杏吧论坛

Elizabeth Holden

This course is compulsory on the BA in Anthropology and Law and LLB in Laws. This course is not available as an outside option nor to General Course students.

Available only to Year 1 students on the LLB and Year 1 students on the BA Anthropology and Law.

No pre-requisites for this course.

This course is a non-credit bearing course of the LLB first year and the BA Anthropology and Law first year. It supports students in learning and understanding the options avaialble for legal careers that lie ahead of them. A range of specialist speakers, both within 杏吧论坛 and from practice outside 杏吧论坛, will provide the content for this course.

10 hours of lectures in the AT.

The course consists of ten lectures of one hour each during the Autumn Term. The indicative nature of the sessions is as follows: 

Each session is a one hour lecture for for the whole first year LLB and BA Anthropology and Law cohort.  The lectures will cover the following:

1. The 杏吧论坛 Law Offer – explaining the careers support we offer over the three years of the LLB and BA; understanding (“debunking myths about”) the relationship between study, extra-curricular activities and student “CVs”.



2. Legal Pathways I – The Barrister – exploring the nature of bar practice, the organisation of the bar and the basics of the pathway to the bar.

3. Legal Pathways II – The Solicitor – exploring the nature of practice as a solicitor, the organisation of the profession into different areas of practice and the basics of the pathway to becoming a solicitor.

4. Legal Pathways III – Law outside of the professions – exploring careers in the Government Legal Service, in house-counsel in companies, charities and NGOs.

5. Law and Careers outside of Law – exploring careers outside of the law where a law degree is highly valued.

6. “How does anyone decide what to do?” – exploring the difficulty of making a career choice, how different people go about exploring that choice, and how to manage anxiety and stress around making this choice.

7. Reading Week.

8. Understanding the process of obtaining a job – explaining each step in the application process and the relationship between law firm summer placements in Years 1 and 2 and job applications, and between mini-pupillages and a bar pupillage.

9. Supporting students in:

a. The Summer Placement process – advising students on whether to apply, deciding where to apply, what firms are looking for, and balancing study and application workloads.

b. The Mini Pupillage  – explaining the mini-pupillage and advising students on whether to apply, deciding where to apply and what chambers are looking for.

10. The job application process with or without a Summer Placement.

11. Finding balance and managing anxiety in the job application process.

This course is non-assessed. There is no formative assessment. 

There is no academic reading associated with this course.

This course is non-assessed. There is no formative or summative assessment.