Year 12s: what will be the first way you research your future options? >>

Law LLB advice needed from experienced students.

Hey guys! Basically right, I'm starting university in September, and will be studying Law LLB. This was the only course that I was interested in at the time. I really want to study law, and there is nothing more I would love and enjoy to study. How good does your english have to be to study law? As in written skills? And will I be taught how to write a law essay from scratch since this will be the first time I will attempt to write up a law essay. I am so worried about the essays. I'm great at understanding complex material. Will I be allowed extra time in exam if I'm a slow writer because I am slower than slow!!!

As a university student, can I hand in draft essays to the professor? Or is this never going to happen?

Share you first year experiences with me, where any of you who had a positive outcome when expected the worse?

Reply 1

mw12345678

Your english has to be exceptionally good to study law at an undergraduate level. You will be given basic skills on how to write an essay but the rest you have to teach yourself. Your only allowed extra time under certain circumstances, you will have to talk to someone at uni. You can under no circumstances hand in draft essays to the professor.
Law is one of the hardest degrees, it requires endless hours of reading, researching material, reading case judgments. The library will surely become your best friend!
Good luck with your first year!

Reply 2

username1396673

Original post by mw12345678

Okay, thanks for the heads up! I appreciate it :smile:

Reply 3

swayze11

If your english is average you may just be able to get away with it in first year. However to be successful you will need to be able to accurately summarise cases of varying complexity and present arguments or advise in a manner which is concise.
More than likely your university will have one or several sessions on essay writing and referencing. Example papers are a great way to really get a feel of how your essays should be, at least for first year.
It is crucial that you understand how to reference using OSCOLA and do not leave referencing till the last minute, however the uni may be lenient for the first year. Use a variety of academic sources i.e. books, law journals, cases & judgements etc, in first and second year the professors generally are focusing on your ability to present information from established work and are not too interested in your opinion (journals are v.important for second and third year).
Check with each professor regarding drafts.

Regarding exams, universities have different policies. If you have a legitimate medical condition such as dyslexia then it is more than likely that you will either be allowed more time or some other provision.

Personally, I didn't take my first year seriously but did rather well... I made the mistake of expecting the same results during my second year but unsurprisingly my results reflected the (lack of) quality of my work.
Developing your arguments will take time, but reading journals regularly will help you with this.