Birmingham City Law School | BCU llb course | llb degree

Birmingham City University is a well balanced institution. The strong support available to students from faculty staff and peers is robust and allows each potential student the time to develop themselves socially, whilst still achieving a good degree classification on the llb course.

This balance provides graduates with the foundations to be successful in their careers and in life generally. Students felt that the life at this university developed them not only intellectually but also to created individuals that are malleable enough to deal with all life throws at them.

The strength of Birmingham City law school has to be the level of support offered by university staff through a variety of different methods on the llb course. BCU law school's Intranet ‘Moodle’ system has also been particularly useful to interact with other students and staff.

In addition, each student is allocated a Personal Development Tutor to discuss personal problems, and other difficulties associated with their courses. The majority of students really appreciated the direct contact available on the llb course, something which can be lacking at other institutions.

Outside of Birmingham City law school the student support service provides all students with an excellent parachute system offering financial and practical support for those encountering difficulties that affect their performance on the course.

However, the best aspect of the assistance available has to be the library. The Kenrick Library offers a huge number of paper resources and alongside this is the vast number of online materials. Students on the llb course are able to get free access to various legal databases through the universities ‘Athens’ service. Therefore, meaning they can access ‘WestLaw’ and ‘LexusNexis’, two great gateways to legal journals and articles, without a subscription fee being charged.

Also, the Law School offers a dedicated resource room providing a space for group work and a computer room. The short loan facility at the library is excellent especially close to essay deadlines; it guarantees the most popular books are available for short five hour loans. This process enables everyone to access the most valuable resources when they need them most.

The structure of lectures at Birmingham City law school alters as each academic year passes on the llb course. In the first year there are five core modules, some being taught weekly, whilst others are bi-weekly. As well as the lectures they are also seminars to solidify the notes taken in lectures. These also occur on alternate weeks to allow adequate preparation time for the small group discussions common in the seminars.

The seminars at Birmingham City law school are taught using a variety of different methods depending on the member of staff. Some students found particular methods favourable over others, for example many were pleased with the methods used in Criminal law, whereby the course was taught through a series of structured essays which could all be usefully accessed on the intranet ‘moodle’. Definitely a great edition on the llb course.

The cost of the LLB Law degree consists to that of £3, 070, this however can be paid through various instalments over the year and also the university offers a bursary to those students eligible of estimately £345 for the academic to help with the cost of books and travel etc. However, Birmingham City is the only university who for the LPC includes the cost of books, an excellent asset to any institution.

Birmingham is the second city in the UK and so as you might expect can provide a really great night out. With so many things to do, some students can be spoilt for choice. However, such choice brings with it cost, and some students report that it can be pricey on the Perry Barr Campus. The Birmingham City law school building is placed very centrally on campus with all amenities in very close proximity.

Many students take advantage of the public transport and head into the town centre for recreation and paid work. Others report the basic amenities can be found close to the campus, with a large supermarket and many high street stores within walking distance.

Within the university there are also numerous sports clubs and societies. The law department has their own law society as well as mooting society. A moot is a mock trial, something the majority of students have never experienced, but it’s really something not to be missed to hone your law skills and meet plenty of new people. BCU even compete against other universities in mooting competitions.

Bar 42 the student bar comes well recommended and there are further recommendations for the city centre, in particular Birmingham’s Broad Street. A large group of students find the sports clubs a useful way to relax and get away from their studies and compete in the inter-university BUSA leagues which provide opportunities in a huge variety of sports at all levels of ability.

Other prefer other societies based on the arts or language or common cultural values which are all equally good at creating new friends and learning about different ways of life or modes of recreation.

Alongside the social aspect of university life, BCU offers a excellent ‘student services’ whom help the students choose a potential career path to choose after the LLB course. The ‘student services’ provides information on potential placements of work experience for the LL.B students to gain more legal experience. Birmingham City law school also offers a PDP tutor with whom the student can discuss particular careers aspirations and how to obtain them.

All modules for the llb students consist in part of Skills, Processes and Scholarships. The idea is help students decide which route they wish to take on completion of the llb course. Birmingham City law school offers an excellent amount of support for students which can be seen through the drop in service for students who want careers advice in the Faculty Resource Centre. This service can be accessed whenever necessary and many students find it useful to visit the centre regularly over the academic year.