Law Degrees 2013
A Law degree at the University of Surrey is both challenging and rewarding. As a law student you will tackle the fundamental questions facing society, develop understanding of key areas of English and European law and investigate and evaluate ideas such as fairness, justice and equality. You will be provided with a stimulating learning environment that blends traditional and modern teaching methods.
Degree programmes
Entry requirements
Minimum entry requirements
- A level grades AAB
We do not include General Studies or Critical Thinking in our offers.
Conditional offers from Surrey will be made in grades or marks, and not listed in points from the UCAS tariff.
Required subjects
GCSE English Language and Mathematics at grade C or above (or equivalent).
Preference may be given to A-level subjects with a strong theoretical and analytical component. Please contact us for further details.
A-level Law is acceptable for entry.
English language requirements
Non-native speakers of English will normally be required to have IELTS 6.5 or above (with the reading and writing elements to be passed with 6.5), with a minimum of 6.0 in all other components (or equivalent).
Please note that the University of Surrey offers English language programmes and is also an IELTS Test Centre.
Other suitable qualifications
Cambridge Pre-U
M1, M1, M1
European Baccalaureate
75%
International Baccalaureate
35 points
BTEC (QCF Level 3) Extended Diploma
DDD
In addition, we accept a wide range of qualifications, including other Level 3 QCF Level 3 qualifications, Scottish qualifications, the Irish Leaving Certificate, Access Diplomas and foundation courses. Other qualifications will be considered on an individual basis.
It is important to check whether the qualifications you are taking are suitable for your chosen degree. If you are uncertain whether your qualification meets our entry requirements, please contact us.
If you are an international student and you don’t meet the entry requirements to this degree, we offer the International Foundation Year.
Selection process
We invite suitable candidates to visit the University to find out more about the programme and meet staff and students.
Tuition fees
UK/EU students
Tuition fees are currently set at £9,000 per year for UK/EU undergraduates starting in 2012.
The tuition charge will be accompanied by a generous financial support package, underlining our continued commitment to widening access for those students who come from low income households.
Overseas students
The fee for students classed as overseas for fees purposes is £12,130.
The University will assess your fee status. If you are unsure whether you are likely to be considered a home, EU or overseas student for fees purposes, the UKCISA website offers more information.
Professional Training Year Fees
Programmes marked with an asterisk (*) in the table above include a professional training year.
Currently fees of £1,050 (based on an inflation assumption of 2.5%) are charged for the Professional Training Year. Fees will not have to be paid up front for those students who decide to take up the Government’s loan for higher education fees. The Professional Training year is a key factor in the high employability rates achieved by students with Surrey degrees.
Our degrees
Not only will you be challenged to understand the law, but you will also be encouraged to apply it and to develop your professional skills. The School of Law is particularly proud of its long tradition of providing students with legal work placements as part of their study, and of its links with the local legal profession.
Our programmes invite you to consider the law’s impact on society and its challenges. Having been introduced to legal topics in lectures, you will conduct in-depth research and analysis and then discuss your understanding and evaluation of each topic during tutorials. In doing so, you will not only acquire a critical understanding of the law but will also begin to develop those essential skills of use as solicitors and barristers or in any other high calibre professional career.
On our single honours programme your studies will be focused on domestic and EU law. If you study one of our combined programmes you will investigate in greater depth the relationship between law and another discipline. The Law with International Studies programme allows students to examine the relationship between law and political thought, particularly international politics, while Law with Criminology combines the study of the law in this jurisdiction with various sociological approaches to the subject.
Combined honours students are taught and assessed alongside those on the single honours programme. All our programmes are Qualifying Law Degrees (QLD). These involve studying and passing the seven foundation subjects: Public Law, Criminal Law, Contract, Tort, Land Law, Equity and Trusts, and EU Law. A QLD allows you to proceed directly to the next stage of training as a solicitor or barrister. Being located in Guildford, we are close to the major legal institutions located in London.
Programme content
Programme overview
All of our Law programmes focus on the law of England and Wales as affected by European and international law. Programmes include optional placement opportunities and all are Qualifying Law Degrees, required for progression to further training as either a solicitor or a barrister. You will be schooled in the core elements of legal understanding. These include law as it regulates the functions of the state (that is, EU Law, Public Law and Criminal Law), as it regulates relations between private individuals (Contract Law and Tort Law) or as it regulates the ownership and control of land and other property (Land Law and Equity and Trusts). Students will also have further opportunities to study legal subjects of interest to them during their time at Surrey.
Whilst you will spend a considerable amount of time identifying current legal rules and principles, our law degrees are a far cry from the memorisation of dry legal detail. In addition to learning what law is, you will be expected to debate about it and to analyse its application to given situations.
Your legal training will involve the systematic application of the law through the discussion and analysis of problem questions. It will also require you to analyse the law from a critical perspective through the writing of essays and other theoretical papers. You will therefore be expected to place law in its social, moral and political context.
Programme structure
Year 1 (FHEQ Level 4)
- Legal Skills
- Contract Law 1 and 2
- Public Law 1
- Property Law 1 (Land Law) - single honours students only
- Criminal Law
- EU Law 1
- International Studies modules - Law with International Studies students only
- Criminology modules - Law with Criminology students only
Year 2 (FHEQ Level 5)
LLB Law (Single Honours)
- EU Law 2
- Public Law 2
- Tort Law 1 and 2
- Property Law 2 (Equity and Trusts)
- Law option
LLB Law with International Studies
- EU Law 2
- Public Law 2
- Tort Law 1 and 2
- Property Law 1 (Land Law)
- International Studies modules
LLB Law with Criminology
- EU Law 2
- Public Law 2
- Tort Law 1 and 2
- Property Law 1 (Land Law) Criminology modules
Professional Training year
- Optional Professional Training placement year
Year 3 (FHEQ Level 6)
LLB Law (Single Honours)
Any four from a range of optional modules*
LLB Law with International Studies
- Property Law 2 (Equity and Trusts)
- Law option*#
- International Studies options
LLB Law with Criminology
- Property Law 2 (Equity and Trusts)
- Law options*
- Criminology modules
*Students may choose from a range of options, which may vary from year to year. As an example, the options offered for 2011-12 were:
Child Law, Commercial Law, Company Law, Competition Law, Intellectual Property Law , Criminal Justice, Dissertation, Employment Law, Environmental Law, Evidence, Family Law, International Criminal Law, Jurisprudence, Legal Ethics and Regulation, Media Law, Medical Law, Penal Policy and Public International
Professional training
Our Law programmes offer an optional third year on placement. Students on the Law with International Studies, the Law with Criminology programmes and the single honours programme have the opportunity to spend a year on placement. Students have the option to work for the full year or they may wish to spend half of the year on a study placement at one of our partner universities and the other half on a work placement. The study placement can be undertaken at one of a number of universities in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Finland or Australia. There you will study either legal or legal/political subjects and all teaching is in English.
Work placements can take place either in the UK or abroad (over the past few years students have secured placements in Brussels, France, Germany, Italy, Hong Kong, New York and Australia). Most work placements are paid. You will have the opportunity to undertake placement work in a variety of contexts including solicitors’ offices, local authority legal departments, non-governmental organisations and corporations.
However, there is some scope for tailoring your placement to your own individual needs and interests. You will return energised and focused on your final year of study and equipped with a broader range of professional skills and abilities. The School of Law provides a comprehensive Professional Training year programme. Although the School has a number of contacts, we cannot guarantee that students will find a placement opportunity and many students arrange their own.
Career opportunities
Graduate prospects
Our graduates include numerous solicitors and barristers, as well as lecturers in law, legal translators, a legal business manager in a huge international corporation, an assistant to a Member of Parliament and even the first black woman to become a High Court judge in the UK. Recent graduates have entered employment in roles such as:
- Surrey Law Centre – Legal Assistant
- Northamptonshire Police – Intelligence Support Officer
- Fragomen LLP – Legal Support
- Citizens Advice Bureau – Trainee Adviser
- Crown Office Row Chambers – Pupil Barrister
- Clifford Chance – Trainee Solicitor
- Eversheds – Trainee Solicitor
- Russo-British Chamber of Commerce – Legal Editor
Career opportunities
Each year many former students take up permanent employment with prestigious employers who have included Electricité de France, Clifford Chance, Eversheds and other firms of solicitors, sets of barristers’ chambers and legal departments of large companies.
We offer a varied programme of careers sessions which provide advice and guidance on what you should do to develop a suitable career path. As part of this aim, the School, in combination with our Student Law Society, runs a variety of events, competitions and activities, such as mooting and client interviewing, that are not only enjoyable and rewarding but will also enhance your employability and introduce you to local and regional solicitors, barristers and other legal professionals.
The School also has close links with the College of Law in Guildford and co-operates with the College in a number of career development activities.
Additional information
Teaching
For our core Law subjects, teaching consists of weekly lectures and tutorials in groups of 12 to 15 students. Tutorials are weekly in the first and second years. You will carry out extensive research into the law in preparation for tutorials, using lecture content as guidance. During the tutorial you will engage in discussion, using legal sources as the basis of your answers and presentations.
Facilities
The School benefits from the substantial support of the University in the provision of its teaching and research activities. As a result of an active programme in building and development, teaching is conducted in a variety of high-quality learning environments, and students have the benefit of access to a broad range of both paper and electronic library resources, as well as state-of-the-art online learning support.
Assessment
Each core module is assessed by either coursework or examination (weighted at 100 per cent). The split between coursework assessment and examination across years 1 and 2 of the LLB programmes is approximately 50/50. Optional modules may be assessed in a variety of ways. Written examinations are generally two hours long and require students to answer two, three or four questions out of six posed on the paper. Questions include a combination of problem-based and essay questions that also form the content of tutorials and seminars. Students are marked on their ability not simply to identify the relevant law but to apply it in a logical manner. They are required to identify inconsistencies in the law and to question and critique the theoretical underpinnings of particular laws and of law in general.
School of Law
The School of Law offers a considerable range of subject areas, both to aspiring legal professionals as well as to those interested in further academic study or other well-regarded professional careers.
Offering a blend of traditional and innovative methods of legal education and looking at subject areas from both conventional and critical perspectives, Law programmes at Surrey provide a depth and a wealth of understanding of law in its national, European and international contexts. The School continues to build upon its traditions in legal education and to offer new and exciting teaching and research opportunities.
Recognising the growing importance of continuing legal education to the professional legal community and working in law-related areas, programmes at Surrey are delivered in a variety of ways and reflect a range of needs that cater for those who are looking for both part-time and full-time learning opportunities. The School continues to provide excellent opportunities for both career development and study of the legal issues of the twenty-first century.
Teaching staff
As well as our range of undergraduate and postgraduate Qualifying Law Degrees, we also offer programmes at postgraduate level in a number of specialist areas, and this is reflected in the expertise and varied interests of our teaching staff.
The School draws upon the breadth of experience of its members of staff in devising and running imaginative programmes of study at all levels. Many members of staff are qualified solicitors or barristers and have qualifications in teaching in Higher Education. Teaching includes the use of large group sessions, tutorials, seminars and online tuition.
In addition to its academically focused and energetic teaching staff, the School benefits from a vibrant student community, and active pastoral and learning support is provided to all students.
Research
The School has a strong commitment to scholarship and research, and also offers a PhD doctoral research degree programme. Research and the development of research ideas is a key part of the School’s ethos.
Research activity covers the range of fields of legal study, and there are several research groups:
- Combating Corruption in International Business
- The Corporate and Commercial Law Group
- The Environmental Regulatory Research Group
- The Surrey European Law Unit
- The Surrey International Law Centre
These research groups represent the greatest concentration of research output within the School but there are also active researchers in criminal law and criminal justice, employment law, family law, medical law and public law (including US constitutional law). Research activity covers both theoretical research in selected fields, and initiation and implementation of funded research projects. The School’s researchers use their research output to inform and develop their teaching and to enhance the experience of both undergraduate and postgraduate students.
Location
The School of Law is to be found on the University of Surrey’s attractive campus which is located in Guildford. Situated in the southeast of England, the University benefits from its location in a safe but lively and pleasant city, while also being only 40 minutes away from London. Law students can therefore benefit from Guildford’s relaxed atmosphere, while also being able to fully enjoy the possibilities of London as one of the world’s leading legal centres. The School plays an active part in the local legal community and has forged strong links with local legal professionals and other local legal educators such as the College of Law. Students at Surrey undertake a range of voluntary and pro bono activities in the Surrey area.
Why Surrey?
Law degrees 2013 at Surrey
- Opportunities for legal work placements and academic exchanges as part of the programme of study
- Close links to the College of Law in Guildford and local legal professionals
- Collaboration with the Surrey Law Centre, giving students hands-on experience through placement and volunteering opportunities
- Teaching staff with strong professional experience
- Expert guest speakers contribute to the learning experience
- The award-winning Student Law Society provides extracurricular activities including mooting and debating
- All programmes are Qualifying Law Degrees
The course has introduced me to new experiences, new people and a new career path, and I couldn’t feel more prepared for the world of work ahead!
Camilla Bushill
LLB Law
I was attracted to the University of Surrey because of the excellent graduate prospects, as well as the range of extracurricular activities within the School of Law which gives students the chance to prepare properly for the world of work.
Having attended many university open days before opting for Surrey, I felt the atmosphere was far superior to many other institutions. Surrey was also perfect for me as it’s local to my home and part-time employment.
Also, the links which the School of Law has with other institutions and local businesses provide great opportunities for work experience.
The programme at Surrey promotes independent learning whilst maintaining a great support network from staff. The learning environment is relaxed and informal, so it’s easy to approach staff with queries or concerns. The staff really do make the programme more enjoyable which has been invaluable to my learning.
When I’m not burying my head in text books, I really enjoy theatre and music. I also volunteer at local legal advice evenings, which is really rewarding as well as being great for my CV! I love to socialise with my friends and am a member of the Mature Student Society here at Surrey.
Studying Law at Surrey has been challenging but the rewards are great. My self-confidence has improved and I am surer of myself. The course has introduced me to new experiences, new people and a new career path, and I couldn’t feel more prepared for the world of work ahead!
During my four years at Surrey I was lucky enough to undertake both a study and work placement in Paris.
Hannah Orchard
LLB Law
During my four years at Surrey I was lucky enough to undertake both a study and work placement in Paris.
The prospect of moving to Paris in my second year for a study placement was a daunting one but the time simply flew by in a blur of lectures, sightseeing and the famous ‘café culture’, although it has to be said that I managed to survive with very little French!
This was soon rectified when I headed to Paris again in my third year to complete a work placement in a small law firm. In this work environment I really got to grips with the language as well as the complexities of their legal system. I remember when a client phoned and asked to speak to me – it made me feel very much part of the team.
I drew on both these experiences when making job applications and, without exception, they were brought up in my interviews. They were invaluable because the experience of living, working and studying abroad made me a more attractive candidate.
Through my placements I was able to demonstrate confidence, the ability to thrive in difficult situations and, of course, language skills. I have a job in the ‘Magic Circle’ (one of the top five law firms) to look forward to and, happily, these placements have meant that I will be able to spend time working in the firm’s offices overseas.
Professional recognition
All programmes are Qualifying Law Degrees (QLD). A QLD provides exemption from the academic stage of the Law Society and Bar examinations.