UK Top 10 Law Schools

Every website seems to give me different results on which universities are the best for law. Anyone have any ideas?

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Vijay2010

In my humble opinion, and based on what I've seen on numerous league tables, it would go something like this (in no particular order and not being exhaustive):

Oxford
Cambridge
LSE
UCL
King's
Durham
Glasgow
Edinburgh
Nottingham

I think if you get into Law for any of these universities, you have a really good chance of becoming a lawyer/doing anything else requiring Law.
Hope this helps :smile:

Reply 2

mirin?

Original post by Vijay2010

KCL is no way in hell higher than Durham.

Reply 3

Vijay2010

Original post by mirin?

KCL is no way in hell higher than Durham.

Read the part where it says "in no particular order"

Reply 4

darkccc

Original post by mirin?

KCL is no way in hell higher than Durham.

I have no idea why people are so fixated on which university should be ranked higher than the other when in actual fact, the difference between the two universities is so small that it could be rendered negligible.

Reply 5

Cristocracy

As long as you get at least a good 2:1 from a Russell Group / Red Brick, you should be fine and have a shot at securing MC TCs.

http://graduates.hoganlovells.com/apply_now/meet_us_on_campus/campus_alumni/

As you noticed, the list IS dominated by Oxbridge grads, but the amount of trainees from Sheffield, Leeds, Nottingham, Durham (the latter 2 which are traditionally thought to be from a higher 'tier' than the former 2) are roughly even. LSE, KCL and SOAS grads are noticably few.

Of course, this list is only from 1 firm but I dont expect the other firms to differ too much...

Reply 6

roh

These are the unis likely to feature in any debate on the top 10 Law schools:

Oxford
Cambridge
LSE
UCL
KCL
Nottingham
Durham
Bristol
Warwick
Birmingham
Manchester
Exeter
QMUL
SOAS
Glasgow
Edinburgh

Less frequently but still might be thrown in:
Leeds
Sheffield
York
Newcastle
Soton
Leicester
Reading
Liverpool
Lancaster
Cardiff

I've probably missed a few.

As above, have a look at the Lovells list. They are more inclined towards Oxbridge (under 'Some Stats') than other firms of a similar standing. Though according to page 26 here similar stats, and higher in Slaughters' and Freshfields' cases, are the norm further up the legal food chain at the MC.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 7

Zedd

Problematic for me, Aberdeen is often 'highly rated' by people I know but on the other hand its not really rated by any of these tables :/

Reply 8

michael321

Original post by DomPugh

Every website seems to give me different results on which universities are the best for law. Anyone have any ideas?

See here: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=88536

Recruiters will not care about arbitrary notions like a "top ten"; they will have their own opinions, and some will care more than others about university. I am inclined to think that there may a degree of differentiation between even some of the top law unis, but that even this will vary between recruiters and the net effect on career prospects is therefore pretty minor. The thread above gives a good general guide, but none of this is scientific fact.

Also, bear in mind to always ignore the Guardian's league table.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 9

Tsunami2011

I would say that it is roughly something like the following.

Oxford
Cambridge

LSE
UCL
King's

Durham
Bristol
Nottingham
Warwick

After senselessly going through some MC/US firms these are the universities which always seem to have a presence, with some obviously having a bigger presence than others. LSE seems to have a big presence within the US firms for example. I would probably say the latter four are very similar academically to the likes of Manchester, Birmingham, Leicester etc but are perceived as harder to get into and fare better in terms of employment and prestige these four seem to fare better in terms of graduate recruitment and later success. I personally don't really think you can generally distinguish between the latter four, it is likely to depend on the recruiters. Most people would agree that LSE was superior to Warwick for Law, but whether or not Bristol was would depend on who you talk to.

I wouldn't put too much emphasis on the university anyway, which has been stated many times. A first from somewhere slightly lower down will be more attractive than a middling 2:1 from one of the aforementioned universities except Oxbridge lol

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 10

jjarvis

Original post by Zedd

Problematic for me, Aberdeen is often 'highly rated' by people I know but on the other hand its not really rated by any of these tables :/

Probably because it only teaches Scots law. The inclusion of Edinburgh is a little odd in that regard, but Edinburgh is quite well-represented (and in my experience pretty well-regarded) among city firms.

Reply 11

Zedd

Original post by jjarvis

Ah, in that case it makes a lot of sense. Ta Jarvis!

Reply 12

LexiswasmyNexis

Original post by DomPugh

Every website seems to give me different results on which universities are the best for law. Anyone have any ideas?

I've come to know a few recruitment partners over the last 18months- one of them at a big US firm. They, and he in particular, say that it doesn't matter so much so long as you go to a uni on their 'list'.

They say that Oxbridge, UCL, Durham and Bristol are perhaps more favourable but ultimately any degree from the following would be fine:

1. Oxbridge
2. UCL/KCL/Imperial etc
3. Durham
4. Warwick
5. Bristol
6. Manchester
7. Nottingham
8. Leeds
9. Sheffield
10. Southampton
11. Newcastle
12. Birmingham
13. Exeter
14. UEA
15. York
16. QMUL
17. Liverpool
18. Cardiff
19. Leicester
20. Loughborough

I stress the list is not 'closed', and I have listed in new particular order.

Reply 13

TurboCretin

Original post by DomPugh

Every website seems to give me different results on which universities are the best for law. Anyone have any ideas?

Nobody has yet put the most important question to you: best in what respect?

Reply 14

DomPugh

Original post by TurboCretin

Nobody has yet put the most important question to you: best in what respect?

I guess best, in this instance, is concerned with overall standard of teaching, employability, reputation etc?

Reply 15

TurboCretin

Original post by DomPugh

I guess best, in this instance, is concerned with overall standard of teaching, employability, reputation etc?

Well, yeah, but the standard of teaching doesn't necessarily correlate with the employability of the graduates. Reputation is relative to particular groups, so again it depends on whether you mean reputation amongst academics on the basis of current research or reputation amongst employers on the basis of various abstruse or nonexistent criteria or biases. Reputation amongst employers is easy enough to rank for (though, again, different employers will have different preferences), and that's where you see the usual suspects:

Oxford and Cambridge
LSE
UCL
KCL, Durham, Bristol, Notts, Warwick, QMUL, etc.

My point is that there isn't really an 'overall' standard: different unis have different strengths and weaknesses. This is why different sources give different rankings - they weight the different strengths and weaknesses of law schools differently.