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At UCL Laws, you’ll be encouraged to develop a critical understanding of how the law works and how it can be changed
We’ve been consistently ranked as one of the UK’s top law schools, and the quality of our teaching and student experience has been recognised by both our students and the legal profession.
As part of our vibrant student community, you can take advantage of everything that UCL Laws has to offer, including our long established student Law Society, specialist career support and events programme. And, with 80% of our students finding work or going on to further study within fifteen months of completing their course, you can be confident that you’ll have the right knowledge, skills and experience to reach your goals.
*Data collected through the annual Graduate Outcomes survey (completed by graduates fifteen months after graduation), aggregated over two surveys (2017/18 and 2018/19). Please note that the surveys are voluntary and not all graduates complete them.
What we offer
UCL Laws is home to an intellectually diverse and dynamic community of legal scholars who believe that research should make difference; a difference to thinking about law, to the practice of law, and to the administration of justice. Our scholarship draws on theory, doctrine and social science, and is truly interdisciplinary and global in nature. This approach is reflected in our teaching, and in the range and breadth of programmes we are able to offer to our students.
Many modules are taught by a weekly lecture combined with a bi-weekly tutorial, but teaching methods vary (especially in the final year). During lectures, seminars and tutorials, you’ll have the opportunity to explore the principles of law, and to understand its role in governing the relations between the individual, the state, and society.
Through discussion and debate with your classmates and tutors, written assignments and presentations, you will develop your ability to communicate in a clear and effective way, sharpen your powers of reasoning, and gain the technical expertise to solve legal problems.
All our undergraduate programme degrees are compliant with the Common Protocol on the Academic Stage of Training for the purposes of qualifying as a solicitor or barrister. All of our programmes are compliant with the QAA subject benchmark statement for law and contain the seven "Foundations of Legal Knowledge" subjects as well as the skills associated with graduate legal work such as legal research.
Qualifying as a Barrister or Solicitor in England & Wales
1. Solicitor
Please note that the SRA is bringing in a new, independent centralised assessment for all would-be solicitors on 1 September 2021 (the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (‘SQE’)). Transitional arrangements will apply to anyone who, by 21 September 2021, has completed, started or accepted an offer of a place on a qualifying law degree and starts the course on or before 31 December 2021, so that applies to students who start their degree at UCL Laws in September 2021. Anyone who falls within this group will have until 31 December 2032 to qualify as a solicitor under the existing routes, as long as the courses remain available (i.e. undertaking the Legal Practice Course and a 2-year training contract) or through the SQE route.
The routes to qualifying as a solicitor will change for students starting the Law degree programmes at UCL (and elsewhere) from 2022. You will need to undertake the Solicitors’ Qualifying Examination (SQE) to qualify as a solicitor. Your law degree will not exempt you from the SQE assessment, but the foundations of legal knowledge subjects studied on your degree at UCL Laws (criminal law, contract & tort law, property law, public law (including constitutional law, administrative law & human rights), equity & trusts, EU law) will be assessed in the new SQE 1 exam (in addition to other areas of law and practice). In order to qualify as a solicitor after your degree at UCL Laws, you will need to complete:
• SQE1 on legal knowledge
• SQE2 on practical legal skills and knowledge
• two years' full-time (or equivalent) qualifying work experience
• pass the SRAs character and suitability requirements.
You will find further information about the SQE on the SRAs website (link above). For more information you should refer to the SRA website.
2. Barrister
In order to become a barrister, the requirement to complete the academic component of Bar training will not change. There are three components to training to become a barrister. These are:
the academic stage;
the vocational stage; and
the pupillage (work-based learning).
Subject to approval, the Bar Standard Board’s (‘BSB’) only regulatory involvement in undergraduate law degrees which started in or after academic year 2019/20 will be the continuing requirements that law degrees are compliant with the QAA subject benchmark statement for law and that degree courses contain the "Foundations of Legal Knowledge" subjects as well as the skills associated with graduate legal work such as legal research. All our undergraduate programme degrees are compliant with the QAA subject benchmark statement for law and contain the "Foundations of Legal Knowledge" subjects as well as the skills associated with graduate legal work such as legal research. For more information you should refer to the BSB website.
LLB programmes
Alongside our standard LLB Law degree, we offer a range of specialisms to suit a wide range of students' interests. Find out more on our individual programme pages:
- LLB Law
- LLB Law with French Law
- LLB Law with German Law
- LLB Law with Hispanic Law
- Law with Another Legal System (Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong)
- LLB Bachelor of Laws (UCL) and LLB Bachelor of Laws (HKU)
- LLB Dual Degree English and German Law with Universität zu Köln
- Dual LLB/Juris Doctor (JD) with Columbia University, New York
*Travel may be restricted by countries because of Covid-19.
LLB modules
Optional LLB modules are available both to Laws’ students and Interdepartmental students from across UCL and Intercollegiate students. Find out more on our LLB modules page.
