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What's it like to do a law degree?

I've received an offer from Nottingham Trent Uni to study Law (LLB) starting in October and I was just wondering what it is like for current students studying law.

I'm not exactly having second thoughts about my choice and I think I made a well-informed decision. I was just wondering - exactly how hard is it. I also know that there's a lot of reading involved...exactly how much reading is involved..?? I don't usually read for leisure (since I don't have a particularly great attention span to do so) and I've started to wonder whether this would put me at some disadvantage.

So (if you're doing/have done a law degree) what are your experiences? How difficult is it?

Thanks :smile:

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Reply 1
Granted I have not done or am I doing a Law Degree yet, I do have some useful information which may be of help to yourself.
I myself am an aspiring law student, although I'm not 100% I want to be work within the legal industry.
I do have many friends who've studied law and are studying law at the moment.

It's a no brain-er that it's not going to be a walk in the park. Then again, no degree is going to exactly be easy. Law however is recognized as being one of the harder/or hardest degrees to under take. Hence the high entry requirements from most Uni's.
I've heard and have witnessed a lot of reading is to be done. I came across a statistic a while back showing that 38% of books taken out of a Universities Library per year are Law related. It might not sound THAT much, but you think about ALL the courses taking place in that Uni.
Not only do you have to read a lot, but you expected to be very close to the English Language. There's a quote floating around the internet I read saying 'a law student can read any word from the English dictionary'. I personally don't agree with that quote, but you get the picture! :smile:

What you've got to remember also, is that everyone is in the same position when doing a degree such as Law, as the likely hood is that very few people did Law at Alevel, and although many people will have a fair understanding of the legal system, it wont be utterly solid.
The 1st year will make sure everyone is up to par with each other and so on!
Reply 2
Original post by Weeves

Not only do you have to read a lot, but you expected to be very close to the English Language. There's a quote floating around the internet I read saying 'a law student can read any word from the English dictionary'. I personally don't agree with that quote, but you get the picture! :smile:



I don't even know what that's meant to mean.

In answer to the question posed by the thread title; have you ever snorted coke off a hooker while waterskiing behind a monkey driven rocket boat? Imagine the distilled essence of the opposite of that.
(edited 11 years ago)
Reply 3
Original post by Weeves
Granted I have not done or am I doing a Law Degree yet, I do have some useful information which may be of help to yourself.
I myself am an aspiring law student, although I'm not 100% I want to be work within the legal industry.
I do have many friends who've studied law and are studying law at the moment.

It's a no brain-er that it's not going to be a walk in the park. Then again, no degree is going to exactly be easy. Law however is recognized as being one of the harder/or hardest degrees to under take. Hence the high entry requirements from most Uni's.
I've heard and have witnessed a lot of reading is to be done. I came across a statistic a while back showing that 38% of books taken out of a Universities Library per year are Law related. It might not sound THAT much, but you think about ALL the courses taking place in that Uni.
Not only do you have to read a lot, but you expected to be very close to the English Language. There's a quote floating around the internet I read saying 'a law student can read any word from the English dictionary'. I personally don't agree with that quote, but you get the picture! :smile:

What you've got to remember also, is that everyone is in the same position when doing a degree such as Law, as the likely hood is that very few people did Law at Alevel, and although many people will have a fair understanding of the legal system, it wont be utterly solid.
The 1st year will make sure everyone is up to par with each other and so on!


Really?! Given most lawyers use a combination of a textbook (which they usually buy), a casebook (ditto) and online archives I doubt this. I'd have thought courses like History or English which take out the most books.
Dull.
Reply 5
Original post by Anon217
I've received an offer from Nottingham Trent Uni to study Law (LLB) starting in October and I was just wondering what it is like for current students studying law.

I'm not exactly having second thoughts about my choice and I think I made a well-informed decision. I was just wondering - exactly how hard is it. I also know that there's a lot of reading involved...exactly how much reading is involved..?? I don't usually read for leisure (since I don't have a particularly great attention span to do so) and I've started to wonder whether this would put me at some disadvantage.

So (if you're doing/have done a law degree) what are your experiences? How difficult is it?

Thanks :smile:


A law degree is pretty easy, if you want a third. All you need to do is look at your lecture slides, read a few case notes and then learn to spout all that nonsense onto paper. However, that standard will NEVER get you a first. To get a first, your going to need to read your textbooks thoroughly (Which, throughout the year should be about 500+ pages for 4 different textbooks), you'll need to learn to skip all the waffle in a judgment to get to the stuff you need (otherwise, you'll spend an infinite length of time reading entire judgments) and then you need to practice, practice, practice. You will not get a 1st on your very first essay/exam without knowing how to apply the law like an expert. Your lecturer will tell you how to do this, however you will only learn to do this after writing several essays. Of course, for exams, it'll basically fall down to whether or not your lucky regarding which subjects you studied, and which showed up in the exam.

So, in short:

Third: Very little reading, quite easy
2:2 A good amount of reading, moderate difficulty
2:1 A lot of reading, hard
First: Anywhere from 'a lot' to an infinite amount of reading, very difficult - requires luck, skill, determination, caffeine, originality, and then more luck.
Reply 6
Original post by Anon217
I've received an offer from Nottingham Trent Uni to study Law (LLB) starting in October and I was just wondering what it is like for current students studying law.

I'm not exactly having second thoughts about my choice and I think I made a well-informed decision. I was just wondering - exactly how hard is it. I also know that there's a lot of reading involved...exactly how much reading is involved..?? I don't usually read for leisure (since I don't have a particularly great attention span to do so) and I've started to wonder whether this would put me at some disadvantage.

So (if you're doing/have done a law degree) what are your experiences? How difficult is it?

Thanks :smile:


Hi, I'm going doing Law at Trent this year too- see you there! I missed my biochem offer and so am doing law so have been researching this sort of question recently too. I think the main thing is that the amount of reading is a lot and you have to be able to summarise and make good notes. Also I was wondering if you are taking your laptop to lectures for notes? I want to, but dont want to be the only person!
Reply 7
I forgot about this thread - thanks for all the responses :smile:

Original post by Saphire_93
Hi, I'm going doing Law at Trent this year too- see you there! I missed my biochem offer and so am doing law so have been researching this sort of question recently too. I think the main thing is that the amount of reading is a lot and you have to be able to summarise and make good notes. Also I was wondering if you are taking your laptop to lectures for notes? I want to, but dont want to be the only person!


...Hi. I don't think you'll be the only person with a laptop :biggrin: I'm actually now planning to defer my entry to next year so I won't be seeing you there, but good luck and well done for getting a place :smile:
Reply 8
Original post by Saphire_93
Hi, I'm going doing Law at Trent this year too- see you there! I missed my biochem offer and so am doing law so have been researching this sort of question recently too. I think the main thing is that the amount of reading is a lot and you have to be able to summarise and make good notes. Also I was wondering if you are taking your laptop to lectures for notes? I want to, but dont want to be the only person!


Lol its interesting how you applied for both biochem and law at the same time
Reply 9
Original post by Norton1
I don't even know what that's meant to mean.

In answer to the question posed by the thread title; have you ever snorted coke off a hooker while waterskiing behind a monkey driven rocket boat? Imagine the distilled essence of the opposite of that.


I think he means there's no word a law student doesn't know in the dictionary. So apparently we'll never need to look up what any word means after our degree... hopefully! :tongue:


Original post by zaliack
A law degree is pretty easy, if you want a third. All you need to do is look at your lecture slides, read a few case notes and then learn to spout all that nonsense onto paper. However, that standard will NEVER get you a first. To get a first, your going to need to read your textbooks thoroughly (Which, throughout the year should be about 500+ pages for 4 different textbooks), you'll need to learn to skip all the waffle in a judgment to get to the stuff you need (otherwise, you'll spend an infinite length of time reading entire judgments) and then you need to practice, practice, practice. You will not get a 1st on your very first essay/exam without knowing how to apply the law like an expert. Your lecturer will tell you how to do this, however you will only learn to do this after writing several essays. Of course, for exams, it'll basically fall down to whether or not your lucky regarding which subjects you studied, and which showed up in the exam.

So, in short:

Third: Very little reading, quite easy
2:2 A good amount of reading, moderate difficulty
2:1 A lot of reading, hard
First: Anywhere from 'a lot' to an infinite amount of reading, very difficult - requires luck, skill, determination, caffeine, originality, and then more luck.


Great explanation, for a first you're going to need to be intelligent, original, have a good memory and get lucky :smile:
Awh **** now I'm scared
Reply 11
Original post by Miracle Day
Awh **** now I'm scared


:lol: I think getting scared is the only way I might have a chance of getting a first :wink:
Original post by RobertWhite
:lol: I think getting scared is the only way I might have a chance of getting a first :wink:


How much time do you spend working a day? :colondollar:
Reply 13
Original post by Miracle Day
How much time do you spend working a day? :colondollar:


I haven't started the course yet :awesome: I've heard you should be working full days to have a shot at a 1st. To get a 2.1 I think you need to put in a few extra hours per module a week. So something like an extra 10-12ish hours per week. I'm really not sure how true this is though. Most of the people studying Law at Soton do this in a weekend.
Original post by RobertWhite
I haven't started the course yet :awesome: I've heard you should be working full days to have a shot at a 1st. To get a 2.1 I think you need to put in a few extra hours per module a week. So something like an extra 10-12ish hours per week. I'm really not sure how true this is though. Most of the people studying Law at Soton do this in a weekend.


How do I fit in this and a social life arghh
Reply 15
Original post by Miracle Day
How do I fit in this and a social life arghh


Ah you'll learn :wink: Be organised and there's no reason you can't have a great social life too :smile:
Reply 16
Original post by Miracle Day
How do I fit in this and a social life arghh


At uni it seems there is more scope for a social life than you have in a real job.

Something like 40 hours a week, doing the majority whenever suits you, is still fairly conducive to a decent social life :smile: So long as you catch yourself if you feel you're frittering away time, that's the hard bit :tongue:
(edited 11 years ago)
Reply 17
Original post by Miracle Day
How do I fit in this and a social life arghh


Personally, I just skip the lectures and do the reading instead. Lectures are no way near as useful as a textbook for me. In a lecture, they only really "introduce" the stuff we need to know and don't fit in enough details or all the obscure, important cases.
Reply 18
Day in the life of a law student (that doesn't want to get a *******ing for not handing in his essay that week)

07:00 - Wake Up, go to the gym.
09:00 - Breakfast
09:20-13:00 - READ READ READ READ READ READ READ READ READ READ READ READ
13:00-14:00 - Lunch
14:00-18:20 - READ READ READ READ READ READ
18:20-19:00 - Dinner
19:20-23:00 - READ READ READ READ READ READ
23:15-00:00 - Head back to room to complain about how much reading you have to do for this essay with your mates
2:00AM- Drift off to sleep once the stimulants have left your system.

Rinse and repeat.
Reply 19
Original post by Weeves
Granted I have not done or am I doing a Law Degree yet, I do have some useful information which may be of help to yourself.
I myself am an aspiring law student, although I'm not 100% I want to be work within the legal industry.
I do have many friends who've studied law and are studying law at the moment.

It's a no brain-er that it's not going to be a walk in the park. Then again, no degree is going to exactly be easy. Law however is recognized as being one of the harder/or hardest degrees to under take. Hence the high entry requirements from most Uni's.
I've heard and have witnessed a lot of reading is to be done. I came across a statistic a while back showing that 38% of books taken out of a Universities Library per year are Law related. It might not sound THAT much, but you think about ALL the courses taking place in that Uni.
Not only do you have to read a lot, but you expected to be very close to the English Language. There's a quote floating around the internet I read saying 'a law student can read any word from the English dictionary'. I personally don't agree with that quote, but you get the picture! :smile:

What you've got to remember also, is that everyone is in the same position when doing a degree such as Law, as the likely hood is that very few people did Law at Alevel, and although many people will have a fair understanding of the legal system, it wont be utterly solid.
The 1st year will make sure everyone is up to par with each other and so on!


i bet you're still in GCSE?
(edited 11 years ago)

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