Classics law conversion or law

I know I want to be a solicitor when I am older. However, I’ve really loved classics since I was a little boy. (My A-Level choices are maths, ancient history, latin, politics EPQ.) Is it a ‘waste of time’ as my dad puts it to study classics as an undergraduate and take a law conversion? I’d find studying law at uni interesting but I know that I would love classics

Reply 1

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

Not really, about 50% of solicitors and barristers did a non-law degree first. Also to become a solicitor you don't officially need to do a conversion course, you just need to pass the SQE (although to do so you may need to do a prep course comparable to a conversion course anyway).

If you aren't interested in studying law (and only in practicing law as a job) but are interested in studying classics - do classics :smile:

You may find after you do a vacation scheme you change your mind about becoming a lawyer anyway, so at least then you have a degree you love to fall back on!

Reply 2

EagerBeaver12382

Original post by artful_lounger

Not really, about 50% of solicitors and barristers did a non-law degree first. Also to become a solicitor you don't officially need to do a conversion course, you just need to pass the SQE (although to do so you may need to do a prep course comparable to a conversion course anyway).
If you aren't interested in studying law (and only in practicing law as a job) but are interested in studying classics - do classics :smile:

You may find after you do a vacation scheme you change your mind about becoming a lawyer anyway, so at least then you have a degree you love to fall back on!

Thanks for the quick reply! I have done quite a bit of research into this and I did see that stat. (I’ve also emailed cambridge’s classics department and they said that they can provide me with stats on classics graduates who go on to successful law careers.) My dad thinks classics is a ‘useless’ degree and I want to help him see why I don’t think the degree is ‘useless’. I really respect my dad so I want to be able to convince him to see things my way rather than doing something that will antagonise him.

Reply 3

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

Original post by EagerBeaver12382

I mean it's no more or less useful than any other degree as far as getting into a legal career. I imagine it's not hard to find examples of barristers who did classics at notable chambers or solicitors at notable law firms who likewise did classics.

Reply 4

Stiffy Byng

Numerous successful lawyers and Judges started by studying Classics at university. It wasn't all that long ago that most of the people who ran the UK were Classicists (much better Classicists than a certain recent Prime Minister, I hasten to add). Classics provides an excellent grounding in many aspects of the civilisation in which we live. Stand at Bank junction in the City of London, the heart of the modern financial system, and you are surrounded by Classical buildings with Latin inscriptions all over them. The study of Classical languages improves your command of English. Study of Classical philosophy and political ideas is relevant to how we live now. Studying Classical literature is life enhancing, and the literature is often still topical in its themes. Last year, Euripides' Medea played to packed houses in the West End, and Sophocles' Oedipus is a current hot ticket. Ralph Fiennes and Sophie Marceau have recently made a film about the return of Odysseus to Ithaca.

A degree in Classics will provide an excellent foundation for studying Law. It's your life, and you must live it. The chance to spend three or four years immersed in Classics probably won't come again.

Reply 5

Stiffy Byng

PS: Early in a Law course, students often study Criminal Law, and almost the first things they bump into are actus reus and mens rea. Then they study the Tort of Negligence, and bump into res ipse loquitur, volenti non fit injuria, ex turpi causa non oritur actio, and all that sort of thing. They look at Public Law and encounter ultra vires. They study Equity and learn about the bona fide purchaser for value without notice (AKA "Equity's Darling"). There are no marks for guessing the language in which those legal expressions are couched. For sure, you no longer need Latin to be a lawyer, but it's by no means a hindrance.

Crib -

Guilty act
Guilty mind
The thing speaks for itself
There is no injury where there is consent
No action arises from a base cause
Beyond the powers
Good faith