[zeezee180]

(Original post by Alkain1607)
An A-level in law is not disadvantageous- most uni's don't bat an eyelid- they're more concerned with the grades you get at the end of your A-levels- I applied to 7 unis and got offers from all- they don't care about A-level law- they care about the grade you get at the end. What Uni's are you thinking of applying to?

i want to get into either: Kings College, UCL, SOAS or any of the top ten lawl :P

[Tortious]

(Original post by nulli tertius)
I am not really the best person to comment on this. The mark scheme is so full of pedagogic mush that it isn't possible to tell what is actually required. There are just lists of buzzwords. It is much easier to deal with a model answer. Moreover, it is very hard as an outsider to know what proportion of the syllabus is covered and to what extent the answers are contained in the textbook.

Mmm, that's a fair comment about mark schemes - my post was mainly a joke since, to my knowledge, you're not in crime. All I meant is that the problems themselves are still fairly demanding; the syllabus covers the core non-fatals (assault to s.18 GBH) on the other paper, and this paper focuses on property offences (fraud, theft/robbery/burglary, criminal damage). The jurisprudence is a bit waffly, but naturally the responses aren't going to be as polished as you'd expect from undergrads.

I just thought risteard might find it beneficial to look at the papers!

[Alkain1607]

Nope, Law is a good choice.

[Alkain1607]

(Original post by zeezee180)
i want to get into either: Kings College, UCL, SOAS or any of the top ten lawl :P

I applied to several Unis- York, Sheffield, Lancaster, Exeter and UEA- depends on which league tables you look at as to who is in the top 10. They wont reject you for taking law.

[Alkain1607]

(Original post by risteard)
Nice choices.

I teach sociology, psychology and a bit of economics and from September dropping economics to teach philosophy.

psychology os the most straight forard of these, we use an easy exam board as well.

You teach 4 subjects! How do you have time to mark etc?

[nulli tertius]

(Original post by Tortious)
Mmm, that's a fair comment about mark schemes - my post was mainly a joke since, to my knowledge, you're not in crime. All I meant is that the problems themselves are still fairly demanding; the syllabus covers the core non-fatals (assault to s.18 GBH) on the other paper, and this paper focuses on property offences (fraud, theft/robbery/burglary, criminal damage). The jurisprudence is a bit waffly, but naturally the responses aren't going to be as polished as you'd expect from undergrads.

I just thought risteard might find it beneficial to look at the papers!

That is true. I comment on the commercial side of running a criminal practice because my firm does do a substantial amount of crime but one of my great fears is one day having to represent one in my clients down the station due to the absence of anyone who knows what they are doing.

[Tortious]

(Original post by nulli tertius)
That is true. I comment on the commercial side of running a criminal practice because my firm does do a substantial amount of crime but one of my great fears is one day having to represent one in my clients down the station due to the absence of anyone who knows what they are doing.

The one thing I've taken away from my study of Criminal Procedure and Evidence this year is that you can't go wrong as long as you submit a pre-prepared statement instead of giving a "no comment" interview!

Out of interest, what other kinds of work does your firm do? I appreciate you'd probably like to keep your anonymity on here, but I'm relatively interested in private client and "real people" as opposed to the corporate stuff that the big boys are into...

[risteard]

(Original post by Alkain1607)
You teach 4 subjects! How do you have time to mark etc?

With great difficulty. I give homework every week for each of those subjects as well.


luckily i'm well read so content isn't a MAJOR problem....but sometimes I have to ask students if i've told an ancedote or joke before, ha ha.

It's the way education is going, both FE and HE, they want to casualise staff so it is VERY difficult to get a full time job teaching 1...or even two subjects

[risteard]

(Original post by Tortious)
Do you have any experience with A Level Law itself? There are certainly discursive elements to them (back in my day, two and a half papers out of six were essay-based).

In your day, when was that?

[Alkain1607]

(Original post by risteard)
With great difficulty. I give homework every week for each of those subjects as well.


luckily i'm well read so content isn't a MAJOR problem....but sometimes I have to ask students if i've told an ancedote or joke before, ha ha.

It's the way education is going, both FE and HE, they want to casualise staff so it is VERY difficult to get a full time job teaching 1...or even two subjects

Yet Government wants more people into education? Politicians seem to be walking disasters, who make cock-ups at every turn and do so many contradictory things

[Tortious]

(Original post by risteard)
In your day, when was that?

I took it a year early, so I was the last one on the old spec (June 2009).

[risteard]

Oh, I thought you were a teacher.

[risteard]

(Original post by Alkain1607)
Yet Government wants more people into education? Politicians seem to be walking disasters, who make cock-ups at every turn and do so many contradictory things

A good thing to read, if you can get hold of it, is a pamplet written by political economist Alex Callincos (UCL - i think) called neo liberalism in british universities. He tracks the way in which educational insitututions have become more and more like businesses and the poilitcal, social and economic discourses that have been used to shape people's attitudes towards it.

With this government, if you are 19 or over, from september you will now pay full cost for all courses. In the past they were subsidised but now you will have to pay the ACTUAL cost. HE is still subsidised, though it costs SOOOOO much.

It's a joke, they have plenty of money for bankers though....

[Alkain1607]

(Original post by risteard)
A good thing to read, if you can get hold of it, is a pamplet written by political economist Alex Callincos (UCL - i think) called neo liberalism in british universities. He tracks the way in which educational insitututions have become more and more like businesses and the poilitcal, social and economic discourses that have been used to shape people's attitudes towards it.

With this government, if you are 19 or over, from september you will now pay full cost for all courses. In the past they were subsidised but now you will have to pay the ACTUAL cost. HE is still subsidised, though it costs SOOOOO much.

It's a joke, they have plenty of money for bankers though....

To quote Ed a couple of weeks ago 'The nasty party is back'. Perhaps we should try to raise money and go to downing street at a Cameron dinner party then tell him we don't like the policy, so he should change it who knows, he may U-turn, oh, my apologies, 'listen'. Yes, favourite saying of mine 'Thatcher wasn't for turning, but Cameron doesn't know which way to turn'.
We should realise that bankers are above the law, they're allowed to spend our money- and resign when it gets out they did something naughty without facing prosecution...

[nulli tertius]

(Original post by Tortious)
The one thing I've taken away from my study of Criminal Procedure and Evidence this year is that you can't go wrong as long as you submit a pre-prepared statement instead of giving a "no comment" interview!

Out of interest, what other kinds of work does your firm do? I appreciate you'd probably like to keep your anonymity on here, but I'm relatively interested in private client and "real people" as opposed to the corporate stuff that the big boys are into...

We are a large traditional general practice-so owner-managed corporate/commercial, commercial property, civil lit and claimant PI, private client, family, residential property and criminal. We do a fair amount of legal aid, largely limited to crime and family.

There are quite a lot of these firms about. Look at a firm like Foot Anstey in Plymouth. They have a substantial defendant libel practice acting for newspapers, but they will still buy and sell two-up two-down terrace houses in Devonport. Rothera Dowson in Nottingham have perhaps the strongest HGV/PSV licensing practice in the country but a woman can go to one of their suburban offices and get a non-molestation injunction.

Many people on TSR divide firms between the City, national firms such as Eversheds and small High Street practices but that doesn't do justice to the sort of traditional practice that has simply continued to grow in its own market.

[risteard]

(Original post by Alkain1607)
To quote Ed a couple of weeks ago 'The nasty party is back'. Perhaps we should try to raise money and go to downing street at a Cameron dinner party then tell him we don't like the policy, so he should change it who knows, he may U-turn, oh, my apologies, 'listen'. Yes, favourite saying of mine 'Thatcher wasn't for turning, but Cameron doesn't know which way to turn'.
We should realise that bankers are above the law, they're allowed to spend our money- and resign when it gets out they did something naughty without facing prosecution...

Ha ha, i like that one about Cameron.

re. miliband...To think is dad was one of Britain;s finest radical political sociolgists

If you re in london you cant do worse than to go to some of the free lectures put on by LSE, SOAS, UCL on a range of interesting topics.

[Alkain1607]

Didn't know that uni's did free lectures-well I don't live far from London, so that's certainly not a bad idea- thanks. I didn't know that about Milliband, maybe that's why he has more compassion for ordinary people.

[risteard]

(Original post by Alkain1607)
Didn't know that uni's did free lectures-well I don't live far from London, so that's certainly not a bad idea- thanks. I didn't know that about Milliband, maybe that's why he has more compassion for ordinary people.

his dad was called ralph miliband. he was way to the left of his boys though who are social democrats, he was a marxist.

good luck with your studies mate!

[Alkain1607]

I love the theory of marxism, but it's just impractical which is a shame. And thank you very much, good luck with your ever growing amount of work and marking.

[zeezee180]

(Original post by Alkain1607)
I love the theory of marxism, but it's just impractical which is a shame. And thank you very much, good luck with your ever growing amount of work and marking.

Ok i think I've decided!!

Biology
Psychology
English Lit
Philosophy

Thanks so much for your help guys!!