The School of Law is committed to excellence and innovation in teaching, and to ensuring that law students’ learning experience is both stimulating and challenging. In recognition of these high standards, the Law School was awarded a rating of ‘Excellent’ in its most recent Teaching Quality Assessment. 90 per cent of our research was recognised as of international quality in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, and 55 per cent was internationally excellent or world leading. As we submitted the work of 43 full time equivalent members of staff, this attests to wide ranging research capability in Bristol Law School.
We admit around 190 home (EU/UK) students and approximately 100 overseas (non-EU) students each year. At the end of the first year, approximately 30 students transfer to the Law with Study in Continental Europe programme, 3 students onto the Law with Study Abroad programme and 3 students spend a year in Japan. We admit around 10 students onto the Law and French/German degree programmes.
The LLB law degree is 3 years full time. The Law and French, Law and German, Law with Study in Continental Europe, and Law with Study Abroad degrees are all 4 years full time.
The Law School welcomes applications from students with disabilities. We are committed to providing realistic information and meeting students’ needs wherever possible. Please consult the School of Law Code of Practice on Disabilities (Word, 108kb).
Fees information is available from the University of Bristol's Academic Registry.
The Law School does not offer any scholarships. Details of University scholarships and bursaries, plus information about other sources of funding, can be obtained from Student Funding.
With the exception of Introduction to Law, all law units are taught across the whole academic year (October-June). Law units are taught through a combination of lectures (50 minutes), tutorials (50 minutes) and/or seminars (100 minutes).
On average, students will spend 10-12 hours per week attending lectures, tutorials and/or seminars. In total, students are expected to spend at least 40 hours per week on their studies.
Yes. Most students have the opportunity to study optional units during their second and final years. Law and French and Law and German students have the opportunity to study optional law units during their final year only. Students are able to study either law or non-law units. Economics, politics and language units are particularly popular non-law units.
Yes. All units provide the opportunity to submit a practice essay and/or to take a mock examination. Your tutors will provide you with written feedback upon your performance in these exercises.
The Law School uses a mixture of unseen examinations and coursework (extended essays). Every final year LLB student, except those on the joint honours Law and French and Law and German programmes, must complete a 5,000-word research project on a law related topic approved by the Law School. 20 credit point units are assessed by one 3 hour examination or two pieces of coursework (max. 2,500 words each). 40 credit point units will be assessed by one piece of coursework (max. 3,500 words) (contributing 33% of the final mark) and one 3 hour examination (contributing 67% of the final mark).
Students will spend their third year studying law at a European university in the case of the Law with Study in Continental Europe degree and at a non-European university in the case of the Law with Study Abroad degree.
All three degree programmes offer the opportunity for students to study Law courses abroad at one of our partner universities. The difference is primarily in the units studied during the three years at Bristol. Students on the Law with Study in Continental Europe programme study law during the three years in Bristol. Students on the Law and French and Law and German degree programmes study both Law and French/German language and literature.
The classification of degrees is determined on the basis of units taken in the second and final years, and also, in some cases, the year abroad. Degrees are classified in the following way:
Yes. Students have the opportunity to express their views through the Law Club and the Staff-Student Forum. The Staff-Student Forum meets 5 times a year giving student representatives the opportunity to raise concerns that can be addressed swiftly during the academic year.
All the degrees offered by the Law School are ‘qualifying law degrees’. This means that our students are exempt from the academic stage of professional legal training. For more information on professional training, please contact the Bar Standards Board if you are interested in becoming a barrister, or the Solicitors Regulation Authority if you are interested in becoming a solicitor. The majority of our graduates go on to have legal careers, mainly based the City of London. However, a significant minority of our graduates choose alternative careers, for example, in government, academia or management.
All the degrees offered by the Law School are recognised by the Law Society and the Bar Council as ‘qualifying law degrees’ for practice in England and Wales. If you wish to practice in another jurisdiction, you should contact the regulatory body for that jurisdiction.
The majority of our graduates go on to have legal careers, mainly based the City of London. However, a significant minority of our graduates choose alternative careers, for example, in government, academia, accountancy, banking, insurance, management consultancy, retail management, health and welfare, computing, teaching and so on.
The Law School offers a two year conversion course intended for non-law graduates or law graduates from other countries who wish to acquire a thorough grounding in English Law. This conversion course is a postgraduate law degree – the MA in Law. For more information, please consult our section on postgraduate taught degrees.