Professor Simon Bronitt will finish his term as Head of School and Dean of the Sydney Law School halfway through next year on 30 June 2024.
Professor Bronitt began his term on 1 July 2019, after the departure of former dean Professor Joellen Riley, with his term scheduled to end mid 2024. USyd’s Appointment of Academic Leaders Procedures 2022 policy provides that appointments are generally for up to five years, with the potential to be renewed afterwards.
President of the Sydney University Law Society Naz Sharifi told Honi that “It has been a pleasure working with him this year as we worked towards making law school accessible, diverse and academically enriching.”
“On behalf of SULS, I extend our heartfelt gratitude to Simon for his continual support of our work, our student body and for building a sense of community at Sydney Law. He has been a dedicated and inspiring leader to many students and academics alike. We thank him for his work and wish him the best of luck in any future roles.”
Professor Bronitt oversaw the development of the Reimagining Sydney Law School strategy for 2020-2025, including the introduction of Practitioner-in-Residence roles. The strategy seeks to “harness our tradition of excellence and reform to inspire legal minds”, with the Law School aiming to “be ranked in the global top 10 and recognised as the premier law school in Australia.” The University of Sydney is currently ranked 16th in the QS World University Rankings for Law & Legal Studies and 40th in the THE World University Rankings for Law.
Prior to joining the Sydney Law School, Professor Bronitt was Deputy Head and Deputy Dean (Research) of the TC Beirne School of Law at the University of Queensland. Professor Bronitt has also worked at Griffith University and the Australian National University. Professor Bronitt will be taking a year-long research sabbatical, after his term as Dean ends next year.
In an internal staff news story, Provost and Deputy Vice-Chancellor Annamarie Jagose wrote that an international search for the next Dean and Head of School would commence shortly. Honi understands that selection committee members had already been contacted before a faculty liaison had been set up, although the committee had not met yet. When asked about staff engagement with the process, a University spokesperson said that “The likely process for staff engagement with shortlisted candidates will be confirmed once the field of shortlisted candidates has been finalised, with engagement and feedback typically managed through a nominated liaison person.”
