A law degree can involve a number of different areas of study.
Most people associate the study of law with dealing with crime, property purchases or Wills.
However, when studying a law degree, the average student will typically cover around ten specific areas of law within a three year period.
As well as criminal, property and trust law, there are certain other core areas of law, which must be studied in order to obtain a law degree. These areas are entrenched within the UK and European legal systems.
The law of contract is usually studied first, covering everything from entering a basic contract through to disputes, frustration of contracts and what can happen when a party reneges on their part of the bargain.
As the UK is part of the EU, a law student must also study EC and UK constitutional law. The student must become adept at understanding the nuances between domestic and European law, and how these must be applied to situations for UK citizens. A student will learn about public accountability, judicial review and politics in order to understand governmental responsibility and how the separation of powers principle still works today.
The law of torts is another core subject which must be studied. Tort includes negligence against the person and liability for slander or libel.
Once the core areas have been covered, a law student is usually able to choose which subjects they cover for the remainder of the degree. The combination of courses usually depends on what the proposed career plan is once the degree is over.
For example, a student wishing to work within a commercial environment may take a combination of intellectual property law (covering copyrights, patents and royalties) together with competition law, which covers the EU Articles 81 and 82 where companies have a dominant position which they may abuse. Often these areas of law overlap, as often a company can be exploiting intellectual property rights which no other company may have access to. This can lead to a perceived abuse of a dominant position and can often lead to competition law problems.
Conversely, a student wishing to take more of a personal approach in their career may take family law and law and medicine courses. Again these tend to overlap as cases often involve what is in the best interests of children or the infirm.
A popular choice these days for students is the ever changing field of employment law. With EU and UK parliaments conflicting on how far employment rights should extend, it makes for an interesting basis for a career in either the commercial or more personal areas of law.
For students less clear on their future career path, the courses within a bachelor's degree can be expanded on, or even taken for the first time once studying for the more vocational Legal Practice Course following graduation.
About the Author
Maire Claire shares her interest on Studying Law on behalf of Bloomsbury Law Tutors
