed her to retain her strength and humanity, in the brutal and Kafkaesque world in which she found herself.

The visit was organised as part of the Beyond the Classroom initiative, which exposes students to a wealth of activities and opportunities, in cultural, political, legal and intellectual London.

Students’ reactions after the lecture included the following:

Khushi, an LLB Law student in her first year of studies, observed:

“The lecture was incredibly inspiring. What really struck me was Nazanin’s bravery in continuing to advocate for people who may be in a similar position or for people who don’t know much about experiences like these, as well as honouring people she met in prison. Hearing her story was a powerful reminder of how fragile freedom really is, and it was really impactful.”

A Politics and International Relations student, Chanel, commented that:

“The talk from Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is the type of lecture where you know you cannot possibly appreciate the complexity of it in the moment, but that you try to accomplish regardless, knowing that what she has said and is about to say is something that will stick with you indefinitely.” 

Chanel added:

“What stuck with me the most is how she somehow managed to stay incredibly stoic, but simultaneously very vulnerable and open in regard to her mannerisms and emotions.”

“Hearing from her, in such an incredible environment (such as the Southbank centre in collaboration with the Orwell Lecture organisation) was an amazing privilege to have, and one I might have stayed ignorant to, if it were not for the #BeyondTheClassroom initiative that Goldsmiths and the Faculty of Law have been running.”

Mariana, an MA student in the Sociology department, noted:

“After the lecture, someone from the audience asked Nazanin what students and young people could’ve done or can do to help with her case. Nazanin’s answer was simple and humane: she highlighted the importance of reminding people in prison that they have not been forgotten. She also talked about her time in isolation and how isolation is designed to break you as a human being, to make you think that you’re on your own. 

Nazanin’s answer really moved me. It reminded me that, although technical law analyses are important, us, as Law students, must always bring the humane answer to the table and trust in the power of collectivity. We must find creative ways to use our own privileges to demand protection of human rights, particularly the rights of people who have been systematically excluded and isolated. For me, the lecture of Nazanin was a reminder that we, as students, must insist on dialoguing about the injustices caused by prisons. But it was also an inspiring reminder about resilience, hope and the power of women speaking up about our own stories.” 

The Orwell Memorial Lecture is given annually in memory of the author, essayist, and journalist George Orwell and has attracted notable speakers over the years including Ian McEwan, Dame Hilary Mantel, Kamila Shamsie and Bill Browder.

The Department of Law works closely with the Orwell foundation, including in awarding the top student in the LLB Law with Politics and Human Rights the Goldsmiths Law-Orwell Award, which marks high academic achievement in law, politics and human rights.

The Law Department is thrilled to be hosting BILETA’s  (British and Irish Law, Education and Technology Association)  annual conference 2025 on Accelerating Innovation & Strengthening Digital Governance, 2-4 April 2025, on campus and online. Our Dr Aysem Diker Vanberg  leads on the organisation of this important annual event in the area of law and technology.

On 9 September 2024, Mario Draghi, former Prime Minister of Italy and former President of the European Central Bank, released a report titled ‘The Future of European Competitiveness’. In this report, Draghi outlines strategies to reignite economic growth across Europe, addressing critical issues such as accelerating innovation, closing the skills gap with the United States, sustaining long-term investment, overhauling competition policies, and reinforcing governance structures. As Europe seeks to enhance its competitiveness amidst the ongoing digital and green transitions, the BILETA 2025 conference will explore the intersection of law and technology, focusing on how they can contribute to resolving pressing issues like fostering innovation and strengthening digital governance, particularly in the regulation of artificial intelligence, emerging technologies, and intellectual property rights.

Papers are welcome from academics, researchers, practitioners, postgraduate students, those in business or practice, activists and anyone else with an interest in technology in the law (broadly construed) and legal education.

Important Dates: Submission Deadline: 10 January 2025; Notification of Acceptance: 17 February 2025

For more information see Bileta’s webpage here.

For any inquiries, please contact the BILETA 2025 conference team at bileta2025@gold.ac.uk

We have recently announced the news of our partnership with Magic Circle law firm Clifford Chance which will empower our students to explore outstanding opportunities in the commercial and corporate law world and their extensions.

On October 10th, the partnership launched with an invitation to 10 of our LLB students, the majority being from Years 2 and 3 of the LLB, to visit the firm’s offices at Canary Wharf, to be taken on a tour and participate in an orientation workshop with a trainee solicitor, before joining later in the evening the major “One Firm: A Showcase of our Global Strategy”, alongside students from across the UK.

The workshop with CC trainee solicitor, Sian Grady, gave students invaluable insights relating to the pathway into a successful training contract application with the firm. “Hearing Sian speak about her experience in applying to Clifford Chance was extremely motivating”, said Goldsmiths Law year 2 student, Mialyn, while Izzy, also a Year 2 students, added that “thanks to Sian, I now have a greater understanding of how to make a good application to a Magic Circle firm”. 

Everyone was impressed with Sian’s confidence and enthusiasm to share with our students the keys to her successful journey into the firm. “She was very knowledgeable and detailed in her responses”, said our student Fahima, who also admired “how Sian encouraged all students to always be motivated in their studies and to never let their social background or circumstances put them off from applying to top law firms or from reaching their goals”.

The “Showcase of our Global Strategy” event delved into the firm’s global capabilities and unified strategy, emphasising their commitment to working as a cohesive ‘One Firm’ to best serve their clients. Participants gained a deeper insight into the complex deals that span multiple jurisdictions and understand the pivotal roles that CC lawyers, from Trainees to Partners, play in these processes.

“Conversations with both senior and junior lawyers”, in the panel,  “highlighted the dedication required to advance through different levels in the profession” and “how critical hard work and persistence were to success”, commented Sadia.

The visit and showcase event came to an end with a networking networking session that followed the key presentations.

The visit to CC was “an invaluable experience for all the students who attended”, said PPE student, Dawood, who was “very thankful” for this “fantastic opportunity to inspire the next generation of lawyers”. The “tour and panel discussion unlocked a commercial lens that has allowed me to look at legal work in a new light”, added Year 3 LLB Law with Politics and Human Rights student, Sadia.

We are very thankful to Chloe Hatchett Sparkes, Early Talent Acquisition Specialist at Clifford Chance, for facilitating this visit.

The Head of the Law Department, Professor Dimitrios Giannoulopoulos, led on the visit on Goldsmiths Law’s part.

“Graduate Student Outcomes” survey results are out, our first ever at Goldsmiths Law, and we’re delighted with them.

These Graduate Outcomes of our inaugural LLB cohort (class of 2022) showed some great destinations for our graduates.

Over 88% of the respondents were in work, further study or a combination of the two, with over 66% in highly skilled employment, working as trainee solicitors, paralegals and in policy.

The programme prepared our graduates for a range of legal professional areas including immigration, multi-discipline legal practice and tax law.

Our graduates were also recruited in a variety of industries outside of the legal sector including healthcare, consulting, recruitment and government showcasing the transferability of skills and knowledge gained throughout their programme and student journey.

The law graduates were also highly complementary about the meaningfulness of their work activities with 83.6% of graduates in work or further study strongly agreeing or agreeing that their current work was meaningful.

The graduates also recognised the programme as developmental towards their future plans with 80.8% of graduates and employed and in further study strongly agreeing or agreeing that their current activities fit with their future plans.

Having strategically aligned the design and delivery of the new LLB programmes at Goldsmiths with career development as an intrinsic element of the curriculum, these results offer validation that a jurisprudential, law-and-society, approach to teaching Law can harmonically coexist with offering students an employability-rich programme, all ultimately feeding into sector-leading student experience and satisfaction (as our NSS results proudly showcase 3 years in a row now).

The ingredients of achieving this result are to be found in our multi-dimensional approach which includes running frequent trips to law firms and legal institutions (as part of contact time in all our modules), working with eminent legal professionals (in Visiting Professor roles), integrating legal theory and legal practice, and substantive law with procedure, giving students access to a Placement module and guidance from a Lecturer in Legal Practice and Legal Practice Administrator, bringing leading law firms into the programme to deliver key elements of relevant modules, bridging law with technology and the creative sector and introducing one of the first SQE modules in the country, as well as using experiential techniques such as mock trials, debating, advocacy and legal drafting, and even exposing students to theatre, cinema, museums and exhibitions, to equip them with confidence in themselves and arm them with ambition, to pursue any career pathway that may attract them intellectually and that they may desire to pursue.

Onwards and upwards for all our graduates!

We are delighted to announce the launch, from the academic year 2024-25, of the Goldsmiths Law-Clifford Chance awards for best academic performance in our Commercial Law and Corporate Law modules.

The two students achieving the highest academic performance in the two modules will be awarded the Goldsmiths Law-Clifford Chance award, and will be invited to Clifford Chance, where they will meet with experts in the relevant areas and taken on a tour of their offices.

Clifford Chance, a ‘Magic Circle’ law firm, is one of the world’s largest law firms, with significant depth and range of resources across five continents.

The announcement of the two awards is part of our Department’s exciting new partnership with the firm and draws on a mutual passion for social mobility and enhancing the richness intrinsic in a more diverse legal profession.

This ambition will be pursued through bringing to the attention of our wonderfully diverse LLB Law cohort at Goldsmiths a range of opportunities to engage with pioneering career building initiatives at Clifford Chance such as:

‘SPARK’, a 9-month programme that allows participants to better develop their legal knowledge, commercial awareness, and core business skills over a continued period.

‘Black in Law’, a one-day insight day for students and graduates of Black Heritage who are interested in a career in law and are keen to hear from Black role models at Clifford Chance.

‘ACCEPT’, an insight day where students receive practical tips to build their confidence, meet exceptional LGBTQ+ professionals, and hear from the Early Talent team on how to approach the application process.

‘ELEVATE’, an insight day where students get a chance to network with like-minded individuals and firm representatives, including members of the internal social mobility action group (RISE), the Early Talent team, and lawyers from across the firm who all share a passion for social mobility.

‘Global Virtual Internships’, which aim to provide students with easy access to exceptional learning resources and opportunities, designed by Clifford Chance experts, to support the development of the future generation of world-class lawyers.

All feeding into applying for a ‘training contract’, for students interested in a career in commercial law.

Early Talent Acquisition specialist at Clifford Chance, Chloe Hatchett Sparkes, commented on the partnership with Goldsmiths Law: “We’re excited to be collaborating with Goldsmiths University and expand our reach in the UK. The way the University teaches and provides opportunities for their students was a key reason for this new partnership and we look forward to seeing Goldsmiths students participate in our programmes and events!”.

The Head of the Department of Law at Goldsmiths, Prof Giannoulopoulos, added: “We live and breathe aspiration at Goldsmiths; we want our students to know there are no limits to what they can achieve, if they set their mind upon it and invest the hard work required—they know we’ll be there to support them along the way. I am thrilled about, and thankful for, this dynamic partnership with Clifford Chance, which will generate invaluable, and in some cases life-shaping, I have no doubt, career development opportunities for our students”.

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My name is Eleni Alexia, I am an international student from Germany studying LLB Law with Politics and Human Rights at Goldsmiths and am about to enter my second year. I have chosen to do this LLB pathway, as I have always had a strong interest in Politics and aspire to one day be a part of it. For this reason, I have sought out the opportunity for an internship at NATO, specifically the JSEC (Joint Support and Enabling Command) Headquarters.

Before delving deeper into the JSEC department and its roles, it is essential to provide a brief overview of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and its significance.

NATO consists of thirty-two member states that have come to an agreement of Military Alliance, if one of its member states should face the threat of an attack. NATO has long pursued its plan for expansion and strengthening as an international organization, particularly since the increase in terrorist attacks in Europe and Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea. So far this has been accomplished through the member states investment in artillery, infrastructure and recruitment of soldiers, however also through NATOs expansion of its headquarters. Especially since the recent establishment of the Joint Support and Enabling Command (JSEC).

JSEC was established in Ulm, Germany in 2018 in direct response to Europe’s destabilizing security. The headquarters responsibility for now concern themselves with: Enablement, Reinforcement, and Sustainment. Thus, JSEC prepares for the instance of a crisis event in which soldiers, goods and equipment would need to be transported from several different member states to specific locations. However, this also includes making sure the relevant infrastructure is in place and clarifying military and civilian organizational relationships.

During my time at the Headquarters, I was able to explore departments such as the Political and Legal advisory. This provided me with an insight into how NATO is advised to proceed on decisions and relationships amongst member states. Beyond this I got to understand the intricate system of different personnel that NATO consists of such as, Civilian and Military staff and with that the many different occupations these take on.

This experience shaped my outlook on the changing of the political landscape in Europe and its future needs, and I will seek to draw upon it when taking the ‘International Law and Politics’ module, ‘Challenges to Democracy’ and other Law and Politics modules, in both the Law and Politics departments, as part of my academic study in Year 2 of my LLB pathway degree.

Human rights barrister, lecturer and campaigner, Abiodun Michael Olatokun, is joining the Department as an Associate Lecturer this September. He will be injecting excellent strengths to our faculty and law programmes, with a unique profile at the intersection of legal practice, theory, NGO activism and doing pioneering work with schools across the UK as well as having lived and taught locally to Goldsmiths. We are very excited.

Here Abiodun sets out what enthuses him about Goldsmiths Law and the range of activity he will be undertaking, and talks to us about his background, professional successes and what he likes to do outside of Law and Politics even.

What is your key reason for joining Goldsmiths?

I am a big fan of the practice-based approach to teaching law that has been developed at Goldsmiths over the last few years. It is an example of a university working in the real world to make a difference. From the Knowing Our Rights, Lewisham Law Challenge and Deptford Green school Law Society initiative where colleagues deliver lessons to schools across London and children in local schools, to engagement with the most important consultations in the field of human rights, Goldsmiths is a shining example of an academic institution achieving impact, and I want to be part of that mission.

Have we met you before?

I am no stranger to Goldsmiths, nor our Head of Department! I am an Old Kent Roader and a long-term collaborator with the Department of Law here. I first met Dimitrios Giannoulopoulos when he visited us at my previous employer, the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law. Since then we’ve been collaborating in a range of forums; he reviewed my massive open online course (Citizenship and the Rule of Law).

In October 2020 I spoke to Goldsmiths students for the first time in an online session called ‘Law and policymaking: Meet the expert’. I appeared again a few weeks later giving a November 2020 paper at an online conference we ran during the pandemic. The title of that talk was “Human rights instruments are the bricks in the foundations of a rights consciousness culture, but does the building stand strong today?”.

Around that time, the Secretary of State for Justice Robert Buckland began looking at the Human Rights Act. Dimitrios led a group of public law practitioners and academics in making a submission to this 2020-2021 Independent Human Rights Act Review. I wrote about novel issues in the use of advanced surveillance systems by police forces and the implications for our privacy rights.

I came in to talk to Goldsmiths students again in September 2021 about the Right to Protest, and came once again to give a careers talk for the Human Rights Law Association in October 2023.

What are your major professional achievements outside of the law?

I helped the Children’s Commissioner with a report into the commercialisation and sexualisation of Young People, for which I received the Diana Champion Volunteer Award from the Prime Minister in 2011. I was the Chair of the UK youth Parliament in the west Midlands and spoke about the war in Afghanistan from the Prime Minister’s dispatch box. I was a vice-president of my Students’ Union focusing on Community issues, and worked with others to register over 10,000 people for the general and local elections of 2015, and then went on to lead the national voter registration drive for the EU referendum.

What are your major professional achievements within the law?

I was a Research Fellow, then Research Leader and Diversity Officer at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law (BIICL) and Bingham Centre for six years. There I led initiatives to teach children and young people about the rule of law. I was then appointed to the Solicitor General’s Public Legal Education Committee, and we worked together to produce the government’s 10-year vision for public legal education.

Since 2017, I have been working on a programme with the law firm DLA Piper to improve the Rule of Law across the world. The Global Scholarships Programme is an initiative to support talented lawyers from countries where the rule of law is challenged to contribute to the development of the legal culture of their nations. I have led a rule of law training programme in Tanzania, Kenya, South Africa and Mozambique and continue to run the programme domestically with Said Business School at Oxford.

As a barrister, I am most proud of securing asylum for refugees who have been persecuted due to their ethnic origin or political beliefs.

What areas of law do you practise?

I have a broad practice which encompasses all areas in which human rights and public law are engaged. These areas include:

Asylum- assisting those who would face persecution if they were to be returned to their country of origin;

Education- supporting schools/young people in appeals concerning exclusion or disability discrimination;

Employment- working for employers/employees in cases concerning unfair dismissal, discrimination, whistleblowing and victimisation;

Extradition- representing requested persons in cases where their home state seeks to have them stand trial or serve a prison sentence;

Property- acting in cases concerning possession of tenant’s homes.

Where have you taught previously?

I was a Lecturer in Law at London South Bank University for 4 years before joining Goldsmiths.

I then worked with others to create Citizenship and The Rule of Law, one of the most successful human rights law courses in the world with 23,000 students from over 200 nations and territories. Aside from teaching law, I delivered interactive democracy workshops all over the country as part of the National Voter Registration Drive of 2016 which I led.

What will you be teaching?

My role at Goldsmiths will be an eclectic mix of project co-ordination and teaching using skills I have developed as a barrister, lecturer and campaigner. My involvement will include (but not be limited to) the following:

• Criminal Evidence with Advanced Mooting and Advocacy- I will be part of the teaching team for Year 3 students learning about principles of criminal evidence. We will help students grow as advocates whilst ensuring a strong foundation in the theory of evidence.
• Criminal Law: Theory and Practice- I will be part of the teaching team for Year 1 students learning about Criminal Law, a compulsory qualifying module for would-be English lawyers which I very much look forward to teaching. It was my favourite module as an undergraduate and I can hope to tell interesting stories during seminars about my work experience to date, including my growing extradition practice;
• Knowing Our Rights School Visits and Deptford Green School Law Society Initiative- I will visit schools to deliver workshops to the public on their constitutional and public rights, with an emphasis on entitlements which flow from the Human Rights Act 1998 and European Convention on Human Rights; and will work with Year 9-Year 11 students at Deptford Green School in our neighbourhood, preparing them to take part in external mooting and debating competitions and introducing them to key concepts of Law and institutions.
• Mooting/Debating Club- I will help our students develop their skills of advocacy by supervising and supporting them in developing legal and political arguments;
• LLM Human Rights and Criminal Justice: NGO Litigation, Advocacy and Practice- I will teach a seminar in Semester 1 on the broad-based model of community organising designed by the Industrial Areas Foundation and deployed in the UK by Citizens UK, which has led to many wins for civil society and marginalised communities in public policy;
• LLM International Human Rights: Advanced Themes & Contemporary Debates- I will be teaching four seminars in the second semester of the LLM programme. Topics include issues to consider in the incorporation of modern machine learning algorithms in the justice sector, emerging questions in the field of non-discrimination/equality law, the consequences of manipulation of the rule of law by authoritarians and contemporary matters in the human right to privacy.

What is your philosophy for teaching?

I understand that life can be difficult for students, and that outcomes in the classroom are primarily determined by life outside of it. I try to build meaning with my students by using examples of the law in their lives to develop our joint understanding of the legal principles involved.

I always aim to make my classroom a fun space in which students feel comfortable. I am a big fan of a teaching style that encourages movement and participation (to the extent that students feel it is appropriate). I believe that legal study is a means of interpreting and understanding our world today, not in antiquity, and as such I try to demonstrate how the law works through reference to current affairs, drawing connections between the origin of a legal principle and the present day.

What do you like to do outside of law and politics?

I am an avid sportsman and always will be. I play rugby for Southwark RFC and train at Crossfit Bermondsey, with whom I compete in amateur weightlifting, gymnastics and cardio competitions across London. I also love video games and the card game Magic the Gathering.

This summer, our Department funded five Goldsmiths Law students to attend the summer school in Utrecht, paying for their tuition fees there.

Adam Cooney, who will be going into Year 3 in the LLB Law with Politics and Human rights this year, was one of the students who successfully competed for our study abroad scholarships, worth c. £600 each. In the blog post that follows, he reflects on the experience in this unforgettable trip:

“International Law is about paving the path already walked.”

This was one among a range of quote-worthy lessons about international law that four other Goldsmiths law students and I were taught at Utrecht Law School’s summer programme this June. In my course, ‘An introduction to public international law’, a hybrid bachelor-masters module at Utrecht, we approached the world of international law critically accessing both the construction of international law interlaced with critical discussion; a not too dissimilar experience from what you would hear in a Goldsmiths law seminar. Having completed Dr. Sheri Labenski’s International Law and Politics module months prior I had a strong understanding of many of the concepts touched upon in the module. The broad scope of international law meant this module could provide a unique experience in expanding my knowledge further.

In such modules, we covered the topics of Sources and Subjects of International Law, Jurisdiction, State Responsibility, Attribution and Use of Force and concluded with students fielding a 20 minute presentation on something they were knowledgeable on and relating it back to the international law topics covered.

Certainly, the substance of the course was in outlining malleability of international law in its unique construction as a legal system which is constantly developing and adding exceptions to its principles. As a result, a common criticism from my cohort was how this lends favourably to powerful countries, a theme well explored in our Goldsmiths module which materialised into a review of a critical international law essay by Kathrine Knop. In the seminar-like discussion sessions, my cohort blended a unique range of voices, all challenging the concepts learned about in our classes there; we pinpointed how the concepts were used, how they could otherwise be used.

Two recurring cases critiqued in lectures, presentations and discussions were the Mothers of Srebrenica and Nicaragua cases. Having prior knowledge, from Goldsmiths, of the Nicaragua case, I entered the discussion already from a very critical position as did most of my cohort; the principles established in that case left many of us feeling that power in the horizontal system of international law created an unfair imbalance in which less powerful countries could not reach justice, with powerful countries refusing to cooperate.

Similarly, in the Mothers of Srebrenica case, the UN was unsuccessful in hold itself or the Netherlands accountable for failing to provide a promised ‘safe haven’ and enabling the genocide of Bosnian Muslims that occurred in 2007. The presentations of two of my coursemates explored this idea and applied it to the ongoing Palestinian genocide, which made for an excellent listen. 

In my own presentation with Federica, who I met on the course and became friends with, we discussed the first case to reach the ICJ, the Corfu Channel case. In our presentation we explored the ruling of the case and the methods used to reach the decision and opened up the questions of what precedent this set not only in the formation of principles but how it established the presence of hierarchy in a horizontal legal system.

Socially, my cohort would always have lunch together at a local cafe and chat about the course and our lives from our respective backgrounds. As the only person from the UK I was bombarded with questions over the, now concluded, national election and how I felt about the candidates. In the evening, I would reconvene with my Goldsmiths cohort to talk about our day and explore places to eat and visit. One such night led myself and Andy to the only gay bar in Utrecht, where we had a fantastic night hanging with locals and made friends with other queers studying at the university. 

Another such night our Goldsmiths cohort teamed up in a pub quiz ran by Utrecht University. While we didn’t win, we had some expert performances from people on the history and music rounds, scoring maximum (10) points there and even getting a bonus point for naming all of Henry VIII wives! However, our understated performance in the Netherlands round was compounded not only through our lack of Dutch experts but also my own shotcalling causing us to drop crucial points. 

All in all, the trip to the Utrecht Summer school was fulfilling academically and socially, and would have otherwise not been an opportunity for me in the absence of the competitive and generous scholarship provided to me by our Department of Law at Goldsmiths.

For the third year running, Law at Goldsmiths has achieved best (and top 5) in the UK rankings in the National Student Survey (NSS).*

With a 100 per cent satisfaction rate, we are the (joint) No. 1 Law department in the UK, out of 120 Law departments ranked in the NSS, on the question of ‘how good our teaching staff are at explaining things’.

On ‘how often the course is intellectually stimulating’, with a 98 per cent satisfaction rate, we are No. 5 in the UK, top in London, and top in the South of England. We are positioned in between Cambridge Law School (which is No. 6, with 97 per cent) and Oxford Law School (which is No. 4 in the UK, with 99 per cent).

Goldsmiths Law students participating in the Debating Evening Cup 2024. Immersive, practice-centred activities are fully embedded in our LLB programmes.

On ‘how often teaching staff make the subject engaging, we are No 5 in the UK and best in London, with a 98 per cent satisfaction rate.

Bringing all these results together gives us an outstanding 97 per cent average on ‘teaching in my course’, which places us as the No 4 Law department in the UK and best in London.

This pattern of UK-leading student satisfaction scores is repeated across a range of questions. For example, on the ‘right balance between directed and independent study’, we are No. 4 in the UK, best in London and best in the South of England, with 96 per cent satisfaction rate. On ‘the extent to which students have had the chance to explore ideas and concepts in depth’, we are No. 6 in the UK (again with a 96 per cent satisfaction rate). On ‘how easy it is to contact staff when you need to’, we have achieved a 93 per cent satisfaction rate (No. 10 in the UK and best in London), just below Durham which is No. 9 (with 94 per cent). On ‘academic support’ more generally, we are No. 9 in the UK and best in London (with 93 per cent). On ‘how well library resources support the students’ learning’, we are No. 6 in the country and best in London, with a 98 per cent satisfaction rate (Cambridge Law School is No. 7).

LLB students participating in a workshop at the UK Supreme Court as part of their Public Law class at Goldsmiths

A result that we deeply cherish and celebrate relates, finally, to ‘how free students feel to express their ideas, opinions and beliefs’, and in this fundamental area we are No. 4 in the UK and best in London, with 96 per cent.

These results solidify our dynamic positioning, since being set up in 2019, as one of the best academic destinations in the UK for prospective Law students who prioritise access to leading Law faculty and an outstanding  student experience, based on sector-leading teaching that is cutting edge, forward-looking and deeply enriching, highly immersive, career experience-centred, and, above all, focussed on nurturing freedom of expression and critical thinking, all part of intellectually stimulating our students to continually pursue academic excellence and become well-rounded individuals.

Equally central to achieving UK-leading student satisfaction in our department are student community (close-knit and empathetic) and offering our students access to unique opportunities in legal, political and cultural London, and even beyond, in opening up for them invaluable study abroad experiences (that we support with generous scholarships for dozens of students), in foreign legal systems, through international study trips (e.g. to the European Court of Human Rights, annually – read here about our trips on 2023 and 2024) and attendance of summer schools e.g. our Athens summer school (annually – read here about our visits in 2022 and 2023) or summer schools in the Netherlands and Switzerland.

Law students and staff dining in Athens, at the end of a busy day of our annual summer school there (June 2023)

The Complete University Guide Law League Table 2024 features us as the No. 1 Law School in the UK for student satisfaction, and this new set of NSS results explains why, providing new momentum to our continued excellence in this area.

* The National Student Survey is conducted by Ipsos MORI on behalf of the Office for Students, and nearly half a million students across the UK are invited to participate in it every year (students in their final year of study across all academic disciplinies). The survey is a key component of the quality assurance and wider regulatory landscape in UK higher education. 120 Law Schools have been included in the NSS this year, including Oxbridge and all Law Schools in the Russel Group.

Goldsmiths Law students at the European Court of Human Rights, with the UK Judge at the Court, Tim Eicke KC