Law at Sheffield Hallam

Hiya, I'm in the exact same boat as you not sure whether to choose between leeds met and shef hallam :s And don't really have long to decide as received unconditional offers from both which need replying to in a weeks time.

I don't know whether the night life is better in leeds than sheffield or if sheffield is a better uni for law?

soo confused :s-smilie:

Reply 2

Hi, I've just finished Hallam's law course and can definitely say it's worth it: because it's a reasonably low-ranking uni, the quality of students they can attract sometimes means quite a few people not taking it too seriously, but the teaching quality is excellent. Basically, if you're there to learn and do the work you can't go wrong.

As for the Law Clinic, I did it in the second year and can say that it was very useful: it let me realise that I had zero interest in becoming a lawyer but also that I love legal research. Doing a dissertation this year only served to confirm this.

I've just got my results, and I've come out of it with a first. Now I'm off to Leicester Uni in October to do a master's in Legal Research. If it hadn't been for the Clinic, I would never have known that this was what I wanted to do.

Hope this helps,

Kevin.

Reply 3

LLB Kevin

Hi, I've just finished Hallam's law course and can definitely say it's worth it: because it's a reasonably low-ranking uni, the quality of students they can attract sometimes means quite a few people not taking it too seriously, but the teaching quality is excellent. Basically, if you're there to learn and do the work you can't go wrong.

As for the Law Clinic, I did it in the second year and can say that it was very useful: it let me realise that I had zero interest in becoming a lawyer but also that I love legal research. Doing a dissertation this year only served to confirm this.

I've just got my results, and I've come out of it with a first. Now I'm off to Leicester Uni in October to do a master's in Legal Research. If it hadn't been for the Clinic, I would never have known that this was what I wanted to do.

Hope this helps,

Kevin.

wow a 1st thats awesome. Congrats! :smile:

I've made sheffield hallam my firm choice for business law so now i just need to sort out accomodation. What are your opinions on catered halls? I thought if i was catered I'd save a lot of time cooking, but i also want a nice room and i heard the self catered halls were better :s-smilie:

by the way how much time did you spend outside of lectures studying law?

Reply 4

suek

17

buttercup7

wow a 1st thats awesome. Congrats! :smile:

I've made sheffield hallam my firm choice for business law so now i just need to sort out accomodation. What are your opinions on catered halls? I thought if i was catered I'd save a lot of time cooking, but i also want a nice room and i heard the self catered halls were better :s-smilie:

by the way how much time did you spend outside of lectures studying law?

The catered halls aren't all that nice from what I've seen - they're also based at collegiate crescent and, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't law at the city campus?

There's some very nice self catered stuff in Sheffield - check the uni's accommodation leaflet of course, but also look at
- The Anvil (Unite)
- The Forge (Unite)
- The Pinnacles
which are all owned by businesses outside the uni, but all very new, nice properties.. The Pinnacles is opening this year.

Regarding cooking etc - you could get a meal card, you charge it up with money and you can eat at any of the campus restaurants/cafes, I think it even discounts the pricing if you do it this way though I can't remember for certain.

Self catered is my preferred choice, I like eating what I like basically, when I like :smile:

Reply 5

suek

The catered halls aren't all that nice from what I've seen - they're also based at collegiate crescent and, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't law at the city campus?

There's some very nice self catered stuff in Sheffield - check the uni's accommodation leaflet of course, but also look at
- The Anvil (Unite)
- The Forge (Unite)
- The Pinnacles
which are all owned by businesses outside the uni, but all very new, nice properties.. The Pinnacles is opening this year.

Regarding cooking etc - you could get a meal card, you charge it up with money and you can eat at any of the campus restaurants/cafes, I think it even discounts the pricing if you do it this way though I can't remember for certain.

Self catered is my preferred choice, I like eating what I like basically, when I like :smile:

Thanks for the reply :smile:

, guess its better to stay in self catering halls then. I haven't visited any of the accommodation so i'm just picking from the pictures I've seen on the internet and what people have said on here lol

Also, will i receive accommodation forms in the post? I put sheff hallam as my firm about two weeks ago.

Another halls i was considering was charlotte court, have you seen that?

oh and btw are meal cards expensive?

lol sorry about all the questions

x

Reply 6

Hi,

From what i've heard law is based at Collegiate Crescent, approximately a 5 to 10 minutes walk from most self catering halls.
I'll be doing a LLB/Matrise in English and French law, and the first year is at Sheffield hallam uni. Having never been to Sheffield before, i found myself in the same position as you, having absolutely no idea of which accommodation to choose. But I read some forum threads about halls that should be avoided etc, and got in touch with SHU's international accommodation services to have some advice, and I made my mind up quite easily thanks to their help.
So what I can basically tell you is avoid UNITE if you can as they are not a good value for money, still the Forge and The Anvil are good accommodations students said and are owned by UNITE. Sometimes you don't have much of a choice though, as you can guess the best halls run out of available rooms pretty quickly.

If there are any SHU law students reading this, could you please tell me about your first year timetable please? Merci beaucoup!

Reply 7

buttercup7

What are your opinions on catered halls? I thought if i was catered I'd save a lot of time cooking, but i also want a nice room and i heard the self catered halls were better :s-smilie:

I was a senior resident for two years, looking after the freshers, so I'm probably an alright person to answer this. TBH most of the uni owned halls are old and a bit crumbly. Also, I don't know if anyone's told you this but you have to cook for yourself at weekends. This can be tricky, as there's sixteen people to a (small) kitchen. Catered halls are far from luxury, but if you go for self-catered you'll miss out on a lot of the social life.

buttercup7

by the way how much time did you spend outside of lectures studying law?

Depends which year you're talking about, really. In the first year I worked my arse off (by fresher standards) for Contract and Constitutional, probably doing about eight or so hours for each outside lectures per week. For my other modules, in the first year, though, I did very little work except at coursework and exam time. Oh, sorry, just remembered, Cyberlaw had assessed seminars every couple of weeks, and they needed about six hours' work each time. That much work got me 69.5 for the first year. In the second year I got a band and did very little work due to all the travelling involved. I probably averaged about ten-fifteen hours a week outside lectures and seminars in the second year. For that, I got 64.5. At the start of the third year I fell out with the singer and was bandless. I worked fairly solidly about ten 'til five Monday to Friday (including through Easter and stuff) and came out with a 72.

buttercup7

Also, will i receive accommodation forms in the post? I put sheff hallam as my firm about two weeks ago.

You won't get accommodation forms through until fairly late, normally only a few weeks (a month maybe?) before you're due to move in.

Lily-Lau

Hi,

From what i've heard law is based at Collegiate Crescent, approximately a 5 to 10 minutes walk from most self catering halls.

It certainly is, or rather it has been so far. The whole faculty (D&S) has gradually, over the past three years, been relocating to City Campus. I believe Law and Psychology were the only D&S courses still at Collegiate this year, so you might want to check whether Law's definitely still at Collegiate before you apply for accommodation. Otherwise you'll have a half-hour walk into City for every lecture.

Lily-Lau

If there are any SHU law students reading this, could you please tell me about your first year timetable please? Merci beaucoup!

First year you'll have six lectures (one per module) a week, and most modules will have weekly seminars too. Once you get into the second and third years, seminars will be every other week.

Any more questions? I'm more than happy to help where I can.

Reply 8

I'll definately ask the uni about where law courses take place, thanks!

How many hours a week would that be? Around 12 hours i guess...?

And was it well organized? It would be great if I had a 3 days week end like I did at uni in paris this year, so I could go home sometimes for the week end (not every other week end that is lol).

Also i was wondering if i would have any trouble having my fiancé to come over and stay with me in my uni room for a few days on school breaks for instance?

Thank you for your kind help.

Reply 9

If you're in uni owned halls you just have to make sure you let security know someone'll be staying with you for a little while. It shouldn't be too much of a problem, but the rooms might be a little small for two people to spend much time in.

As for going home then (timetable permitting) I don't see any reason why this shouldn't be feasible in the first year, provided you work hard enough during the week. Beyond the first year, though, the workload can get quite heavy if you're hoping to do well.

Reply 10

LLB Kevin

If you're in uni owned halls you just have to make sure you let security know someone'll be staying with you for a little while. It shouldn't be too much of a problem, but the rooms might be a little small for two people to spend much time in.

As for going home then (timetable permitting) I don't see any reason why this shouldn't be feasible in the first year, provided you work hard enough during the week. Beyond the first year, though, the workload can get quite heavy if you're hoping to do well.

Thanks for the answers to my questions, they really helped :smile:

but would i really miss out on the social side staying in self catered halls?

And would 4grand be typically enough to live on during the first year?

Reply 11

Lily-Lau

I'll definately ask the uni about where law courses take place, thanks!

How many hours a week would that be? Around 12 hours i guess...?

And was it well organized? It would be great if I had a 3 days week end like I did at uni in paris this year, so I could go home sometimes for the week end (not every other week end that is lol).

Also i was wondering if i would have any trouble having my fiancé to come over and stay with me in my uni room for a few days on school breaks for instance?

Thank you for your kind help.

Hey, when you've found out where law takes place could you please post it on here,

thanks xx
:smile:

Reply 12

suek

17

Lily-Lau

So what I can basically tell you is avoid UNITE if you can as they are not a good value for money, still the Forge and The Anvil are good accommodations students said and are owned by UNITE. Sometimes you don't have much of a choice though, as you can guess the best halls run out of available rooms pretty quickly.

In fairness, Unite are good value in Sheffield - £86 per week, self catering including internet and all bills, IP TV, ensuite and a double bed sharing in flats of as little as 3 people per kitchen is very good value and definitely comparable to the uni's own pricing.

The added advantage, for me at least, was being able to book with Unite and secure a place in my hall of choice way back in January.

Reply 13

buttercup7

would i really miss out on the social side staying in self catered halls?

You might not, but the problem is that as you'll probably live with less people you're less likely to find people you click with. You're still likely to make friends, it's just more of a lottery.

Reply 14

Just phoned the uni, Law is at Collegiate. :wink:

Reply 15

LLB Kevin I had one more question that i'm sure you'll be able to answer:
'Law and contemporary society', i was wondering what we'll be studying in this module?

Thanks for your help! :yy:

Reply 16

Lily-Lau

Just phoned the uni, Law is at Collegiate. :wink:

thanks

oh btw do u knw which halls are near Collegiate campus?

:smile:

Reply 17

You can find a map locating both campuses and students accommodations on the SHU website. Most of them are an equal distance to both campuses although there are some exceptions (bramall court, norfolk, central quay are some of them).

Reply 18

Lily-Lau

LLB Kevin I had one more question that i'm sure you'll be able to answer:
'Law and contemporary society', i was wondering what we'll be studying in this module?

Thanks for your help! :yy:

This was probably the weirdest module, so it might have changed in the past three years, but when I did it the module was split into four or five smaller topics (what were they? erm, citizenship, (mainly sex-based) discrimination, marxism maybe, legal realism, and other random stuff like that). The coursework (there was no exam) had four parts, all of which were handed in together in May:
1) We were given a load of cases to choose from and then had to critique one of them from a realist perspective (I did the Company Law case of Salomon v Salomon).
2) We had to choose one of the first semester topics and answer the essay question provided for that topic (I remember I did about equal pay, but haven't got a clue what specifically).
3) We had to provide a brief portfolio (about six items) of sources we had used in researching (2).
4) We had to answer a question on one of the second semester topics (I did citizenship, and really enjoyed it).

LACS is a very strange module, but it does a good job of exposing you to topics you might not otherwise meet until later on in your degree. I had a strong dislike for realism when I first met it in LACS, but it was always there at the back of my mind, and by about half-way through the third year I finally got it. Still don't entirely agree with them, though :smile:

Reply 19