Law - LLB (Hons)

This is a compulsory Level 5 module designed to help you develop and demonstrate a range of professional and employability-focused skills essential for academic success, graduate employment, and future legal practice. It serves as a key bridge between core legal knowledge and more advanced experiential learning modules such as Law in Practice at Level 6

This is a compulsory module which has been designed to align with aspects of the functioning legal knowledge of the Solicitors Qualifying Exam.

The module builds on the transferable skills that you developed at Level 4 and will further these skills. It will also provide a foundation to Level 6 modules, in particular the core module, Equity & Trusts.

The module explores the five main institutions of the criminal justice system: the police, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), the courts, the prison system, and the probation service. You will examine the role, function, and interrelationship of each institution, while also engaging with a range of contemporary challenges that impact their operations, such as austerity, technology, public confidence, and equality of access to justice.

The module will explore the relationship between the United Kingdom’s human rights obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights (codified at domestic level in the Human Rights Act) and the criminal justice system in England and Wales. You will learn to identify the Convention rights which may apply at each stage of the criminal justice process, and to critically analyse and evaluate the reasoning of the European Court of Human Rights in its decisions on criminal justice issues.

This module introduces you to some of the key elements of practice in criminal litigation. It covers the most common offences seen in practice (sexual and violent offences). It provides you with a firm grounding in criminal litigation by covering the law surrounding police investigations and the key legal principles in proceedings in the Magistrates Courts and the Crown Court. You will also learn about many of the vulnerable individuals that you will encounter in the criminal justice system, and how the law adapts for them.

This module introduces you to the core principles and processes of criminal law and procedure in the United States. You’ll explore key constitutional protections and the structure of the US criminal justice system, with attention to how it operates across both federal and state levels. Using a “relational learning” approach, you’ll engage with real and fictional case files to apply legal principles in practical and critical contexts

The module will provide you with a comprehensive overview of key aspects and legal principles governing UK companies. The module will focus on the formation, management and decision-making within private limited companies, as well as insolvency procedures. This module builds on knowledge acquired in the Contract Law module at level 4 and in particular, your prior knowledge of the formation of contracts will be relevant to further discussions on commercial arrangements where companies are contractual parties.

The module aims to balance both theoretical and practical elements of ADR, including negotiation, mediation and arbitration. The module provides fundamental knowledge and transferable skills used in the placement modules or clinical placement modules by providing you with workplace and dispute resolution skills.

The module will provide a general overview of the ways in which a person’s ideas, inventions, business reputation and creations can be protected both nationally and internationally. Intellectual property can be defined as those products of the mind to which the law grants the author/creator legal protection and hence the enhanced ability to exploit. You will examine the reasons behind intellectual property laws including a review of copyright, patents and trademarks.

This module will help you develop a critical and well-rounded approach to analysing complex medical decisions by using both legal sources as well as ethical approaches. This will enable you to independently assess a variety of legal and non-legal viewpoints and formulate reasoned positions in a clear and coherent manner.

The Level 5 Placement Module is an optional module. The module aims to provide you with an opportunity to work on real cases within a supervised setting either within Citizens Advice or at another placement provider.

If working with Citizens Advice you will start training two days per week from the July at the end of Level 4 for a period of eight weeks and then from the start of Level 5 you will work one day per week at a Citizens Advice office. If working with another placement provider, it is likely you will start work at the beginning of Semester Two of Level 5. The time is used to develop transferable skills at your placement.

Module Overview Family Law is an optional module that forms part of the students’ choices on the programme, providing a grounding in the principles of Family Law.

Students will focus on foundational areas, including laws related to marriage and separation, divorce, child disputes, and domestic abuse, as well as the involvement of local authorities.

This module is designed to provide you with the opportunity to undertake a credit bearing, 40- week Professional Placement as an integral part of your Undergraduate Degree.    The purpose of the Professional Placement is to improve your employability skills which will, through the placement experience, allow you to evidence your professional skills, attitudes and behaviours at the point of entry to the postgraduate job market.  Furthermore, by completing the Professional Placement, you will be able to develop and enhance your understanding of the professional work environment, relevant to your chosen field of study, and reflect critically on your own professional skills development within the workplace. 

This is the only compulsory module at Level 6. This module has been designed to align with aspects of the functioning legal knowledge of the Solicitors Qualifying Exam. The module aims to introduce the concept of equity and how it interacts with the law to create the trust by building on what you have already learned in Contract Law and Land Law at Levels 4 and 5 about equitable remedies and property ownership.

This module aims to provide you with a comprehensive overview of a selection of rules of criminal evidence and procedure in England and Wales. Your learning will revolve around a fictitious case study, akin to a real-life case. Through participation in simulated court applications and engagement with authentic pre-trial documents, the module will provide you with an opportunity to acquire a ‘practice-led’ experience in identifying and solving evidential issues that may arise in a criminal law trial.

This module focuses on multiple elements of Crime and Punishment, combining elements of both Law and Criminology. The assessment for this module is a proposal document, linked to the presentation (self-recorded) at the end of the module. This assessment requires you to self-select a topic, write a question and present your topic.

This is an optional module at Level 6 of the course which engages with the law and practice of the United Nations for improving human rights protection and promotion globally. You will consolidate your legal knowledge and transferable skills.

This module will examine the fast-moving field of employment law. You will engage with the relevant legal rules, and you will also analyse the wider significance of these rules in reflecting and in shaping society and the economy. This approach will facilitate a highly imaginative and contextual analysis of the law. The module is both very practical, in that employment law remains a relevant area of legal practice, and, on the other hand, is outward-looking and intensely topical, in that a day barely goes by without a major news story touching upon employment issues and how these are treated in law.

The rapid advancement of technology is transforming the legal sector. Law firms, legal departments, and justice systems globally are embracing digital tools to improve service delivery, efficiency, and client engagement.

This module provides insight into the application and impact of technology in a range of legal contexts, building on knowledge from Level 4 Legal Systems. You will explore how Legal Tech tools — including AI, automation, blockchain, and data analytics — reshape legal practice areas and drive innovation in law firm operations.

The module aims to familiarise you with advanced aspects of European Union law and policy, particularly in the areas relating to substantive EU law on topics such as free movement, citizen’s rights and fair competition.

This is an optional module that aims to equip you with the legal tools to address sustainability issues in society. Delivered over twelve weeks, the module involves research-based teaching and future-proof assessments that holistically addresses sustainability issues in line with the relevant Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

This an optional module and aims to provide an opportunity to explore Immigration and Asylum Law in its social, historical and political context through real-life case studies. The module challenges you to develop your legal knowledge, as well as the transferable and soft skills that you must develop to be a successful solicitor, such as communication skills, empathy and critical thinking.

Law in Practice is a 40-credit optional module. Selection for the module is through application and interview. The module aims to enhance your existing problem-solving skills and provide you with opportunities to develop your ethical awareness and transferable employability skills through casework either in our Law Clinic, or on a pro bono placement (e.g. with Citizens Advice), in private practice, or in a clinical arbitration setting.

Law in Practice International is an optional module for LLB (Hons) students. It offers a unique opportunity to understand the global nature of legal practice (CO2) and develop career awareness (CO8), with a focus on SDG16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions. The module prepares students for an in-person or remote legal internship with a US or Canadian-based or US or Canadian-focused organisation, enabling them to inform ‘justice in action.’ All students begin on the module’s interning track, working towards securing and completing an internship.

Within the module, we aim to inspire students to consider the wider influences on the law through their learning by allowing students to explore key institutions, consequences, and comparisons. Students have a wide range of choices for their research, and many consider ideas of ethics, justice, and equality through the Law.