BA Law - Pros and Cons

Feb 10, 2018

Written By Becky Kells, Editor, AllAboutLaw

There are many reasons why students opt to take the BA Law as opposed to the LLB. As you make your decision, bear in mind that neither degree is better or worse than the other - but both do offer a different experience of Law. One might suit you or your interests better, and allow you to study the modules that you find most interesting. With this in mind, here are some pros and cons to taking a BA Law.

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The pros

The BA Law examines Law and legal matters from an academic perspective. This is ideal if you’re interested in the academic side of Law, rather than looking to actively practice it.
In some situations, universities accept lower grades for the BA Law than for the LLB Law. If you’ve not met the requirements for a LLB course, the BA Law could be a good place to start, with the chance to progress to a law career by taking the GDL.
Unlike the LLB, the BA Law is not structured exclusively around Law modules. You can take a mixture of law and non-law modules, and also do joint honours, as part of the BA Law. If you want to see how the law relates to subjects such as history or criminology, or even just develop your knowledge in more than one subject, it’s worth considering the BA Law.

The cons

Doing the BA Law could make your route to qualification as a Barrister or Solicitor slightly longer. Unlike the LLB, a BA Law is rarely a qualifying Law degree, so you will have to take the GDL after you finish it if you want to become a lawyer. But a lot of people with non-law degrees take this path - it’s only really a disadvantage if you’re particularly opposed to devoting a year to the GDL!
Another potential downside to the BA is that it is rarely offered as a straight Law course - the whole idea is that you get the chance to study a variety of topics as part of your degree, perhaps even opting for a joint honours degree. If you want a degree that is mostly law based, the LLB is probably the option for you.

What is the BA Law?