The Faculty of Law, Universiti Malaya (UM), the first law school in the country and still one of the nation’s premier law schools, celebrated its 50th anniversary on the 21st of April 2022. There was no pomp or ceremony but instead a quiet entrance announced by a statute.
Datuk G. Rajasoora had worked behind scenes to ensure that statutory recognition of the Faculty of Law, UM came to fruition. The doors of the faculty were first opened to 50 budding lawyers on September 1972; this first generation had graduated from the university in 1976. Prior to the faculty’s opening, the late Tan Sri Dato’ Professor Dr. Ahmad Ibrahim was appointed as the founding dean on August 1972.
The current Dean of the Faculty of Law, Dato’ Associate Professor Dr. Johan Shamsuddin Hj. Sabaruddin said that over the past 50 years, the Law School had flourished from a mere 50 students in its founding to over 160 undergraduate students per year (internal students), 450 postgraduate students, out of which 110 are pursuing their PhD (internal and remote) and more than 300 external students.
“During its 5 decades, the Faculty has grown from being an institution imparting knowledge to those pursuing law as a career, to a professional environment growing in its goals to achieve excellence in the field of legal education and profession,” Prof. Dr. Shamsuddin says; “The Faculty right now, is bursting at the seams, with all the various illustrious personalities that have crossed the realm of excellence of the Faculty since its inception.”
“We have reached the milestone of 50 years and are proud of our achievements,” he continues; “But this is not by any means a signal that we can rest on our laurels. We need to forge ahead with urgent fervour and enthusiasm, to continue in our journey of not only producing excellent graduates, but also to ensure our relevance and role in the growth of legal education in Malaysia.”
The 50th Golden Anniversary Jubilee Celebrations will be held on 17th June 2022, with the Faculty lining up of series of programmes in conjunction with this event. On behalf of the Faculty, we would like the former graduates of the Faculty of Law to join in this celebration and participate in as many of the programmes planned for the whole of this year to make this a triumphant and brilliant 50th Anniversary.
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