ALT CONFERENCE CARDIFF 2011
What is the “Q” for?
Rebecca Huxley-Binns
Law Teacher of the Year 2010
THE LEGAL SERVICES SECTOR
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The “current economic climate”
BPTC qualified barristers vs
pupillages
Training contracts vs paralegals
% of LLB graduates NOT progressing
into one of the two (main?) branches
% of trainees with a GDL/CPE not an
LLB
Who isn’t/won’t be a ‘lawyer’?
But we will still have some reserved
work
THE HIGHER EDUCATION SECTOR
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Costs of degrees – loss of institutional
autonomy
Competition – ‘uniqueness’ of the
degree
GOLDEN RULE:
Who is my audience? (we’re not quite
sure)
What do they want? (Jobs! We can
make certain informed predictions)
How am I going to give it to them? (In
this field, by making sure they come to
me not you!)
WHAT IS THE LAW DEGREE FOR?
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Have we asked this before?
Fitness for what purpose?
 Liberal arts degree?
 Preparation as a solicitor?
 Preparation as a barrister?
 Preparation for paralegal work?
 Preparation for professional
work?
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Something makes the law
degree unique – what is it?
QLD – QUALIFIED IN KNOWLEDGE
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Students should have acquired:
Knowledge and understanding of the fundamental doctrines and principles
which underpin the law of England and Wales particularly in the
Foundations of Legal Knowledge;
A basic knowledge of the sources of that law, and how it is made and
developed; of the institutions within which that law is administered and the
personnel who practice law;
The ability to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of a wide range of
legal concepts, values, principles and rules of English law and to explain the
relationship between them in a number of particular areas;
The intellectual and practical skills needed to research and analyse the law
from primary resources on specific matters; and to apply the findings of
such work to the solution of legal problems; and
The ability to communicate these, both orally and in writing, appropriately to
the needs of a variety of audiences.
QUALIFIED IN GENERAL TRANSFERABLE SKILLS
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Students should be able:
To apply knowledge to complex situations;
To recognise potential alternative conclusions for particular situations, and
provide supporting reasons for them;
To select key relevant issues for research and to formulate them with clarity;
To use standard paper and electronic resources to produce up-to-date
information;
To make a personal and reasoned judgement based on an informed
understanding of standard arguments in the area of law in question;
To use the English language and legal terminology with care and accuracy;
To conduct efficient searches of websites to locate relevant information; to
exchange documents by email and manage information exchanges by email;
To produce word-processed text and to present it in an appropriate form.
QUALIFIED IN THE FOUNDATIONS OF LAW
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Qualifying if pass (ignoring condonation/compensation issues):
1. Public Law (including Constitutional Law, Administrative Law
and Human Rights);
2. Law of the European Union;
3. Criminal Law;
4. Obligations including Contract, Restitution and Tort;
5. Property Law; and, (including)
6. Equity and the Law of Trusts.
Appendix D JASB Handbook – indicative coverage (compare,
e.g. Contract and Criminal law vs EU law ‘suggested’ coverage)
QLD CONTINUED
Credit points
 Extract from the Joint Announcement
 “The study of legal subjects must be not less than
two years out of a three or four year course of
study, ie 240 credits in a 360 or 480 credit degree
programme. Some study of legal subjects must
take place in the final year of the course. The
coverage of the Foundation Subjects shall amount
to not less than 180 credits”.
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APPLICATION FORMS
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LPC
Legal
and non-legal employment
Further personal information e.g. relevant
experience, reasons for choosing law, career
aspirations, hobbies, interests, etc.
 BPTC
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Employment history, including, specifically: “Where
applicable, how did this post help you to develop
skills relevant to practising as a barrister?”
Please provide specific examples of …
your ability to quickly and accurately analyse large
amounts of written information.
when you have displayed exceptional
communication and/or interpersonal skills.
how you have developed your advocacy and public
speaking skills, preferably since the age of 18.
Please describe a time when you have been
particularly under pressure and how you organised
your work.
REFERENCES – WHAT WE ARE ASKED
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Personal characteristics (reliability, honesty)
Approach to study (hardworking, preparation, attitude,
contribution in class etc).
Research skills
Communication skills
Teamworking and leadership skills
Problem-solving/creativity/initiative
Legal knowledge (PhD/M level and the Law
Commission only!)
QLD IN THE MARKET
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A consistent currency
Uniformity of knowledge and some skills at a
minimum
‘Core’ areas
BUT are these 7 subjects more ‘important’? Do they
serve a genuine purpose?
Why, for example, is criminal law there? (asks a
criminal lawyer and criminal law author)
A NEW Q
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Skills
TAIL
DOG
SOME NEW QS
Credit point driven – linked to intellectual and
professional legal skills assessment not
knowledge delivery
 Skills which are linked to legal content (there
are no skills that do not require knowledge) but
without mandated knowledge
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SOME NEW QS
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Cases:
 Case finding (research)
 Case-reading
 Case comprehension
 Case law development
 Case application to novel situations (problem solving)
Legislation
 Parliamentary supremacy
 Legislative research
 Legislative language/literacies
 Legislative ‘mapping’
 Statutory interpretation
SOME NEW QS
Ethics
 Team working
 Dispute resolution
 Legal theory
 Critical legal reasoning
 Legal writing
 Commerciality
 Litigation
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EXAMPLE – LLB EXEMPLAR 1
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Year 1 - Negotiation with Contract and Employment law
 Case law reasoning with Torts
 Critical legal reasoning with media/IP law
 Professional skills, including commerciality, with The Legal
Services Sector
Year 2 - Mooting with Criminal Law
 Legal Theory with Jurisprudence
 Ethics with Land Law
 Teamworking with the Law of Landlord and Tenant
Year 3 - Research with extended writing with project (student choice)
 Interviewing with Family law
 Legislative reasoning with Company law
 Advanced problem solving with Banking law
EXAMPLE – LLB EXEMPLAR 2
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Year 1 - Drafting with Contract law
 Interviewing and case law with Commercial law
 Critical legal reasoning with Information Technology law
 Dispute resolution with Competition law
Year 2 - Legislative reasoning with Insolvency law
 Legal Theory with Public International law
 Ethics with Trusts
 Problem solving with Business law
Year 3 - Research with extended writing with project (student choice)
 Commerciality with Banking law
 Teamworking with Space law
 Advanced problem solving with European law
EXAMPLE – LLB EXEMPLAR 3
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Year 1 - Drafting with Land law
 Interviewing with Family law
 Critical legal reasoning with Public law
 Professional skills with English legal systems
Year 2 - Legislative reasoning with Sex and the law
 Legal Theory with Human Rights law
 Ethics with Criminal law and procedure
 Problem solving with International Child law
Year 3 - Research with extended writing with project (student choice)
 Dispute resolution with medical law
 Teamworking with Criminology and Penology
 Advanced problem solving with the Law of Evidence
EXAMPLE – LLB EXEMPLAR 4 – LAW MAJOR, EUROPEAN
STUDIES MINOR
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Year 1 – Case analysis with contract and employment
 Legislative analysis with EU and ECHR
 Critical legal reasoning and thinking torts
 Modern languages
Year 2 – Dispute resolution and team working with competition law
 Ethics and commerciality with land and trusts
 European politics
 Modern languages
Year 3 - Research with extended writing with project (student choice)
 International relations and politics
 International trade law
 Modern languages
Last words
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A law degree is a study of a particular literacy informed by
the culture of the legal system and prevailing legal
philosophy (in our context the Western Common law
tradition) involving sufficient understanding of doctrinal
law to develop the skill to ‘think’ like a lawyer (comprehend
complex data quickly and distil principle to apply to a novel
problem), to ‘act’ like a lawyer (ethically, or at least aware
of the ethics) with ‘lawyerly’ skills (use of language, the art
of the argument, tactics for the battle, etc). In other words,
the law degree is where the ‘what’ of legal knowledge joins
the ‘what to do’ skills relating to the knowledge; and the
‘to do’ means those skills which are an integral part of
ANY legal professional practice.