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Law

View the employability skills

A graduate with an honours bachelor's degree in law will have the ability to:

  • demonstrate an understanding of the principal features of the legal system(s) studied
  • apply knowledge to a situation of limited complexity so as to provide arguable conclusions for concrete actual or hypothetical problems
  • identify accurately issues that require researching
  • identify and retrieve up-to-date legal information, using paper and electronic sources
  • use relevant primary and secondary legal sources
  • recognise and rank items and issues in terms of relevance and importance
  • bring together information and materials from a variety of different sources
  • synthesise doctrinal and policy issues in relation to a topic
  • judge critically the merits of particular arguments
  • present and make a reasoned choice between alternative solutions
  • act independently in planning and undertaking tasks
  • research independently in areas of law not previously studied starting from standard legal information sources
  • reflect on own learning and proactively seek and make use of feedback
  • use English (or, where appropriate, Welsh) proficiently in relation to legal matters
  • present knowledge or an argument in a way that is comprehensible to others and which is directed at their concerns
  • read and discuss legal materials, which are written in technical and complex language
  • use, present and evaluate information provided in numerical or statistical form
  • produce word-processed essays and text and to present such work in an appropriate form
  • use the World Wide Web and email
  • work in groups as a participant who contributes effectively to the group's task.

University education in law in this context covers the study of any legal system for which an English, Scottish, Northern Irish or Welsh university awards its degrees, even if it is not in the law of that jurisdiction. A law school typically will provide a broad and integrated range of academic legal education. Some higher education institutions also offer professional legal education courses, such as the Legal Practice Course or the Bar Vocational Course.

Within undergraduate law programmes, learning approaches can relate to legal practice, including mooting, clinical programmes and client interviewing. Other educational approaches include personal development planning, reflective practice, peer and self-assessment, oral assessment and problem-based learning. Portfolios and personal development planning encourage students to become reflective and critical about their learning and to provide evidence of skills development, thus preparing them for the ethos of continuing professional development. Law is taught both as an academic subject and as a precursor to gaining a professional qualification, though the study of seven 'foundation subjects' is necessary to achieve a degree that pre-qualifies for a professional career as a solicitor or barrister. These seven foundation subjects are constitutional law, criminal law, law of tort, law of contract, land law, law of trusts (equity), and the law of the European Union. Students are expected to develop legal research skills as well as skill in comprehension, analysis and presentation.

With relevant qualifications and experience, employment options for graduates include barrister (advocate in Scotland), solicitor, and legal executive. Most qualified lawyers specialise to some extent and this can cover human rights, matrimonial, property, corporate, environmental or sports law. High street solicitors' practices offer wide caseloads from criminal and family to probate and business law. Corporate law firms provide diverse opportunities in all aspects of company and commercial law. Other opportunities include local government, the Government legal service, the Crown Prosecution Service, public sector legal departments, the Courts services and in-house legal departments in companies. Training contracts with solicitors' firms or pupillages with barristers' chambers need to be secured early during academic study. Many larger firms recruit two years in advance of the training contract commencing.

Approximately 50 percent of law graduates go on to train, but not necessarily to qualify, as solicitors or barristers. Others choose careers in journalism, the police, the armed forces, politics, academia, industry, banking, management and the civil service.

To check the growing range of resources produced by the Subject Centre to support employability and the use of this profile (including the Skills and Attributes map) go to www.ukcle.ac.uk/index.html.

This profile, produced in 2006, is based on the QAA benchmark to be found at www.qaa.ac.uk/academicinfrastructure/benchmark/honours/default.asp.


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