The General Law programme at Aberdeen is one of the best programmes in terms of scope and areas of interest you can choose to study at advanced level. If your first degree was in a specific area of law there is nothing preventing you from choosing another area of law completely or a complementary area. You could study environmental law areas such as oil and gas law, energy and environmental law, low carbon energy transition with further environmental regulation. If you are more interested in criminal law you could look at Criminology, the politics of human rights, humanitarian law. If you are more interested in business you might choose international law, intellectual property law, world trade organisation or for business with a creative aspect you might think about specialist in cultural property issues or law for business and arts and museums law. There are many possible mixes of these general areas of law you might want to explore. Employment possibilities are huge from this range of areas of law and include all notable areas to practise law and careers within the legal profession to welfare sectors such as employment, business, HR and finance.
Law careers
You may become a Barrister if you wish to represent people at High Court and Magistrates court to put legal argument forward for decision. You could start off as a legal executive to later qualify as a solicitor with further training or after a number of years experience you may wish to become a judge. If you want some work experience you could become a court usher. Other careers include a Paralegal. This role undertakes much of a lawyers role in drafting documents, meetings and contracts. If you decide your law degree is useful for other areas you may look at Civil Service careers, become a politician, work in the police, city, or teach.
This programme is ideal if you want to be a generalist to an advanced level rather than a specialist in a specific area of law. You develop your analysis and research skills and you have the option of wide ranging courses to choose from which stretches your intellectual thinking capabilities in a top 10 School of Law (Complete University Guide 2018)
Courses listed for the programme
Semester 1
Compulsory
Optional (4 courses 2 in Semester 1 and 2)
Semester 2
Optional
Semester 3
Find out more detail by visiting the programme web page
View all funding options on our funding database via the programme page and the latest postgraduate opportunities
Find out more about:
Find out more about living in Aberdeen and living costs
You may be interested in:
LLB Law: Senior Status degree is ideal for non-law graduates outside the UK to gain a qualifying law degree in two years.
As a LLB Law (Senior Status Degree) student you will:
Choosing law will enable you to expand your intellectual skills in the context of a discipline which touches upon every aspect of human endeavour. As the degree progresses you will notice a marked improvement in your ability to manage large amounts of materials, to express yourself in an organised and convincing manner both in writing and orally, and to evaluate the strength of arguments you encounter. Not only will this give you a sense of personal satisfaction, but you will also have acquired skills which are highly relevant to a range of career options attracting competitive salaries.
Modules on the LLB Law (Senior Status Degree) may include:
Year 1
Year 2
The College of Law and Criminology takes a proactive approach to enhancing graduate employability. The College offers a range of local, national and international work placements, professional courses and the advice and support to help you develop the skills to achieve your ambitions.
Our Law graduates find careers in:
The LLB degree is a postgraduate law degree offering distinct pathway to two different types of candidates.
For students who have already been awarded a law degree the LLB degree offers an opportunity to expand their portfolio of legal knowledge across a wider area of law in preparation for specific practice or for further study. The one year full-time course includes a wide choice of modules which would allow you to choose a combination that best suits your interests. In particular, it offers you an opportunity to study additional fields of law, such as medical law, environmental law or human rights law, which may not have been available to you at undergraduate level.
For students who are graduates from a non-law discipline the LLB is a two-year postgraduate law degree which offers you sufficient core and optional law modules to undertake, should you wish, professional legal training at the end of the degree. It is designed to ensure that graduates will have a strong legal training at the end of their two years study (full time) along with suitable critical understanding of core legal issues. Beyond preparing you for legal professional qualifications, the LLB is also suitable for students who wish to pursue a career in a variety of areas such as business, journalism, the civil service/government and human rights.
The LLB offers alternative pathways to two different types of candidates.
It offers an opportunity to Law Graduates to further develop and deepen both their knowledge and skills base. As a student with substantial legal knowledge already, you will be required to take 60 credits during your degree. Only Law of Property is compulsory leaving you with 50 elective credits. However, if you have already studied Property Law, or an equivalent module, you will be free to take the full 60 credits as electives. In addition, you may also seek to study up to 10 credits of LLM modules; permission of the Programme Director and relevant LLM Module coordinator will be required.
As a law graduate, if you choose to study for the LLB you will have the opportunity to widen and/deepen your legal knowledge into areas such as:
For non-law graduates, the LLB offers an opportunity to convert to a career in law. As a result the two year LLB places an emphasis on developing not just legal knowledge but also your skills base. You will be required to take 60 credits in each academic year, which will include a combination of compulsory and elective modules and a skills module.
While we recognise our primary responsibility is to provide legal knowledge, we also aim to ensure that you develop advocacy skills, experience team work and gain expertise in legal research, as well as gaining a range of transferable skills.
As a non-law graduate, if you choose to study for the LLB you will take core modules which are the foundation topics required for the professional exams – FE1s and Kings Inn exams. These include
In addition you will also have options which would allow you to study subjects such as
Please visit the School of Law website here for up to date information on the programme.
Programme regulations are available in the College Calendar.
Please see the Book of Modules for a more detailed description of modules.
The LLB is a postgraduate law degree designed for law graduates seeking to deepen their knowledge of the law, professionals working in the legal area who would like to improve their skills and knowledge, and non-law graduates who are thinking of a career in law or a related area. The programme is tailored to fit the needs of a diverse range of students. It offers flexibility in the delivery of modules, allows graduates to qualify with professional subject exemptions in two years, and provides law graduates with a wide range of options including the opportunity to combine undergraduate and postgraduate modules.
Placement or Study Abroad Information
For information on the Law School vacation placements programme,see the School of Law Student Placements
Skills and Careers Information
This is a challenging and highly rewarding postgraduate degree course which allows graduates from both law or other disciplines to develop strong legal knowledge and skills in a one or two year period. The majority of students continue from the LLB degree into the legal profession or to more specialised study on one of our LLM programmes and at doctoral level. Our LLB graduates enter a wide variety of careers including the legal profession, academia, banking, public service, the regulatory sector, management and journalism.
This conversion course will allow you to go on to the next stage of training to qualify as a solicitor or barrister if you are a non-law graduate. As with the LLM Qualifying Law Degree, this course covers the key foundation subjects needed to complete the academic stage of your training for either profession, as required by the major professional bodies in law.
You will have the opportunity to be partnered with a mentor, a Leeds-based legal professional, who will be able to advise on your career aspirations and provide practical support to help you deepen your understanding of legal practices. You will benefit from tailored career development sessions focusing on interview skills, CV writing and networking.
You could opt to study on campus and learn through a mix of online activities, directed study and small group workshops, or you could choose the distance learning option with your course delivered entirely online.
Changes to legal education and training
Legal education and training is currently under detailed review by professional regulators in the legal sector. The review will examine the routes currently open and the qualifications required to become a solicitor or barrister, and includes a reflection on changes to and removal of existing routes, as well as the possibility of establishing new ones.
Currently, students can complete a qualifying law degree, the Graduate Diploma Law (GDL) and then the Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) to become a barrister, this route will remain unchanged until summer 2017 at the earliest. The route of a qualifying law degree or GDL, and then the Legal Practice Course to qualify as a solicitor will remain in place until summer 2019.
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) and the Bar Standards Board (BSB) will announce their findings as soon as possible and their decisions will then affect the available routes to qualification as a solicitor or barrister.
For more information visit the SRA and BSB websites:
Our course is delivered by staff with significant professional expertise. You will engage in activities designed to optimise your employment prospects and enhance professionalism. All students on the course have a professional mentor - a legal practitioner in the local area who can provide practical support and advice during the period of study and provide work-based learning and career opportunities. Local law firms engage with us by teaching, leading career development sessions, acting as mentors and judging and providing prizes for a number of legal competitions.
Caroline Acton of Berwins Solicitors in Harrogate completed both the PG Dip Law and the Legal Practice Course at Leeds Law School. She says, "Throughout the course I developed vital professional skills such as interviewing and advising within legal areas."
On successful completion of this course, you will be able to proceed to the next stage of your legal training. To qualify as a solicitor, you could choose to study the Legal Practice Course (LPC) with us. If you intend to become a barrister, you could apply to take the Bar Professional Training Course.
This intensive course is designed for non-law graduates of any discipline, or overseas law graduates who wish to qualify as either barristers or solicitors. The course begins with a two-week introduction to the English legal system and the legal profession. You will then study the seven foundation subjects.
If you successfully complete the course you will be eligible for entry on to the LLM in Legal Practice Course (LPC) or the Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC).
We have been successfully running this conversion course since 1977 and our students have taken a variety of first degrees at a wide range of universities. Our teaching team contains a rich mix of those who are professionally qualified and others who are active researchers. The course therefore provides a stimulating learning experience. This is reinforced by our small class sizes and the supportive atmosphere within the Westminster Law School.
The Graduate Diploma in Law will enable you to develop your knowledge and understanding of basic legal principles, their application to the formulation and resolution of legal problems, and an enquiring, logical and critical approach to legal analysis. It builds upon the academic and professional expertise previously acquired by graduate students and develops the relevant skills needed to demonstrate competence in legal practice.
By the end of the course, you will have a greater understanding of the areas of law studied, of the legal process and the inter-relationship between different areas of law in a national and European context. You will also be able to identify, find and use a range of sources of legal information to assist in legal research, analyse legal information and apply it to the solution of problems.
The following modules are indicative of what you will study on this course.
Foundation subjects
Westminster law students benefit from the following:
