Studying LLB Law and Criminal Justice

My Course - LLB Law and Criminal Justice

So, this post is all about the course that I'm currently studying is LLB Law and Criminal Justice at De Montfort University in Leicester.

I've recently finished first year of my undergraduate degree and so, so excited for second year, but more about that when I get to it.

I chose the course way back when, half way through my last year in college when I was deciding what I wanted to study. I browsed through the options and landed on this one.

My first year consisted of completely compulsory and absolutely CORE modules including; Law of Contract; Constitutional and Administrative Law; Criminal Law and English and European Legal Contexts.

These four core modules from first year are compulsory to gaining a qualifying Law Degree. There are a few more core modules that you have to undertake in second and third year also, as well as optional modules to tailor your degree.

Exam wise, first year studying law at De Montfort consists of two exams, for me they were in January and May.
The exams were multiple choice questions, a 2 hour exam, 60 questions, 15 questions per module.

So, lets do a run down of the modules I studied this year.

Let start with my favourite;

Criminal Law.

Now, I studied Law at A-Level and Criminal Law was pretty much the dominant focus of the course. Criminal Law is super interesting, as you can imagine, and is often what people think of when they think about the law. Criminal law was the most interesting and engaging module of my first year studying law.

As a result, hung me up on studying law.

The topics covered in criminal law were as follows;

• Non-fatal offences against the person including; Assault and Battery, s47, s20 and s18; 
• Homicide offences including; murder and manslaughter; 
• Property offences including; theft, robbery and burglary for example
• Defences; insanity, intoxication, consent and duress e.g,

In order to pass criminal law as a module we had an assessment week in the autumn/winter including a group and individual assessment.The group assessment consisted of writing a Briefing report for a specific topic concerning an area of criminal law and supporting it with

The individual assessment was the same, just a shorter version with a different idea/approach to the briefing report.

Without passing the assessment week you can't pass the modules.

Law of Contract

I found Contract law the hardest module to cling to and understand. It definitley isnt my forte for sure, you really need to understand the subject to grasp it and revise the topics to get it I personally believe. It's a super interesting area of law but it isn't something I think would pursue any further.

We also had an assessment week for Contract, which also involved working as a group to create and add changes and details to an existing contract and completing a collective group essay explaining the changes we made and justifying them with law, like cases and statutes.

It also involved an individual assessment writing about our contribution to the group assessment.

Content -

• Theory's
• Agreement
• Intention to enter a legal relationship
• Consideration
• Contractual terms
• Exemption clauses and unfair terms
• Breach of Contract
• Damages
• Misrepresentation 
• Duress and undue influence
• Frustration

English and European Legal Contexts

This module is more about the basics of law, focusing on the basics of civil law and criminal law.

It looks at for example; interpretation of the law; judicial precedent; English law; EU law etc.

Assessment wise, they got us to undertake a Professional Development Log. Part of this included doing activities of a legal nature, including legal, legal skills, non legal and careers and employability. Needing to acquire 25 points over the year, and having to go to regular personal tutor meetings to track your progress.

Constitutional and Administrate Law.

The module looks at the constitution and basically the background of the law, like making the laws, how certain legal principles came about etc. It covers a broad area of law and gives us rules that set and regulate the institutions of government within the UK.

I personally found it boring, but it's obviously a core module for a reason as it's an important one that brings an understanding into the being and purpose of having law and legality in the UK.

There were 9 topics that we covered this year including;

• Introduction to the Constitution
• Parliament and Law Making
• Parliamentary Supremacy
• Separation of Powers
• Protection of Rights
• The Rule of Law
• The Royal Prerogative and Conventions
• Police powers
• Judicial review

Again, in order to pass the module we had to pass an Advocacy Assessment which was based on writing an application for judicial review to a judge. We were given the choice of two scenarios to argue for our client an opportunity for judicial review. This was again a two part assessment, first we had to write out the application and support it with relevant case law and statutes and submit it, followed by an oral presentation of acting as the defendant's lawyer requesting the judicial review in person as if in a court.

The assessment for me, I found was really interesting and the most helpful of the whole year. It was an assessment that involved actually writing a legal document and presenting your own legal argument in favour of your client and arguing their case. It allowed us to practice writing in a legal and professional manner, using legal jargon and mannerisms like addressing the Judge as Your Lordship or My Lady for instance and have an experience of being in a court environment and presenting our clients case in person to a judge (lecturer) with them asking questions too. It was a realistic experience which I found very helpful and eye-opening.

Unfortunately, I failed, in the second cross modular exam, the constitutional and administrative law section and I've got to re-sit it in the summer. I knew I didn't revise it as well as the other modules so honestly I expected the outcome, but I'll keep you updated on that and hopefully I pass it when I re-sit it, haha!

But, for now, that is the first year of my course that I'm currently studying in a nutshell. 

I love studying Law, I do enjoy the content, it's so, so interesting and is the career I want to pursue, obvs. It can prove difficult in terms of work load and independent study, but as a whole the content isn't hard or difficult, the work you have to put in to get the best results and reap the rewards of studying a Law degree is a little tough.

Hopefully, it'll be all worth it in the end!

But for now, this is me for the week! I hope you enjoyed reading this and it helps any of you wanting to study law in the future, or if you are soon to go university in September to study Law. 

Until next week, keep up with what I'm up to over on my social accounts

Instagram @ LittleMissHolly99 | https://www.instagram.com/littlemissholly99/ 

Twitter - @LilMissHol99 | https://twitter.com/LilMissHol99 

P.S. Keep up to date with my new Short Story I'm currently writing over on Wattpad called - 

'The Daily Struggles of Amelia Miller'

Don't forget to leave any comments, questions or feedback for me & I'll get back to you!

I'd love to hear from you! Lots of Love XoXo