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The unique structure of Buckingham’s Law and Criminology degree (LLB), with four full teaching terms per calendar year, enables you to graduate after just two years of study (eight, or nine terms with September start).

In addition to your legal studies, you will complete 120 units of criminology, allowing you to develop a deep and wide-ranging understanding of the origins, causes and consequences of crime and criminality. This includes knowledge and understanding of legal and criminological research methods, referencing protocols and the different primary and secondary sources of law. Criminology itself is an interdisciplinary subject comprised of the legal, social, psychological, and cultural aspects of crime.

The Law and Criminology degree also satisfies the necessary first step for qualifying as a lawyer in various common law jurisdictions, including Canada, the Bahamas, and Bermuda.

For those interested in qualifying as a solicitor in the UK, the Law and Criminology degree provides you with thorough preparation for the Solicitors Qualifying Exam 1 (SQE1), enabling you to choose the accelerated SQE1 preparation courses after graduation. Our innovative and diverse curriculum also contributes to preparation for the practice-orientated SQE2, both SQE1 and SQE2 being necessary for qualification as a solicitor. Buckingham Law School graduates (LLB and LLM) also benefit from a 20% discount on the SQE1 preparation course provided by the leading professional legal educator BARBRI.

For those UK and international students wishing to qualify as an English barrister, the Law and Criminology degree satisfies the academic component of Bar training, the necessary first step to qualifying as an English barrister.

Buckingham Law School also offers a broad range of extra-curricular opportunities to develop your professional skills and experience of legal practice. These opportunities?include?the possibility, between the first and second year of your LLB, of a sandwich?year?placement with a professional organisation.

We often accommodate the particular requirements needed to practise in various common law jurisdictions other than the UK. If you are an international student from one of these jurisdictions, we are happy to discuss what subjects you must take to qualify.

Our Law and Criminology graduates who gain a second-class honours degree, or higher, are guaranteed a place on our LLM programme in International and Commercial Law. This opportunity greatly enhances specialist knowledge and enables our students to acquire two degrees in only three years.

Quality teaching

We offer high quality, traditional Oxbridge-style teaching, which leads to our degrees being recognised around the world. The standards of degrees and awards are safeguarded by distinguished external examiners – senior academic staff from other universities in the UK – who approve and moderate assessed work and by the QAA.

High calibre staff

Most of our academic staff teach for three terms out of four, with the remaining term used for research. Because of this, we have no difficulty in attracting high calibre, highly respected lecturers, many of whom also have a background in the practice of law either as solicitors or as barristers qualified to practice in the United Kingdom and in other overseas jurisdictions. Some of our lecturers have worked in the criminal justice system. We have excellent contacts with the professions and can offer networking opportunities for students as well as opportunities to see the criminal justice system in action, for example by visiting court sittings. We also have strong practical legal education programme which assists students in obtaining legal practice experience.

Teaching methods

Teaching is carried out through a combination of lectures supported by seminars and tutorials. A key feature of the Buckingham teaching method is the use of small tutorial groups which provide the most effective means of ensuring that the students benefit from the academic expertise in the Law School. It is also the philosophy of Buckingham’s faculty to be available to students outside scheduled tutorial times and to encourage good working relationships between staff and students with our excellent Personal Tutor system which supports student every step of the way:

We provide:

• Experienced teaching staff, including Barristers, Solicitors, academic scholars with doctorates who have published articles and books.
• Masterclasses with world class advocates in which you can learn from, question and debate with guest speakers.
• An active, vibrant and ever-growing Student Law Society.
• The chance to make a difference via our Amnesty International Student Society.

The University of Buckingham’s distinctive style of small group teaching makes our Law School different from almost all others in the UK. A profession in Law invariably requires intense discussion of the nature of problems, understanding different viewpoints and analysis to resolve them and we believe our teaching style provides outstanding preparation for these challenges. Mooting and negotiating are compulsory elements in our Legal Skills module and our students also have the opportunity of practical sessions and stimulating external competitions.

LLB Law and Criminology allows students to take the core foundation law subjects and devote the remaining one-third (120 units) of the degree to the criminology subject area, including modules in psychology shared with students in the School of Psychology and Wellbeing.

Assessment methods

The assessment of individual modules within each course varies according to the subject. Assessment is usually by examination, assessed coursework, or a combination of the two. Please check module information for more details.

Preparation for work

As with all our degree courses, the LLB Law and Criminology combines academic challenge with the transferable skills that will stand you in good stead for future employment. You may be attracted to a legal career or a career in criminal justice, and if so, this degree will prepare you for those areas. However, a QLD is recognised as being a good basis for employment in many fields, including management, finance, local or national government and many others.

Graduates of Buckingham LLB degrees have gone on to further study at most of the world’s leading universities, including Harvard, London, Oxford and Cambridge and secured jobs in senior positions around the world.