Tucked within one of Bristol’s most accessible city-centre locations, the University of Law Bristol is part of a nationwide institution that holds the distinction of being the United Kingdom’s largest law school. The university traces its roots back to 1876, when the tutorial firm Gibson and Weldon was established, and the institution as it exists today took formal shape in 1962 when The Law Society of England and Wales merged its own solicitors’ training school – the Law Society School of Law, founded in 1903 – with that earlier firm. Over the following decades, the institution evolved considerably, receiving Royal Charter incorporation in December 1975 and registering as a charity in May 1976 with the stated aim of promoting the advancement of legal education and the study of law in all its branches.
From College to University
The path from college to university status was a gradual one. Degree-awarding powers were granted in 2006, and in 2012 the institution was renamed The University of Law – marking its recognition as the UK’s first for-profit educational institution to achieve university status. That same year, its educational and training operations were separated from the charitable structure and incorporated as a private limited company. The charitable branch, which retained the original Royal Charter from 1975, was reconstituted as the Legal Education Foundation. Shortly after the renaming, the company was acquired by Montagu Private Equity, and three years later ownership passed to Global University Systems, a Netherlands-based company that continues to own the institution today.
What the University Offers
The University of Law provides a broad range of undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes covering law, business, psychology, criminology, policing, and computer science. It also runs postgraduate courses in education, alongside specialist legal training and continuing professional development courses aimed at practising barristers, solicitors, and trainees. The Bristol campus is one of 18 locations the university operates across the UK, with other campuses in cities including Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Oxford, Liverpool, Exeter, and two London sites at Bloomsbury and Moorgate. The university also has international campuses in Hong Kong and Berlin, as well as an online campus, reflecting the scale of its operations since its relatively recent transition to full university status.
A Long History of Legal Education
The institution’s coat of arms, granted officially in September 1967, carried the Latin motto Leges Juraque Cognoscamus, meaning “Let us know the laws and rights.” That crest was retired when the institution became a private limited company in 2012. Prior to that transition, The College of Law had ranked within the top 100 UK charities by expenditure, reflecting the considerable scale of its educational operations long before its formal elevation to university status. Bristol, as a large and well-connected city with a significant student population and strong professional services sector, provides a fitting setting for a campus focused on legal and professional education.