Law (including placement year)

We teach the law that matters. We are ‘freer, more daring and more experimental’ than a traditional law school, so your legal education is relevant and responsive to the needs of a changing society. Our approach is global in outlook, based on justice, and engaged with real-world problems.

Our LLB Law provides you with a rigorous academic training in the discipline of law. We enable you to develop an approach to the discipline so that you can see each subject area as part of an integrated whole. We emphasise an awareness of the place of the law of England and Wales in its European and international frameworks.

You develop a critical awareness of the nature of law within its social, political and economic contexts. Not only will you learn legal rules, but you will also consider the function of law in society, the philosophy of law, policy issues and law reform. You learn to consider, evaluate and respond to alternative and, possibly, conflicting points of view.

You cover all the key areas of law, as well as a wide range of optional topics including:

Copyright and trademark law

International environmental law

Law and literature

Human rights

The use of evidence

At Essex we specialise in commercial law, public law, and human rights law. We are ranked 51st in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2021, which is 13th in the UK, and we are top 20 in the UK for research excellence (REF 2014, mainstream universities, THE 2014).

Our law course allows you to develop your intellectual and critical faculties, encourage you to think independently and teach you to present rational, coherent and accurate arguments orally and in writing.