Oxford Law Students and Applicants
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Original post by Waldmeister
I have a friend whose relation did many, many, many practice LNAT papers, then when it came to the actual exam said that almost all of the questions were either recycled or exactly the same... is there any likelihood of this happening? I haven't really looked at the LNAT yet so have little idea about how the exam questions are styled or anything.
I'm currently finishing off Simpson's Invitation to Law, and I plan to at least read the Law Machine (Berlins), Letters to a Law Student (McBride) and What about Law (Barnard, O' Sullivan and Virgo). Would this be enough? I am also considering either William's Learning the law or Wack's A very Short introduction to the philosophy of law. What would you say to that "line-up", as it were? Too many? Too few?
My school teachers (bear in mind no lawyers amongst them...!) recommend also reading some history books rather than purely law books for the application, but I can't think of a way of introducing them in a PS without looking like I have a split focus; is it silly to try and read both or should I just focus?
I'm currently finishing off Simpson's Invitation to Law, and I plan to at least read the Law Machine (Berlins), Letters to a Law Student (McBride) and What about Law (Barnard, O' Sullivan and Virgo). Would this be enough? I am also considering either William's Learning the law or Wack's A very Short introduction to the philosophy of law. What would you say to that "line-up", as it were? Too many? Too few?
My school teachers (bear in mind no lawyers amongst them...!) recommend also reading some history books rather than purely law books for the application, but I can't think of a way of introducing them in a PS without looking like I have a split focus; is it silly to try and read both or should I just focus?
Rather than read any more of these tedious introductions to the study of law, why not watch a few videos?
I would suggest:
A Man for All Seasons (either the Paul Scofield or the Charlton Heston version)
Twelve Angry Men
Judgment at Nuremberg
Inherit the Wind
The Crucible
Victim (Dirk Bogarde)
Then think about the nature of law and justice.
Original post by nulli tertius
Rather than read any more of these tedious introductions to the study of law, why not watch a few videos?
I would suggest:
A Man for All Seasons (either the Paul Scofield or the Charlton Heston version)
Twelve Angry Men
Judgment at Nuremberg
Inherit the Wind
The Crucible
Victim (Dirk Bogarde)
Then think about the nature of law and justice.
I would suggest:
A Man for All Seasons (either the Paul Scofield or the Charlton Heston version)
Twelve Angry Men
Judgment at Nuremberg
Inherit the Wind
The Crucible
Victim (Dirk Bogarde)
Then think about the nature of law and justice.
This is something I've not thought about... (videos, not law and justice!). I may well take a look at some of these, thank you!
Original post by Waldmeister
I'm currently finishing off Simpson's Invitation to Law, and I plan to at least read the Law Machine (Berlins), Letters to a Law Student (McBride) and What about Law (Barnard, O' Sullivan and Virgo). Would this be enough? I am also considering either William's Learning the law or Wack's A very Short introduction to the philosophy of law. What would you say to that "line-up", as it were? Too many? Too few?
I'd really recommend trying to find some slightly different books, as the previous commenter said. It's good to start with some introductory ones (or even just one), but you also want to get into some true legal issues/commentary. Reading a couple of more focused books might help to give you a bit more of a grounding into actual legal study - plus they're probably more interesting anyway (disclaimer: I've yet to start the course). The fact is I wasn't even asked about any of the books I'd mentioned in my interview, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything because many people are questioned on them.
As a previous commenter has suggested, doing some other more 'out of the box' things is also a good idea. If you can apply legal thinking to any situation then that's a good position to be in! I'd also recommend watching the 'Justice' series of lectures by Michael Sandel. They're more philosophy based but they open your mind up to the same kind of thinking you'll come across in interviews etc, but be aware that a lot of other people will now have watched this.
Don't forget that you should also read the news regularly, ideally from a variety of sources. The more time you spend reading books, the less you have to focus on actual current affairs, so don't try to take on too many if you have limited time. I'd suggest firstly getting twitter if you don't have it and secondly following people like Joshua Rozenberg and other legal/news based twitter feeds. It's a really easy way to stay on top of affairs without too much effort. Also browse www.guardian.co.uk/law regularly before any interviews/LNAT.
(edited 11 years ago)
Original post by et cetera
Letters to a Law Student: A Guide to Studying Law at University - by Nicholas McBride
The Law Machine - by Marcel Berlins
Glanville Williams: Learning the Law
;All three gave a particularly helpful understanding and grounding.
The Law Machine - by Marcel Berlins
Glanville Williams: Learning the Law
;All three gave a particularly helpful understanding and grounding.
All of which we were expected to read post-offer, not before interview
Original post by Waldmeister
Whilst they require no knowledge, surely any knowledge you can demonstrate, if used correctly of course, might come across as quite impressive? Better yet, the interview might introduce you to a situation you're vaguely familiar with due to reading, which means you can order your thoughts better.
Not at all. They're looking for how you think, how you react to being put in an unfamiliar situation and argue your way around it/out of it/neither - how you cope where there may be no clear-cut right answer. I did very, very little legal reading before I went for interview, and I'm now sitting Law Finals, so you certainly don't need to have read millions of law books to get in. As has been mentioned already, they work from the basis that you know nothing about law as many schools don't offer it for A-Level. The majority of law students I know here didn't study it at A-Level, so went into their interview not knowing very much about it.
I showed my enthusiasm for the subject from practical experience, analogies to other types of literature that I was studying for A-Levels, school trips, extra-curriculars etc. My personal statement (just found it on my computer) doesn't mention a single law book and I got offers from all of my UCAS choices. I found that knowing a lot about current affairs worked much better than knowing a lot about law, particularly as I studied A-Level Politics.
Original post by Waldmeister
My school teachers (bear in mind no lawyers amongst them...!) recommend also reading some history books rather than purely law books for the application, but I can't think of a way of introducing them in a PS without looking like I have a split focus; is it silly to try and read both or should I just focus?
You don't need to mention a lot of books in your PS, it wastes words and can look like you're trying too hard. I mentioned books I was studying for A-Levels as they were relevant, plus a couple of other bits of literature. If you're interested in history books and know of a relevant one, mention it, but if you're not, don't - you can't fake it at interview, and you may well be asked why you mentioned it or what you like about it, even just as an ice-breaker.
(edited 11 years ago)
Hmm, ok; the general consensus appears to be read fewer, better books (result!) and also look at other types of media. One of my major attractions to law is that it's something I've never really studied before, and one thing I've always found (without wanting to sound arrogant) is that I thrive on new situations that I can't revise for, or looking at things from different perspectives. Formulating opinions and arguing is also something I feel confident in, so hopefully I would be a good law student.
As I'm going slightly more specific, now, does anybody know of any excellent Criminal Law books? I'm going to narrow down my list but look, as has been advised, at more select areas; criminal in particular interests me.
EDIT: Might there even be any value, beyond pleasure, in reading a crime novel if it's particularly good?
As I'm going slightly more specific, now, does anybody know of any excellent Criminal Law books? I'm going to narrow down my list but look, as has been advised, at more select areas; criminal in particular interests me.
EDIT: Might there even be any value, beyond pleasure, in reading a crime novel if it's particularly good?
(edited 11 years ago)
These threads happen all the time, year after year. I say, reading in advance doesn't help. Then there's a tantrum by the school student.
But reading in advance doesn't help. You won't get books that'll help. The books you use at university are big £30-50 textbooks prescribed by the lecturer for the particular course you are doing, and they go out of date every year. Usually they're written by your lecturer, a) because even a professor won't know that many cases/material in other books, they'll know what they've written in the textbook and b) they make money. Criminal law is one module out of 12 which you do in your degree. You can't possibly do enough introductory reading to help you in any real way. In the exam, you might end up selecting your topics down to fraud, theft etc and miss out sexual offenses or something because there may be 3 questions you have to answer out of 10. You just don't know until you've worked really hard, you know the course you're on and you've studied the exam papers and structure closely.
The best thing you can do is read The Guardian legal and media sections, and perhaps even read the FT - which you won't understand, but you can try. Another thing is to read literature which will help your writing to improve. If people don't know what the study of law involves though, it does beg the question why people want to study it at university for three years. I skimmed through the Letters book once, it seemed ok.
But reading in advance doesn't help. You won't get books that'll help. The books you use at university are big £30-50 textbooks prescribed by the lecturer for the particular course you are doing, and they go out of date every year. Usually they're written by your lecturer, a) because even a professor won't know that many cases/material in other books, they'll know what they've written in the textbook and b) they make money. Criminal law is one module out of 12 which you do in your degree. You can't possibly do enough introductory reading to help you in any real way. In the exam, you might end up selecting your topics down to fraud, theft etc and miss out sexual offenses or something because there may be 3 questions you have to answer out of 10. You just don't know until you've worked really hard, you know the course you're on and you've studied the exam papers and structure closely.
The best thing you can do is read The Guardian legal and media sections, and perhaps even read the FT - which you won't understand, but you can try. Another thing is to read literature which will help your writing to improve. If people don't know what the study of law involves though, it does beg the question why people want to study it at university for three years. I skimmed through the Letters book once, it seemed ok.
I don't really much mind if it doesn't help, I'm just really looking for books that are interesting reads. I don't believe that I can necessarily make myself more intelligent by reading loads and regurgitating it in an interview; that's probably the exact opposite of what I would define as intelligence. So I agree with you partially; it may not help me become more intelligent, but it may help stimulate my thoughts simply by virtue of how interesting I find it. Surely somebody, somewhere, must recognise that as an admirable way to pursue higher education?
AryaSwan 
Here is the best place to get advice about Law at Oxford. You can ask all your questions here. Good luck!
What was once a nicely ordered separate thread has become a daemonic amalgamation... I can't say this makes finding the specific information I was doing perfectly well with earlier any easier. Oh well, it's not my decision I suppose. 
Original post by The_Lonely_Goatherd
Here is the best place to get advice about Law at Oxford. You can ask all your questions here. Good luck!
thank you =D
Is it possible to be get a conditional (or unconditional) offer the Oxford Law program with only A*ABBBBBBBB in GCSE's and possibly AAAB (including General) in AS levels? As in, can i make up for all the fails with my personal statement and LNAT performance?
(edited 11 years ago)
Original post by AryaSwan
thank you =D
Is it possible to be get a conditional (or unconditional) offer the Oxford Law program with only A*ABBBBBBBB in GCSE's and possibly AAAB (including General) in AS levels? As in, can i make up for all the fails with my personal statement and LNAT performance?
Is it possible to be get a conditional (or unconditional) offer the Oxford Law program with only A*ABBBBBBBB in GCSE's and possibly AAAB (including General) in AS levels? As in, can i make up for all the fails with my personal statement and LNAT performance?
How good is your school?
This has been really bugging me- I want to apply to Law at Oxford. I know that English Literature seems to be one of the most respectable courses to apply with, however, the college I want to go to next year doesn't have it. If I did English Combined instead of Literature, how much would it affect my application? (The other 3 A levels I will be taking will be History, Philosophy and Politics)
Thank you.
P.S. Apologies if this question has already been asked, I haven't found an answer to this question yet.
Thank you.
P.S. Apologies if this question has already been asked, I haven't found an answer to this question yet.
(edited 11 years ago)
Original post by Naranoc
Don't think it makes that much of a difference tbh. I stressed about it enough years ago, having picked Lang/Lit at college, but got in to Oxford to study English (same with another guy in my year).
Thank you for responding!
Do you think this would also be the case for Law, then? If that was the case with English?Original post by Naranoc
Hmm, I'd say so! If the language component doesn't have an adverse effect when applying for English, then there's no reason to suppose it would for law. As long as you're taking a mix of strong subjects, you should be fine.
Thank you so much~
Do English combined, History, Philosophy and Politics count as a strong mix for Oxford in your opinion?Original post by Argent-chan
This has been really bugging me- I want to apply to Law at Oxford. I know that English Literature seems to be one of the most respectable courses to apply with, however, the college I want to go to next year doesn't have it. If I did English Combined instead of Literature, how much would it affect my application? (The other 3 A levels I will be taking will be History, Philosophy and Politics)
Thank you.
P.S. Apologies if this question has already been asked, I haven't found an answer to this question yet.
Thank you.
P.S. Apologies if this question has already been asked, I haven't found an answer to this question yet.
First of all, I'd probably email them to see if it is a problem. If they say it is (which I highly doubt will be the case), then I would mention in your personal statement (or get a teacher to mention in their reference) that you would of liked to do English Literature but couldn't because your school didn't offer it, so you took English Combined instead. They can't possibly penalise you for not taking a subject your college doesn't offer.
Original post by Argent-chan
Thank you for responding! Do you think this would also be the case for Law, then? If that was the case with English?
Do you think this would also be the case for Law, then? If that was the case with English?I do the combined course and I got an offer for Law - not necessarily a steadfast rule but I don't think they mind too much on subject choices in any case so long as you would be good on the course (and your subjects certainly would prepare you!)
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