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Study law and criminology at Reading and develop your legal knowledge and skills in a highly practical way, with plenty of opportunities to build practical experience.
Our LLB course is accredited by the Solicitors Regulation Authority and Bar Standards Board and provides you with the first qualification for entry into the legal profession.
As one of our LLB graduates, you will be exempt from the first stage of professional training.
The first two years of the LLB, provide you with the foundations of legal knowledge through modules in core areas, including criminal law, contract law, and public law.
From your first year, you will choose from a range of specialist optional modules depending on your interests.
Through our programme of co-curricular activities, you will boost your employability by developing your skills and experience through a variety of pro bono projects, negotiation, mediation, and client interviewing competitions.
It is possible to extend this degree to a four-year programme and spend an additional year studying abroad, within or outside Europe.
If you want to study law at the University of Reading but do not have the correct qualifications, this course will prepare you for an undergraduate law degree.
Subject to the successful completion of the International Foundation Year (including the Law module), you'll be guaranteed a place on our three-year LLB Law course in September of the same year.
Explore crime and criminal justice – from causes to controls to consequences – with our new BSc Criminology degree.
You will encounter a variety of sociological, criminological and legal concepts, approaches and methodologies in ways that will assist the development of a critical understanding of ‘crime’ and ‘criminal justice’ and the relationship of these with the law.
At the end of your degree, you will leave with a strong grounding in the legal framework and challenges in which matters of crime and justice play out.
Select from our wide range of optional modules and shape your degree to your interests. Take modules in human rights or international law and focus on private or public law. Alternatively, you can select theory-based modules that question the purpose and impact of law such as jurisprudence, morality.
Complement your legal study with modules from outside law, including languages, politics, and business courses such as entrepreneurship. You can also integrate co-curricular activities with your module options. For example, you can seek credits for your pro bono work.
If you wish to spend an additional year studying abroad, within or outside Europe, you can transfer onto our year abroad programme, the LLB Law with International Legal Studies, subject to the availability of placements with our partners.
This degree gives you the opportunity to study law in an entirely different context to the UK and can be valuable both for a deeper understanding of law and for those who may wish to work abroad in the future.
We offer an array of career-related activities to help advance your professional development and build the skills and attributes that employers find most valuable.
We have a dedicated careers adviser and a calendar full of career-orientated events built into your degree. This includes help with CV writing, placement applications and interview techniques, regular commercial awareness workshops and other career-orientated events, including employer visits, alumni conversations, and career talks, which feature practitioners from a range of legal and criminal justice fields discussing their work.
An LLB Law degree from the University of Reading will provide you with a wide range of transferable skills suitable not only for a career as a solicitor or barrister but also in the fields of education, the police force, film and media journalism, accountancy, insurance, banking and the civil service. Most of our students enter graduate-level roles or go on to further study, including vocational study for the Legal Practice Course or the Bar Professional Training Course.
Past graduates have worked with global corporations, national and European businesses, as barristers in chambers, and for the Crown Prosecution Service.
Your BSc Criminology degree will help develop your research, analytical and communication skills as well as subject specific knowledge relevant to careers in government (particularly Civil Service), criminal justice (police, prison service, probation service, youth justice service), social work, local government offices, non-governmental organisations, welfare and service charities, campaigning organisations and social research and investigative journalism.
Successful completion of your BSc Criminology degree provides you with the first qualification and the requisite subject knowledge to start a career in one of the many criminal justice or social work agencies. It provides you with a wide range of social scientific research skills that are sought after by a wide range of employers outside criminal justice – such as think tanks and policy agencies.
There is a variety of funding support available to our undergraduates. You may be eligible for government loans, grants or bursaries.
Students from the UK can receive government loans to help towards tuition fees and living costs. They may also be eligible for grants and bursaries depending on their circumstances.
Students who undertake work experience through the School of Law are eligible to apply for and receive, a work experience bursary. This bursary ensures all students, regardless of their financial situation, can benefit from work experience opportunities.
To date, over 120 bursaries have been awarded, and over 90 students have benefited from the generosity of our alumni donors, who sponsor the work experience bursary.
With teaching from leading academics, excellent graduate career prospects, and an exciting programme of co-curricular activities, we can help you to excel.
Our exciting curriculum combines academic rigour with practical legal experience and exclusive placement opportunities, enabling you to gain valuable transferable skills and build a successful career.
