The Faculty of Law at the University of Wollongong was established in 1990. Professor John Goldring, then a member of the Australian Law Reform Commission and formerly Professor and Head of the School of Law at Macquarie University, was appointed as Foundation Dean. He was succeeded as Dean by Professor Helen Gamble in 1995, Associate Professor Robin Handley in October 1999 and Professor Stuart Kaye in 2002. In May 2007 Professor Luke McNamara was appointed Dean of the Faculty of Law.

The Faculty has attracted highly qualified staff from Universities in Australia and overseas and from the practice of law. It is home to the Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security, the Centre for Transnational Crime Prevention, the Legal Intersections Research Centre and the Centre for Comparative Law and Development Studies in Asia and the Pacific.  The Faculty has also established a reputation for innovative research.

A range of postgraduate programs are offered by the Faculty including Masters and Doctorates by research and a coursework LLM (International and Comparative) for international students.

The undergraduate law degree courses leading to the LLB and the sequence of subjects in Legal Studies seek to develop the capacity of students to learn on their own. This is consistent with the University's emphasis on teaching as the creation of an environment which assists learning. Students who study law at Wollongong will learn law, rather than be taught law. This may not always be easy - nor may it be what students expect.

Students at Wollongong in the law and legal studies courses, both during their undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, will benefit from recent advances in legal education in Australia and elsewhere which have influenced the design of the courses and their component subjects. They will enjoy a friendly atmosphere which can only exist in a Faculty which emphasises the study of law as a shared activity of students and staff.

The Faculty also has a Legal Practice Unit which is open both to Wollongong students and those from other institutions. A Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice is awarded to students who successfully complete the Practical Legal Training (PLT) course which is accredited by the Legal Profession Admission Board as a qualification for law graduates who wish to apply for admission as a legal practitioner in New South Wales.

The Faculty of Law continually engages in an ongoing process of self examination, aiming to enhance learning opportunities by providing students with access to various other legal institutions and advanced learning systems. An aspect of this is access to a wide range of computing services. For instance the Faculty is pleased that staff and students are able to take advantage of wide-ranging World Wide Web contacts such as those appearing under the heading "Links for Students" on the Current Student Information page.