Course in brief

Our qualifying law degree, Law with Criminology LLB(Hons) develops your understanding of the principles of law and which addresses specialist topics including crime theory and the criminal justice system. 

Taken over three years, or four years with an optional salaried placement, core learning provides practical skills in presentation, negotiation, oration, mooting and advocacy and develops an understanding of the English legal system.

As you progress, option modules provide opportunities to tailor your learning. Learning is delivered through a stimulating mix of seminars, guest lectures, skills sessions and workshops. Extracurricular activities, such as industry-sponsored mooting and client interviewing competitions and pro bono work, allow you to further develop practical skills in problem-solving, critical analysis and communication. 

This degree is currently recognised by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) and the Bar Standards Board. It is a qualifying law degree, which means that Law LLB(Hons) graduates will have completed the academic stage of training for entry into the legal profession. 

The SRA have announced that they are introducing a new qualifying exam – the Solicitors Qualification Exam (SQE) – which will take the place of the existing Legal Practice Course. There's more information on this change in the Solicitors Qualification Exam section below.

This course is one of three LLB pathways offered by Brighton Business School, alongside Law LLB(Hons) and Law with Business LLB(Hons).

Key facts

Location Brighton: Moulsecoomb

UCAS code M6L1

Full-time 3 years
With placement year 4 years

Recognised by the Solicitors Regulation Authority and the Bar Standards Board

Book your open day place

Apply now with UCAS

Start in 2018: how to apply

Entry criteria

Entry requirements

A-levels or BTEC
Entry requirements are in the range of A-level BBB–CCC (120–96 UCAS Tariff points), or BTEC Extended Diploma DDM–MMM. Our conditional offers typically fall within this range. 

We will generally make you an offer if your predicted grades are at the top of this range. If your predicted grades are towards the lower end of this range we may still make you an offer if you have a good GCSE (or equivalent) profile or relevant non-academic achievements.

International Baccalaureate
30 points including 16 at Higher level.

Access to HE Diploma
Pass with 60 credits overall. Units in law, business or humanities required. At least 45 credits at level 3, with 24 credits at merit or above.

GCSE (minimum grade C or grade 4)
At least English language and maths.

Foundation degree/HND
May enable you to start the course in year 2. Relevant subjects required. HNC may also count towards direct entry.

Studied before or got relevant experience?
A qualification, HE credits or relevant experience may count towards your course at Brighton, and could mean that you do not have to take some elements of the course or can start in year 2 or 3. 

For non-native speakers of English
IELTS 6.0, with 6.0 in writing and a minimum of 5.5 in the other elements.

International equivalencies

International equivalencies by country
 
Albania
Algeria
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Belarus
Belgium
Bermuda
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Botswana
Brazil
Bulgaria
Burma (Myanmar)
Cameroon
Canada
Chile
China
Colombia
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Ecuador
Egypt
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Ghana
Greece
Guyana
Hong Kong
Hungary
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kosovo
Kuwait
Latvia
Lebanon
Liechtenstein
Libya
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Macedonia
Malaysia
Malawi
Malta
Mexico
Moldova
Montenegro
Morocco
Namibia
Nepal
Netherlands
New Zealand
Nigeria
Norway
Oman
Pakistan
Palestinian National Authority
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Qatar
Romania
Russian Federation
Saudi Arabia
Serbia
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
South Africa
South Korea
Spain
Sri Lanka
Syria
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
Tanzania
Thailand
Tunisia
Turkey
Uganda
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
United States
Uzbekistan
Venezuela
Vietnam
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe

We can help you meet our English language or academic entry requirements.

Visit our language institute

For English language preparation courses.

Visit our International College

For academic preparation courses.

Course in detail

Course structure

We use a variety of teaching methods, including lectures, seminars, workshops, group work, podcasts, problem-based learning, case studies and independent research.

Coursework can take the form of essays, presentations, group work or simulated court sessions.

Law modules will make up at least two thirds of your degree and you will study at least five criminology modules.

You will have the opportunity to undertake a paid work placement during your third year. Placements add to your CV and many students return to university for their final year with firm job offers. 

In your final year, you will be able to specialise in the areas you are most interested in.

Making sure that what you learn with us is relevant, up to date and what employers are looking for is our priority, so courses are reviewed and enhanced on an ongoing basis. If you apply to us, you’ll be told about any new developments through our applicant portal.

Lady Justice

Year 1

Year 1 consists of core modules that introduce you to the principles of law and criminology.

As a first year you will be allocated a personal tutor to help you settle in and answer any questions you may have.

Modules

  • Public Law
  • Criminal Justice and Theory
  • Law in Practice: Skills
  • Legal Structures and Legal Ethics
  • Law of Torts
  • Business Planning

Students in a seminar

Year 2

In year 2 core modules ensure that you are grounded in different aspects of legal practice.

You will also benefit from work shadowing opportunities which could include shadowing judges and law firm partners.

Modules

  • Law in Action: Moot
  • Contract Law
  • Criminal Law
  • European Union Law
  • Criminologies of Crime Control
  • Critical Perspectives on Criminal Justice

Law with Criminology

Students about to take part in a mock trial at Lewes Crown Court

Placement year

Your employability will be supported through a work placement year.

The placement year is optional, but could significantly add to your CV. Many students return to university for their final year with firm job offers.

Our students have completed placements at the Home Office, House of Lords, Acumen Business Law, Alfred James & Co Solicitors, Devonshires Solicitors and Gaby Hardwicke Solicitors.

There is also an option to do an assessed placement project that can count towards your final mark. Read more about our work placements.

Business Placements

Additional activities 

CLOCK Legal Companion Scheme

The university is part of the CLOCK Time for Justice scheme. Students volunteer in the Brighton Family and County courts and assist litigants in person by accompanying them into hearings; helping them to fill in court forms and signposting to our legal and charitable partners. As well as enabling you to gain unique court experience, you will develop essential skills through assisting clients on many issues and build on links with local law firms.

Negotiating

Negotiation is a key lawyer skill – many legal disputes do not end up in the courts, but instead are resolved by some form of negotiated agreement. Our negotiation programme is an opportunity to prepare for a negotiation, and to apply and practise your negotiation skills. The programme is sponsored by solicitors’ firms who judge the final competition and the top teams go on to represent the University of Brighton at the national negotiation competition sponsored by the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution.

Client interviewing

Our client interviewing skills programme enables students to develop the essential skill of interviewing clients, a key component of legal work. The programme culminates in an internal competition, sponsored by a local law firm, and the winning students proceed to represent the university in the national Law Society competition.

In 2016 two of our Law with Business students, Fionnuala Richardson and Chloe Chatton, won the national competition and went on to represent England and Wales in the international competition, finishing third in the world.

Final year

The final year includes three compulsory modules and then also allows you to choose from a long list of optional modules to give you a chance to specialise.

Modules

  • Legal Research Project
  • Equity and Trusts
  • Land Law

Options*

One from:

  • Violence and Society
  • Cross-Cultural Criminology
  • Global Issues: Crime, Power, Harm

One from: 

  • Law Dissertation
  • Commercial Law
  • Negotiation, Mediation and Alternative Dispute Resolution
  • Company and Finance Law
  • Human Rights and Business
  • Employment Law
  • Intellectual Property Law
  • Family Law
  • The Innocence Project
  • Public International Law
  • Environmental Law
  • Migration Law
  • Entrepreneurship: New business planning
  • Small Business and Entrepreneurship
  • Social Enterprise: New business planning
  • Placement project (for students who undertake the optional placement year)
  • Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility
  • Understanding Employee Relations
  • HRM and Organisational Change
  • Current Issues in Strategic Management

*Option modules are indicative and may change, depending on timetabling and staff availability.

Law Courts

 

Law societies 

Student Law Society

The Student Law Society is a thriving community of over 150 law students. With support from the Students’ Union, it organises an exciting schedule of social and educational events.

Members have recently enjoyed visits to Lewes Crown Court, Brighton Magistrates Court and the Houses of Parliament. Social events have variously involved paintballing, go-karting, surfing, a Christmas Ball at the Brighton Hilton Metropole, and a trip with law students from other universities to Amsterdam.

Through initiatives such as these, the society provides excellent opportunities for personal development and for networking with other students interested in a career in law.

Student Mooting Society

The Mooting Society has a fast-growing membership of over 120 students. The society provides workshops, guest speakers, socials, trips and competitions to help build members' confidence and adversarial skills that are increasingly essential in any career path in the legal sector.

The objective of the mooting competitions is to develop the research and advocacy skills of future practitioners. Students argue both sides of a fictitious legal case in a court room setting in front of a panel of judges.

Course statistics

Unistats and key information sets

Unistats enable you to compare information when choosing a UK university course. All UK universities publish Unistats data on their website.

Programme specification

The programme specification is the approved description of each course. They are updated following course changes, and give a detailed breakdown of the content and structure of the course.

Programme specification

These charts give an indication of how much time you will spend on different activities at each level of the course, and an indication of the balance of assessment by coursework, and written and practical exams. For courses with option modules, actual proportions will depend on the modules you choose.

Find out more about how the academic year and degree courses are organised, and about learning and assessment activities you might get to grips with at Brighton. More specific information about this course is detailed in the programme specification (linked above). You can find out also about the range of support we offer to help you adjust to university life.

Overall workload

Assessments

Careers and employability

Careers and employability  

The combination of law and criminology allows you to continue your legal training to qualify as a solicitor or barrister or to pursue alternative graduate opportunities both in private and public sector organisations.

As this is a qualifying law degree, you will be able to progress directly to the vocational stage of training: the Legal Practice Course for students wishing to become solicitors or the Bar Professional Training Course for students wishing to become barristers.

The criminology focus provides an ideal basis for graduates who wish to develop careers in areas such as probation, policing, the prison service, youth work, voluntary organisations and government.

Graduate careers

Recent Law graduates have joined companies in roles such as:

  • Alpha Shindara Legal, Legal Secretary
  • Aston Bond, Solicitor
  • Bennett Griffin, Trainee Solicitor
  • Bernard Chill & Axtell Solicitors, Trainee Solicitor
  • Blake Morgan LLP, Litigation Paralegal
  • BlueBay Asset Management, Compliance Intern
  • Carmelite Chambers, Barrister
  • Financial Ombudsman Service, Adjudicator
  • Fox William, Trainee Solicitor
  • G2 Legal, Junior Consultant
  • Howlett Clarke, Legal Assistant
  • Mayo Wynne Baxter, Paralegal
  • Nationwide, Fraud Analyst
  • Turpin Miller, Solicitor

Bar Standards Board

 

Solicitors Regulation Authority

Advice and support  

Careers advice and support
Careers Service provides help and advice from the very start of your studies, on subjects including careers counselling sessions, CV checking, mock interviews and advice on setting up your own business. Find out more on our careers service website. 

Careers counsellor
The Business School's career development advisor, Christina Keiller is available to help you to write your CV, prepare for interviews and plan your career. She also works closely with tutors to ensure that our courses teach vocational skills as well as academic ones.

Entrepreneurship network
Beepurple is the university’s entrepreneurship support network. They offer free support for any student or graduate with their business ideas, freelance plan or social enterprise project. Beepurple run events throughout the academic year, designed to equip you with skills that will improve your employability and help you grow a successful business. By taking part in beepurple activities, you will meet like-minded people, hear how other recent graduates have set up their own businesses and gain key enterprise skills that will help you stand out from the crowd.

For more information visit beepurple

Mentoring scheme
Momentum is our award-winning mentoring scheme. It pairs students with professionals who wish to share their experience. Students and their mentors meet regularly to exchange ideas. The scheme helps students to develop new skills and enhance their career prospects.

Solicitors Qualifying Exam 

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has announced it will be introducing the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE). The earliest date for introduction is September 2020.

The SRA will be providing information and guidance about how to qualify in the new system so keep checking the SRA website.

At the moment, to become a solicitor you need to complete a qualifying law degree (or another degree followed by a Law Common Professional Examination/Postgraduate Diploma in Law) moving on to do the Legal Practice Course (LPC), and then a two-year period of recognised training, usually called a training contract.

The new proposal is that the SQE will consist of two parts; part one assessing legal knowledge, research and writing and the second part testing practical skills gained after completing a recognised period of training.

The SRA have confirmed that the SQE will not be in place until 2020 and have proposed that students who begin a qualifying law degree before 2020 will be able to use the old route to qualification.

We’re reviewing the curriculum of our qualifying law courses and will make changes as necessary to provide an integrated approach to preparing students for the SQE.

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Fees and funding

Your fees

UK/EU (full-time) 9,250 GBP

International (full-time) 12,900 GBP

If you choose to take the professional placement (sandwich) year offered on this course you will pay a reduced fee during this year. Our fee for the professional placement year is £1,230 for home students and £2,000 for international students. This fee may be subject to small increases, in line with inflation.

The fees listed here are for full-time courses beginning in the academic year 2018–19.

Further tuition fees are payable for each subsequent year of study and are subject to an annual increase of no more than 5% or RPI (whichever is the greater). The annual increase for UK/EU students, who are subject to regulated fees, will increase no more than the statutory maximum fee.

You can find out more about our fees in the university's student contract and tuition fee policy (pdf).

The tuition fee you have to pay depends on a number of factors including the kind of course you take, and whether you study full- or part-time. If you are studying part-time you will normally be charged on a pro rata basis depending on the number of modules you take.

What's included in the fee?

When costs such as health or DBS checks, or use of specialist materials are incurred as a mandatory requirement of the course they are included in your tuition fee.

You may incur additional costs depending on the optional modules or activities you choose. The cost of optional activities is not included in your tuition fee and you will need to meet this cost in addition to your fees. Before you apply check with the school that provides your course using the contact details in the Find out more tab (at the end of this page) for advice about what is included and what optional costs you could face so you can budget accordingly.

See our finance pages for advice about funding and scholarships as well as further information about fees and advice on international and island fee-paying status.

Location and living here

Location

About Brighton

Forward-thinking and welcoming, the city of Brighton & Hove is a community of creative and diverse people who share values like sustainability and inclusivity – just like its university.

Miles of pebble beaches, hundreds of bars, restaurants and clubs, a packed calendar of culture, music and sport and great independent and high street shopping attract visitors from all over the world. By the end of your course you’ll still be finding new things to enjoy about the city.
 
The Brighton Festival, England’s largest arts festival, takes place every May – as does the Great Escape Europe’s leading industry showcase for new music, 300 bands perform over three days at venues across the city. Major events celebrate Pride, digital culture, cinema, photography, food and the winter solstice. Our own Brighton Graduate show is a highlight, turning the university into the largest exhibition space in the south east as we celebrate the outstanding creativity of our students.

As a student here you’ll have a unique opportunity to experience what the city has to offer. Volunteering and placement opportunities enable you to play your part in the events, organisations and communities that make Brighton such a compelling place to be.

i360 and ticket booth on the seafront  What to expect enriching experiences 

Campus where this course is taught

Moulsecoomb campus

Just two miles north of Brighton city centre and the seafront, Moulsecoomb is the largest of our five campuses with more than 8,000 students. A wide variety of subjects are taught here, from engineering and product design to business and law.

Students benefit from many professional-standard facilities, including a flight simulator, design and digital media suites, and specialist research laboratories. The campus library, Aldrich, offers long opening hours and a diverse collection of books and journals for students from all subject areas.

Sports enthusiasts will enjoy our basketball and badminton courts, fitness suite and climbing wall. The campus is also a few minutes walk from the South Downs National Park, providing a great place to relax during the summer months.

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Accommodation

Brighton

Our Brighton halls of residence are located across the city in Grand Parade, Moulsecoomb, Varley Park and Falmer.

  • Grand Parade is in central Brighton and has one hall of residence, Phoenix Brewery, within walking distance. 
  • Moulsecoomb is two miles from the city centre and also has one hall of residence, Moulsecoomb Place, on campus. 
  • Varley Park offers the biggest choice of student accommodation with ten halls of residence. 
  • Falmer campus has two halls of residence: Great Wilkins and Paddock Field. 
    Varley Park and Falmer are around four miles from Brighton centre; there are good public transport services nearby.

Aside from halls, you have the option of Unihomes, which we let out to our students on behalf of private landlords. We recommend Unihomes and House Share when you’re balancing learning with placements, shifts and other commitments, because they give you more choice and flexibility.

You can also choose to join the many students who live away from campus in private rented accommodation. We have a list of high-quality, university-endorsed private sector accommodation and can help you find housemates to move in with.

Find out more on our accommodation webpages and if you have any questions, our accommodation team will be happy to help. You can contact them by email at accommodation@brighton.ac.uk or by telephone on 01273 644100.

Paddock Field

Moulsecoomb Place


  

Maps

house Accommodation
campus University building

Moulsecoomb campus map

Find out more

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Student views   

Rachel Braithwaite 

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I spent a year in Preston Park in Brighton working for a private practice law firm as a legal assistant... It seems to work out that people who do work placements get higher results in the final year.
Rachel Braithwaite, Law with Business LLB(Hons)

George Lyons 

"I graduated from Brighton with a first class honours degree (LLB) in Law with Business in 2008.

"Following my degree, I took the LPC at the College of Law and an LLM in Financial Law and the Regulation of Financial Markets at the London School of Economics (LSE). I joined Clifford Chance as a trainee solicitor in February 2012.

"I enjoyed studying a wide range of legal subjects while at Brighton. The law department has experienced academic lectures (many of whom are qualified solicitors or barristers, accomplished academics or both) who deliver comprehensive and challenging courses. The course was assessed in a variety of ways, from traditional coursework and examination to assessed mooting (mock legal arguments in court) and presentations. I felt well prepared for further academic study at the LSE.

"The requirement to produce written coursework on a regular basis greatly improved my ability to analyse legal problems and produce clear, logical and well-researched essays. The detailed feedback provided by the academic staff enabled me to further develop my writing skills which are vitally important in my role as a trainee solicitor.

"In an increasingly competitive graduate job market, having a first class degree from Brighton opened the door to interviews at a number of the UK’s top 20 law firms and offers of further study from leading universities around the world.

"More generally, Brighton is a fantastic city with a wide range of social and sporting events. I would certainly recommend it as a place to study!"

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