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Sixty Years of Leicester Law School and the Future of Legal Education
24/06/2026
By Professor Carlo Panara, Head of Leicester Law School
As Leicester Law School marks its 60th anniversary, it is both a moment of reflection and a point of renewed purpose. Much has changed in legal education over six decades but one principle has remained constant at Leicester: a belief that law is not simply an academic discipline, but a civic, socially engaged endeavour.
From its earliest days, the Law School has been shaped by a commitment to inclusivity, widening participation and public engagement. We have never seen legal education as the preserve of a narrow elite. Instead, we have built an environment in which students from diverse backgrounds can enter and succeed in the legal profession without compromising intellectual rigour. That civic mission is not a legacy we simply celebrate; it is the foundation on which we are building our future.
A distinctive philosophy
At Leicester, legal education is about more than mastering the principles of law. It is about equipping students with the knowledge, skills and values needed to become reflective practitioners and engaged citizens. Our teaching philosophy combines academic excellence with a deep awareness of law’s social purpose.
We place particular emphasis on inclusive, globally informed teaching, ensuring our students are prepared to navigate uncertainty in an increasingly complex world. They are encouraged not only to understand the law, but to question it: to examine whose interests it serves, where it falls short and how it can evolve.
This commitment is perhaps most visibly embodied in the Leicester Legal Advice Clinic, where students provide free legal support to the local community. Here, the principles we champion – ethical practice, access to justice and client-centred lawyering – are brought to life. It is learning in its most meaningful form: rigorous, practical and transformative.
Research with reach
Alongside our teaching, Leicester Law School has developed a research culture that is both world-leading and outward-looking. Our work spans fields including EU and international law, equality and health law, migration, commercial law, environmental governance and socio-legal studies.
What unites this breadth is a common ethos: the integration of academic excellence with social impact. Through centres such as the Centre for European Law and Internationalisation and the Centre for Rights and Equality in Health Law, our scholars engage directly with the most pressing challenges of our time – locally, nationally and globally.
Our role is not simply to analyse the law, but to shape it. Whether contributing to debates on human rights, migration, public health or global governance, Leicester researchers ensure that our work resonates beyond academia.
Responding to a changing world
We are living in an era defined by rapid and often unpredictable change. Technological disruption, environmental pressures and geopolitical instability are transforming both society and the legal profession. Legal education must keep pace.
At Leicester, this means embedding new areas of knowledge and inquiry into our curriculum and research. Artificial intelligence, for example, is no longer peripheral to legal practice – it is central. We are integrating technological literacy and AI-awareness into our teaching, while also interrogating how AI reshapes the law itself: from evidence and procedure to professional ethics and access to justice.
Equally, climate change and sustainability are reshaping legal frameworks and policy priorities worldwide. Our research and teaching increasingly focus on climate justice, environmental regulation and sustainable transitions, ensuring our students understand both the urgency and the complexity of these challenges.
Meanwhile, shifting geopolitical landscapes, from Brexit to broader global realignments, have heightened the relevance of our expertise in EU law, international law and comparative constitutionalism. Work on migration, human rights and global governance continues to place Leicester at the centre of critical international conversations.
Challenging and shaping the law
Leicester Law School’s enduring strengths in criminology, socio-legal studies and international law give it a distinctive voice in policy debates. Crucially, that voice does more than contribute expertise; it challenges assumptions and reframes questions.
Our academics consistently ask: who benefits from existing legal frameworks? Where is the gap between law on paper and law in practice? What unintended consequences arise from reform? And how can law better serve society?
Through engagement with government bodies, parliamentary committees, NGOs and international organisations, our research has a tangible impact. It informs legislation, shapes professional practice and contributes to public policy at the highest levels. Whether through evidence to select committees, advisory work on human rights and migration, or the development of best practice for courts, regulators and law enforcement, Leicester’s influence is far-reaching.
Preparing lawyers and citizens for the future
The legal profession our students will enter is markedly different from that of previous generations. Legal knowledge remains essential, but it is no longer enough. Today’s lawyers must be technologically literate, globally aware, ethically grounded and socially responsive.
We are equipping our students accordingly. By integrating digital tools, including AI, into legal education, fostering international and comparative perspectives and embedding social justice at the heart of our teaching, we are preparing graduates for a complex and evolving landscape.
At the same time, we continue to prioritise the development of transferable skills: communication, teamwork, problem-solving and critical thinking. Through opportunities such as mooting, clinical work and research-led teaching, students gain the adaptability and resilience they will need to thrive.
Closing the gap between law and lived experience
If there is one defining challenge facing law today, it is not a lack of intellectual sophistication, but the persistent gap between legal systems and the realities people experience. For many, access to justice remains limited, too costly, too complex, too distant.
Universities have a vital role to play in addressing this gap. At Leicester, our response is to make law accessible, practical and responsive. Through community engagement, forward-looking teaching and public-facing research, we bring law closer to those it serves.
The next chapter
As we enter our seventh decade, the purpose for Leicester Law School remains:
We are educating future citizens, as well as lawyers
Our graduates go on to become solicitors and barristers, but also policymakers, advocates, business leaders and scholars. Whatever path they choose, they carry with them the ability to think critically, act ethically and engage meaningfully with the world around them.
That is why Leicester’s approach matters now more than ever. In a time of profound change and uncertainty, society needs individuals who can understand the law, question it, and shape it for the better.
For 60 years, Leicester Law School has stood for that mission. The challenge and the opportunity now is to carry it forward with the same clarity of purpose and even greater ambition.