LL.B. Joint Honours

It is possible to combine completion of all of the professional subjects required by the Law Society of Scotland to become a solicitor with study of another subject to honours level. The LL.B. has been designed to offer as much flexibility as possible. It is possible to combine Law with: Business Management, Economics, Economic and Social History, English Literature, Gaelic, Geography, History, Philosophy, Politics and Slavonic Studies. There may also be other possibilities. If you want to follow this course you would usually need to take courses totaling 40 credits in your joint honours subjects in each of your first two years (the exception is Philosophy where only a 20 credit course in first year is strictly necessary). The consequence of this is that some of the professional subjects would be taken in third year. Using Politics as an example your curriculum would look like this:

Year 1

Principles of Property and Obligations (30 credits)
Sources and Institutions of Scots Law (40 credits)
Family Law (10 credits)
Politics 1 (40 credits)

Year 2

Law and Government (20 credits)
Commercial Law (10 credits)
Business Organisations (10 credits)
Property Law (40 credits)
Tax Law (10 credits)
Politics 2 (40 credits)

Year 3

Jurisprudence (20 credits)
European Law (10 credits)
Criminal Law and Evidence (20 credits)
Law Level 3 course (30 credits)
Politics Honours paper 1 (30 credits)

Year 4

Dissertation (30 credits)
Law Honours paper 1 (30 credits)
Politics Honours paper 2 (30 credits)
Politics Honours paper 3 (30 credits)

For other subjects the order of study of Law courses might differ depending on timetable clashes and the number of courses a student was expected to take in a semester.

The courses in bold are compulsory courses for the LL.B. Those in italics are required by the Law Society of Scotland for the solicitor branch of the legal profession. If you wish to become an Advocate you must take two additional subjects: Roman Law of Property and Obligations, and International Private Law. For joint honours students these would need to be studied after graduation (study of these subjects after graduation is quite common).

It is also possible in principle to combine joint honours with study abroad (usually for 6 months if the student wishes to obtain passes in the professional subjects), though this would have to be planned early in second year.

Finally, a joint honours degree can be taken without taking all of the professional subjects, the structure for this is:

Year 1

Principles of Property and Obligations (30 credits)
Sources and Institutions of Scots Law (40 credits)
Family Law (10 credits)
Politics 1 (40 credits)

Year 2

Law and Government (20 credits)
Jurisprudence (20 credits)
Politics 2 (40 credits)
Option 1 (20 credits)
Option 2 (20 credits)

Year 3

Law Level 3 course (30 credits)
Politics Honours paper 1 (30 credits)
Option 1 (20 credits)*
Option 2 (20 credits)*
Option 3 (20 credits)†

Year 4

Dissertation (30 credits)
Law Honours paper 1 (30 credits)
Politics Honours paper 2 (30 credits)
Politics Honours paper 3 (30 credits)

* or one 40 credit option.

† Option 3 can be a third level 3 law course.  If you take three level 3 courses only the best two count towards your final Honours classification.

In addition to the compulsory subjects in bold you would need to take at least another 80 credits of law subjects. Optional courses could come from within the School of Law or from other Departments in the University. The main School of Law options suitable for study in all of the first three years of the LL.B. are Criminal Law and Evidence, Roman Law of Property and Obligations, Public International Law and Forensic Medicine. Labour Law and International Private Law are options only suitable for study after first year.