Overview and entry requirements
In addition to fulfilling the requirements of a QLD, the SOAS Senior Status LLB also provides students with an overview of legal systems in Africa and Asia creating a truly global, and consequently unique, Senior Status LLB. The Senior Status LLB is a condensed degree, allowing students to complete a 3 year undergraduate programme in 2 years. This is an intensive course of study, suitable for high performing graduates. The Senior Status LLB consists of undergraduate modules taught alongside the traditional 3 year LLB students.
SOAS is unique as the only higher education institution in the UK specialising in the study of Africa, Asia and the Middle East. The School also has the largest concentration of specialist faculty concerned with the study of these areas at any university in the world. SOAS is consistently ranked among the top higher education institutions in the UK and the world and it also offers a friendly, vibrant environment for students in a diverse and close-knit community.
While providing our students with a solid grounding in key legal principles and methodologies, we seek to do more than that. The SOAS Law Degree aims to produce highly skilled, civic minded and critically engaged graduates, who can contribute to their communities and societies in myriad ways. In the first year our students are introduced to the core elements and principles of the English legal system, and provided with the key analytical skills necessary for undertaking a demanding law degree program. During this first year students will also be introduced to elements of legal principle and practice from other countries.
See School of Law
Why study Law at SOAS
- UK Top 20 and World Top 200 for Law (QS World University Rankings 2021)
- SOAS is unique as the only higher education institution in the UK specialising in the study of Asian, Middle East and North African (MENA) and Sub-Saharan African regions
- this programme will immerse you in the legal traditions and practices of a number of global regions, which will give you a critical understanding of the role of law in the world today
- we specialise in key topics including international and transnational law, human rights, transnational commercial law, environmental law, comparative law and socio-legal method
- we are specialists in the delivery of more than forty African and Asian languages. Your command of a language will set you apart from graduates of other universities
- you will be able to flexibly structure your programme using our Open Options modules to take advantage of the expertise of our other departments, including the opportunity to learn a regional language
Year 2 entry
However, in the second year our students will be even more fully immersed in the distinctively SOAS program. Our students can choose from a wide array of optional courses that draw on the unique research expertise of our staff. The emphasis we place on choice, and research-led teaching, will allow our students to pursue a number of distinct specialisms as their degree progresses, but whichever path they choose to focus on the courses they study will all be imbued with that distinctive SOAS dimension, that stresses critical engagement and understanding of the role of law in the world at large. In an increasingly globalised and interconnected world, the SOAS law degree truly responds to the needs of a new generation of law students.
The degree provides students with a wide range of analytical and transferable skills and is suitable for any profession in which a non-specialised degree is required. The degree structure provides students with a qualifying law degree for the purposes of both the Solicitors Regulation Authority and Bar Standards Board and exempts students from academic stage of legal training.
Please visit our International Students pages for details of our individual country requirements.
Explore
Programme Code: M102
Venue: Russell Square: College Buildings
Start of programme: September
Mode of Attendance: Full-time
Entry requirements
- Senior Status LLB will be restricted to non-law graduates holding an undergraduate degree from a recognised institution. The standard requirements are UK upper second class honours degree or a US degree with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.3. We also welcome applications from other countries whose degrees are equivalent to this level.
Fees 2021/22
Fees for 2021/22 entrants per academic year
- UK fees:
- £9,250
- Overseas fees:
- £19,560
Please note that fees go up each year. Further details see 'Fees and funding' (tab on this page) or the Registry's undergraduate tuition fees page.
Structure
Year 1
Compulsory Module
Year 2
Compulsory Module
AND
Guided Option
Choose a module(s) from the List of Year 2 Options below to the value of 60 credits
OR
Open Option
Choose related Language or Non-Language open option modules to the value of 30 credits
AND
Guided Option
Choose a module(s) from the List of Year 2 Options below to the value of 30 credits
OR
Guided Option
Choose a module(s) from the List of Year 2 Options below to the value of 30 credits
AND
Choose a module(s) at another University of London (UoL) if not taught at SOAS to the value of 30 credits
List of Year 2 Optional Modules
UoL Options
Up to one 30-credit level 5 or level 6 LLB module in Law taught at another University of London Law School - King’s College, LSE, QMUL, UCL and Birkbeck - subject to approval and provided that a similar module is not taught at SOAS.
Programme Specification
Important notice
The information on the programme page reflects the intended programme structure against the given academic session. If you are a current student you can find structure information on the previous year link at the top of the page or through your Department. Please read the important notice regarding changes to programmes and modules.
Teaching & Learning
Contact hours
All full-time undergraduate programmes consist of 120 credits per year, in modules of 30 or 15 credits. They are taught over 10 or 20 weeks. The programme structure shows which modules are compulsory and which optional.
As a rough guide, 1 credit equals approximately 10 hours of work. Most of this will be independent study (see Approaches to teaching and learning at SOAS). It will also include class time, which may include lectures, seminars and other classes. Some subjects, such as learning a language, have more class time than others. In the Department of Law, many undergraduate modules have a weekly two hour lecture or seminar. Some modules may also had an additional hour of smaller group classes weekly or fortnightly.
More information is on the page for each module.
Knowledge
- Students are required to attend all classes, study extensively on their own and together with other students, and prepare themselves to participate in an informed way in discussions. Students are also required to undertake assessed coursework and, in the ILLP module, to participate in assessed mooting (oral legal argument).
- The usual format of classes is 2 hours of lectures per week, plus 1 hour of tutorial per week
Intellectual (thinking) skills
Critical thinking is fostered in all module units offered in the Programme, in that all units introduce information and ideas that need to be assessed critically and analysed in context. Students are encouraged not simply to summarise evidence and arguments but also develop their own assessments as to the relative value of different strategies / arguments / evidence.
Subject-based practical skills
Through tutorials and coursework, particularly in instruction concerning the answering of problem questions and the compulsory mooting component of the Introduction to Law and Legal Processes (ILLP) course unit. The production of word-processed text and its presentation is not taught as such, but coursework is required to be produced in word-processed form; some subject based practical skills are specifically taught in the ILLP module unit.
Transferable skills
- Through preparation for seminars, essays, course work, and examinations.
- Through individual and /or joint seminar presentations and class participation.
- Through preparation for seminars, through discussion in seminars, through correction of formative assessment by tutors and through preparation of answers to exam questions.
- Through the formation of study groups.
Assessment
These skills are assessed as part of the normal assessment of coursework and unseen examination.
Tuition fees
Fees for 2021/22 entrants per academic year
| Programme |
Full-Time |
UK
Students |
Overseas
Students |
|
BA, BSc, LLB
|
£9,250
|
£19,560 |
| BA/BSc Language year abroad |
£1,385 |
£9,780 |
Please note that fees go up each year.
For full details of undergraduate tuition fees, see our Registry's undergraduate tuition fees page.
Scholarships
For further details and information on external scholarships visit the Scholarships section
Employment
SOAS Law graduates leave SOAS as civic minded and critically engaged individuals who can effectively contribute to their communities and societies. With a thorough understanding of the legal dimensions underlying many of our global challenges today, our Law students are valued by employers due to their analytical skills, specialist knowledge, and global perspective.
Recent School of Law graduates have been hired by:
- PwC LLP
- BLM Law
- BloombergNEF
- British Medical Association
- Clifford Chance
- DAC Beachcroft LLP
- Department for Work and Pensions
- EY
- HM Treasury
- Latham & Watkins
- Legal Cheek
- Simpson Millar Solicitors
- The Economist
- Travers Smith
- Vodafone
- World Cancer Research Fund
Visit our Careers’ section for more information.
A Student's Perspective
From a personal experience, I can confirm that today’s employers become extremely impressed with you if you have a law degree from SOAS, as it provides you with the necessary intellect needed for today’s globalised world.
Hirra Hayat
