Studying Law at University - Ask Me Anything!

I got an offer to take Leeds LLB program as I already have an arts degree from Canada. Do you know how many Canadians are in the program (approximately)?

Hello, thank you for making this thread! My questions are: Why did you choose law? What type of person should choose law? Or what qualities should a person have? What A-Levels did you do? I'm kinda struggling at knowing what career path to go down and while I'm only 16, I'd like to have a general idea.

Hii,
I'm currently in year 12 studying A level English Literature, Art and Maths. I'm predicted AAB and a bit stuck when it comes to choosing a well respected Uni that's likely to offer me a place. Unfortunately, I'm not able to move out of London where almost all competitive unis require A*AA. GCSEs range from 8-5s and I don't think I'm eligible for an contextual offer. Do you have any recommendations?

The only ones I can think of off the top of my head is SOAS and LSBU? Do you think you could exceed AAB?

Hii,
I'm currently in year 12 studying A level English Literature, Art and Maths. I'm predicted AAB and a bit stuck when it comes to choosing a well respected Uni that's likely to offer me a place. Unfortunately, I'm not able to move out of London where almost all competitive unis require A*AA. GCSEs range from 8-5s and I don't think I'm eligible for an contextual offer. Do you have any recommendations?

Hey,
I’ve been wondering about studying law and I do have a few questions.

Is there a lot of reading? Is there loads of long written assignments or more of a preparation for each class kind of thing? What kind of homework can you get and what do they entail?Is studying law stressful? Is there any revision tips you have for studying? And finally, did you go abroad for one year when doing French Law and if so did you find it useful? Do you have to speak fluent French or could you understand what they were saying?

Sorry for so many questions I’m just really interested

I'd recommend speaking to your teachers/whoever advises on university applications.

Yes, there is a lot of reading of cases and articles, as well as standard textbook reading. The exact requirements can vary from university to university, but seminar preparation at Leeds is usually a set of questions to answer from the reading. I can end up writing about 800 words per question sometimes if they're particularly complex - typically the fewer questions in the preparation, the more reading there is for each and the more you'll end up writing! 'Homework' (which is called independent study at university) is seminar preparation/assessment work and any extra reading you think you need to do to understand what's being covered/anything else you want to do.

I'd say most people think studying Law is stressful yes. You'll be balancing your time between a number of modules constantly. I estimate I spend about 35 hours on my degree each week (sometimes a bit less), and 12-14 of those are contact hours which means the rest of the time is spent reading and doing seminar prep independently. This is why being motivated to study the subject is so important - the love of Law and belief in what you're doing gets you through the tough times.

With regards to the year abroad, yes I spent a year abroad this year to get the bulk of the French Law part of my course. The requirement to get on my course was an A in French A Level, and I studied a module of French for each of the years before my year abroad to keep my language level up. I was tested at B2 on the CEFR system by the Erasmus language support service before I went, and I'm now at C1 (though I suspect my speaking is not as good as that). I'm telling you this because I have a lot of confusion about what 'fluent' means and how it's possible to measure fluency.

I hope this answers your questions, don't hesitate to ask more!

Thanks for answering my questions.

So did you find that you understood everything fine when you went for your year abroad? Also do you recommend any books to read before going to university to be prepared and have some prior knowledge?
Also do you think English Language, History, French and Law are good A-Levels to get in? Also Latin and Psychology but as AS Level.

The first few weeks were really hard for me, as I had to quickly get used to new teaching methods and a whole new vocabulary set. However, I found that over time the number of words I didn't know was decreasing, and my listening comprehension was getting much better, so as time went on things got easier for me. The contrast between my abilities at the beginning of the first semester (September) and the second (January) was stark, which was very pleasing.

I'd recommend books like The Rule of Law by Tom Bingham (a former Supreme Court President and a great legal mind), What About Law?, Letters to a Law Student, The Secret Barrister: Stories of the Law and How It's Broken and the 'Very Short Introduction' books for Law and the British Constitution. These have been recommended by the School of Law at Leeds as pre-reading to its incoming law students, so they're also uni-approved. Don't think you need to read all of them or spend a lot of money, just pick books you like the sound of and think will benefit you, and do check out eBay to get cheap copies.

With regards to A Levels, there are no required A Levels at all for Law, unless you do want to add in the language and then you will need to take French. I did Law myself, as I thought this would help me decide if I did want to spend three+ years studying it at university, but if you don't want to take it don't feel you have to. My advice for A Levels is always do what you will enjoy and what you will be good at, but I would also add that taking at least one essay-based subject will be advantageous as then you won't need to learn/relearn how to write good essays once you get to university. I'd also remind you that you only need three A Levels to get in, don't try to take on more if you think this may pull your grades down - it's better to get higher grades for fewer subjects than lower grades in more subjects.

Okay, did you find that your UCAS points influenced your acceptance to university?
Also did you find any new revision techniques you wished you’d know earlier and that work better? What are they?

Hi,
Is a law degree really hard? (especially for someone with grades A*B and Distinction*)
How can you boost a law application?
Best books to read over year 12 summer?
Will magic circle accept people from any uni if they meet requirements?
Thank you!!

My offer actually wasn't based on UCAS points but actual grades, so I had to get AAA to be automatically accepted onto the course.
Revision strategies are quite personal to people's learning methods, but a top tip I'd give for modules that have essay questions in the exam is to construct a document throughout the year of questions you think could be asked as an essay, and compile arguments/points that you'd use to answer those questions. This will mostly come from your seminar preparation.

I'd say it's certainly difficult at times, but it's manageable. Essentially if they let you on the course then it's clear the university has confidence that you will be able to manage the content. Some people will drop out for whatever reason, but the vast majority do not.
In what way 'boost'?
I'd check out my book recommendations in post #34 just above!
I'd say yes, but do remember that academic requirements aren't all a law firm looks for in an applicant, especially the firms that receive the most applications.
No worries

I'd say it's certainly difficult at times, but it's manageable. Essentially if they let you on the course then it's clear the university has confidence that you will be able to manage the content. Some people will drop out for whatever reason, but the vast majority do not.
In what way 'boost'?
I'd check out my book recommendations in post #34 just above!
I'd say yes, but do remember that academic requirements aren't all a law firm looks for in an applicant, especially the firms that receive the most applications.
No worries

Thank you so much for answering my questions 😁

Thank you so much
Also, by boost I mean what can I do to make my application stand out and look better.

Hello. I have heard law universities care more about your actual grades than range/impressiveness of the subjects. Is this true? Also, presumably the students doing law have a huge array of a level subjects/combinations?

I am thinking of becoming a lawyer, and I am currently a year 12 student so I am looking for universities and such, as I do not have any lawyers in my family I am kind of confused.
1:so by starting as an undergraduate what is the difference between BA OF LAW, LLB, LLB Law
LLB International Law and Globalisation, LLB Law with Business, LLB Law with Criminology, LLB Law with French Law, LLB Law with German Law. Is one better than the other? 2:And also should post graduate lawyer then think about doing a masters or a phd, is it worth it? 3:And one last question when starting as an undergraduate when graduating are you then a JD or would you need a phd? 4:Oh and can you jump straight from undergraduate to phd or should you take your masters first?I am sorry for the many questions I am just really lost and I've tried to google them and find myself to be even more confused.