The LLB or Bachelor of Laws is an undergraduate course of three years. This teaches students to critically analyze and understand and the rules and institutions established to promote and secure justice and order. In LLB course the students learn the legal analysis and content of law. They gain experience in the areas of mooting, negotiation and arguing. There would be mock courtrooms also which will provide you a very good learning experience.
If you have a law degree it will open up for you various career options. Apart from the legal professions you will get other traditional roles like solicitors and barristers.
Study of law is also known as ‘Legal studies’. In earlier days the first academic degree awarded were Doctorates in Law. In today’s education system the study of Law has become highly organized.
Types of Law Degrees
Now the first degree of Law to be studied university is the Bachelor. There are many different types of law degrees available across the world, it vary from country to country. In many countries it is called as Bachelor of Law (LLB). But in universities of some other countries it is also known as a B.A. or B.Sc. in Law. In US, Australia, Japan, Hong Kong and Canada the degree offered are known as Juris Doctor (JD).
Specialisations
In first semester of study one is specialized in one of the field below. There are many branches or types of law they are described as below:
- International Law: The Law deals with the relation between states and nations. This law is split into private international law, public international law and supranational law. This international law would deals with the legal interactions between government, companies and nations.
- Business Law: The study of business law provides you with competence in managing legal issues of the business sector such as business litigations, fiduciary obligations, contracts, etc.
- European Law: This law is the set of treaties and set of legislations which deal with the European Union member states policies, which includes EU competition law and constitutional law.
- Criminal Law: Criminal law is also known as penal law, which regulates and punishes the acts considered to be undesirable for the states.
- Legal studies: Here the law students would learn how to address issues such as the individual privacy and liberty, justice, the social equality, and the relationship between citizens and the states.
- Patent and intellectual property law: This law focuses on implementing, developing and enforcing intellectual property rights like, patents, copyrights, licenses or trademarks.
- Civil and Private law: This law mainly focuses on the relation between the organizations or individuals and consequences of these relations.
- Public law: This includes administrative, constitutional, tax, procedural and criminal law.
Apart from these branches of law, some of the universities also allow the students to develop their own specialized bachelor of law programs.
Syllabus and Course Curriculum
Generally the syllabus of LLB is designed in such a way that all aspect of law can be included in curriculum of three year study course. This three year would be divided into mainly 6 semesters. In a year the subjects are divided into core subjects and optional subjects. The subjects which are covered by almost all the top Universities in these three years are as follow:
- Core subjects: Crime Law of Tort & Consumer Protection, Family Law, Labor Law and Act Constitutional Law.
- Optional: International Economics Law, Contract Women & Law Criminology.
- Core Subjects: Property Law, Environmental Law, Law of Evidence, Human Rights & International Law.
- Optional: Law of Insurance, Comparative Law, Property Law.
- Core Subjects: Public Interest Lawyering, Conciliation and Alternate Dispute Resolution System, Court Legal Writing Arbitration, Civil Procedure, Social Security and Other Labor Legislations.
- Optional: Co-operative Law, Law of Taxation, Law Investment & Securities Law.
Other basic course structure of LLB course would consists of following things:
- Seminars
- Tutorial work
- Moot Courts
- Practical Training Programs.
Fee Structure
Tuition fee of the students for LLB course would depend on the country of origin – from inside and outside of the EU (European Union)/ EEA (European Economic Area). They are given below. The Dutch government indexed the fee every year. If the student take more than three academic year to finish the course than they have to pay extra money. The tuition fee would not include accommodation, living, books, cost of travel and insurance.
Fees:
Nationality
|
Year
|
Fee
|
Programme
|
EU/EEA
|
2018-19
|
€ 2,060
|
Full-time
|
Non EU/EEA
|
2018-19
|
€ 8,300
|
Full-time
|
The students should transfer the Tuition fee before starting of academic year, after completion of the course. The exchange rates would vary greatly so one should be aware of the rates. There would be some scholarship also available for the students.
Top Universities to study LLB
The top five universities to study LLB are:
- Duke University: The school of law in Duke University is having very competitive selection process. They only select 20% of total candidate in a year. This school publishes 8 academic journals and law reviews. The University’s oldest law journal is ‘Law and Contemporary Problems’. The first law journal edited by the students and published articles from scholars on topics like the legal system and the study of law.
- Stanford University: this University is having lowest staff-to-student ratio i.e., 7:3:1. The law courses over here are diverse. In the first year the course would cover contracts, legal research, criminal law, tort and writing. After first year the students are free to choose from near about 280 different course titles in order to specialize in the domain that interests them. The law library of the University holds near about 500,000 books.
- Yale University: The admissions process to this University is one of the most selective processes with less than 10% of the applicants accepted every year. Some of the known Alumni of the law school are presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and the former US president Bill Clinton.
- University of Chicago: This University produces total six professional journals, out of which three are controlled by students. Total about 60 student organizations are associated with the law school.
- University of Cambridge: The Squire Law Library at this University is one of the largest law libraries among the three largest legal collections in the UK law.
Eligibility Requirements and Admission Process
For getting admission in LLB course one has to clear the entrance test of the particular university in which they are interested. It is different for each university and there is no common exam for the purpose. The English Proficiency exam score is an essential requirement. Students can appear for TOEFL or IELTS or PTE. All of these are standard exams and they have their own testing and marking procedures.Another essential requirement is that the student must have scored 50% of marks in his higher education.
Job Opportunities
The individuals who have completed LLB in European Law would immediately gain the employment in the country as they earned the degree. If they want to work in other European countries they have to clear country-specific bar exam or other test that permits them to legally permit them to practice law in that particular country.
In many other country just the degree of LLB is not just enough to practice law. They also required to do the following things:
- Countries like Romania and Greece one need to have a LLB degree plus 1-2 years of practice than only could apply to the bar.
- In other countries like Denmark and Germany one can take the Bar examination only when they have 1-3 years of practice with LLM (masters of Law) degree.
- In United Kingdom you can become solicitor or barrister you have done your L.L.B. along with two year traineeship.
The good news if you earn an LLB degree from an European states than with just three years of practice you will get licence for practicing law in any other EU country.
The Typical career path with an LLB degree is to become a public prosecutor, a judge or a lawyer. Apart from these one can work as a lawyer at private firms. Apart from the above they can find the career in following areas:
- Police – here one can go for criminal investigations or they can work at the Police’s legal office, if they have specialized in Criminal Law.
- Banking- You have a career here if you are specialized in Financial Law.
- Journalism- You can work here if you have writing skills and Knowledge of Law.
- Civil service- You can work as legal advisor in the legal departments of state institutions.
- Environmental Protection- You can become environmental law advisor.
- Mediation and Counseling- You can find career in corporate, Public and private enterprises and businesses conflicts as Mediation and counseling.
The LLB job types are:
- Advocate
- Notary
- Solicitor
- Legal Advisor
- Law Reporter
- Legal expert
- Magistrate
- Trustee
- Attorney General
- Teacher and Lecturer
- Judge
Thus for having a LLB degree you should have good communication and good presence of mind. This degree would not just give you an employment but also a authority to fight against inequality.