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Professor Rob George, Professor of Law and Policy at UCL Faculty of Laws shares some further information on the LLM in Law and Social Justice for prospective students:
- What are the backgrounds or interests of students who normally select this specialism?
Students on the LLM in Law and Social Justice come from a wide variety of backgrounds. Students taking this specialism are very international, and while many are coming straight from undergraduate degrees in law and related subjects, others have years of experience working in law, government and third sector organisations in jobs that connect to the broad themes of the social justice modules.
Our students are typically passionate about social justice issues, like ensuring that everyone has a fair chance to access legal advice and courts, or using law to help protect vulnerable individuals and groups.- What do you think are the top highlights of this specialism?
The interdisciplinary nature of many of the modules in in the Law and Social Justice specialism makes this a really exciting programme to undertake, and the sheer range of issues that the specialism covers allows students to explore a huge range of social justice issues. The international cohort of students and their varied and impressive backgrounds adds real value to the programme as well.
- What do students who have studied this specialism usually go on to do?
The LLM in Law and Social Justice opens up a huge number of doors. Some go into legal practice in related areas like family law, criminal law or social welfare law; many others pursue social justice careers with national and international charities and NGOs, or in law reform such as with the Law Commission for England and Wales.
- Which books, podcasts, blogs or newspapers do you recommend to students interested in taking this specialism?
Because this specialism covers such a huge range of issues, there are loads of options for pre-reading depending on individual interests. At one end of the scale, there are some great legal theory books that are relevant, like John Rawls' Justice as Fairness, while The Guardian newspaper's society section (and many of its investigative themes, like its homelessness series) offers a wide variety of contemporary angles on relevant issues. UCL's Centre for Access to Justice runs its own blog, which often has posts relevant to the Social Justice specialism.
- What would you say to a student who is considering taking this specialism but hasn’t made up their mind yet?
If you're interested in the ways that the law interacts with, shapes and is shaped by society and vulnerable populations; in thinking critically about issues like race, gender or discrimination in the law; or if you see injustices around you and think you want to learn more about how to recognise and fight them, then the modules that UCL offers in the Law and Social Justice specialism are definitely for you.