The Dickson Poon School Of Law

The Dickson Poon School of Law is the law school of King's College London, itself part of the federal University of London, and one of the nine faculties within the college. It is situated on the Strand in the East Wing of Somerset House. The school was named after donor Dickson Poon in 2012.

History

Law has been taught at King's College London since 1831. It was originally taught within the Senior Department. The professor of law was supported only by the fees of their students, with no guaranteed income, and law classes were not popular in the early days of the college. The first professor of law and jurisprudence was John James Park, who was replaced on his death in 1833 by John William Spurrier, who resigned in 1835. He was replaced by Richard Preston, who offered to resign in 1838 in favour of "any gentleman who can secure a class"; Edward Bullock took over the chair in December of that year. In 1840 the "senior department" was renamed the "department of general literature and science" in response to the establishment of the departments of medicine and engineering.

This did not lead to any change in the fortunes in the law department and on the departure of Bullock in 1849 the college established a committee to consider the teaching of law, which advised that "What should be aimed at is to give to all, whether intended to be practical lawyers or not, such sound elementary information as may make the former more fitted to enter readily and usefully on a strictly professional course of study; and to give to the latter that acquaintance with the constitution of the country and the spirit and outline of its legal system without which no gentleman or member of any profession can be considered completely educated." The professorship was thus revived in 1851, with G. K. Richards being initially appointed in March 1851 but then resigning without ever lecturing and being replaced by James Stephen in November 1851. At about the same time, a chair of international law was established in 1848 and filled by Travers Twiss in 1849. This was also unsuccessful and lapsed on Twiss's departure to become Regius Professor of Civil Law at Oxford in 1855.

The teaching of commercial law began in 1853, with the appointment of Leone Levi as an external lecturer – unable to be appointed a professor as he was a member of the Free Church of Scotland, and all professors except those in modern languages and oriental literature were required to be members of the Church of England. After some controversy, Levi joined the Church of England in 1855 and was appointed professor of commerce and commercial law the same year, a post he held until his death in 1888. Levi was also made the first dean of the evening department in 1869–70.

At the time of the reconstitution of the University of London as a federal teaching university in 1898, the teaching of law at King's was entirely in evening classes. From 1904 the teaching became aligned with the London LLB degree curriculum and in 1906, due to continuing low student numbers, an inter-collegiate scheme was launched with UCL and the LSE to avoid overlapping teaching, with King's teaching jurisprudence at intermediate level and laws of contract, tort, evidence, property, commerce and private international law at final exam level. By 1912, student numbers had risen to 22 registered at King's and 46 attending King's law classes but registered at other colleges.

The Faculty of Laws was founded in 1909, initially in association with the LSE, and became known as the School of Law in 1991. The school took its current name in 2012 in recognition of Hong Kong businessman Sir Dickson Poon. In February 2012, the school's new home in the East Wing of Somerset House was officially opened by the patron of the college, Queen Elizabeth II.

Facilities

The school is housed in the East Wing of Somerset House, a grade I listed building designed by Sir William Chambers in the late eighteenth century in a neoclassical style, adjacent to the main college building. Facilities include a dedicated moot court. The law library is housed in the Maughan Library on Chancery Lane

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