English Law and French Law degree (UK) uni applicants thread

Hello! My name is Gabriella, currently studying English and French Law degree at the University of Exeter. Happy to help/answer questions you have in regards to this course!

Reply 1

weekendkid

Hi! This is obviously very late and I’m not sure if you’ll reply but I’m applying for this course in 2020. What’s your general experience / what does a typical day look like for you? How intense is the French? And what is the actual structure of the course - in the final year you go abroad and what kind of qualification do you actually get in France because I don’t fully understand the maitraise

University of Exeter

Exeter

Reply 2

Gaabriella

Original post by weekendkid

Hey! Thanks for your question. It actually depends on the uni you'll be applying. I am currently in Exeter and the Double Maitrise prepares you for a year abroad to Rennes University in France so that at the end of the four-year program, you'll be receiving both the English Law LLB (regular law degree) AND an equivalent of an LLB in French Law, which I believe will enable you to practice law in France as an Avocat after one further year of study. In terms of the language requirement, I guess the obvious answer would be for you to be bilingual, a lot of my friends aren't bilingual and just did A-level French, some of them struggled a lot and decided to quit at the end of the first year to the regular LLB course, whereas others are doing very well. It really all depends on how well you can handle the amount of reading and the speed of the lessons. I personally like to think that studying both laws are very helpful, especially in strengthening my french, as I am a near native-speaker, plus having both degrees would definitely make your CV stand out! (Provided that you have received a strong grade in both of course haha). One of the big misconceptions about my degree is that you have to be a native french speaker to be able to do well, and that's totally wrong! As long as you have an adequate level of french + hard work= you will be just fine!

This is a long answer and I hope it answered your question if you :smile:

need more Infos on the particularities of the program then go ahead and shoot an email to the Law School you're looking for (ps. I got to Exeter School of Law). Best of Luck in your applications! Gabriella.

Reply 3

Lsoto

Hi Grabriela, I was wondering if you had completed the year in Rennes and how you found it. My son has just started his year there as an Exeter Uni student. I would really like to hear from your experience. Thank you,

Reply 4

Heal

Original post by Lsoto

Hello! I've not used thestudentroom for ages since then! I have now finished in Rennes (Summer 2022) and completed the Bar Vocational Studies - starting soon as a pupil barrister in london 🙂
I think thinking back now Rennes must have been one of the most challenging experiences in my academic life (5 years of law!), it was extremely demanding when it comes to your level of french but also the french higher education system is very old school, meaning that you could have 8 hours of lectures (with 10 min to 2 hours of gap in between) a day, consisting of multiple 2-4 hours lectures, where you would sit in the amphitheatre and type down word by word what the professor say. At least for law, given that Rennes is one of the more prestigious universities for EU law in france (after SciencePo and Assas of course), local french students have to compete very hard to get into the masters programme, whereas students like me from Exeter just get automatic admission as long as I pass the Exeter part of the degree (the first three years: english law + french law), this all in all makes the programme very competitive and difficult, even for local french students, let alone students from Exeter whose mother tongue isn't french in most of the cases. Mental health wise I struggled quite a bit especially during exam seasons, as I think personally there was less personal opinion and critical thinking involved in the exams/ teaching compared to the british way of teaching, so 70% of the time in exams they expect you to just remember and retain whatever that was taught. There was a girl in the year before me (before I went to Rennes) on the same programme who even committed suicide during the course, because she couldn't meet the grade requirements in order to be sent to an exchange programme to another EU country, and to be completely candid, I am not surprised. Rennes is quiet/ medium sized city - so the best advice I can give to survive and hopefully pass the Maitrise is:

•

Learn how to cook (as restaurants are more expensive in france, even McDonald's)

•

Be prepared to speak as much french as possible (this is the only way to integrate fully and facilitate the french law oral exams)

•

Be prepared to make french friends! Otherwise one of the most common thing is for students (non-native speakers of french) to be speaking their own language most of the time with people from their home country, which is sort of a big no no to integration.

I can write a book on my experience in Rennes, if you have any questions, I don't mind answering them!

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