Law: BA

Study Law and graduate with a university degree

Introduction
Course details
Course content
Why Stirling?
Careers

As well as the LLB qualification, we offer two BA (Hons) degrees: one in Business Law and one in Law.

What are the advantages of studying law as a BA? Firstly, it means you develop even further the intellectual skills needed for what is a demanding yet rewarding subject. These include autonomy, determination, intellectual curiosity, clear thinking and concise expression. All are highly valuable, whatever profession you pursue.

Secondly, it’s also a chance to study a range of subjects reflecting the importance of law in all areas of society. For example, our Business Law BA enables you to develop a thorough understanding of the way law and regulation shape and influence the business world. Similarly the BA Law enables you to understand how law interacts with society.

UCAS Codes
BA (Hons) in Business Law (UCAS M221)
BA (Hons) in Law (UCAS M110)

Entrance requirements

Year 1

Highers BBBB.
A-levels BBC.
IB Diploma with a total of 32 points.
HNC or HND with Bs in graded units.

Access courses and other UK/EU and international qualifications are also welcomed.

Law at Stirling is committed to widening access to Higher Education.

Year 2

HND in Legal Services Bs in graded units.

General entrance requirements apply.

International students can study our Undergraduate Certificate if they do not possess the necessary entrance requirements to be admitted directly to Year 1 of an undergraduate degree course.

Other information

If examinations are taken over two sittings, or there are repeats or upgrades, the entrance requirements may be higher.

Required Subjects

English Standard Grade (2), Intermediate 2 (C), GCSE (C) or equivalent. Applicants with English Standard Grade (3) will also be considered, although alternative entry conditions may be made in this case.

Funding

information on possible sources of funding

Modes of study

Full-time (three modules per semester).
Part-time (one or two modules per semester).

Course contact

Lorraine Wilson University of Stirling
Stirling
FK9 4LA
Scotland
UK + 44 (0) 1786 467354 l.l.k.wilson@stir.ac.uk www.stir.ac.uk/arts-humanities

Course Director

Lorraine Wilson

Find out more

http://www.stir.ac.uk/arts-humanities

This degree is particularly suited to students who are seeking a university education in law and who wish to pursue a career in business.

You may pursue a Bachelor's degree, General degree or Honours degree in Business Law.

Semesters 1 – 3

You are introduced to the fundamentals of Business Law. Core modules incorporate:

Legal System
Law of Contract
Law of Delict
Partnership Law
Company Law
Insolvency Law
Legal Process

Semesters 4 – 8

You will select advanced modules from a range of specialist legal topics. These include:

Law of Banking and Finance
Insurance Law and Regulation
Intellectual Property Law
Information Technology Law
International Trade Law
Financial Regulation
Arbitration Law
Competition Law
Sports Law

This degree provides a broad university education in law in a wide range of areas, such as crime, the family, business, the media, and government.

You may pursue a Bachelor's degree, General degree or Honours degree in Law.

Semesters 1 – 3

You are introduced to the fundamentals of law. Core module options incorporate:

Legal Systems and Process
Law of Contract
Law of Delict
Criminal Law
Family Law
Law and Government

Semesters 4 – 8

You will select advanced modules from a range of specialist legal topics. These are shared with the BA Business Law and include:

Environmental Law
Sports Law
Prejudice, Discrimination and the Law
Collective Labour Law

Teaching and assessment

Teaching is delivered via lectures and seminars. You will undertake independent research supervised by a member of staff, presenting a substantial dissertation on a legal topic of your own choice in your final year.

Reading list

Black, G, Business Law in Scotland, (2nd edn., 2010)
Himsworth C.M.G. and O'Neill C.M. , Scotland's Constitution: Law and Practice (2nd edition, 2009), , Tottel
Hepple, B, Equality: The New Legal Framework, Hart, 2011
Davidson and McGregor, Commercial Law in Scotland, (2nd edn., 2008) Thomson W Green,
Sutherland, E. Family Law Basics, (2nd edn, 2008), W Green

Combined degrees

Law can be studied with:
Course	UCAS Code
Accountancy (with Business Law)	MN24
Business Studies	MN11
Criminology	MM91
French	RM11
History	MV11
Human Resource Management	MN16
Marketing	MN15
Politics	ML12
Spanish	MR14

(For a Combined Honours degree the higher entrance requirements of the subjects usually apply.)

Related degrees

Accountancy; Business Studies; Criminology; Economics; Finance; History; Human Resource Management; Marketing; Philosophy; Politics

Our BA courses have been developed by leading academics with strong research profiles and a commitment to excellence.

Study abroad

You have the opportunity to study abroad through Stirling's well-established connections with several international universities.

Rating

The School has a strong reputation for excellence in research. In the most recent Research Assessment Exercise, five percent of our research was judged to be ‘world leading’, 35 percent of ‘international excellence', 30 percent of’ international quality’, with the remaining 30 percent of at least national quality. Staff research is used for the benefit of students in teaching.

Strengths

The BA degrees offer strength and depth in law while allowing you to take advantage of the Stirling system which is designed to allow students to take second and third subjects in Year 1 and Year 2. If doing Single Honours, you then specialise entirely in law or business law but those on Combined degrees develop both law and their second chosen specialism together. This variety is a key feature of the BA degrees here. It means that even if you choose to do a single Honours degree, you will also study other subjects: the range available includes languages, management, economics, criminology, psychology, politics, the environment and much more. This gives our BA students the great advantage of a diverse and varied education and the ability to place legal studies in a wider social or business context.

Study with the people who have written the books: The individual law and business law modules have been designed by staff who publish and research in key areas linked to the module. For example, both courses begin with An Introduction to Law and Business Law and the Course Director has written a key chapter in the textbook which accompanies the module and which was written with the specific requirements of this programme in mind. If you do Business Law you will go on to use the key textbook co-written by our Professor Davidson and if you do Law then you will be using a key text in family law written by our Professor Sutherland.
Develop your research potential with our excellent research staff: the course offers a wide range of Honours options in Years 3 and 4 too and these are taught by staff who are experts in their field. You will often use their original research in your own research into subjects as diverse as child law, environmental law, commercial arbitration, labour law, European law, discrimination law and sports law.

The culmination of your Honours degree is the dissertation process in the final year of the Honours courses which allows you to get your teeth into a topical subject in law and to develop your own research skills even further. We have supervised dissertations in a wide range of subjects from the banking crisis to father’s rights to the regulation of genetically regulated crops and all points in between.

Students on these programmes go on to work in a wide range of careers. For example, those who graduated in 2009 were surveyed and reported employment as:

Sales and marketing executive
Conference events co-ordinator
Business growth manager
Revenue and benefits officer
Trainee accountant
Factoring consultant
Book manager
Tutor

Employers include:

Aviva Insurance
Clackmannanshire Council
The Royal Bank of Scotland
Glasgow City Council
NHS Forth Valley
Govan Law Centre

Our students

At the School of Law students are more than just another faceless number - the students here are recognised as key to a future, vibrant, progressive society where through excellent tuition and guidance, all students are given the opportunities to subsequently enter their desired industry and discipline with the firmest grounding from any Scottish university. Teaching and support staff at the School actually care about the students: taking time to offer encouragement and support to pursue specific research/ discipline interests; offering time to explain often complex legal points and cases; making students aware of conferences or seminars that may benefit individual students; and take time out of their very busy research, administrative, academic and publishing commitments to support the Student Law Society; those students who harbour the desire to 'give back to the community'; or even those who wish to debate the most esoterical issues.

Yvonne Gilfillan BA (Hons) Criminology and Law, graduated 2009.

Our Staff

Lorraine Wilson qualified as a solicitor in 1987 and worked for many years as a commercial Lawyer in private practice as well as in the public sector. She teaches on the BA Business Law modules and also Commercial Law for the LLB. She further teaches Insurance Law & Regulation at 3rd and 4th year levels.

Full details of all Law staff can be found here - http://www.law.stir.ac.uk/staff/index.php

Career opportunities

Our graduates have successful careers in management, banking and financial services and accounting.

Graduates wishing to enter the Scottish legal profession must take a professionally accredited LLB as a second degree. You’ll be eligible to take the two-year Accelerated Graduate LLB in our School. Those wishing to practise law in England and Wales must complete a postgraduate conversion course.

Skills you can develop through this course

Written communication: you will learn how to construct well argued, well structured essays and reports which aim to get your points across as succinctly and clearly as possible.

Verbal communication: throughout the BA in Law/Business Law there are opportunities to give oral presentations (both assessed and unassessed) either individually or in teams to develop confidence in public speaking and debate.You are encouraged to develop reflective practice, and will take part in peer and self-assessment

Problem solving: you will be engaged in solving problems through tutorial work and will develop a problem solving toolkit during the degree.

Legal research: the law is always changing and you will learn to identify and retrieve up-to-date legal information, using paper and electronic sources. You will be able to use relevant primary and secondary legal sources in your tutorial work, essays and ultimately your dissertation if you continue into Honours,

Analysis: learning about the law also requires the development of analytical and critical thinking. You will be able to bring together information and materials from a variety of different sources and recognise legal issues in relation to a topic as well as judge critically the merits of particular arguments. Further you will learn to present and make a reasoned choice between alternative solutions.

Team working: you will work with others in preparing presentations, sharing ideas and skills with colleagues and learning the dynamics of group work.

Personal organisation and Initiative: this degree requires you to manage a heavy workload and meet deadlines, culminating in the management and completion of a 10,000 word dissertation on a topic of your choice.

Chances to expand your horizons

The Law School runs a number of career events and activities throughout the programme:

Annual Careers in Law seminars showcase the wide range of career opportunities for law graduates and allow you to speak to alumni and other invited speakers on their experiences
Mini Law Fairs are held regularly throughout your degree to allow you to find out more about career opportunities
We organise seminars and workshops on interviews, CVs, internships, placements and psychometric testing with the Career Development Centre.
We issue weekly newsletters to all law students which includes a ‘Focus on Careers’ section and publish a range of guides including, ‘Developing your Career and CV’ and more.

Where are our graduates now?

Media Management graduates are currently contributing to the performance of the following organisations:

FirstGroup plc
Tayburn Limited
Strathclyde Police
HSBC
Scottish Water
FIFA
Norwich Union
Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority

To provide you with an indication as to what you can do with your BA in Law degree, graduates entering into employment in the past few years are currently working as:

Business relation manager
Trainee Solicitor
Legal Counsel
Business Development manager
PR Account Executive
Business development manager

Some of our more established alumni are currently leading and shaping strategy across many different sectors – here is an example of how a few former students have advanced in their careers:

Senior Account Manager
Partner of Law Firm
Company Director
Financial Controller
Legal Advisor
Police officer
Business Specialist
Staff manager

Law: BA

Degree award BA (Hons)
UCAS Code M221; M110
Type Full-time, Part-time

UCAS Application Contact us Course Directory

Fees for Bachelor of Arts in Business Law

	Overseas students (non-EU)	Scottish and EU students	Students from the rest of the UK
2013/4 Tuition Fee	£10750	£1820	£6750 per year for a maximum of 4 years

Fees for Bachelor of Arts in Law

	Overseas students (non-EU)	Scottish and EU students	Students from the rest of the UK
2013/4 Tuition Fee	£10750	£1820	£6750 per year for a maximum of 4 years

Please note: Scottish and EU students can apply to the Students Award Agency for Scotland (SAAS) to have tuition fees paid by the Scottish government.

Please note: Students from the rest of the UK can apply for financial assistance, including a loan to cover the full cost of the tuition fees, from the Student Loan Company.