Lord Denning Room

In 1989, foundation staff members at the Faculty of Law approached the famous Lord Denning MR in London, for permission to name a teaching room or a moot court in his honour.

Lord Denning, who lived for 100 years (1899-2000), was the most celebrated judge of the 20th century. He was revered as 'the people’s judge' for his willingness to override encrusted legal precedent in the pursuit of justice. He wrote judgments that were lively and lucid, believing the public would not want to follow the law unless they understood it and believed it to be just. Lord Denning described himself as a practitioner of 'the new equity' - he was a judicial activist, molding the law to suit changing times and circumstances in a period when most judges adhered strictly to precedent. His pioneering approach and lively writing style endeared Lord Denning to lawyers - and especially to Bond Law, and vice versa. Denning’s approach to the law mirrors Bond’s approach to teaching the law - practical, relevant and innovative.

On 4 December 1989, Lord Denning sent his written permission for our first Judges' Room, adjacent to the first Moot Court, to be named the Lord Denning Room. He provided a signed photograph and he was videotaped offering his advice to Bond law students. A long correspondence and collegiality between Lord Denning and foundation law staff member Professor Jim Corkery resulted in Bond Law receiving a number of items of highly-prized legal memorabilia. And so a tradition was established.

In June 2003, foundation staff and law alumni embarked on a project to refurbish the Lord Denning Room and create a second Moot Court for the now internationally-accomplished Bond Law mooting teams. The Room was refurbished in a style to reflect Australia’s colonial background and common law heritage with wood paneling, advocate benches, a witness box, a judge’s bench and matching lecterns.

With these traditions in mind, and to continue our high quality teaching and mooting environment, the Law School created the new Lord Denning Room in the Legal Skills Building in 2011, after the old Moot Court areas were supplanted by the new Legal Skills Centre.

In tandem with the development of the Lord Denning Room, the Lord Denning Society was founded by its Patron, Professor Jim Corkery in 2003, when the first Lord Denning Moot Court was established. The Lord Denning Benchers' Dinner is an annual gathering of Benchers of the Bond University Lord Denning Society - a group of students and alumni who have represented the University in advocacy in international competitions, along with their advisors and mentors. These enjoyable annual Dinner gatherings celebrate both the contribution of Lord Denning to the law and the shared experiences of advocacy. Each year the members of the Society at dinner elect a Master/Mistress of the Rolls to carry the traditions forward and to host the next year’s Dinner. The Society is also collecting legal memorabilia, which is on display in the new Lord Denning Room.

The new Lord Denning Room is used for small class teaching and meetings. It is also available for alumni and industry engagement functions, external meetings, presentations and hosting VIP visits. It is also, of course, the home of the annual Lord Denning Benchers’ Dinner. The look, style and functions of the Lord Denning Room reflect its namesake, but also uphold the quality and standards for which Bond University is renowned. Long may these traditions continue.

Law students (L to R) Indhia Duncan, James Graham, Sophie McNaught and Rowan Kendall outside the new Lord Denning Room in 2012.