Program Overview

LLB (Hons) Law with Foundation Year

Course summary

Experience the law in its real-world context while developing the knowledge, skills and values to thrive globally – in the legal sector and beyond.

How you learn

On this course you’ll learn how to understand, critique and create knowledge and information. You’ll also develop and practise key skills and attributes essential for future work – challenging and confirming your personal and professional values to become an active citizen within a diverse society. This approach will prepare you for challenges and opportunities across our global society.

Our award-winning tutors are experts in their fields. You’ll be taught by a range of lecturers who are experienced legal researchers and who have years of experience in the legal profession as solicitors or barristers.

You learn through:

• Lectures and interactive workshops
• Independent research
• Case studies in both simulated and live client environments
• Work placements

Key Themes

At every level of your course, you’ll have the opportunity to learn the law and the personal and practical skills required to apply the law to a variety of simulated and real-life cases.

You’ll collaborate with legal professionals and rights and justice practitioners to challenge law and its application, engaging with projects and initiatives which are making a difference in Sheffield, nationally and globally. With a thorough grounding in the foundational areas of legal knowledge, you’ll be able to demonstrate what you’ve learned in theoretical and practical contexts.

Course Support

You’ll be supported in your learning journey towards highly skilled graduate employment in a number of ways. These include:

• Support throughout your studies from your own dedicated academic adviser, committed to your personal and professional development as a confident, reflective and autonomous learner.
• Access to our Skills Centre with one to ones, workshops and online resources to help you to plan and structure your assignments.
• Employability opportunities such as project work, networking and field trips – and expert advice and guidance from our careers and employability team.

Our student and staff-led steering group, Manifest Diversity, ensures the promotion of minority student voices. Through it, you’ll be able to attend events such as UK Black Business Week and take on projects to improve inclusion within our course and University offer.

Applied learning

Your course has been designed to embrace real-world challenges and provide you with the practical skills and knowledge to be successful within your chosen sector.

Work Placements

You’ll have the opportunity to arrange a year-long work placement in between your second and third years. This gives you valuable work experience to prepare you for your future career – and allows you to graduate with an Applied Professional Diploma to add to your CV.

As part of your course you’ll have opportunities to undertake a range of placements with our legal and social-justice service providers. These include major national and international law firms – such as Irwin Mitchell and DLA Piper – and international legal practitioners such as attorneys’ firms, public defenders and miscarriage of justice projects in the USA.

Live Projects

Throughout the course you’ll gain vital industry experience working alongside lawyers and other professionals on real projects. The course is designed to develop your practical legal skills to support and prepare you to participate in work with legal service providers and their clients.

Social Justice

The department is committed to advocating for those who don’t have or can’t afford representation. You can get involved in a range of legal advice initiatives supporting access to justice including local court helpdesks, our Refugee Rights Hub and our Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice.

LLB Law students have assisted with reuniting the families of refugees, worked with the miscarriage of justice organisation 'Appeal', and attended small claims hearings to provide legal advice and representation to self-represented litigants.

Networking Opportunities

As the course offers a wide range of extra-curricular activities, you can develop invaluable employability knowledge and skills throughout your degree.

There are regular opportunities to develop connections with professionals both within and outside of the legal sector – through trips and visits, our annual Law Careers Fair, careers talks, panel events, conferences, mentoring schemes and networking sessions. These often involve our fantastic and educated alumni community.

Field Trips

During the course there will be opportunities to get involved in a range of national and international trips. In recent years these have included an annual Lawyer in London trip involving a mock trial at the Royal Courts of Justice and a visit to a major international commercial law firm with an opportunity to network with recent trainees.

Students have also assisted with human rights and social justice projects in Lesotho and visited Auschwitz. Our student attendance at UK Black Business Week, London provides inspiration to minoritised students, who said “Overall, the event was eye opening i never knew how much sectors I could really go into in law, this event allowed me to really plan my future”.

Competitions

Training in mooting skills and chances to take part in internal and external mooting competitions are offered through the Law and Advocacy Society. Our students also frequently participate in national negotiation and client interviewing competitions, supported by staff.

Course leaders and tutors

• Kingsley Udofa, Lecturer in Law

Modules

Year 1

• The Exploration Of Law, Crime, Justice And Society (60 credits)
• Social Justice In Action (60 credits)
• The Practice Of Law And Policing (60 credits)

Year 2

• Applied Human Rights & Justice (20 credits)
• Criminal Law (20 credits)
• Introduction To Law & Legal Practice (60 credits)
• Principles Of Contract Law (20 credits)

Year 3

• Land Law (20 credits)
• Legal Environments And Professional Skills (60 credits)
• The Law Of Trusts (20 credits)
• Tort Law (20 credits)

Year 4

• Professional Practice Experience (60 credits)
• Optional modules (20 credits each):
  • Commercial Law
  • Company Law
  • Criminal Justice Theories And Realities
  • Employment Law
  • Extended Professional Practice
  • Family Law
  • Immigration Law
  • Intellectual Property Law
  • International Criminal Law And Justice
  • International Human Rights
  • Law And Medicine
  • Law Of Evidence
  • Public Interest Law And Judicial Review
  • Public International Law
  • Sports Law

Future careers

This course prepares you for careers in:

• The legal profession (including as a solicitor or barrister)
• Business and entrepreneurialism
• Human resources
• Financial services
• Teaching
• Higher education
• Public sector
• Regulatory services
• Law enforcement and probation

Previous graduates of this course have gone on to work for:

• The Probation Service
• Crown Prosecution Service
• DLA Piper
• Environment Agency
• Lincoln House Chambers
• South Yorkshire Police
• NatWest
• Slaughter & May
• Begbies Traynor
• Aquinas College
• CMS

Equipment and facilities

On this course you work with:

• Library services and study spaces
• Our on-campus legal and social justice service providers
• Moot court and other collaborative learning spaces
• Digital access to the latest legal material, commentary and analysis through our subscriptions to practitioners' databases
• Specialist software to manage client case-work

Where will I study?

You study at City Campus through a structured mix of lectures, seminars and practical sessions as well as access to digital and online resources to support your learning.

Entry requirements

• UCAS points: 64
• GCSE: English Language or English Literature at grade C or 4, Maths at grade C or 4
• ACCESS: Access to HE Diploma, with at least 45 level 3 credits
• IELTS: 6.0 with a minimum of 5.5 in all skills (for international students)

Fees and funding

• Home students: £5,760 for the foundation year and £9,535 per year for the degree (capped at a maximum of 20% of this during your placement year)
• International students: £18,000 per year (capped at a maximum of 20% of this during your placement year)