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Current or previous law students, how much reading (on average) was set per week and what was the reading like? (Examples of the reading would help)
I’m thinking of doing law and enjoy the thought of studying law but literally the only thing holding me back is the reading. I like reading things like news articles and things going on in the world but wouldn’t choose to pick up and read a book for fun in my spare time and wondering if that would hinder me during a law degree. Because of the current virus, I haven’t had a proper insight into what a typical week at a top law school (Oxbridge, Bristol, Nottingham, Warwick etc) is like. I just want to know the reading, how much, what type. If you could tell me a typical weeks reading and I want to have a go at reading it myself and see if I enjoy it.
Many thanks
Although I’m not a law student, I recommend point 3 in this thread: https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=6247090 to see if you would enjoy a law degree (I’m sorry I can’t give much advice for this)
(edited 3 years ago)
Reply 2
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Joleee
19
don't do law if you don't like reading /thread

trust me. in my most motivated year i read from the time i woke up till the time i went to bed. i've seen more than one student breakdown and cry because they couldn't keep up with the reading unless they were reading till the wee hours of the morning. because you don't just read textbooks and journal articles; you have to read long boring judgments that take forever, government and parliamentary papers, hansard and academic blogs, so you see how the law works as a whole and from different actors. i do have a friend who did limited reading, but she also failed.

of course not all law degrees in the UK are the same, and 'how much reading' ultimately boils down to your own ambition. but the schools you mentioned above don't have low expectations of their students, plus there are a million other degrees that require less reading. so i'd say don't torture yourself and do something you'll actually enjoy.
There were plenty of people around me spending their lives in the library, but I stopped regularly reading after the first term of the first year. Case digests help you from having to read the full cases. Also, don't pick the textbooks based on what lecturers recommend; I picked the easiest to read and most concise textbooks, since a lot of the recommended ones were written by the lecturers and/or contained far too much irrelevant/historical information.

Also, even if you like reading, you're going to find some subjects boring as hell.

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