Cardiff University

LLB Law

In each year of the course, you will take modules to the value of 120 credits.

As well as the foundation modules required in year one, we offer a wide range of optional modules in years two and three that cover both traditional and contemporary legal subjects. This gives you the flexibility to follow your interests.

The level of degree qualification that you are awarded is based on the grades you achieve in the modules that you take in years two and three.

In your second year, you will have the opportunity to apply for a work placement which will be carried out in the third year of your LLB Law degree. The full-time, salaried placements will be open to you via a competitive application process which aims to replicate the graduate recruitment processes you will encounter after leaving university. During your placement, you will undertake legal practice as paralegals and will be performing graduate-level roles. You will develop key practitioner skills such as case management, legal research and legal writing in addition to generic employability skills such as time management, and team and commercial awareness. Placements will be located in Cardiff and will count for 10% of degree classification.

Year One

You will study four compulsory 30-credit modules in year one, providing you with a solid base for the next two years of your degree programme.

Core Modules for Year One

• Contract [30]
• Criminal [30]
• Legal Foundations [30]
• Public Law [30]

Year Two

In year two, you will study modules amounting to 120 credits, chosen from the list of optional law subjects. Our module options are designed to give you flexibility. If you wish to obtain a qualifying Law degree, we advise you to take the 30 credit options of Tort and Land Law.

This list is reviewed on an annual basis taking into account staff resources, student demand and changes to legal practice.

Optional Modules for Year Two

• Land Law [20]
• Tort [20]
• Discrimination and Law [20]
• Cyfraith Tir [20]
• CAMWEDD [20]
• Welsh Devolution
• Datganoli yng Nghymru
• French Law I
• French Law II
• Land Law [30]
• Tort [30]
• Discrimination and Law [30]
• Sociology of Law
• Crime, Law and Society
• Media Law [30]
• Cyfraith Tir [30]
• CAMWEDD [30]
• Welsh Devolution [30]
• Datganoli yng Nghymru [30]
• Legal Practice: Foundation Skills
• Miscarriages of Justice: The Cardiff Innocence Project
• Public International Law
• Law and Poverty
• Criminal Law [30]

Year Three

In year three, you will study modules amounting to 120 credits, chosen from the list of optional law subjects. Our module options are designed to give you flexibility.

If you wish to obtain a qualifying Law degree, we advise you to take the 30 credit options of Law of the European Union and Equity and Trusts. This list is reviewed on an annual basis taking into account staff resources, student demand and changes to legal practice.

Optional Modules for Year Three

• Law of the European Union [20]
• Company Law [20]
• Dissertation [20]
• Dissertation (Cymraeg)
• Legal History [20]
• Cyfraith yr Undeb Ewropeaidd [20]
• Healthcare, Ethics and Law
• Equity and Trusts
• Ecwiti ac Ymddiriedolaethau [20]
• Financial Crime [20]
• International Law and Transnational Challenges [20]
• Law of the European Union [30]
• Company Law [30]
• Dissertation [30]
• Family Law
• Human Rights Law
• Commercial Law
• Traethawd Hir [30]
• Legal History [30]
• Cyfraith yr Undeb Ewropeaidd [30]
• Global Problems and Legal Theory
• Law and Literature
• Healthcare, Ethics and Law [30]
• Equity and Trusts [30]
• Ecwiti ac Ymddiriedolaethau [30]
• Law & Governance in Practice: Work Placement Module [30]
• Intellectual Property Law: Copyright, Patents and Trade Marks
• Environmental Law and Policy
• Evidence
• Financial Crime [30]
• International Law and Transnational Challenges [30]

How Will I Be Assessed?

Modules are assessed through examination or coursework or by a combination of the two. The format of coursework varies encompassing standard essays, extended essays, portfolios of work produced across a whole academic year and written solutions to legal problems. Examinations typically take place during the summer. Coursework is submitted on designated dates during the academic year.

During the academic year, you will complete various pieces of work which do not count towards your final module mark but are designed to help you achieve the learning outcomes for your modules and to prepare for your examinations and coursework. This work might be written or oral and may be submitted formally to a tutor or presented during tutorials or seminars. This work will normally be done during your independent study time. Feedback on this work is given frequently and in a wide variety of formats and is intended to help you identify strengths and weaknesses in your learning and indicate how you might improve your performance in examinations and coursework.

We’ll provide you with frequent feedback on your work. This comes in a variety of formats including oral feedback during tutorials, personalised feedback on written work, feedback lectures, generic written feedback and feedback on tutorial performance.

What Skills Will I Practise and Develop?

A law degree develops your ability to organise facts and ideas in a systematic way, identifying relevant information and evaluating these to formulate advice for a client or a legal argument.

You will also:

• Enhance your ability to argue in an objective, reasoned, professional manner, with due regard to authority and acceptable citation methods
• Develop your ability to undertake independent learning and effectively manage your time
• Enhance your team-working skills, contributing constructively and reliably
• Develop your communication skills, both orally and in writing
• Learn how to use subject-specific electronic sources, databases and the Virtual Learning Environment to gather evidence and research legal questions.

Students who have chosen to work immediately following their degree have obtained roles as negotiators, paralegals, mortgage handlers and lawyers with law firms such as Hugh James Solicitors, Admiral Law, Eversheds LLP and NHS Wales Legal and Risk Services.

A law degree doesn’t restrict graduates to careers within the legal profession. Each year a number of law graduates enter professions as diverse as finance, sales and marketing, digital communications and recruitment.

You will have access to a dedicated Careers Consultant at the School of Law and Politics. They arrange practical employability workshops throughout the year which cover topics including writing CVs and covering letters, preparing for employer selection days and interviews, job search strategies and sourcing work.