Sydney Law alum concludes Oxford BCL with prestigious scholarship
Sydney Law School alumni Dane Luo has been elected to the Vinerian Scholarship (Proxime Accessit) for second-best performance in the Bachelor of Civil Law (BCL) at the University of Oxford.
The BCL is a world-renowned taught graduate course in law, equivalent to a Master of Law (LLM), designed to serve outstanding law students from common law backgrounds.
The BCL cohort in 2023/24 included 109 students drawn from countries including the UK, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, India, Canada, South Africa and Ireland.
The Sydney Law School collaborates with Oxford under the international pathways program to allow Bachelor of Laws (LLB) and Juris Doctor (JD) students to complete their final semester with either the BCL or Masters of Law and Finance at Oxford.
Sydney Law also supports students with scholarships and grants to travel abroad.
Dane was the recipient of the Peter Cameron Sydney Oxford Scholarship last year, which provides $60,000 to a Sydney Law student to undertake the BCL.
I believe that this prize is a testament to the hard work and sacrifices of my parents, the rigorous teaching at both Sydney and Oxford, and the generous support of the Peter Cameron Sydney Oxford Scholarship which enabled me to attend Oxford in the first place. I am grateful to my family, teachers and mentors for believing in me and supporting me in every part of the journey.
At the University of Sydney, Dane achieved First Class Honours in both his Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Laws degrees and was awarded multiple prizes including the Convocation Medal for Undergraduate Leadership, Alan Bishop Scholarship, Zoe Hall Memorial Scholarship and John George Dalley Prize No 1A.
He held leadership positions in the University of Sydney Union, Students’ Representative Council and Sydney University Law Society.
Dane marvelled at the experience of the BCL at Oxford.
“The BCL is brilliantly intellectual. I felt challenged before, during and after every seminar and tutorial," Dane said.
"Even during the holidays and when travelling around Europe, I was constantly thinking about legal concepts from my courses and trying to get an hour or two of study in every day when I could get some spare time.
"The BCL was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to push my brain as hard as I can.”
At Oxford, Dane was awarded Law Faculty Prizes for achieving first place in both the Advanced Administrative Law and Commercial Remedies exams. He also completed an optional dissertation about the divisibility of the Crown.
“My research for my dissertation on constitutional and administrative law was a highlight of my BCL," Dane said.
"It was at Sydney Law that I formed my foundational views about the role of judicial review and my conception of the principled boundaries of legislative, executive and judicial power.
"I had the benefit of learning from world-leading academics at Sydney, including my Honours thesis supervisor Professor Emerita Anne Twomey. These roots have been extremely important as I navigated challenging, unresolved and hotly debated issues in at Oxford.”
This experience was made possible because of the preparation that my LLB studies at Sydney Law gave me.
While managing the demands of studying the BCL and co-curricular activities, Dane spent time teaching high school students with underprivileged backgrounds about tort, contract and constitutional law.
“When Sydney Law generously supported me with the Peter Cameron Sydney Oxford Scholarship, I said that I hoped it would inspire others with a disadvantaged background to keep going and to know that the doors are opening," Dane said.
"I was surprised by the number of people who directly contacted me about that. I would say to them that, when you something challenging, you should not give up. You should pick yourself up, keep persisting and tackle it.
"This was how I tried to remain focused and motivated throughout the BCL, which is by far the greatest challenge I have faced thus far.”
