Law

Our Bachelor degree in Law degree covers the ‘foundation law subjects’ required by the Bar Standards Board, including tort, contract, criminal, and property law. It also introduces practical skills such as case analysis, negotiation and alternative dispute resolution, drafting, interviewing and mooting.

You'll develop the ability to understand connections between legal topics; this replicates legal and paralegal practice, where problems are rarely neatly packaged. You'll also be supported to develop your professional practice and employability skills throughout the degree.

You'll select from a range of interdisciplinary options including business, criminology and sociology, as well as law options such as corporate law, employment law or entertainment, media and intellectual property law. This will enable you to become a better lawyer due to your experiences outside of a legal education framework. It’ll also provide you with broad employment prospects if you choose not to follow a career in law.

We'll encourage you to undertake a work placement that is relevant to your career goals, and the law clinic in the third year will give you the opportunity to provide legal advice to real clients.

Year one
Gain a broad understanding of English legal systems, the British Constitution, and criminal law. Contextualise your learning and develop your professional identity and employability skills. Develop skills of case analysis, and understand legal research methods.

Year two
Focus on extending your legal understanding to include subjects such as contract law, EU and international law, and settlements. Develop skills of negotiation, advocacy and drafting.

Continue to contextualise your learning and extend your employability skills. Select from a range of law, business, criminology and sociology options such as employment law, marketing, entrepreneurship and exploring violence. You'll also be supported and encouraged to take a work placement.

Year three
Hone your practice skills in our law clinic, or undertake a law project. Explore property law and litigation while developing skills of drafting and mooting. Select from an interdisciplinary range of options, such as entertainment, media and intellectual property law, leadership and cybercrime.

Lectures, seminars and workshops will be combined with practical exercises and court visits. Your learning will be supported by our VLE (Virtual Learning Environment). 

To find out more about how we teach and how you'll learn, please read our Learning and Teaching Delivery Statement.

The course will include a range of practice based assessments such as drafting, negotiating and mooting. It will also include a limited number of exams to prepare you for the SQE (Solicitors Qualifying Exam).

As part of your degree, you could study abroad on a placement at one of Bath Spa’s partner universities.

You'll be supported and encouraged to complete a short work placement during the second year. You can also choose to take a ten-month placement between the second and third year by selecting the Professional Placement version of the course.

This course opens you up to a range of careers both within and adjacent to Law. You’ll combine legal knowledge with practical skills (such as contract law with negotiation, property law with interviewing and litigation with mooting). If you want to qualify as a solicitor, this will place you in a better position to complete the practice elements of the new SQE, in comparison with those who have studied a more traditional programme. It'll also develop key transferable skills that'll be valuable for other career routes.

Optional Business and Management modules give you the chance to expand your expertise. You'll understand the theory of business law, which will enable you to be a better lawyer due to your experiences, and provide you with better employment prospects if you choose not to follow a career in law.

If you’re a full-time undergraduate student starting your first year at Bath Spa University, you can apply for the Certificate in Global Citizenship, which you’ll study alongside your degree.

You’ll gain global awareness and add an international dimension to your student experience, and funding is available. On successful completion of the programme, you’ll be awarded a Certificate in Global Citizenship. This is in addition to your degree; it doesn’t change your degree title or results.

The Professional Placement Year (PPY) provides you with the opportunity to identify, apply for, and secure professional experience, normally comprising one to three placements over a minimum of nine months. Successful completion of this module will demonstrate your ability to secure and sustain graduate-level employment.

By completing the module, you'll be entitled to the addition of 'with Professional Placement Year' to your degree title.

Before your PPY, you'll work to identify roles of interest and secure a placement. The Placements Team will support through timetabled sessions and 1:1 appointments.

As well as completing a minimum of 900 placement hours, you will complete two assessments demonstrating your skill development, growth in professional behaviours and how the PPY has impacted your future career aspirations.

You'll have access to excellent facilities both on and off Newton Park campus. These include:

• Commons building
• Newton Park library
• Virtual Learning Environment
• Writing and Learning Centre
• English Language Unit.

Our library offers a wide range of law materials. There's also a wealth of material available via electronic sources. These include Business Source Complete, an online legal database, and an increasing range of ebooks. This online material can be accessed on and off campus, enabling you to work at times that suit you.