LLB Law (Major) with Politics Queen's University Belfast

As a joint honours programme, Law with Politics offers students the chance to study for a Qualifying Law Degree whilst also engaging with research in areas such as conflict, co-operation, power and decision making, the result being a highly nuanced degree option. The close relationship with the regional political infrastructure in Northern Ireland creates a unique environment for students to engage with and respond to political as well as legal developments on a local, regional, national and international level.

Law (Major) with Politics Degree Highlights

Law at QUB is ranked 7th in the UK in Complete University Guide 2019 Law was ranked 8th in the UK for Career Prospects in the Guardian University Guide 2019

Global Opportunities

• There are opportunities to study or work abroad, supported by schemes such as Study USA. This can significantly enhance the employability of students and the global opportunities open to them.

Professional Accreditations

• The degree offers students the opportunity to study the modules required for the academic stage of legal qualification. In addition, students are offered the opportunity to explore their interests in the final year with modules offered that allow them to specialise in a particular area, or simply receive a more rounded sense of what ‘Law’ is. Many of these modules consider the law and law-like interactions on a local, national and international level.

Industry Links

• Those students more interested in politics orientated placements can avail themselves of some of the opportunities within the Department of Justice, Equality Commission, Police Ombudsman’s Office, BBC Northern Ireland and so on.
• The Law School at Queen's has a well-established tradition of regular consultation with legal professional bodies and top international law firms that is very beneficial for students.

Career Development

• Past students have gained work placement with organisations such as the Council of the EU, European Commission, European Parliament, United Nations (UN), Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Council of Europe, and Thomson Reuters.

World-Class Facilities

• The £20m School at Queen’s offers students access to world-class facilities such as a fully interactive Moot Court room, a One Button Recording Studio and a wellbeing room.

Internationally Renowned Experts

• Students in the School of Law are taught by world-leading experts in the areas of Law, Human Rights, Criminology and Socio-Legal Studies. Our staff have close research links with the professions, government and Civil Society.

Student Experience

• Students can join a number of student-led initiatives within the school including the Law Society, the Alternative Dispute Resolution Society and the Street Law project. Other initiatives include the Queen’s Student Law Journal, Lawyers without Borders, the student magazine ‘The Verdict’ and the Mooting Society.

The following is a list of the major career sectors that have attracted our graduates in recent years:

• Management Consultancy
• Corporate Banking
• Purchasing Officer
• Fast Stream Civil Service
• Publishing, Media and Performing Arts
• Export Marketing
• Advertising
• Finance
• Law Enforcement and Public Prosecution
• Varied graduate programmes (Times Top 100 UK Graduate Recruiters/ AGR Association of Graduate Recruiters UK)

Typical career destinations of graduates include:

• Solicitor
• Barrister
• Legal Professional
• Para Legal
• Legal Executive
• Legal Analyst
• Compliance Officer
• Accountant
• Financial Engineer
• Business Analyst
• Management
• Audit Associate

Employment Links

Graduate Employers include A& L Goodbody, Allen & Overy, Baker and McKenzie, CitiGroup, Deloitte, EY, First Derivatives, PWC, Wilson Nesbitt, Herbert Smith Freehills.

Other Employer Links

Top international law firms, including the ‘Magic Circle’ law firms, ie Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Linklaters, Slaughter & May, and many more.

Prizes and Awards

A wide range of prizes and scholarships are awarded to top-performing students. A number of these are sponsored by leading law firms and organisations.

Degree plus award for extra-curricular skills

In addition to your degree programme, at Queen's, you can have the opportunity to gain wider life, academic and employability skills. For example, placements, voluntary work, clubs, societies, sports and lots more. So not only do you graduate with a degree recognised from a world-leading university, you'll have practical national and international experience plus a wider exposure to life overall. We call this Degree Plus. It's what makes studying at Queen's University Belfast special.

The degree offers students the opportunity to study the modules required for the academic stage of legal qualification. In addition, students are offered the opportunity to explore their interests in the final year with modules offered that allow them to specialise in a particular area, or simply receive a more rounded sense of what ‘law’ is. Many of these modules consider the law and law-like interactions on a local, national and international level.

Stage 1

• Legal Methods and Skills
• Constitutional & Administrative Law
• Contract Law
• Careers & Employability
• Politics Modules
• Contemporary Europe
• Issues in Contemporary Politics - To expose students to contemporary/recent and developing political issues locally, nationally and globally. The module will change year-to-year depending on these issues and staff availability.
  • Political Economy - trade, finance, energy, resources, politics of austerity
  • War/conflict/geopolitics - current crisis in Syria, ISIS, Ukraine-Russia-EU, Israel-Palestine
  • Environment/Sustainability - climate change, climate justice, biodiversity loss
  • Political Parties and Policy-making - rise of Jeremy Corbyn, Bernie Sanders, reform of party finances, decentralisation of policy-making, innovations such as participative budgeting from around the world
  • Gender, women and politics – Hilary Clinton as US President/candidate, strategies for increasing women’s representation (including quotas), the women’s movement and politics
  • Social movements and political ideas – Occupy movement, religion and politics, relevance of debates on long-standing normative political ideas – social justice, democracy, recogniton etc. to these issues; role of trades unions, workplace democracy, workers rights etc.
  • Migration and refugees – normative, empirical and political-policy explanations of and responses to flows of people across borders, current Syrian one for example, but also other case studies
  • Leadership and citizenship- examples of political leadership and citizenship in formal electoral politics and civil society from around the world

Stage 2

• EU Law
• Company Law & Corporate Governance
• Tort
• Criminal Law - Elements of Crime Actus Reus Mens Rea Offences against Property Theft, Burglary and Robbery, Criminal Damage, Non-Fatal Offences against the Person, Assault, Aggravated Assault, Sexual Offences, Homicide, Murder, Manslaughter, Inchoate Offences, General Defences.
• Students must choose 2 Politics modules* from the list below:
  • Politics of Deeply Divided Societies
  • International Relations
  • International Organisations
  • Security and Terrorism
  • Modern Political Thought

*Please note this is not an exclusive list of the optional modules available. Optional modules are reviewed each year. Optional modules are subject to timetabling and staff availability.

Stage 3

• Land Law
• Equity & Trusts
• Evidence and Criminal Procedure

Students must choose 1 Law Optional Modules from the list below *

• Gender, Justice and Society
• Global Business Law and Regulation
• Intellectual Property Law
• International Humanitarian Law
• International Trade Law
• International Criminal and Transitional Justice
• Business and Human Rights
• Clinical Law

*Please note this is not an exclusive list of the optional modules available. Optional modules are reviewed each year. Optional modules are subject to timetabling and staff availability.

Students must choose 2 Politics modules from the list below *

• Politics of Irish Literature
• The Politics of Sustainable Development
• Contemporary Political Philosophy
• Arms Control
• Women and Politics
• Northern Ireland: A Case Study in Ethno-National Conflict and Peace Making
• Scotland and Northern Ireland: Points of Political Comparison
• US Foreign Policy: War
• Politics, Public Administration and Policy Making
• Global Resource Politics
• European Cultural Identities

*Please note this is not an exclusive list of the optional modules available. Optional modules are reviewed each year. Optional modules are subject to timetabling and staff availability.

Learning and Teaching

The Law School at Queen's is ranked as one of the top schools in the UK and Ireland. Teaching quality within the School was judged to be 'excellent' and our research was awarded a 5B (excellent) by the UK Higher Education Funding Bodies. There are over 800 undergraduate students enrolled in the School, 190 postgraduates, 70 PhD students and almost 50 members of academic staff. You will be taught by scholars from all over the world, many of whom have international reputations in their fields and all are committed teachers and researchers. Students will also have access to an excellent law section in the new library and extensive IT facilities. In addition, the School has active relationships with universities in China, North America and throughout Europe through which opportunities for study abroad and staff exchanges are fostered.

The School operates a proactive system of student support. Advisers of Studies are allocated to each degree programme tasked to guide and support you throughout your time with us, together with the School's experienced and helpful administrative staff. In addition, students are allocated a Personal Tutor for their time in the School. We place considerable emphasis on facilitating good communication between staff and students. To this end, a Staff-Student Consultative Committee, comprised of elected student representatives, the Director of Education, LLB Programme Director and other members of academic staff, meets at regular intervals throughout the academic year. This Committee provides students with a forum in which to raise matters of concern to them and also enables the School to keep students informed about matters affecting the School and wider university.

At Queen’s, we aim to deliver a high-quality learning environment that embeds intellectual curiosity, innovation and best practice in learning, teaching and student support to enable students to achieve their full academic potential.

On the LLB programmes, we do this by providing a range of learning experiences that enables our students to engage with subject experts, develop attributes and perspectives that will equip them for life and work in a global society and make use of innovative technologies and a world-class library that enhances their development as independent, life-long learners. Examples of the opportunities provided for learning on this course are:

• E-Learning technologies
  Information associated with lectures and assignments is communicated via a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) called Queen’s Online. A range of e-learning experiences are also embedded in the degree through, for example, interactive group workshops in a flexible learning space; podcasts and interactive web-based learning activities; opportunities to use IT programmes associated with design in project-based work etc.
• Lectures
  Provide information about topics as a starting point for further self-directed private study/reading. Lectures also provide opportunities to ask questions, gain some feedback and advice on assessments (normally delivered in large groups to all year group peers).
• Personal Tutor
  Undergraduates are allocated a Personal Tutor during their time in the School. Tutors meet with their students on several occasions during the year to support their academic development.
• Self-directed study
  This is an essential part of life as a Queen’s Law student when important private reading and research, engagement with e-learning resources, reflection on feedback to date and assignment research and preparation work is carried out.
• Seminars/tutorials
  Significant amounts of teaching are carried out in small groups (typically 10-20 students in Law modules and 8-15 students in Politics modules). These provide an opportunity for students to engage with academic staff who have specialist knowledge of the topic, to ask questions of them and to assess their own progress and understanding with the support of peers. Students should also expect to make presentations and other contributions to these groups.
• Work placements
  In conjunction with the Careers, Employability and Skills Department, there are opportunities for a number of summer internships. These provide significant learning and employability enhancement opportunities.

Assessment

Details of assessments associated with this course are outlined below:

• The way in which students are assessed will vary according to the learning objectives of each module. Some modules are assessed solely through project work or written assignments. Others are assessed through a combination of coursework and end of year examinations. Details of how each module (and module family) is assessed are shown in the Student Handbook which is provided to all students during their first year induction.

Feedback

As students progress through their course at Queen’s they will receive general and specific feedback about their work from a variety of sources including lecturers, module coordinators, placement supervisors, personal tutors, advisers of study and your peers. University students are expected to engage with reflective practice and to use this approach to improve the quality of their work. Feedback may be provided in a variety of forms including:

• Summative feedback is provided via formal written comments and marks relating to work that students, as individuals or as part of a group, have submitted.
• Formative feedback opportunities such as face-to-face comments. This may include occasions when students make use of the lecturers’ advertised “feedback and guidance hours” to help address a specific query.
• Placement employer comments or references.
• Online or emailed comment.
• General comments or question and answer opportunities at the end of a lecture, seminar or tutorial.
• Pre-submission advice regarding the standards you should aim for and common pitfalls to avoid. In some instances, this may be provided in the form of model answers or exemplars which students can review in their own time.
• Feedback and outcomes from practical classes.
• Comment and guidance provided by staff from specialist support services such as Careers, Employability and Skills or the Learning Development Service.
• Once students have reviewed their feedback, they are encouraged to identify and implement further improvements to the quality of their work.