University of Law

[Blushingm]

DD has confirmed her place for UoL in Bristol but I've never met anyone who has been. Has anyone else?

So why does she need a course focused on "presenting in court" if she doesn't want to be a barrister? I think the term you were looking for was advocacy by the way.

Solicitors do considerably less advocacy than barristers and mainly in lower courts. The advocacy course I did as part of my LPC was no help at all when I went into practice. Teachers pretending to be Judges in a student court don't react the way real Judges do in a real court.

You're not getting the responses you want but I am actually a solicitor and know what I'm talking about. She needs to go to a traditional university and what the previous poster says is true. BBB at alevel isn't the end of the world. But a bad university for your undergraduate degree - there's no getting around that.

Best of luck.

So this is for a full degree? I went there for my conversion course (to law, having done a different undergrad) and found them excellent. Very supportive and a lot of careers advice etc. A lot of law firms are now recruiting 'university blind' so although it's maybe not seen as reputable as eg Bristol it'll all come down to the grades.

I have no idea about the llb though so get DD to look into that in depth!

@Blushingm You did talk about presenting in court. Barristers do this - mostly. So possibly just as well she’s ruled this out. As my DD is a barrister, I’ve completely understood the process. Lots don’t recruit university blind. Magic circle and big London firms maybe, others not so much. But she’s going to have to be outstanding with BBB and coming from a uni that wants BBB. That’s not high enough for any RG uni for law I would have thought. Bristol is Astar,AA and fills up! Around 18,000 study law in the uk. Around 400 barristers are recruited each year. 6000 solicitors. 50% are not law grads. These firms have their pick of the best. It’s a simple fact that many law grads don’t get near a law job.

I wasn't a law grad! Quite right.

Regarding the poster who said ULaw is excellent- that was for a post grad course.

@HowIrresponsible Yes. Its London courses are popular for the bar. DD did her bar course at BPP but GDL at Kaplan who were selective but have now closed. BPP have a study centre in Bristol too but dd went to London. I think BPP has offered law degrees for a while in London and I feel London has better networking opportunities and far more jobs but if you start with BBB you will be on the back foot for London law jobs.

My DC just about to apply for law conversion post grad (did a humanities first degree) and looking at Uni of Law or BPP - following with interest! X

@Toooldforthis36 They are the market leaders. Not much to choose between them. It’s just a course non law degree grads have to do. If she already had a training job, they would pay. If she wants to be a barrister, the Inns of Court have scholarships if you qualify. Are you paying for the course?

For those they are excellent.

They also had gold at teaching when I applied 5 years ago for their llb.

For a mature student who wants a law degree done in a professional way, they would be fine. I was looking at the 2 year one. But if you want a full university experience -the learning from academics /attending talks on other subjects (I did a few classes run by English department on writing /critical thinking at the Russell group I chose in the end) then best off elsewhere.

I do love the tote bag that university of law gave me!

She has accepted her place so there is no point in anyone criticising it as a place for a first degree.

3 of my children (all now lawyers) were at Bristol University (not the UoL) and one did his law post grad in Bristol (during the pandemic and at BPP in Bristol).

Your daughter should try to ensure she has very good grades even in year 1 of the LLB as law firms want marks in every module on every year of the course on applications if she wants to be a solicitor. She will also need to do a lot of things to help her career whilst there eg law firms off "first year schemes" and then have vacation schemes - eg 2 weeks of work paid at about £400 a week in university holidays which are very very competitive to get on but from which many trainee solicitors are then recruited and then training contract applications, ideally some legal voluntary work and I did mooting too. The deadlines for all those things are on law firm websites (assuming she wants a career in law).

I have no problem with UoL lecturers being practising lawyers and they are very good on the post grad course where UoL and BPP are the main providers. People are just pointing out it is an unusual choice for under graduate and will not look that great on a CV but she can make up for that by doing well on the course and enjoying Bristol which is a lovely university city.

Tooold I went to University of Law (then College of Law when owned by the Law Society) in the old days for my post graduate professional exams and 4 of my children who are lawyers too went to BPP for their post grad professional exams - the youngest 2 qualified as solicitors this year. My son's girl friend went to UoL at same time he was at BPP so we have fairly recent experience. 80% of solicitors use BPP or UoL for their post grad. The City Consortium firms use BPP for their future trainees for SQE (or PGDL and SQE for those without an LLB). My own preference is BPP over UoL and if your chbild will need a masters student loan for funding then I would pick the PGDL/SQE1 combined masters course which will run Sept for PGDL year and then Sept after the SQE1 course starts. If the child does not need the loan or might be a barrister instead then just do the PGDL without masters (and the next year do the SQE1 and 2 course (if going to be a solicitor)

I did my conversion course at UOL (Bristol) and LPC at BPP (London). They were both pretty much the same in terms of quality of teaching and support etc. I'd encourage your DC to go wherever appeals most (or is cheapest!) as it really won't make much difference CV wise or in terms of experience (IMO)

Practically every qualified lawyer over the age of about 45 will have been to the college of law (as it then was) because for years it was the only option for law conversions and for the lpc or finals. Nottingham and BPP were newish entrants into the market when I qualified and I’m 50.

It has an excellent reputation for post graduate courses. Undergraduate courses are a relatively new thing.

As others have said, the key will be on getting excellent grades because if she wants to practice as a lawyer (solicitor or barrister) then BBB at A Level will be a stumbling block.

Yes, some law firms need AAB and a 2/1 just to be able to apply and even then most people are rejected so anyone with under AAB should choose firms to which they apply carefully.

@plumcup sorry to jump on this post, is Southampton uni any good for Law. She got an A in maths and Biollogy and B in Chemistryand got in via clearing as the school predicted her lower even though I begged them not to ( she had mh issues into first 9 months of ALevels and was not doing any homework. She had to apply for mid unis as a result, I think it’s worth her waiting and applying next year,

So learning about being a solicitor or a barrister is mostly done after getting the degree. Unless this is some sort of direct vocational study place. As regards learning the law, the textbooks for law are written by academics. Many academics are barristers, not many are solicitors.

Thank you - that's encouraging.

As a city were yours happy in Bristol as a place?

Yes I’m a 50 yr old solicitor and did postgraduate at college of law @user68712226…your post accurately sums up.
I have no experience of undergrad uni of law. If it was my dc I’d want to know who exactly is on courses eg is it mostly mature students or those working in firms and attending pt.

@burnoutbabe everyone loves a good freebee!!!

I am not to sure … she wanted to go to Cardiff / Manchester / Leeds. She’s visiting Southampton uni today with her friends as they have a clearing open day. Will have to discuss later how it went or if she s taking a gap year.

Yes it's for the full degree - LLB. As it's relatively new in offering the undergrad it's hard to find people who've experience of it - the reputation post grad seems positive

I’ve just had a look and the LL.B is exactly same format for compulsory modules as a traditional uni so contract & tort yr 1, land yr 2, equity & trusts yr 3.
What differs are the optional modules so much fewer choices and more practical than usual academic options.
Mumsnet is very focused on magic circle law. I’m a solicitor but trained high street in a deprived city and worked in high street and a specialist firm. Now senior in local government legal.
There’s a whole world of law outside of magic circle. Government legal recruit blind. I recruit in local government and RG isn’t a factor.
If she makes most of opportunities for work experience and gets a high degree result then she has every potential of going into a legal career.

Thank you - that is really good to hear and really encouraging

She really liked the practicality of the modules on offer and the smaller cohort sizes

This is really good to know - thank you 👍👍

Yes - paying hopefully with funding as going for MA with SQE1 as eligible for student loan x

As I understood it PGDL not eligible for student finance but MA conversion (with or without SQE1) is? X

To be fair, I don’t think this thread has talked about Magic Circle. I think I mentioned company lawyers and local government and civil service have lawyers too. They are definitely avenues to consider.

A masters gets funded. GDL doesn’t. You pay, dc gets a scholarship or a job that pays.