Law

Worcester College has a large law student community, with about forty undergraduates and postgraduates in residence at any one time. The College has a long and distinguished tradition as a centre for the study of law. Former tutors in law at Worcester include Professor Francis Reynolds, Professor Andrew Ashworth (Emeritus Vinerian Professor of English Law at Oxford), Professor Paul Craig (Professor of English Law at Oxford), Professor Jeremy Horder (Professor of Criminal Law and Head of the Law Department at the London School of Economics), and Professor Cathryn Costello (Andrew W Mellon Associate Professor of International Human Rights and Refugee Law at Oxford).

Worcester's strong reputation for law is also reflected in the academic and professional success of its law students. Worcester is currently the only college in Oxford or Cambridge with former students who are Justices of the United Kingdom Supreme Court (Lord Wilson) and the United States Supreme Court (Associate Justice Elena Kagan, formerly Dean of Harvard Law School and the first woman to hold the office of United States Solicitor General). Lord Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood, who has recently retired from the Supreme Court, was also a student at Worcester, as was Lord Hamilton, who was Scotland's most senior judge until his retirement in 2012, and several current and former members of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales. Recent Worcester law graduates are to be found in legal practice at the Bar and in top solicitors' firms, in legal academia, and in diverse other fields, including the civil service, finance, business, human rights advocacy, environmental NGOs, and broadcasting.

Five fellows of the College are members of the Faculty of Law, and in addition there are two college lecturers in law. As a result, Worcester is in the fortunate position of being one of the few Oxford colleges able to offer tuition in all the core undergraduate law subjects 'in-house'. Undergraduates have one or two tutorials per week, either on their own, or in pairs or threes. These tutorials are often supplemented by small classes, and opportunities for group work.

At undergraduate level, Professor Nolan teaches Tort and International Trade: Dr van Zeben teaches Constitutional Law, Administrative Law and EU Law; Dr Edwards teaches Criminal Law and Jurisprudence; Mr Swadling teaches Trusts, Land Law and Personal Property; and Ms Drummond teaches Roman Law and Contract Law.  Professor Freedman teaches Taxation Law at both undergraduate and postgraduate level, and Professor Roberts teaches courses in criminology and related areas on the undergraduate law course, the BCL/MJur, and the MSc in Criminology and Criminal Justice.

Worcester has a large separate Law Library, with holdings of some 7,000 volumes. The College also has a very active student-run Law Society, which organises moots (mock appeal cases), social events and careers talks, as well as a very successful annual dinner, to which all Worcester Law students, past and present, are invited. Links with the legal profession are strong, and the Law tutors are well placed to advise students who wish to pursue careers in legal practice, in academia, or in international organisations.