LLB (Hons) Law

Teaching & Learning

Independent study is a crucial part of learning at university and you will be required to undertake many hours of self-directed research and reading, and preparation and writing of assessments. Your course is delivered through several modules, which will help you to plan your time and establish a study routine. Outside of your lectures, workshops and tutorials, a range of support is available to assist with your independent study. Our subject-specific librarians will be on hand to direct you to specialist learning and study-skill resources. You’ll also be assigned an academic advisor to give you tailored feedback and support.

Year 1

What you'll learn

English Legal System

This module will introduce you to the study of law and the English legal system. You will start to develop the key skills needed to acquire and apply legal knowledge. You'll gain an understanding of the personnel, structure, law-making, and judicial reasoning processes within the English legal system. You'll also learn to research and analyze primary sources of law and authoritative secondary sources.

Legal & Employability Skills

Develop the employability skills and wider attributes sought by employers in both the legal and non-legal sectors. This module will help to enhance your CV and build an online presence that supports your professional aspirations. It covers various aspects to boost your career outcomes, including commercial awareness, debating, negotiation, and preparing for employment.

Contract Law

Understand how a contract is created, study the terms that determine the obligations of each party, and learn about the specific terms concerned with liability. You will also consider the remedies and damages available in the event of a breach of contract.

Criminal Law

Explore the foundations of criminal liability in a practical, applied way, linking academic study to courtroom practice. Study key ingredients of criminal liability such as individual autonomy, harm principles, actus reus, mens rea, and causation. Examine selected offences and defences, criminal attempts, and participation in crime. This module will enable you to understand and apply criminal law and develop a logical approach to determining liability and conducting independent legal research.

Public Law

Understand the key concepts of public law by studying the relationships between state institutions. Gain insight into the historical progression of the UK constitution, including developments from international treaties and agreements over the past 50 years. Study various topics, including the rule of law, human rights, and judicial review.

Year 2

What you'll learn

Property Law (recommended option module)

Understand the concept of land and the difference between real and personal property. Study a range of topics including the nature of property rights as contrasted with personal rights; leases, leasehold covenants, and mortgages; co-ownership and trusts of land; and land registration. Develop a strong understanding of the core legal principles of property and land law, allowing you to confidently evaluate and apply these principles to practical scenarios.

Tort Law (recommended option module)

Study the circumstances in which organisations and individuals who have suffered harm at the hands of others might be able to claim compensation from the wrongdoer. Initially, concentrate on negligence before studying other key and topical areas such as trespass to the person.

Alternatively, choose two modules from the list below:

Advocacy (15 credits)

Learn practical advocacy skills and knowledge to present cases before courts and tribunals. Build on the understanding of substantive law gained in your first year as you move towards practically demonstrating that knowledge in short advocacy submissions, crossing over civil and criminal law, including opposed and unopposed performance opportunities.

Child Law (15 credits)

Develop an understanding of the principles of child law within the context of rapidly changing value systems, state intervention, and the law’s influence on and regulation of the child in the family. Learn to relate laws and legal systems affecting the child, looking at both legal and non-legal solutions, to child law problems, and develop problem-solving skills.

Client Care Skills (15 credits)

Prepare for life in legal practice by undertaking the role of a paralegal. Gain grounding in the principles of professional conduct as outlined by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) and CILEx. Study matters relating to client care and key legal skills relevant to practice, including interviewing, legal writing, and negotiation.

Construction Law (15 credits)

Develop a practical overview of key modes of procurement and delivery of building and infrastructure projects in the UK. Study their social value and the roles of primary stakeholders. Explore risks impacting construction work and how they are allocated and managed, focusing on contractual, tortious, and statutory liabilities of various parties. Gain grounding in features of standard-form contracts used for construction projects, sub-contracting, claims, and dispute resolution practices unique to the industry.

Family Law (15 credits)

Understand the fundamental principles of family law within the context of rapidly changing value systems, state intervention, and the law’s influence on and regulation of family. Develop problem-solving skills by learning to relate the law and legal system affecting family life to family law problems, looking at both legal and non-legal solutions.

Legal Tech (15 credits)

Explore current and emerging technologies used within the legal services landscape. Emphasize technologies likely to play a significant role in the future of the legal profession. Study the skills needed for working in a digitally enhanced legal workplace.

Medical Law (15 credits)

Introduce the main ethical and legal themes underpinning medical law. Critically examine various ethical theories, subsequent case law, and legislation that inform this area. Topics may include ethical principles, resources and rationing, consent, issues at the start of life, issues at the end of life, and medical negligence.

Perspectives on Law & Society (15 credits)

Study theoretical perspectives drawing on classic jurisprudence and other theories such as feminist theory, queer theory, critical race theory, and Marxist theory. Introduce these theories through a critique of legal education before applying them to topical and/or controversial legal issues.

Commercial Law (20 credits)

Build on the knowledge of contract law rules developed in your first year. Gain a grounding in commercial law and appreciate commercial factors influencing business operations. Examine general principles governing commercial transactions, set substantive law rules within their commercial context, and evaluate the need for the law to provide predictability for commercial decisions and transactions and to give efficacy to freedom of contract.

International Trade Law (20 credits)

Explore how the law facilitates international trade. Define, analyse, and apply legal and non-legal rules to the operation of international trade law in a public law context. Develop knowledge and understanding of topics such as international treaties designed to remove trading barriers, operation of trading blocs like the EU, philosophical and theoretical approaches to international law, and the role of the EU in international trade.

Year 3

What you'll learn

Equity & Trusts Law

In this module, you will explore how and why trusts are created, including the different forms of trust, their legal frameworks, and the principles of equity affecting their creation. You will consider the statutory and equitable rules that govern the management of private trusts, including asset management, distribution, and the appointment, retirement, and removal of trustees.

European Law & Retained EU Law

Build on the knowledge developed in your first year concerning the UK constitution. Explore the law of the European Union by examining its structure, status, and relationship with the national laws of the Member States. Investigate key legal doctrines of EU law and its specific application in selected substantive legal contexts.

Alternative Dispute Resolution

Develop knowledge and practical understanding of alternative dispute resolution (ADR), including mediation and arbitration. Familiarize yourself with ADR due to the cost of litigation, pre-action protocols requiring consideration of ADR, and the popularity of mediation and arbitration in commercial contracts. This module will enable you to advise clients on dispute resolution options at contract drafting or post-dispute stages.

Company Law

Explore companies as a type of business organization, examining the legal relationships between stakeholders in a company and the impact of companies as legal entities on society. Consider the economic, social, and political role of company law.

Company Law Extended

Gain a theoretical and practical understanding of companies as legal entities. Examine the legal relationships between company participants and the societal impact of companies, considering the economic, social, and political role of company law.

Competition Law

Examine legal controls on anti-competitive agreements and abuses of dominant market positions by undertakings. The EU’s competition rules provide the principal framework, supplemented by recent developments in the UK's national antitrust rules.

Crime, Morality & Law

Explore crime and morality from criminological and sociological perspectives, critically evaluating how crime is constructed in society. Study the operation of the criminal justice system and societal perceptions of crime and criminals.

Criminal Evidence

Gain a critical understanding of criminal evidence law within the law enforcement and prosecution system. Examine procedures for evidence gathering during investigations, including suspects' rights, investigation techniques, and police station practices.

Dissertation

Undertake an in-depth research project in a law-related subject of interest. Critically evaluate key concepts, research approaches, techniques, theoretical perspectives, and existing research findings. Analyze, evaluate, and synthesize ideas and information, effectively communicating through appropriate research design.

Employment Law

Gain an in-depth understanding of the legal framework governing the employer/employee relationship. Study the broader social, economic, political, historical, philosophical, moral, and cultural context of employment law and statutory intervention's impact.

Employment Law Extended Study

Analyze and evaluate the development and application of common law principles and statutory provisions governing the employer/employee relationship, presenting a critical evaluation of scenario questions.

Intellectual Property Law

Study intellectual property law, including copyright, trademarks, patents, law of confidence, and design rights. Explore legal requirements, infringement issues, and application of laws to realistic scenarios.

International Human Rights Law

Consider the international human rights framework concerning the United Nations. Study civil and political rights, economic, social, and cultural rights, torture, and prisoners' rights. Engage in wider reading and connect studies to world affairs, evaluating the successes and challenges of international human rights and humanitarian law.

Law Clinic

Gain practical experience by working on real cases and offering pro bono legal advice under supervision. Engage in client interviewing, research, written advice, and observing oral guidance across various legal areas. Develop client-focused skills in a professional setting.

Mental Health Law & Policy

Explore mental health law and policy, critically examining policy shifts and their impact on the medicalization or criminalization of mental disorders.

Media & Entertainment Law

Study UK law as it applies to media and entertainment industries, covering human rights, privacy, confidentiality, freedom of expression, defamation, and more. Focus on broadcasting, printed press, music industry, online news, and social networking sites.

Placement (Day Release)

Undertake a semester-long placement in a graduate environment such as a law firm or other appropriate organization. Gain professional skills, reflect on developed experience, and gain industry insights.

Placement (Summer)

Enhance employability skills through part-time work over the summer. Complete at least 80 hours in a graduate environment such as a law firm or other organization. Reflect on professional experience gained, with no face-to-face teaching involved.

Placement (Year Long)

Develop personal, intellectual, subject-related, and professional skills through a year-long placement in a graduate environment such as a law firm. Gain relevant industry experience, build enterprising attributes, and develop wider skills such as problem-solving and collaboration.

UK Anti-Terrorism Law & Policy

Gain a historical perspective on terrorism in the UK. Evaluate the development of terrorism internationally and the UK's counter-terrorism strategies, assessing the impact on civil liberties within political and social contexts.

Sandwich Year (Placement)

Engage in a year of paid employment in the industry, typically between the second and third year of the degree. Build skills, confidence, and CV, with support from Leeds Beckett in finding the right placement.

At the end of the course, students will be able to:

1. Demonstrate comprehensive and coherent knowledge, understanding and application of fundamental legal concepts and principles
2. Autonomously analyse, critique and challenge contemporary issues in law
3. Provide realistic and coherent strategic solutions to legal problems and recognise conflicts and tensions in law
4. Demonstrate a critical awareness and understanding of the position and rule of law, both about specific subjects and generally within its social, economic, commercial, political, historical, ethical and/or cultural contexts
5. Communicate fluently and coherently using legal terminology effectively and in a manner appropriate to the audience
6. Act independently in planning and managing study tasks with limited guidance and with an ability to identify and utilise relevant resources effectively

Our law graduates have gone on to qualify as solicitors and barristers, or they have forged careers in the police, in local and national government, and business and finance. A wide variety of roles across sectors will be open to you, such as:

• Solicitor
• Barrister
• Paralegal
• Legal Executive
• Management positions

You’ll have the knowledge and skills to undertake postgraduate study options such as our LLM International Business Law, LLM International Law: Conflict, Security & Human Rights, MRes and MPhil. We also offer opportunities to study for a PhD.