Why is law so popular?
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I wouldn't say 'popular'...in my school only 2 of all sixth form leavers decided to study law, more popular choices included: Maths, Physics, Economics and Engineering (not sure if this is the same everywhere but it's certainly the case where I go to school)
I think because there are no specific subject requirements to study law that they raise the standard a little, and it is a very demanding subject with hours and hours of study time required every week. I think the universities want to see that you are able to study efficiently and accurately and get the best grades.
I think because there are no specific subject requirements to study law that they raise the standard a little, and it is a very demanding subject with hours and hours of study time required every week. I think the universities want to see that you are able to study efficiently and accurately and get the best grades.
Original post by Alleykat606
I wouldn't say 'popular'...in my school only 2 of all sixth form leavers decided to study law, more popular choices included: Maths, Physics, Economics and Engineering (not sure if this is the same everywhere but it's certainly the case where I go to school)
I think because there are no specific subject requirements to study law that they raise the standard a little, and it is a very demanding subject with hours and hours of study time required every week. I think the universities want to see that you are able to study efficiently and accurately and get the best grades.
I think because there are no specific subject requirements to study law that they raise the standard a little, and it is a very demanding subject with hours and hours of study time required every week. I think the universities want to see that you are able to study efficiently and accurately and get the best grades.
It is statistically the course that most people applied for last year. The entry requirements are so high because even lower ranked unis still get loads of people applying for law.
a lot of people apply but not very many get in, and even fewer follow careers in law, as has been mentioned before
but i think most people who apply have warped views of what the job is like. afterall this is england, barristers wear wigs and go around chambers calling everyone "m'lud"so its nothing like law and order or the good wife. not to mention most of your time is dealt with paperwork :/ not fun.
only do law if you know and like the reality of it
but i think most people who apply have warped views of what the job is like. afterall this is england, barristers wear wigs and go around chambers calling everyone "m'lud"so its nothing like law and order or the good wife. not to mention most of your time is dealt with paperwork :/ not fun.
only do law if you know and like the reality of it
Also half of people in the profession didn't even do a law degree.
It's a degree that is often the best if you don't know for sure what you want to do in life yet want to go to university.
Job prospects, while prospects in law itself isn't fantastic and for the most part extremely competitive, there are numerous other sectors where LL.Bs can be a passport to a job, many of them completely unrelated.
Job prospects, while prospects in law itself isn't fantastic and for the most part extremely competitive, there are numerous other sectors where LL.Bs can be a passport to a job, many of them completely unrelated.
although the skills learned in the degree are transferable much like those from a history degree 
Original post by chelseafan
Also half of people in the profession didn't even do a law degree.
No, no and thrice no!
For 2009 qualifying trainees, the percentage of law graduates was 72.9%. A little under 40% of newly qualified solicitors did not do a training contract but were transferees from the bar or abroad with a tiny proportion of FILEXs qualifying. I suspect that the percentage of law graduates in the transferees was even greater.
As far as I am aware there are no statistics for the background of the entire profession. Five year men (non-graduates) stopped qualifying in the mid 1970s so the youngest are now in their mid 50s. The number of qualifying FILEXs since then has always been low and the recent increase has been because there is now a fast-track for law graduates.
I am not sure of the backgrounds of all my partners, but I can only immediately think of 4 out of about 30 without a law degree (one FILEX, one GDL and two five year men).
This information obviously relates to solicitors in England & Wales. The bar, Scots and Irish may be different.
(edited 11 years ago)
Original post by tehforum
That's criminology.
Lol no.
Original post by nulli tertius
No, no and thrice no!
For 2009 qualifying trainees, the percentage of law graduates was 72.9%. A little under 40% of newly qualified solicitors did not do a training contract but were transferees from the bar or abroad with a tiny proportion of FILEXs qualifying. I suspect that the percentage of law graduates in the transferees was even greater.
As far as I am aware there are no statistics for the background of the entire profession. Five year men (non-graduates) stopped qualifying in the mid 1970s so the youngest are now in their mid 50s. The number of qualifying FILEXs since then has always been low and the recent increase has been because there is now a fast-track for law graduates.
I am not sure of the backgrounds of all my partners, but I can only immediately think of 4 out of about 30 without a law degree (one FILEX, one GDL and two five year men).
This information obviously relates to solicitors in England & Wales. The bar, Scots and Irish may be different.
For 2009 qualifying trainees, the percentage of law graduates was 72.9%. A little under 40% of newly qualified solicitors did not do a training contract but were transferees from the bar or abroad with a tiny proportion of FILEXs qualifying. I suspect that the percentage of law graduates in the transferees was even greater.
As far as I am aware there are no statistics for the background of the entire profession. Five year men (non-graduates) stopped qualifying in the mid 1970s so the youngest are now in their mid 50s. The number of qualifying FILEXs since then has always been low and the recent increase has been because there is now a fast-track for law graduates.
I am not sure of the backgrounds of all my partners, but I can only immediately think of 4 out of about 30 without a law degree (one FILEX, one GDL and two five year men).
This information obviously relates to solicitors in England & Wales. The bar, Scots and Irish may be different.
Do you like working as a solicitor? Reason I'm asking is i'm hoping to get my three A's to study law at uni and qualify as a solicitor. Do you enjoy it?
Original post by Alkain1607
Do you like working as a solicitor? Reason I'm asking is i'm hoping to get my three A's to study law at uni and qualify as a solicitor. Do you enjoy it?
At times. However, it can be stressful and as dull as ditchwater. The law has been good to me, but I can't help feeling that I have had it better than those that are coming along now.
Original post by nulli tertius
At times. However, it can be stressful and as dull as ditchwater. The law has been good to me, but I can't help feeling that I have had it better than those that are coming along now.
What area do you practice?
Original post by Alkain1607
What area do you practice?
A wide variety of commercial law for owner-managed businesses.
Original post by fnm
And games I suppose, I was inspired to look at Law after playing Phoenix Wright...
Opposite way round for me - I started my law degree so my brother bought me Justice For All in order to bolster me if my resolve failed
Original post by chelseafan
Are they? I've heard a law degree is tedious and boring.
I've heard this too. I think it's mostly because people think (often incorrectly) that they'll be able to get really rich with a law degree.
TV has a huge impact. There are so many shows about criminal lawyers who get all these criminals sent down and are the big heroes. However, there are no shows about other kinds of law that show the less 'glamorous' side of it.
A girl at my college actually put this as her status the other day -
People ask my why i do law and i do it so i can send dirty criminals to prison and get them off the streets where they belong!
She is doing the one A level (Law) and has no intention of going to uni (teen mum at 16). She won't be putting anyone away for the foreseeable future.
A girl at my college actually put this as her status the other day -
People ask my why i do law and i do it so i can send dirty criminals to prison and get them off the streets where they belong!
She is doing the one A level (Law) and has no intention of going to uni (teen mum at 16). She won't be putting anyone away for the foreseeable future.
Original post by breakeven
TV has a huge impact. There are so many shows about criminal lawyers who get all these criminals sent down and are the big heroes. However, there are no shows about other kinds of law that show the less 'glamorous' side of it.
A girl at my college actually put this as her status the other day -
People ask my why i do law and i do it so i can send dirty criminals to prison and get them off the streets where they belong!
She is doing the one A level (Law) and has no intention of going to uni (teen mum at 16). She won't be putting anyone away for the foreseeable future.
A girl at my college actually put this as her status the other day -
People ask my why i do law and i do it so i can send dirty criminals to prison and get them off the streets where they belong!
She is doing the one A level (Law) and has no intention of going to uni (teen mum at 16). She won't be putting anyone away for the foreseeable future.
But there are loads of detective shows too and apparently we're crying out for detectvies
I suspect if TV has an impact it's through shows like Suits just as much.
Original post by roh
But there are loads of detective shows too and apparently we're crying out for detectvies
I suspect if TV has an impact it's through shows like Suits just as much.
I suspect if TV has an impact it's through shows like Suits just as much.
Agreed, people like anything to do with solving a mystery and catching the bad guy.
PS - I love suits!
Original post by breakeven
TV has a huge impact. There are so many shows about criminal lawyers who get all these criminals sent down and are the big heroes.
The classic television lawyer is the man (almost always a man, I think) who gets the wrongly accused Defendant off.
The prototype was surely Perry Mason, but we have seen Petrocelli, David Main, Ben Matlock, Rumpole, Harm Rabb, Rosie O'Neill, Kavanagh QC and William Garrow all get the innocent Defendant acquitted.
My impression of most US TV series is that the DA is someone whose main function is to say to the police/forensics hero that they haven't got enough evidence.
There have been two British attempts to cover prosecuting lawyers; Sutherland's Law, a rather good series about a rural procurator fiscal in the 1970s and Crown Prosecutor, a dire series from the 1990s.
However, there are no shows about other kinds of law that show the less 'glamorous' side of it.
Can I offer you From May to December, a comedy set in the office of a middle aged High Street general practitioner. It ran for five years and I think there was a joke in series 3.
Original post by QuirkyDoDo
Regarding the transferrable skills, other people have already answered with what I was going to reply with. Sections of law can be very tedious but the criminal law modules (which is where people get this fancy idea of being a lawyer and convicting big criminals) is very interesting.
Can I ask why you're not enjoying psychology and where you're studying? It was something I considered for a while.
Can I ask why you're not enjoying psychology and where you're studying? It was something I considered for a while.
That's weird... it didn't say you quoted me...
I'm studying Psychology at the University of Southampton. The course is good but it's just the randomness of it and the 'wishy washyness' of it. For every theory I learn there seems to be one which contradicts it. I prefer a more grounded course - and I am concerned with the job prospects that a psychology degree will offer me.
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