Excitement is the most important part of choosing a programme of study and a university. If a subject or a teacher excites you, the hard work and intellectual effort necessary for achievement will come naturally. If you stay excited, you will find yourself 10 years into a fulfilling career without even noticing how it happened.
The Victoria Law Faculty is a great place to study law:
• We have a long established and internationally recognised reputation for excellence in teaching law. Our staff care about their teaching and see students as a priority. We welcome students of all backgrounds – diversity is an intellectual and social stimulant. I am personally committed to providing a welcoming environment for Maori and Pacific peoples in particular.
• We are located in an amazing place: the renovated Government Buildings in downtown Wellington, steeped in the history of New Zealand law and policy-making and surrounded by the three branches of government. We have a lively interchange of ideas with government and the legal profession that offers a learning experience unique in New Zealand.
• Victoria’s law curriculum is carefully structured to teach the essence of the legal perspective - how to think legally – as well as to provide a good grounding in the important subject areas of law, including public law, commercial law and criminal law.
• Wellington City offers a vibrant and exciting environment for law students, socially and culturally as well as intellectually and politically.
Everyone knows about the potential financial rewards of practising law. But studying law offers more than that. Law is a vital window on society’s politics, economics and culture. It offers you the opportunity to contribute to these dimensions of life in innumerable ways, in New Zealand and internationally. Our past graduates include those at the highest levels of the law, politics, the public service, business, and social activism. I urge you to take full advantage of your opportunity at Victoria Law School to think, to learn and to build an enduring foundation for your career.
Professor A T H Smith
Dean of Law
Faculty of Law
Te Kauhanganui Tatai Ture