The Student Room Group

What is it like to study at Leicester Law School?

Hello everyone! I hope you are well. It can be quite difficult to know what it will be like to study a subject at university level until you actually experience it. Therefore, I thought I would start this post to give an insight into what my days are like as a law student at the University of Leicester. Hopefully this will be of use to a lot of people! Please feel free to ask any questions about anything you read!!

Firstly, I will introduce myself! My name is Claire and I am currently a second year Law LLB student at the University of Leicester.

At A-Levels, I studied history, psychology and law. However, I did not know whether I wanted to study criminology or law at university. In the end, I chose to study Criminology with Forensic Psychology but after a few months I regretted my decision. I was able to transfer course and start law the following year! I am absolutely loving my law degree. My favourite modules so far have been Tort Law (Year 1 Module) and Equity and Trusts (Year 2 Module).

My career aspiration is to become a commercial solicitor. I have attended many career / graduate recruitment events, many hosted by the University of Leicester Law Society. I have a lot of different insights from my experience of trying to get into such a competitive sector so feel free to ask any questions.

What do I get up to at university:

Mock Trial Officer - I am the Mock Trial Officer for the University of Leicester Law Society. Myself and the other Mock Trial Officer organise fictional criminal trials. Students participate in teams or two as the prosecution or defence, and other students act as witnesses and the defendant. The final is judged by professionals and the winners receive prizes, often work experience.

Student Advisor in the Legal Advice Clinic - The University of Leicester has a Legal Advice Clinic on campus. A Legal Advice Clinic provides free legal advice to members of the public. Alongside other students, I conduct research on different areas of law, interview clients and produce an advice letter for the client. The areas of law that I have worked on range from immigration law to business law to family law. It is a great opportunity to explore what you find interesting.

Treasurer for Walk and Talk Society - I am the Treasurer (and co-founder) for Walk and Talk Society. It is a society where we meet up to go for walks and and grab coffee or do other fun activities such as 'Paint and Sip' or pub quizzes! As treasurer, I am responsible for the finances of the society.

Student Ambassador for the University of Leicester - In my first year, I had a part time job at Primark. However, I decided to quit and work for my university instead. It is the dream job - really nice colleagues and managers!!


I hope that you feel like you know me better after reading all of that! Please do not hesitate to ask any questions.

Claire
Law LLB Student
(edited 1 month ago)
Monday 27th January 2025 💚

10AM - Wake Up
I had been back home to London for the weekend as Leicester is conveniently only an hour away on the train. Therefore I decided to sleep in until 10am. University is flexible, and this can be really useful as you can adjust your schedules to suit you (e.g. early bird/night owl) and what you have going on that week.

11AM - Land Law Tutorial
We had a land law tutorial that focused on the topic of leases. Tutorial involve your tutorial leader and around 10 other students. You are set work to do before hand, for this tutorial it was a problem question, and then you go through the answers during the tutorial. I find tutorials really useful as it allows me to practice applying the law before exams!

12PM - Law of EU-UK Relations Lecture
This was a lecture about trade barriers within the EU - a topic that I am finding far more interesting than expected! Lectures at Leicester are just like lectures that you may seen in TV shows / movies. A large lecture theatre (particularly for law as there are lots of law students) with a lecturer and a few hundred students. All of the lectures at Leicester Law School are recorded. I find this really useful incase my mind ever drifts and I accidentally miss a really important sentence that the lecturer was saying.

1PM - Break
I did not have any lectures or tutorials scheduled. I met with my friend in the library. We ate lunch and chatted whilst doing (or attempting to do) some work.

2PM - Criminal Law Lecture
This was a really interesting lecture on voluntary manslaughter. This is when someone commits a murder but has a partial defence, for example loss of control or diminished responsibility. Most of our lectures our one hour, however, there are the occasional two hour lectures such as this one.

4PM - Head Home
Sometimes I will stay on campus if I have anything else on but today was quite a quiet day. I headed home and caught up with my housemates. One of my favourite things about university is getting to live with friends! It is nice to all relax and chill in the evenings. After we chatted, I made dinner and colidated some of notes from lectures today. I was quite tired from being at home over the weekend so it was an early night for me!

I hope this is useful! This was quite a quiet day for me, so I will do another post again soon to show what a more hectic day looks like! If you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask and I will be happy to answer them 😊

If you are also curious to gain more student perspectives on life at Law School, check out Charlie's GYG blog! https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7561837&p=100249832&page=1&viewing_newpost=1#post100249832
Tuesday 4th February 💙

Good morning! This morning I woke up at 8:30am as I had to leave at 9:40am. I only live a twenty minute walk away from where majority of my lectures take place and route is through a lovely park, so it's always a great morning walk to campus!

10 AM - Criminal Law Tutorial
This morning I had a tutorial about involuntary manslaughter. I have found this topic really interesting, so it would great to go through a practice problem question in detail. We also went through an essay question as the end. This was useful as I find essay questions a bit more difficult than problem solving questions.

11 AM - Legal Advice Clinic
After my tutorial, I headed over to the Legal Advice Clinic that we have in our Law School. As a student advisor for the clinic, I work with other students to provide free legal advice to members of the public under the supervision of a solicitor. However today's role was slightly different. I am also a student intern within the clinic and this means that I help out other student advisors if they have any issues or questions. In this slot, I had someone come to ask me for help researching divorce law for a family law matter that they were working on.

12 PM - Land Law Lecture
Next, I had a land law lecture. I will admit that I am not the most passionate about land law and it has been one of my less favourite modules this year. However, land law is a mandatory module that you need to study in order for you to have a qualifying law degree, which is needed to become a solicitor. We are currently on the topic of mortgages which I have been enjoying. Who knew that mortgages could be so interesting?

1 PM - 3PM - Break
At this point in the day I had a two-hour break. I used to get food on campus (there are so many yummy options, especially the curry chips!!) but I am trying to save money so my friend and I went to the library to eat and get some work done. As a second year, I have gotten a lot better at using the gaps during the day to get work done which is really nice as it means that I can relax when I get home!

3PM - Criminal Law
The final lecture of the day was a criminal law lecture, looking at voluntary manslaughter!

4PM - Head Home
My criminal law lecture ended at 3:50 and then I walked home. I caught up with my housemates, made some dinner and then did one more hour of work before my housemates and I sat down to watch a movie in the evening. 😃

I hope that everyone else had a wonderful day! If there are any other aspects of law school that you would like to see, then please suggest them below!!

Claire
Law LLB Student
Wednesday 12th February 😄

At most universities, Wednesday tends to be a very empty day. The afternoon is kept free for students to participate in sports (whether that is training or playing games against other universities) and to ensure that students have time to for their hobbies/extra-curriculars.

Morning
This morning I woke up at 9am, however it differs significantly each week depending on what I am doing that day. I got ready and started to walk to campus at 10:40am.

11am - Criminal Mock Trial Meeting
I had a meeting with the other students that will be judging this semester's Criminal Mock Trial Competition at the University of Leicester. It is easy to book out group study rooms in the David Wilson Library and so that is where our meeting took place. I connected my laptop to the television that they have in the group study rooms through a HDMI table. We got the scoring rubric and other relevant documents for the competition up on the screen and this made it easier to discuss them as a group.

12pm - Legal Advice Clinic
Next, I headed to the Legal Advice Clinic which is conveniently located right next to the library. This is a session that I host as part of the Legal Advice Clinic for any student advisors to come and ask questions. These questions might be about how to research different legal questions, how to speak to a client in a client interview or what to do if they are not sure how to approach their work.

1pm - Break
I had a gap between 1pm and 2pm. Since I had to be back on campus at 2pm, there was no point in going back home. Instead I went over to Freemen's Kitchen & Bar. We have loads of places to get food on campus but one of my favourites is Freemen's Kitchen & Bar. I got myself a vanilla latte and chicken tikka panini (sounds rogue but is very yummy). There are also lots of tables/plug sockets in Freemen's so I sat down and tried to do some work once I had finished my food. I ultimately got distracted and started looking for dresses for the upcoming Law Ball, however the attempt to do work was there!

2pm - Work
While at university, I had a part-time job with the University of Leicester. While I have a part-time job because it helps me financially, I have found that my part-time roles have given me a lot of skills and confidence. Today we went to a sixth form college as they were having a mini university fair. We spoke to several Year 12s about university and different degrees that they may be interested in study. It was a really enjoyable shift!

8pm - Headed Home
I got back from work and started to head home at 8pm. Once I got back home, I caught up with my housemates and made dinner. Then we all sat down in our living room to watch a movie together - you'll quickly notice that this is something that we do frequently, however, we all enjoy it and want to make the most of living together while we can!

Claire
Law LLB Student
Tuesday 18th February

10AM - Criminal Law Tutorial
This morning I had a criminal law tutorial on the topic of voluntary manslaughter (e.g. diminished responsibility, loss of self-control) and general defences (e.g. duress). Our problem scenario involved a very intense murder, and in our answer we had to determine whether it was murder or voluntary manslaughter. I really like this topic so I found it really interesting.

11AM - Legal Advice Clinic
I am currently working on a client matter in the legal advice clinic related to employment. I find volunteering in the Legal Advice Clinic very different to my law degree as it gives me the chance to provide the law practically. It is also very meaningful work given the significant amount of legal aid cuts. In this hour, I undertook some legal research into employment laws that were relevant for my client.

12PM - Land Law Lecture
Normally, I don't find land law the most interesting topic however we are currently learning about easements. This is the idea that one person has the right to use another's land for their benefit. I am finding this topic really interesting and so this lecture absolutely flew by.

1-3PM - Break
I try to stay on campus all day to get my work done, however I was feeling really tired this day and I didn't think that any amount of caffeine was going to save me. I decided to head home to rest and recharge. There is no shame in taking a break when you need it!

3PM - Criminal Law Lecture
I headed back to campus in order to attend my last lecture of the day!

I was feeling really tired this day! Once I got home I did a quick workout and put some clothes washes on, but I decided not to do any more work for the day. It is really important to listen yourself and not push too hard as a student (at any level of education) otherwise you risk burning yourself out!

I hope you all had a lovely day and feel free to comment any questions that you may have 🙂
Tuesday 11th March

Today I have quite a busy day that was also quite different due to my role as Mock Trial Officer.

9am - 11am: Judging an Employment Tribunal
As Mock Trial Officer, I am currently organising a Mock Employment Tribunal Competition alongside the other Mock Trial Officer. Students take part in teams of two to act as representation for the claimant and the respondent while other students act as witnesses. We judge Round 1 and the top two teams go through the final to be judged by a recently retired Employment Judge! This morning, I had to get to campus early to judge a trial.

11am - 12pm Equity & Trusts Tutorial
This was our last Equity & Trusts tutorial of the year! Once we return from Easter break, we do not have any teaching so that we can focus on revision.

12pm - 1pm Land Law Lecture
Similarly, this was one of our last land law lectures ... just a few more to go! This lecture was about Freehold Covenants.

1pm - 2pm Legal Advice Clinic
Next, I had an hour to spend in the Legal Advice Clinic - I was finished off a draft letter that we were sending to a client about an employment query.

2pm - 3pm Free Hour
I spent my free hour to grab some curry chips and a coffee to give me the energy for the rest of the day!

3-5pm Judging an Employment Tribunal
This was the last tribunal in Round 1 that we have to judge before the finals! Then I had to head home quickly to start getting ready for ...

6:30pm Pro Bono Ball
the Pro Bono Ball! This is a Ball for all the different Pro Bono Projects to come together to celebrate the hard work that everyone has put in over the year and to give out awards to those who deserve it! It is also a nice break from attending lectures / studying.

As always feel free to ask any questions about studying at Leicester (e.g studying law, accommodation).
Monday 17th March
At the University of Leicester, there is no teaching that takes place in Term 3 as this time is dedicated to revising for your exams. As we are approaching Easter break, my lectures and tutorials are starting to become less frequent. For example, on this day I had no teaching which is quite rare for a Monday so I thought that I would take you through how I organised my time that day.

Morning
I woke up, made breakfast and had time to do a quick workout. It was nice having flexibility in the morning since there was nothing on campus I had to make it to by a certain time.

Library 11am - 1pm
I made it to the library for 11am. I always find it easier to get work done at the library instead of at my student house because it is a lot easier to concentrate.

As I am still trying to consolidate my notes before I start in-depth revision, I am currently doing an hour of each module before moving onto the next. During this library session, I did one hour of Criminal law, Land Law and EU Law.

Lunch 1-3pm
I decided to head home for lunch as I did not bring a packed lunch and I'm currently trying to avoid buying things on campus where possible! I also used this as time for break by watching the new Netflix TV show 'Adolescence'.

Revision 3-4pm
At home, I did an hour of revision for Equity and Trusts law. This meant that I had managed to do an hour of work for each module today.

Food Shop 4-5:30pm
My housemates and I drove to a local Asda to get our food shop done for the week. We went a bit earlier than we normally which meant we were a bit too early for the reduced section ☹️

Evening
I finished up all my work for that evening as I have quite a busy rest of the week with the finals taking place for the Criminal Mock Trial and Mock Employment Tribunal Competitions that Leicester Law Society run.

A good skill to develop at university is learning how to organise your time. In my first year, figuring out how to structure a day that did not have any timetabled events was definitely something I struggled with! I always find it easier to time block my day so I can visually see what I plan on doing.

I hope this provided a useful insight and as always, feel free to ask any questions!!

Claire
Law LLB Student

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