Law Students Must Have an Honors Degree or Not

At some stage in your undergraduate years you will need to decide whether or not you wish to study for an honors degree, as opposed to a non-honors degree which is sometimes also called an ordinary or general degree. Two or three decades ago only a handful of people studied for honors. It was regarded as reserved for those whose ambitions lay in a research career and was seen as an unnecessary additional year of study for those who intended to enter practice. That position has changed markedly in the last 10 years or so. It is now the norm to study for honors and indeed (with a few exceptions) it is a requirement of entry to the Bar in all jurisdictions of the United Kingdom to have an honors degree of at least a lower second class level. The structure of degrees varies. In Scotland an honors degree is studied over four years and in most universities the final two years of study are the honors years (junior and senior) when there is relative freedom of choice in the subjects studied. In England an honors degree is completed over three years and only the final year of study is devoted to honors, again studying the subjects of choice. Although undertaking an honors degree is the norm, few universities permit automatic entry to honors. Students have to qualify for this. Usually, institutions lay down rules about the level of performance that needs to be achieved before a student can gain entry to honors. For example, if you have had several resists and an indifferent performance in the exams you have passed, then you may find you are not permitted to proceed to honors. Universities would prefer it if students did not fail exams and they certainly do not want weak students being stretched beyond their limits. A decision about entry to honors will usually be made at the end of the second year of study.

In terms of career advantages, aside from the requirements of the Bar in seeking an honors degree, most employers will profess to have no preference about candidates with or without an honors degree. Instead, most employers declare that they are looking for evidence of good academic performance and that can be found at the non-honors level, especially if a candidate has gained merits or distinctions in individual subjects in the course of their study. For law students who are already graduates in another discipline, the idea of completing another honors degree or even their first honors degree (with all the implications for an additional year of funding that this carries) is not attractive. So for mature students undertaking law as a second degree it is rare to seek to study it at honors level.


It sometimes appears, however, that what employers profess they are seeking in graduates and what they actually do is at odds. Some employers do appear actively to recruit first class honors graduates and those with strong upper second class honors degrees. To some extent that suggests there is a preference for honors students. Aside from employers' preferences, there is one other very distinctive advantage to be gained by having an honors degree. It is often a prerequisite of gaining entry to a higher research degree, i.e. a Masters (LL.M. or M.Phil.) or a Ph.D.

In Scotland, graduates from another discipline are able to take an accelerated degree lasting two years and comprising all the prescribed subjects set down by the Law Society of Scotland. England and Wales specifically recognizes a prior degree (including a Scots law degree) as a route into the profession, and stipulates that graduates from another discipline may undertake a course of study, known as the Common Professional Examination or Postgraduate Diploma in Law, which is a form of conversion course, and introduction to the foundational subjects of law. The course is one year of study and, provided the student then passes, he or she is regarded as having completed the academic stage of training and is ready to move on to the vocational stage of training known as the Legal Practice Course. In Northern Ireland the position is that applicants with a degree in any other subject can complete a course of legal study approved by the Council of Legal Education. Queen's University currently runs such a course which can be taken as a full-time (two year) or part-time (three year) course and leads to the award of a B.A. in Legal Science.

If you have undertaken a law degree as a first degree, but have not taken the professionally prescribed subjects, then you may be able to sit examinations in specific courses to top up the subjects you already have and gain the full range of prescribed subjects. This is something you would need to negotiate directly with the institution. It is also possible in Scotland to sit the examinations set by the Law Society of Scotland. There are two such diets of examinations each year, held in May and August. Arrangements to take these examinations have to be made directly with the Law Society of Scotland. Similarly, if you are hoping to qualify to go to the Bar, then the Faculty of Advocates holds its own diets of examinations in February, May and October. Again, arrangements to sit these examinations should be made directly through contact with the Clerk to the Faculty of Advocates. In both cases the professional bodies will be able to direct you to past papers and offer guidance regarding recommended reading and the syllabus examined.

Funding

Funding for higher education has changed dramatically in the last few years. In 1997 the Dearing and Garrick Reports on Higher Education were published, having been commissioned by the Conservative Government to explore both the direction that higher education should take in the next century and alternative ways of funding the delivery of education. In the latter half of the twentieth century most young people undertaking tertiary education, i.e. a degree, were able to apply for a student grant. Although there was an element of means testing to determine what contribution parents might have to make, many students were fortunate in being given a full grant which paid their tuition fees and maintenance costs for up to three years education in England and Wales, and four years in Scotland and Northern Ireland. That has all changed since the Dearing and Garrick Reports. As a result of these reports student loans have been introduced and we have seen the advent of tuition fees, both of which, it is argued, will seriously affect opportunities for young people from disadvantaged economic backgrounds.

As an undergraduate degree, law is no different from any other subject in terms of how it is funded. Today's student faces diminishing grant funding and compulsory tuition fees (currently costing £1,000 each year). Increasingly this creates twin hardship for parents who may be unable to manage their parental contribution, and for students who are likely to have to take out loans as well as find paid employment during their undergraduate years simply to survive. During the election for the Scottish Parliament in May 1999 the issue of tuition fees was prominent in the political debates, and pivotal in the negotiations between Labor and the Liberal Democrats in reaching their power-sharing coalition. Although the Liberal Democrats' manifesto specified that tuition fees should be abolished, it appears that for the moment they have settled on a promise by Labor to set up an independent enquiry into the issue. It therefore remains very much on the Scottish agenda and the electorate (i.e. the student body) has scope to influence decision-making.

Although all universities manage a student hardship fund to which individual applications may be made, it is usually exhausted well before the end of the academic session in each year. This is a matter of concern in all disciplines and arguably particularly worrying in law, where students from less advantaged backgrounds may find the costs of study too great. These costs include those associated with the purchase of expensive textbooks and the funding of a postgraduate year of training. Ultimately this diminishes the legal profession by restricting law to those who can afford it rather than to those who might make the best lawyers.

Student loans were introduced to help students finance their way through university and are repaid when the student finds work after graduating. Concern has been voiced by student bodies that student debt is on the increase and there is no sign that it is improving. Some students seem to incur debts well into five figures by the time they have graduated. After graduation it is possible to defer repayment of student debt until a job at an appropriate income level has been found. In May 1999 the Student Loans Company revealed that almost half of Scotland's graduates had applied to defer repaying their student loans in the previous year. Currently a graduate has to start to repay the loan unless they are in a job with an income of less than 85 per cent of the national average earnings. Part of the difficulty of student debt is that it is relatively easy to get into debt-banks seem very willing to lend money to undergraduates on the promise that they are likely to be in employment soon after graduation and earning sufficient to repay the loan. Banks try to "hook" students at an early stage by offering free or discounted services and relatively cheap loans in the hope that they will remain loyal customers in the future.

If you are not experienced in handling money and have concerns about falling too far into debt then you should seek advice from your students' association and debt counselors at your university. While it may be unavoidable that you incur some debt it is possible to manage it at an acceptable level, and prevent financial worries having a detrimental effect on your studies.

Although there are some additional sources of financial assistance such as educational trusts, bursaries and scholarships, applications for these are always over-subscribed, and as a rule the amounts available are considerably less than is required to avoid hardship. There are various directories of trusts and funding sources which will be held in libraries and careers advisory services, and you should explore these thoroughly to see if you might be eligible. The criteria for eligibility will vary, but often they are connected to academic merit and/or a local connection to the geographical area of the university. Most universities also have their own schemes and endowments and some departments may award various prizes each year to students who excel in certain subjects.