Nottingham Law School
A law school of Nottingham Trent University founded in 1964, which runs the on-campus teaching law firm NLS Legal and, since 2024, hosts the national helpline of the charity Support Through Court.
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- Established
- 1964
- Location
- Nottingham, England, United Kingdom
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Founded
- 1964, as part of what was then Nottingham Regional College of Technology
- Parent institution
- Nottingham Trent University, established as a polytechnic in 1970 and granted university status in 1992
- Teaching law firm
- Operates NLS Legal, a regulated on-campus teaching law firm running since 2006
- Research assessment (REF 2021)
- 95% of its submitted law research was rated 4-star (world-leading) or 3-star (internationally excellent) in the official Research Excellence Framework 2021 results (39% at 4-star, 56% at 3-star, 5% at 2-star)
- Community partnership
- Since November 2024, hosts the national helpline of the charity Support Through Court, staffed by its students
- Recognition (2022-2023)
- NLS Legal was named 'Law Firm of the Year' at the LexisNexis Legal Awards 2022; its solicitor Katie Smith won 'Solicitor of the Year' at the Nottinghamshire Law Society Awards 2023
Overview
Nottingham Law School is a law school of Nottingham Trent University in Nottingham, England, founded in 1964 as part of what was then Nottingham Regional College of Technology and offering its first undergraduate law degree that year (Legal Cheek; Nottingham Trent University). Its parent institution became Trent Polytechnic in 1970 and was granted university status, as Nottingham Trent University, in 1992 (Encyclopaedia Britannica). The school runs NLS Legal, a regulated on-campus teaching law firm that has operated since 2006.
Research assessment
In the UK’s 2021 Research Excellence Framework, the official results database records that 39% of Nottingham Law School’s submitted research to Unit of Assessment 18 (Law) was rated 4-star (“world-leading”) and 56% was rated 3-star (“internationally excellent”), a combined 95%, with the remaining 5% rated 2-star (Research Excellence Framework 2021). Nottingham Trent University’s own promotional material describes its law research as “100% world-leading or internationally excellent” in the same exercise; that figure does not match the primary results database, and this profile reports the official breakdown rather than the university’s rounded claim.
Recognition and leadership
The East Midlands Business Link, an independent regional business publication, reported that NLS Legal was named “Law Firm of the Year” at the LexisNexis Legal Awards 2022, and that it launched a dedicated pro bono family law service that year covering divorce, financial remedies, child arrangements and domestic abuse matters (East Midlands Business Link). The same report said that at the Nottinghamshire Law Society Awards 2023, NLS Legal solicitor Katie Smith won “Solicitor of the Year” for that service, having assisted more than 30 clients and secured about £85,000 in financial settlements, while practice manager Carlota Gonzalez Laynez won “Business Support Champion,” credited partly with establishing the clinic’s partnership with Support Through Court. It quoted Laura Pinkney, head of NLS Legal, and Jenny Chapman, Nottingham Trent University’s Executive Dean, both praising the two staff members.
Community partnership with Support Through Court
In November 2024, Legal Cheek reported that the national helpline of the charity Support Through Court — which handles around 17,000 calls a year assisting people representing themselves in civil and family court proceedings — relocated its operations to Nottingham Law School, to be staffed by a minimum of 150 trained students annually and up to 48 students working across its services on a given day (Legal Cheek). The report quoted NLS Legal head Laura Pinkney describing the move as building on an existing partnership between Support Through Court and the school, and Support Through Court’s Lizzy Parkes describing it as an opportunity to reach more clients nationally.
Facilities and programmes
Legal Cheek’s independent profile of the school, cited above, also describes it as based in the Chaucer Building on Nottingham Trent University’s city-centre campus, with a mock criminal courtroom and a mock civil courtroom built as replicas of working courts, used for advocacy training, mock trials and mooting competitions run through the school’s Mooter’s Guild. The same profile describes an undergraduate offering of several LLB variants (including Business Law, International Law, and Law combined with Psychology, Criminology or Business), alongside postgraduate LLMs in subjects such as technology, sport, health, environmental, corporate and international law, and preparation courses for the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE).
What this profile does not claim
This profile independently verifies the school’s 1964 founding year, its parent institution’s 1970 and 1992 status changes, its official REF 2021 research ratings, and its 2022-2024 award and partnership record, against Legal Cheek, East Midlands Business Link, Encyclopaedia Britannica and the primary REF 2021 results database. It does not independently verify the school’s current student or staff numbers, course rankings, or the full detail of its history between 1970 and 2021, which rest on the institution’s own published account and are not repeated here as independently confirmed. The £85,000 client settlement figure and the description of Jenny Chapman as Executive Dean rest on the single regional-press report cited above and were not corroborated elsewhere. The discrepancy between the university’s “100%” REF claim and the official 95% figure is noted above rather than resolved, since only the primary results database could be independently checked.
Timeline
- 1964
- Founded as part of Nottingham Regional College of Technology, offering its first undergraduate law degree.
- 1970
- Became part of the newly formed Trent Polytechnic, created that year in Nottingham.
- 1992
- Became part of Nottingham Trent University when Trent Polytechnic was granted university status under the Further and Higher Education Act 1992.
- 2021
- Its law research submission to the Research Excellence Framework 2021 was assessed as 39% 4-star and 56% 3-star (95% combined "world-leading" or "internationally excellent"), against a university claim of 100%.
- 2022
- NLS Legal was named "Law Firm of the Year" at the LexisNexis Legal Awards, and later that year launched a dedicated pro bono family law service covering divorce, financial remedies, child arrangements and domestic abuse matters.
- 2023
- At the Nottinghamshire Law Society Awards, NLS Legal solicitor Katie Smith won "Solicitor of the Year" for launching the pro bono family law service, and practice manager Carlota Gonzalez Laynez won "Business Support Champion," partly for establishing the clinic's partnership with Support Through Court.
- 2024
- The helpline of the charity Support Through Court, which handles around 17,000 calls a year, relocated its national operations to Nottingham Law School, to be run by at least 150 trained students annually.
What we could not verify
These claims came up in research and could not be confirmed. They are recorded here rather than published as fact or quietly dropped. If you hold a source that settles one, please tell us.
- Nottingham Trent University's own materials describe 100% of the law school's REF 2021 research as rated "world-leading or internationally excellent," but the official REF 2021 results database shows the combined 4-star/3-star figure for its law submission was 95%, with the remaining 5% rated 2-star. This profile reports the official database figure and flags the discrepancy rather than repeating the university's rounded claim.
- Current staff and student numbers are not independently verified beyond figures published by the institution itself, so they are not asserted here as confirmed fact.
Sources
6 sources (2 tier 1, 3 tier 2, 1 first-party), each opened and read against the claim it supports. Statements the subject makes about itself are marked as such and are not treated as independent evidence. See the source policy.
Legal Cheek's dedicated profile page, a November 2024 Legal Cheek news report, and an East Midlands Business Link report on regional law awards were fetched and read in full as independent trade and regional-press sources, as was Encyclopaedia Britannica's entry on Nottingham Trent University and the official Research Excellence Framework 2021 results database (a government-sponsored research assessment). Nottingham Trent University's own "60 years" history page was used only for uncontested institutional detail (the predecessor institution's name, internal building moves) and is flagged as first-party; its own claim about REF 2021 results was checked against the primary results database and found to differ, which is recorded below. Wikipedia's article on Nottingham Law School was checked only as a lead index to identify search terms and was not used as a source or cited.
- Nottingham Trent University Supports: Nottingham Trent University's establishment as a polytechnic in 1970 and its gaining university status in 1992.
- Nottingham Trent University: Results and submissions Supports: The official star-rating breakdown (4-star, 3-star, 2-star) of Nottingham Trent University's Unit of Assessment 18 (Law) submission to REF 2021.
- Nottingham Law School Supports: The school's 1964 founding date, its location and facilities, and general independent description of its courses and reputation.
- Legal helpline finds new home at Nottingham Law School Supports: The 2024 relocation of Support Through Court's national helpline to Nottingham Law School, its call volume and student staffing, and the quoted comments from Laura Pinkney and Lizzy Parkes.
- Nottinghamshire Law Society Awards 2023 coverage Supports: NLS Legal's 2022 LexisNexis "Law Firm of the Year" award, the 2022 launch of its pro bono family law service, and Katie Smith and Carlota Gonzalez Laynez's 2023 Nottinghamshire Law Society Award wins, including quotes from Laura Pinkney and Executive Dean Jenny Chapman.
- Celebrating 60 years of excellence in legal education Supports: The name of the predecessor institution (Nottingham Regional College of Technology) and internal milestones such as building moves, used only as uncontested background detail.
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