Undergraduate degree in Jurisprudence in the UK

I've previously posted here regarding the University of Exeter and have been very grateful for the insights many of you have given to me. An update of circumstances has interposed some new variables and I hope it's okay to call upon you again.

My son has been admitted to his first choice college in the US. Reed College is a small liberal arts college which always makes the "top 10 list" for colleges and universities with the most intellectual rigor, hard work and what Americans call "nerds." (quirky, socially awkward intellectuals). The definition fits him. He also constantly wants to discuss issues of law and social policy with me (he has taken courses in American constitutional history and is particularly interested in international copyright and intellectual property issues).

Under our current plan, he will be taking a "gap year" to study German in Munich before returning to the US to begin his baccalauriate (we think another year of maturing will help him before he starts and speaking three languages fluently will be an asset); although he has traveled around the continent, he hasn't been to the UK.

If he goes to law school in the US, he will be 28 before he can practice law, if that is what he wants to do. The total cost of his education and support during that time will approach a half million dollars.

Question: are undergraduate students who read jurisprudence at the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge able to practice as barristers and solicitors upon completion of their 3 year programmes? Do other British Universities have similar three or four year programmes? If so, my son might be able to get started in his profession 4 years and $300K sooner and I would be very appreciative.

Thanks.

 

Thanks so much; exactly the information we need.

 

I have lots of contacts, but I wouldn't think of using them until my son has shown himself to have the makings of a top notch legal mind and a strong academic record. He may want to read either a History or a joint History/English programme in lieu of Jurisprudence for fear it might be too narrow too early. If he can make it into and survive Oxford, I imagine the hurdles would get a bit lower. But that's a pretty big "if."

And congratulations on your impending qualification! Have you chosen a particular area of the law as a specialty?

 

It also sounds like the British system prevents a glut of solicitors and barristers on the market with no opportunities as is currently the case in the US. If you cannot get a contract, you cannot become a solicitor. The US has far too many law schools because they are tremendously profitable. We could easily do with only a quarter of the number we have now.

 

Thanks. Wow, that's certainly not encouraging news about the status of opportunities in the law in Britain. Obviously, we are extremely early in the process and a lot of the questions about "the reality of legal practice", in the US at least, depend on the environment you end up in. I'm sure the same is true in the UK.

I, for example have spent less than seven of the past 45 years as an attorney either with a law firm or in solo practice. I graduated from a law school in Washington, D.C. and by sheer dumb luck, found employment with a firm that represented radio and television stations before the Federal Communications Commission. After 5 years with the firm, I joined the legal department of a large public utility with electric, telephone and cable television properties in ten states and, from there, held numerous legal and management positions both there and at AT&T and it's successor companies, involving federal regulation and public policy. For the last 15 years I have been a judge presiding over cases involving the power and telecommunications industries for regulatory agencies. It was probably just as high stress and as much work as private practice, but the challenges, goals and environment were very different and I enjoyed it a lot more than my few years with a law firm.

Similarly, my two older children are both lawyers, but they aren't in law firms either; one has a consulting firm that advises lenders on strategies to maximize their return on loans previously given to companies that are now failing and in violation of their covenants and the other acts as counsel to the Washington state government in the Pacific Northwest.

I'm guessing that, at this stage, my son sees himself involved in intellectual property and privacy law in the digital age. Whether he would be able to find that exact niche, as opposed to drafting wills or real estate contracts or arguing before the courts, is another matter entirely. Maybe he should go to medical school, like his mother.

 

Really useful. Thanks so much. IP is big on the west coast because of both the tech industries and the entertainment industries. For US domestic practice, I'm sure that Stanford, University of California, Berkeley (San Francisco), University of California at Los Angeles and the University of Southern California law schools all have strong IP programmes. I recognize the names of quite a few of the firms on the list because of their US affiliations; many venerable, well-known firms with over a thousand partners worldwide. (Hardly fits my old-fashioned recollections of a firm where all the partners and associates knew each other). However, life on the east side of the pond may resonate more for my son and that's another reason why we're looking in the UK.