Durham or Nottingham?

Pretty much what the title says. I'm torn between both of the universities for Law. I want to work in a London firm, so what would you guys say? I'm not interested in getting told that only Oxbridge students can do London law.

Pretty much what the title says. I'm torn between both of the universities for Law. I want to work in a London firm, so what would you guys say? I'm not interested in getting told that only Oxbridge students can do London law.

Durham, purely because of how widely-connected the Durham network is for law. They have a lot of connections with London law firms, frequently give out work experience with them, have alumni there, etc.
It’s also the more selective of the two (higher entry requirement in terms of A levels, plus it uses the LNAT), which I would think would go in your favour.

If you look at the data out there, Durham comes third for the most percentage of graduates in Magic Circle Law firms, and Nottingham comes fourth. The one thing that Durham has that Nottingham doesn't is the need for a very good LNAT score. Nottingham removed this requirement recently, and so the LNAT is not needed. The reason they got rid of the LNAT requirement? I think that was because they simply couldn't attract the top calibre of students by A level grades whilst also requiring the LNAT at the same time. This has, to my mind, made entry to the Law degree there a bit easier, and thus not as prestigious as when the LNAT was required. That is just my take on it. Nottingham still has a very good Law school, and it is a happy hunting ground for Law and other elite firms.
One thing to note is that at Durham, much of your student life will be based at your college in the first year (and the other years in the main). That means the 200-300 or so students within your college (these are glorified student halls) will be your social life, in effect, although of course you will also meet people on your course. At Nottingham things are a bit different. You will meet people in student halls in first year, on your course, and in societies (if you join any). The students joining these societies will be from across the uni, rather than from just your hall, as is mainly the case at Durham.
At Nottingham you will be a small fish in a gigantic pond, whereas at Durham you will be a small fish in a much smaller pond. Either of these situations can have their advantages and disadvantages. At Durham everyone at their college knows everyone else by name and face, although that doesn't mean they will be your friends necessarily, as cliques do exist there more so than at most other unis. At Nottingham most people will know a bit about you in catered halls, but the student population as a whole is double that of Durham's. The campuses at Nottingham are also much bigger. The main campus is about the size of a large golf course, and it is very green and leafy. The Jubilee campus is an extension of the main campus, and looks futuristic and stylish.
The calibre of students on the whole are higher at Durham, with typical entry requirements at AAA - A*AA, with a lot of entrants exceeding their offer by at least a grade or two. At Nottingham the calibre of students across a whole plethora of subjects will be in the AAA - BBC territory. Although some courses do ask for A*AA, they are in the vast minority, and in truth AAA - AAB would usually still get you in.
You might hear people say go to Durham because it is much more prestigious as a uni, but there is a caveat to this generalisation. Durham is about 115 or so years older, and a few of the buildings date as far back as the 11th century, which Durham inherited. The university, from an academic perspective (lecturers, researchers) are very strong for Law and the humanities, and English. But across the board of different subjects, Nottingham has the edge, with their greater research power and levels of annual funding for research.
Nottingham is a bit of a monster with well over £849 million in annual turnover, to
Durham's £500 million or so. That really shows when you see the facilities on offer. Nottingham also has more modern, state of the art academic buildings, whereas Durham seems to have quite a few buildings that look like secondary school buildings from the 1960s. Although new builds are starting to creep in, just not at the rate you would expect from a top university.
In summary, for Law specifically, Durham has a solid UK top 5-6 school, whereas Nottingham is around a UK top 10-15 school. University wise, Durham attracts a considerably higher calibre of students across the board of subjects, although for Law the gap isn't as prominent. There is a lot of superficiality associated with Durham, given that the historical buildings predate the university, and that the colleges aren't really colleges, with the exception of the four independently run colleges. Durham has cut corners with a lack of investment in new academic buildings over the last few decades, something which Nottingham has not done, and thus it has World class, state of the art campuses that Durham doesn't have. Nottingham also conducts far more research across subjects than at Durham, although for Law that is not the case.

Hey, thank you so much for this reply, and I'm really sorry for the late reply. It's really well thought out and very helpful. I received my Durham offer yesterday, and so I think I'll firm it and have Nottingham as my insurance. I'm still waiting to hear back from Kings, but I don't think I'll get in haha.
Thanks again for your reply. It was very detailed and helpful, and I appreciate you taking the time to write it out.

Hey, thank you so much for this reply, and I'm really sorry for the late reply. It's really well thought out and very helpful. I received my Durham offer yesterday, and so I think I'll firm it and have Nottingham as my insurance. I'm still waiting to hear back from Kings, but I don't think I'll get in haha.
Thanks again for your reply. It was very detailed and helpful, and I appreciate you taking the time to write it out.

That's great, l hope you get into the uni you most prefer. Just don't expect too much from Durham if you go there, as a lot of the academic buildings are 1960s style builds that are crammed together, although l do seem to remember the Law building being quite new and fancy. Nottingham is state of the art mixed up with the old, more traditional type of buildings like the Trent Building, and the Portland Building.
Personally, l would have applied to Edinburgh for Law, but that is another story.

I graduated from Notts and students from my cohort secured TCs with almost every major law firm(Freshfields, Clifford Chance, A&O etc..). You will be at no disadvantage in terms of your graduate prospects so long as you achieve a high 2.1.(65%).
Durham is also a far smaller city and less diverse compared to Nottingham if that's something you care about. The college system seems interesting but they don't have the same resources as Oxbridge to implement tutorial-style teaching and lack the investment in facilities that are pretty outdated. Final point, if sports is something you care about then, in my opinion, there is no better place than Nottingham It's second only to Loughborough in BUCs championship medals.

I just read that Eton sends well over 200 students to Durham annually. What a waste of opportunity. If you have attended arguably the most prestigious school in the World, you would think these students would end up at truly World class universities, like UCL, Edinburgh or Sydney? I know of someone who studied Music at Manchester, but as an Etonian alumni l would have expected him to get into an even better uni. That said, Manchester is on the brink of being a really top global uni like Edinburgh.

Surely that can't be correct? There are only 260 pupils in each year group at Eton. I find it difficult to believe 80% of them are going to Durham University.

I Googled the statistic they provided, and apparently it was 230 from 2018 - 2023. I should imagine they just made a mistake

So that's across six years so about 38 per year - still a significant number.

If you look at the data out there, Durham comes third for the most percentage of graduates in Magic Circle Law firms, and Nottingham comes fourth. The one thing that Durham has that Nottingham doesn't is the need for a very good LNAT score. Nottingham removed this requirement recently, and so the LNAT is not needed. The reason they got rid of the LNAT requirement? I think that was because they simply couldn't attract the top calibre of students by A level grades whilst also requiring the LNAT at the same time. This has, to my mind, made entry to the Law degree there a bit easier, and thus not as prestigious as when the LNAT was required. That is just my take on it. Nottingham still has a very good Law school, and it is a happy hunting ground for Law and other elite firms.
One thing to note is that at Durham, much of your student life will be based at your college in the first year (and the other years in the main). That means the 200-300 or so students within your college (these are glorified student halls) will be your social life, in effect, although of course you will also meet people on your course. At Nottingham things are a bit different. You will meet people in student halls in first year, on your course, and in societies (if you join any). The students joining these societies will be from across the uni, rather than from just your hall, as is mainly the case at Durham.
At Nottingham you will be a small fish in a gigantic pond, whereas at Durham you will be a small fish in a much smaller pond. Either of these situations can have their advantages and disadvantages. At Durham everyone at their college knows everyone else by name and face, although that doesn't mean they will be your friends necessarily, as cliques do exist there more so than at most other unis. At Nottingham most people will know a bit about you in catered halls, but the student population as a whole is double that of Durham's. The campuses at Nottingham are also much bigger. The main campus is about the size of a large golf course, and it is very green and leafy. The Jubilee campus is an extension of the main campus, and looks futuristic and stylish.
The calibre of students on the whole are higher at Durham, with typical entry requirements at AAA - A*AA, with a lot of entrants exceeding their offer by at least a grade or two. At Nottingham the calibre of students across a whole plethora of subjects will be in the AAA - BBC territory. Although some courses do ask for A*AA, they are in the vast minority, and in truth AAA - AAB would usually still get you in.
You might hear people say go to Durham because it is much more prestigious as a uni, but there is a caveat to this generalisation. Durham is about 115 or so years older, and a few of the buildings date as far back as the 11th century, which Durham inherited. The university, from an academic perspective (lecturers, researchers) are very strong for Law and the humanities, and English. But across the board of different subjects, Nottingham has the edge, with their greater research power and levels of annual funding for research.
Nottingham is a bit of a monster with well over £849 million in annual turnover, to
Durham's £500 million or so. That really shows when you see the facilities on offer. Nottingham also has more modern, state of the art academic buildings, whereas Durham seems to have quite a few buildings that look like secondary school buildings from the 1960s. Although new builds are starting to creep in, just not at the rate you would expect from a top university.
In summary, for Law specifically, Durham has a solid UK top 5-6 school, whereas Nottingham is around a UK top 10-15 school. University wise, Durham attracts a considerably higher calibre of students across the board of subjects, although for Law the gap isn't as prominent. There is a lot of superficiality associated with Durham, given that the historical buildings predate the university, and that the colleges aren't really colleges, with the exception of the four independently run colleges. Durham has cut corners with a lack of investment in new academic buildings over the last few decades, something which Nottingham has not done, and thus it has World class, state of the art campuses that Durham doesn't have. Nottingham also conducts far more research across subjects than at Durham, although for Law that is not the case.

I just read that Eton sends well over 200 students to Durham annually. What a waste of opportunity. If you have attended arguably the most prestigious school in the World, you would think these students would end up at truly World class universities, like UCL, Edinburgh or Sydney? I know of someone who studied Music at Manchester, but as an Etonian alumni l would have expected him to get into an even better uni. That said, Manchester is on the brink of being a really top global uni like Edinburgh.

Melbourne ranks higher than Sydney - both beautiful, high ranking, universities, more high ranked than Durham (and, yes, Durham does have a lot of 60s buildings for an old university) but not necessarily everyone wants to move to another country. Particularly if they don't know how their private school ways will go down there. I do agree with your general gist though - Durham is a relatively pedestrian university for someone from a top private school to settle for. On that basis, perhaps I might agree then - Oxbridge or go abroad.