A Year in Review 2023 - A Message from the Dean, Professor Mark Poustie

19 Dec 2023

As we bid farewell to 2023, The Dean, Professor Mark Poustie, reflects on some of the year's highlights at the School of Law. 

As I write this we are drawing to the end of a very successful year at UCC School of Law. 

Our key achievement in the year was the fantastic news in April that the School of Law continued to be ranked in the top 100 Law Schools in the World, climbing further to 59^th in the world from 75^th in 2022 and continuing to be ranked first in Ireland (QS Rankings by Subject 2023). The QS subject rankings identify the world’s leading schools in particular fields, taking into account academic reputation, employer reputation and research impact.   We are honoured to be ranked among the world’s best Law Schools and cement our place as a world-leading institution for legal education. 

Research ambition and success has been a notable feature of 2023 with the School securing two prestigious ERC awards in 2023 along with a range of other awards and submission of no fewer than further 7 ERC awards during the course of the year.  This is remarkable for a School of our relatively small size and reflects a step change in our approach to seeking major research grants.  Our research successes are leading to a transformation of the School with, for example, 7 new postdoctoral researchers linked to various projects joining us during the year.  It has been a real pleasure to welcome them and other new colleagues and the contribution of new colleagues to the life and atmosphere of the School has been incredibly positive.   Given space constraints in the School, we also have some challenges to address but are working through those.

The School continues to deliver the best possible legal education to our students, to increase diversity through internationalisation and to provide an inclusive, supportive environment.

However, we are always striving to do better and a review of our undergraduate programmes was led by Prof Conor O’Mahony during the year and its recommendations around, for example, programme coherence, progression, skills and placements are being taken forward by an implementation group in 2024.  Many thanks to the members of the review group and all those colleagues, students and employers who contributed to the review.

I am also delighted to announce that the new LLM in Alternative Dispute Resolution (the first such LLM in Ireland) will commence at the School in September 2024. Offered on a 1 year full-time, or 2 years part-time capacity, this course will provide students with a theoretical and practical grounding in dispute resolution, including mediation.  Many thanks to the team who developed the course led by Dr Mary Tumelty and Dr Aisling Parkes.

As you will see in our 2023 Highlights there have been notable research achievements some of which I have touched upon above, great engagement with alumni, a continued focus on global engagement and some great achievements by our students in a range of fields from sport to participation in COP28.   I am very proud to lead such a vibrant, dynamic and successful School.

In closing I’d like to wish all of you and yours a very peaceful, relaxing and enjoyable festive season and all the best for 2024!