Studying law at uni

So I'm starting college in september but I don't really know what I want to do when I'm older. My parents have always suggest I do law but I don't really know if i have an interest in that or if i do there's just so many different types of law to study ie family, crime etc. I know i defo want to go to uni. I am also interested in publishing but it's not really a thing to go to uni for as publishing courses don't really exist. Any tips would be great? Thank you

So I'm starting college in september but I don't really know what I want to do when I'm older. My parents have always suggest I do law but I don't really know if i have an interest in that or if i do there's just so many different types of law to study ie family, crime etc. I know i defo want to go to uni. I am also interested in publishing but it's not really a thing to go to uni for as publishing courses don't really exist. Any tips would be great? Thank you

List all the disciplines you are interested in, and eliminate those you're least interested in, thats all

Get some work experience in different disciplines as that will give you a good indication of what you might enjoy studying/pursuing in the future. If you enjoy English, are a problem solver, are good at communicating, enjoy reading/writing etc., those are the sorts of traits that might indicate that you may enjoy doing law in the future. You will only truly know what path to go down through experience and talking to people from different fields.

You could continue with your strongest subject at A level (which may turn out to be English, for example) and then do a postgraduate course specialising in something else like Law or Publishing.

Hi there,

I hope you're well

I currently study Law, and my advice to you would be to try and get some legal experience - just to see if you like it or not. This was the 'make-or-break' for me in College, as like you I knew I wanted to go to University but I just didn't know what to study. I did some work experience for a week in my local high street law firm, and fell in love with it - so I pursued it at University. However, I also have friends that did this and they realised it's not something they'd want to pursue. So, see if you can try and get some experience regarding learning the law (as appose to just what a solicitor does), as this could be really helpful in your decision making

Best of luck to you, don't hesitate to give me a message if you want to know anything further!

Ana
University of Liverpool Rep.

So for A level I will be doing english literature, geography and sociology. I don't want to do law a level cos apparentely unis dont need it and id rather do these 3 subjects which im quite strong at. Thank you for your comment x

Good choice of subjects. You could see how you find them in year 12 and then decide whether to continue with your favourite at uni or switch to Law

Yes that's a great idea thank you so much. I'm guessing you study law. How are you finding it and what area are you specialising in?

No I’m not studying law, I just know a bit about it from my previous job as a careers adviser

It can also be helpful to think about the ways of studying and working you enjoy, and not just the specific subject content - there are many courses at degree level available that students will have never studied before, so you need to think for those more about whether you specifically enjoy the nature of that course (e.g. if it's essay based or experimental/lab based) as well as generally the subject area.

For example, anthropology is a subject arTea you won't study before degree level normally, and so you won't have sat exams and had lessons in it before to decide if you want to study it. But you can think about a) whether the types of learning you are engaging in are related to that (e.g. social scientific and humanities type work will be similar to the kinds of things you might do in an anthropology degree) and b) explore that subject through doing some wider reading in your spare time (for anthropology this could be exploring enthnographies, or if you're brave reading some of the theory; for other subjects there may be other things you could do such as science fair work for STEM subjects not offered at A-level).

This is truly amazing advice thank you so much Ana. What year are you in of studying law and is it harder than people say it is? What aspect of law are you studying ie criminal, family? Do you want to be a solicitor, a barrister etc? Is Liverpool a good uni for law? At the moment I was thinking of unis such as Bristol, Leeds and Plymouth.

Hi,

You're very welcome - I'm glad my advice could be of some use!

I have just finished my second year, so I'll be going into my third year. In terms of if it's harder or not; it's really one of those subjects where you get out what you put in - so if you put in the time, your grades will definitely reflect that. I would love to become a solicitor, but the legal field is quite competitive - so keep your fingers crossed for me I really don't have anything bad to say about the University, as my law lecturers are really friendly and approachable, and our careers service really is incredible.

The list of modules that I've studied (as year 1 and 2 are compulsory) are listed here; https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/courses/law-llb-hons/module-details/

Choosing the right University for you is really personal, and like I said before what someone might love about one university, you might hate! My advice to you would be to get chatting to current students at those University's to get a feel of what their legal department is like. After all, nobody knows how good it is than the students currently there!

Best of luck to you,

Ana
University of Liverpool Rep.