30.11.07
Law and order in Cornwall with new law degree

For the first time in Cornish history, a campus based full time law degree is now taught in Cornwall. Students from Cornwall can choose to study Law at the University of Exeter, Tremough Campus. The Law School offers a qualifying LLB as well as joint honours courses in History and Law and Politics and Law.

The law staff credentials are considerable as many have worked and taught extensively across all aspects of law both in the UK and internationally in fields such as European law, UK constitutional law and human rights, the broad area of corporate, commercial and business law, environmental law, criminal law and critical approaches to medical law, law and literature, law in society and relationships between law and violence. This ensures that the students have a high calibre of instruction from a cosmopolitan group of academics experienced both in practical working knowledge of law and theoretical aspects of law.

The new department is headed by Professor Melanie Williams who has Cornish tin mining roots. Her grandfather Isaac Hosking worked the winding engine at South Crofty for around forty years. She studied law at Cambridge having passed the open entrance exam aged 27 with two young children. This rather unconventional route is reflective of her father’s own experiences. He also has an unusual way into law having joined the Navy at 15. He later learned sufficient law to become Probate Registrar for Devon and Cornwall and for Sussex and Kent. Professor Williams said: “Studying law is tough but also immensely rewarding. It has an incredibly broad scope – you can help your community or apply law to wider fields. I came into law as I have a great interest in moral questions and what makes people decide right from wrong. I look forward to sharing my passion with the new Law undergraduates in Cornwall, whether they are eighteen years old on the threshold of life, or mature students with a broader understanding of life.”

Professor Williams has been Professor of Law at the University of Swansea prior to returning to Cornwall. The desire to stay in Cornwall is equally as strong amongst the students as almost a third of them are Cornish.

Truro born Greg Szutowicz chose to stay locally and when asked if studying in Cornwall was important he said: “Near-essential. I was originally going to read at Exeter's Streatham Campus, though due to changes in family circumstances I found myself tied to Cornwall to a far greater degree than I anticipated. Then Law came to the Cornwall campus and it seemed the ideal solution.”

Greg also chose the law course because of the standard of lecturers. He said: “A combination of high calibre lecturers, a state of the art campus, and a degree programme tied to ExeterUniversity’s LawSchool that is consistently highly ranked and a world class player. All of this on my doorstep.”

The University of Exeter’s School of Law has a world wide reputation for excellence with strong links with the legal profession in the region and nationally. The students have already made court visits as part of their course and the department is forging links with law firms in the South West.

Lexi Jones, another Cornish native from Falmouth said of her favourite aspects of the campus: “The location, the building and the atmosphere of the campus, I am really lucky to be able to stay living at home in such a beautiful county, where I am still able to meet people from all over the world!”

The Law students have created the Lyonesse Law Society and recently elected their President and Committee. They are already busy with plans for social events like the Christmas Swim and Dinner as well as the academic area of organising visiting lectures, patronage and debating and mooting activities.

There is a special kind of excitement around the law department as the enthusiasm and determination to be the best is evident amongst both staff and students to meet the high standards set and that they expect of themselves.

Professor Williams said: “I am excited to be heading up this new Law degree that combines the quality and reputation of the University of Exeter course with the fantastic location of studying in Cornwall.”

The £100 million Tremough Campus is a Combined Universities in Cornwall initiative ­of which the University of Exeter and University College Falmouth are two of the founding partners. It is funded mainly by the European Union (Objective One), the South West Regional Development Agency, and the Higher Education Funding Council for England, with support from Cornwall County Council. Set in 70 acres of countryside, but close to the waterside towns of Penryn and Falmouth, the campus offers a lively student community. The University of Exeter now offers degrees in Biology, Cornish Studies, English, Geology, Geography, History, Law, Mining Engineering, Politics and Renewable Energy on its Tremough Campus, which has expanded rapidly as part of the Combined Universities in Cornwall initiative.

For further information please contact Esther White, Press Officer, University of Exeter on 01752 262307 or email esther.white@exeter.ac.uk.

The Objective One Programme for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly has invested in the Combined Universities in Cornwall (CUC) project, both Phase 1 and Phase 2, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the European Social Fund (ESF). University of Exeter is a partner of the CUC.

Editor's notes:

Clare Morgan
Media Relations Manager
Objective One Partnership Office
Castle House
Pydar Street
Truro TR1 2UD
Mobile: 07973 813647
Telephone: 01872 223439

cmorgan@cornwall.gov.uk

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