Welcome to the University of the South Pacific's (USP) School of Law. Whether this is your first year of study in law, or your last, I trust that we will be able to provide you with a rich and rewarding experience in legal education.
Before USP's School of Law was established in 1994, the education of lawyers who practised in the South Pacific region was largely provided by other common law jurisdictions, notably Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and the United Kingdom. While this system produced many able lawyers, it did not satisfy the need for legal education that focused on the concerns of the South Pacific region.
The programs offered by the School of Law specifically focus on the legal systems of the South Pacific region, particularly those of USP's 12 Member Countries: Cook Islands, Fiji Islands, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tokelau, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. Often, this requires an understanding of the laws of the region's former imperial powers such as Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and France. This focus on the laws of the South Pacific region gives the courses offered by USP's School of Law a very distinctive flavour.
