LLB Law at the University of Law - Applying for 2017 Watch

Once upon a time I wanted to do law, I was told to give College/Uni of law a very wide berth. Apparently a lot of the top firms are not fond of it. On three separate occasions by 3 different firms, I was told a solid Redbrick/Russell would get me where I wanted to go, and that Uni of law would hinder my career unless I was happy to make my own firm/work at a small independent. This was about 4 years ago however, and things may have changed now.

I'm not too much use but I did visit some years ago when they'd just started doing courses.
The reputation worried me and I dodged it.
The fact their grade boundaries are so low did too.
Getting good classifications means nothing, their course could be easier or more generously marked.
Plus the vocational teaching sounds good in theory, but why would a law firm want to have to retrain potentially bad habits out?


I'd head to a good law school, and can very highly recommend Bristol.

I know people doing the University of Law LLB and it's rubbish. Grades are BBB and nobody bar 1 got that or higher. People had CCD And BCC etc. People there aren't motivated and are money crazed thinking going to a Law university will land them a top city firm law job. The top firms do not respect an LLB from there. Teaching isn't good and you are spoon fed everything. The exams are A level standard and not proper academic law exams. They do get a lot of 2:1s etc but their exams are by far easier than RG law exams. Avoid UOL at all costs unless you have the rubbish grades they ask for. Aiming for the city? go to a good RG uni or oxbridge. Look at Leeds and Manchester as you said you liked and Bristol too. All good law schools especially Bristol. I'm going to Manchester in September for Law, and the people I know doing UoL LLB are jealous that the top firms respect and visit the uni I am going to as well as all the Russell Group. You will heavily regret going to UoL if you pick it.

how about if the uni isn't a russell group but is still quiet prestigious - like university of kent, will one be able to land a themselves a top city law firm job?

(Original post by ORW)
I know people doing the University of Law LLB and it's rubbish. Grades are BBB and nobody bar 1 got that or higher. People had CCD And BCC etc. People there aren't motivated and are money crazed thinking going to a Law university will land them a top city firm law job. The top firms do not respect an LLB from there. Teaching isn't good and you are spoon fed everything. The exams are A level standard and not proper academic law exams. They do get a lot of 2:1s etc but their exams are by far easier than RG law exams. Avoid UOL at all costs unless you have the rubbish grades they ask for. Aiming for the city? go to a good RG uni or oxbridge. Look at Leeds and Manchester as you said you liked and Bristol too. All good law schools especially Bristol. I'm going to Manchester in September for Law, and the people I know doing UoL LLB are jealous that the top firms respect and visit the uni I am going to as well as all the Russell Group. You will heavily regret going to UoL if you pick it.

what if one was to study law at a non - russell group uni but the uni is still quiet prestigious e.g university of kent; would one still be able to land a top city law firm job?

It may be possible but still not mega likely especially for the magic circle. Leicester would be the best choice there

Have a look at chambers student guide on which unis the firm's recruit from. It shows pretty clearly they prefer oxbridge and Russell group

(Original post by asdfghjklol)
hmm. but that's like saying a-level grades are valued differently depending on whether you have studied at prestigious or less known college/sixth form when ultimately people just ask what grade you achieved as that's the main point of it? ...

No, it's quite different - A level exams are set by external boards and pretty universal. Also, uni's more important that a level.
Conversely, unis have vastly different ways of teaching, different exams, and different ways of marking too. So prestige comes into it far more. A 1st from Oxford will always be better than a 1st from London met.

I do really like Bristol and I am applying there, but that one will depend on the LNAT haha!

LNAT scores typically are low, so don't worry too much and good luck

At the end of the day though, a qualifying law degree is a qualifying law degree and i'm sure name dropping a uni whilst achieving a less than or on average grade is less impressive than a student from a less 'prestigious' uni with an outstanding grade.

See above, it is relevant especially in the law industry.
Now, a first from London Met is better than a third from Oxford, but if you're not doing terribly, the better the uni the better learning and degree you will get.

what habits would they have to retrain you out of? It's not as though at the Uni of Law you wouldn't have to work hard.

Memorising rather than analzysing, thinking criticising etc for example.
I think I remember they said about more vocational teaching - many law firms will have their own ways of doing things, and having to reteach may be tricky (but I can't be 100% sure since I don't know how exactly they do it)
I think I'm applying to 4 'traditional' universities and also the Uni of Law.

I know what you mean about the entry requirements though Liverpool is ABB and that is not looked down upon though!!

Surprisingly low, though I know little of Liverpool!


This might be of interest to you BTW (shows the factors employers consider, many of which correlate with 'prestigious' unis)

https://www.timeshighereducation.com...ajor-employers

Sorry if I'm a bit late to reply, but I am thinking the exact same thing!
I think Warwick is my first choice for Law as I've been there a few times and it seems like a genuinely good place where I fit in. Its grade boundaries are AAA and I just got AAC in my AS and think I could definitely improve on them if I tried; I take Law, History and Psychology (I got the C in psychology)
I've looked at the information from the University of Law and there are many good aspects like the lowered tuition costs (£6,000 a year for LLB Law) and they offer an accelerated course (my only worry is that it would be too stressful as it would seem like they're rushing it?). My only worries with the university is that it seems like it only focuses on law? I get you are there to learn, but my impression is that it misses out on the fun and social side of university, I haven't seen much advertisement on their campus, if they even have one? Plus, the fact its a private institution and not well known worries me about what employers think about.
I feel like you go to university to learn, but also to get out more and explore the world more, but it looks like the university limits that? I was thinking BBB would be a good fall back plan encase my A Level grades don't come out as planned?
i don't know, university just stresses me out, my school don't offer much help with university, they kinda just shove you in a room and tell you to Google it all

(Original post by asdfghjklol)
wow! I'm applying to Leeds and Manchester as well, but still have interest in UoL despite a wealth of comments suggesting it's not a good idea!! How do you know exams from there are a-level standard and not proper academic law exams? Surely as this Uni has incorporated the College of Law (which you cannot dispute has a great and prestigious reputation amongst top law firms), that the institution would not be deemed as rubbish.. but I definitely do understand why 'a good RG uni' is a safer bet- though ultimately wouldn't an employer see the practical element of learning as a benefit as teachers can give insight into life as solicitors or barristers... so a student would be better equipped for life at a law firm than just studying for a degree where they receive little insight into working life?
I see the (evident) positives of a place such as Uni of Leeds/Manchester. Yet I think students are slightly dismissive about Uni of Law due to the lack of reputation yet and its entry requirements. Saying that... ultimately I want to feel confident in my choice and I guess it will come down to grades, offers and how I feel about a uni! (Liverpool is ABB and still prestigious?)

I'm surprised about the grades thing because upon visiting they told me that if i wasn't looking at even achieving BBB then a law degree might not be right for me. (I'm personally looking at AAA)
I'm not sure how an employer could dismiss a First or 2:1 from uni of law as 'easier' when its a qualifying law degree. Saying that- I'm no employer! Uni of Law did recently come first for student satisfaction nationally so that's promising and I know they have law fairs with employers to help with networking.


Then again with Leeds/Manchester/Bristol you get the whole uni experience package, but with less academic support (given what I've been told from older friends studying law at those 3)...

I know because I have seen practice exam papers from people I know doing UoL LLB. They are actually just like A level law exams, and the amount of content/application you need is rather simple. It does have a good reputation amongst firms for the GDL and LPC, and this is why people are tricked into thinking an LLB will be respected there. However, remember that bar Linklaters, all the Magic Circle plus some US firms cut their contracts with UoL for their trainees to do GDL/LPC and moved to BPP. Yes you are taught by lawyers, but they said it felt no different to being taught by your school teachers. UoL will never have the reputation for an LLB that the Russell Group do. There also isn't too much of a practical element either. For a Law degree and many others, a degree is not a degree. Prestige of university attended is always taken into consideration, and I know people doing LLB at UoL and top RG unis. The RG unis are much harder to get a 2:1. I won't copy it directly but on another post on the forum a junior city firm solicitor said that despite top firms trying to make out they welcome all applications regardless of what university they attended, really they do care and look at it a lot when judging the value of their application. They know this from their experience of applications and the city firm they work for. UoL is not respected for the LLB, so with an LLB from there, a top firm will not look at you well.

Here is that post with the comment from the junior city solicitor

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/show....php?t=4266228

The top firms do not visit UoL law fairs and if any do its to look at GDL/LPC students, many of whom have done a Russell Group degree. I know people did not have the BBB grades for UoL as the people I know there have BCC and the others on the course are like CCC and CCD. They are not popular for LLB so to keep it in business as a course they need to be lenient and with such entry grades as BBB, they naturally attract weaker applicants who are then tricked by UoL's marketing for the LLB. UoL's recent LLB marketing this year makes me laugh as the students on their posters are these aspiring corporate lawyers and top barristers, but they have bad grades for Law (ABC and lower). I found their Linkedin. Trust me, I know about UoL for LLB and it is not respected for it.

(Original post by asdfghjklol)
Surely as this Uni has incorporated the College of Law (which you cannot dispute has a great and prestigious reputation amongst top law firms), that the institution would not be deemed as rubbish..

It doesn't have a great and prestigious reputation amongst top law firms - it's used by them for their professional courses (which are pretty generic), but an undergraduate degree is a different thing entirely. The UoL has no real pedigree in this regard aside from having taught the GDL which isn't the same thing. I would think very carefully about doing your degree there.

(Original post by asdfghjklol)
I'm not sure how an employer could dismiss a First or 2:1 from uni of law as 'easier' when its a qualifying law degree. Saying that- I'm no employer! Uni of Law did recently come first for student satisfaction nationally so that's promising and I know they have law fairs with employers to help with networking.

Look, a QLD isn't really a mark of quality - look at the league table rankings for law (which aren't perfect by any stretch, but they have their uses) and you'll find that even those universities at the bottom offer a QLD. So you should get it out of your head that a having a QLD is enough to just walk into a good law firm. A QLD only means that you have studied certain topics, it doesn't mean the teaching is good or that the examinations are as rigorous as those at other universities. It probably should, and there's no doubt that a lot of students are misled into doing duff LLBs on the back of the LLB being a QLD, but you should consider it something akin to a minimum standard.

Student satisfaction - ok, that's something good, but are students qualified to opine on the quality of the course they are taking? I would be more concerned with what employers think and right now (a) the UoL LLB has no real pedigree as far as I know and (b) even if it does (which it might), you'd be up against the attitudes of law firm recruiters who, I suspect, have a deep bias towards the Russell Group and other traditional sources of graduates.

Certain local firms may not care so much about such things, but for the larger regional or national firms you could find yourself having to persuade them of the merits of you UoL LLB - why not just instead let your university's reputation speak for itself?

I would, as I said, think very very carefully about doing your undergraduate at UoL. Doing a GDL there - fine, the GDL is a crammer course with no real academic content. Same goes for the LPC, but not in my view the LLB.

But I could be wrong - it's up to you to get comfortable on it.

ath_ who posted above is the junior city solicitor I was talking about in my post everyone they know what they are talking about

Final Chapter:
Liverpool, asking for 32 IB points at least a 5 in Maths(S/L)
Manchester, asking for 32 IB points, 6,6,6 in higher level subjects and at least a 5 in English
Sheffield, asking for 36 IB points, 6,6,6 in higher level subjects and at least a 5 in English
Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU), asking for 26 IB points
Leeds, asking for 35 IB points, 6,6,5 in higher level subjects and at least a 4 in English

So that is 5 out 5.
I will take my time to firm. Leaning towards Liverpool and Manchester.