Postgraduate Study - Law (LLB /MA?)

Nitefly

Nitefly

Nitefly

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Hello there.

I am currently coming to the end of my 3rd year of study at the University of Bristol and will be graduating with a Bsc in biology. I totally love biology to bits but I have decided that phd scientific research just isn't for me. The prospects and pay are low, the work hours are pretty obscene.

However, I want to have a job where I can apply my knowledge which I have already gained in a constructive way. Therefore I thought pursuing a career in law, with focus on biological / pharmaceutical law (eg drugs, animal testing, gm). This really appeals to me, although I am unsure on a few things:

Firstly, I would love to stay in Bristol since I will have many friends still here and I know the city well. Obviously moving somewhere new to study is great, but right now studying in Bristol seems right for me. The programme they offer is an MA in Legal Studies, which is a fast track two year course (rather than the 3 year qualification required to get the LLB, the 3 year law honours degree in law). The details of this can be found here:

http://www.bristol.ac.uk/law/pgdegrees/taughtdegrees/llm-advanced-study/ma-legal-studies.html

I'm very attracted to this, but I don't understand the difference between the LLB and the MA other than the latter is a postgraduate degree. Is the former worth more than the latter? It still seems a worthwhile degree - "The MA in Legal Studies is recognised by the Law Society and the Bar Council as a qualifying senior status law degree for practice in England and Wales."

Secondly, is it best to do a 2 year broad course or do a 1 year specialist course? I found that sheffield do a 1 year course on 'Biotechnological Law and Ethics' which seems to focus on what I am interested in. However I feel this would be closing off my future options by such a specialisation and that Bristol is the greater University anyway... so studying at Bristol would be a better move. What do you think?

Any other advice you can give would be appreciated, thanks :)
 
You'd probably be better off considering doing the GDL/CPE 1 year law conversion course, but if you have your heart set on staying in Bristol then the MA is probably just as good as the LLB. Because of the way its targeted you'll have to cover the same things as the LLB.

Do remember however that you'll need to complete the Legal Practise Course (LPC) and a 2 year training contractor with a firm of solicitors to become a registered solicitor. Or if you want to become a Barrister then you'll need to complete the Bar Vocational Course (BVC) after a relevant law course and then a 12 month pupillage with a barristers set.

Hope that helped!
 
That was great, thank you very much :) I thought the MA was slightly more attractive as an employer because it covers more things, although I should really go and do a lot of homework before making any commitments. I plan to speak to careers advice on monday to see what they think.

Thanks again :)
 
Honestly having a MA is not much an advantage, experience in practice is worth more when comes to getting a training contract.
 
Raymond Lin said:
Over people who don't have a ma. I presume you want a training contract?
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Yeah, thats right. I don't expect any advantage over anyone who did the LLB, just an equivilent. I do want such a contract yes. I was hoping my Bsc may make me more appealing to firms who are involved with what I am interested in, but perhaps I could go and specialise further who knows. I really don't know much about the area, I'm just trying to learn as much as I can :p
 
Right, i am on a kyboard now isntead of my phone so i can type more.

So, it depends what you want. If you just want that Law degree qualification on your CV then do the LLB, if you want the extrr recognition then do the MA. If you want to be a solicitor then do it the fastest way possible, which is the CPE (1 year conversion course, UWE does it i think) and then the LPC. Both of which you apply to the central application board in London (not USCAS or not to the uni themselves), you pick 3 uni and same procedure when applying for the LPC.

The CPE will cost around £4k, the LPC around £8k on average. You can fund these yourself, or apply for a professional studies loan from the bank. Or if you apply for firms for financial support, but that would mean they woul dhave to take you on for a training contract when you do finish your CPE/LPC, a VERY hard task but i have seen people getting it.

Yes, some firms do like potential employers to have a vocational degree instead of an LLB because it gives them a more expert background knowledge in the area. With biology, I am guessing this will fall into Personal Injury ? That would be the type most High Street firms deal with, or you can apply for big drug companies to work in their legal department, however those vacancies are few and training contract for them are even less because the 2 years training contract requires the trainee to work in 3 fields of law, it is possible but you might end up spending 3 months in their tax department and 3 months in civil litigation.

Personally, apply for some easter/summer work experience in your local law practice, to get to see what it is like first and it'll look good on the CV anyway. Ad apply early, every law students apply for these work experience too as it is a foot through to the door as often the firm use it to invite those that do well to come back to work for them when they finished the LPC.
 
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That was great, thank you so much :)

That was quite a lot to digest, but I shall review it. I have a meeting with someone in the Bristol Law School on Monday (in the careers building) and you have given me a good headstart on questions to ask about my future career, so I will be able to get the most out of him/her as I possibly can! What you mention about applying to such drug companies is what I was thinking, but I'm keeping my mind and options open about everything, its very early days.

What do you do with your profession by the way? I assume you are involved in law yourself?
 
I did a degree in architecture - worked, and went back to do my Post grad diploma and at that point my life changed direction and did a CPE, then LPC, and now working for John Stillard & co as a legal Secretory in their Personal Injury department. Still looking for that golden ticket call the training contract :p I have an assessment with the CPS next friday so fingers crossed. The CPS offer training contracts too.
 
Very much echo what Raymond Lin said, with some minor additions. Many firms in the city nowadays like people who have a background that is not in law - quite a significant number of the people that I train with don't have a law degree (a mixture of history, classics, languages). Unless you want to study law for the intellectual challenge - but from what you've said, i understand it's more a vocational choice - then I would go for the BVC/GDL/LPC over an MA.

A few other points:

1. Think about whether you want to be a solicitor or a barrister (careers centre can tell you more about the difference and requirements). You are at the right stage to be applying for training contracts for solicitors (it tends to be penultimate year for law students, final year for non-law) so now is a good time to be looking at it. I'm not sure whether you would get a more specific specialisation by becoming a barrister (ie, joining chambers where they focus on that type of work).

2. I'd generally advise that you do your training at a firm, and then move inhouse to a company as you get a far better training experience. In your case though, I'm thinking it might be more about who you know, so GSK etc (if they offer contracts) would be preferable. But do remember that if you do end up in a solicitors' firm, there are more options than you've probably considered. Bio-law will come into lots of areas (litigation, intellectual property in particular). Research on this is probably the best area.

As an aside, one of my friends who has an engineering background used to be a patent lawyer for Los Alamos National Lab, drafting patents for new vaccines/weapons. Now that is an awesome job!!!!
 
I did BSc Mol biology and now i'm temping at Deutsche Bank. I could'nt be arsed with research or working for GSK. There were 300 odd ppl in my year and I only got a 2:2, so loads of ppl with better degrees.

That's if , your ability to memorize and revise for exams make you a better scientist?

the work hours are pretty obscene.
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welcome to life

I work in the city and do 8:30 to 18:30 every week day. Stick 1hr either end of that for travelling and you've got a 12 hr day, 60 hr week. Nice!
 
neocon said:
I did BSc Mol biology and now i'm temping at Deutsche Bank. I could'nt be arsed with research or working for GSK. There were 300 odd ppl in my year and I only got a 2:2, so loads of ppl with better degrees.

That's if , your ability to memorize and revise for exams make you a better scientist?



welcome to life

I work in the city and do 8:30 to 18:30 every week day. Stick 1hr either end of that for travelling and you've got a 12 hr day, 60 hr week. Nice!
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Wow, I would do anything for those work hours. And icnluding travel time, wow. You don't know how luncjy you have it!
 
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