Skip to content

US judge sworn into office on UK soil for the first time in centuries during visit to Nottingham Law School

Students and staff from Nottingham Law School were witness to a historic ceremony last week – one which hasn’t taken place in the UK since the 1700s.

    Peter Romary Swearing In
    Peter Romary
    Peter Romary

    Students and staff from Nottingham Law School were witness to a historic ceremony last week – one which hasn’t taken place in the UK since the 1700s.

    The Law School hosted a visit from Campbell Law School, North Carolina, to welcome the first US students onto its LLM Legal Practice by Distance Learning, and travelling with the group was faculty staff member Professor Peter Romary.

    Professor Romary has been appointed to serve as a pro-tem Judge in North Carolina and is required to take an Oath of Office under the state constitution.  Peter received special permission to have the swearing in ceremony in Nottingham as part of the visit so his parents, who are based in the UK, could attend.

    It is believed that this is the first time a US judge has been sworn into office in the UK since the 1700s. Judge Jeff Foster administered the oath and the Dean of Campbell Law School also spoke a few words about the US legal system and the role of judges.

    Professor Janine Griffiths-Baker, Dean of Nottingham Law School, said: “This was a truly historic event and we are honoured to have been involved in such a momentous occasion.

    “Our relationship with Law Schools around the world enables our students to learn and benefit from a wealth of experiences, and this is just one example of bringing the US legal system right to our door. Not only that, but we were also delighted to welcome the first US students onto our LLM distance learning course – four of whom are judges.”

    • Notes for editors

      Press enquiries please contact Sarah McLeod, Corporate Communications Manager, on telephone +44 (0)115 848 8735, or via email.

      Nottingham Trent University was named University of the Year 2017 at the Times Higher Education Awards and Modern University of the Year in the Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2018. The award recognises NTU for its strong student satisfaction, quality of teaching, overall student experience and engagement with employers.

      Nottingham Trent University (NTU) has been awarded the highest, gold, rating in the Government’s Teaching Excellence Framework for its outstanding teaching and learning.

      NTU is one of the largest UK universities with nearly 28,000 students and more than 3,500 staff across four campuses, contributing £496m to the UK economy every year. It is one of the most environmentally-friendly universities, containing some of the country’s most inspiring and efficient award-winning buildings.

      The University is passionate about creating opportunities and its extensive outreach programme is designed to enable Nottingham Trent to be a vehicle for social mobility. NTU is the sixth biggest recruiter of students from disadvantaged backgrounds in the country and 95.6% of the its graduates go on to employment or further education within six months of leaving.

      NTU is home to world-class research, winning The Queen’s Anniversary Prize in 2015 - the highest national honour for a UK university. It recognised the University’s pioneering projects to improve weapons and explosives detection in luggage, enable safer production of powdered infant formula and combat food fraud.

      With an international student population of approximately 2,600 from around 100 countries, the University prides itself on its global outlook.

    Published on 12 March 2018
    • Subject area: Law, criminology and justice
    • Category: Nottingham Law School