Studying Law in the UK vs. Canada
In Canada...
- the first professional degree granted by law schools is the Bachelor of Law (LLB) or, as has become more common in recent years, the Juris Doctor or Doctor of Jurisprudence (JD).
- Students must first earn an undergraduate degree before gaining admission to a law LLB or JD programme.
- Upon completion of a law degree, students must then sit the relevant exams and gain the relevant professional or articling experience to qualify as barristers and solicitors in their chosen province.
Law at Aberdeen
In the UK, students may enter law school directly upon graduation from high school. The School of Law at the University of Aberdeen offer a range of Law programmes including:
- LLB Law (4 years) (M114)
- LLB Law Accelerated (graduate entry, 2 years) (M115)
- LLB Law with English Law (4 years) (M2M1)
- LLB with English Law (Accelerated) (graduate entry, 2 years) (M116)
For a complete list of programmes, please refer to the School of Law website.
Scots Law and English Law
At Aberdeen, students can choose to pursue our traditional LLB degree in Scots Law or the LLB with English Law. Both the LLB and the LLB with English Law are also offered as two-year Accelerated options, for students who already have a good undergraduate degree.
The LLB with English Law degrees, both the 4-year and 2-year degrees, cover a suite of English Common Law courses which are approved by the English Solicitors Regulation Authority to allow students to proceed to the professional training stage in England or Wales upon achieving the required grades in their courses. The underlying LLB degrees themselves already give students full exemption from the professional examinations of Law Society of Scotland and the Faculty of Advocates.
For students wishing to practice law in Canada, the LLB with English Law degrees offers a suite of English Common Law courses which can help pave the way for gaining qualification to practice law in Canada (other than in Québec).
Transferring your Law degree to Canada
To gain their qualification to practice law in Canada (other than in Québec), all lawyers trained outside of Canada must apply to the National Committee on Accreditation (NCA) which is a part of the Federation of Law Societies of Canada that assesses the legal education credentials of those trained outside of Canada seeking to gain admission to a law society in a Canadian Common Law jurisdiction.
The NCA uses a uniform standard to determine the requirements that each applicant must meet to satisfy the requirements for practising law in Canadian Common Law provinces and territories. It considers applications on a rolling basis. However, it would only do so once the applicants have received their final academic grades from their law schools. The NCA assesses each applicant on an individual basis and takes into consideration a number of factors. These factors include:
- The law courses and the degree programme which have been completed abroad;
- The applicant’s academic performance in these courses;
- The applicant’s professional legal experiences (if any).
Among the core Common Law subjects required by the NCA are Contracts, Torts, Property, and Business Organisations – subjects which are covered within our suite of English Common Law courses. In addition, the NCA also requires a further 5 Canada-specific core subjects: Canadian Administrative Law, Canadian Constitutional Law, Canadian Criminal Law, Foundations of Canadian Law, and Canadian Professional Responsibility. The NCA may also assign further course requirements based on the factors considered for each applicant on a case by case basis. For full details, please visit the NCA website.
There is a variety of ways for meeting the Canada-specific core subject requirements as well as the applicant-specific subject requirements. Currently, students may self-study to prepare for the NCA challenge examinations, students may complete the assigned subjects at a Canadian law school, or undertake a combination of self-study and taking the assigned subject at a Canadian law school.
How to Apply
You can apply to your chosen LLB programmes through UCAS. The deadline for home students is January 15th, however, international students can apply up until June 30th. UK law schools do not require the LSAT, instead applicants are assessed based on their high school record, along with your personal statement and references. Our
Entry Requirements - LLB
- LLB and LLB with English Law - UK law schools do not usually require the LSAT, instead applicants are assessed based on their high school record, along with your personal statement and references. Our website lists the minimum requirements which students need to meet in order to be considered for admission.
- LLB (Accelerated) and LLB with English Law (Accelerated) - Students applying for the 2-year Accelerated programmes are assessed based on their undergraduate record, along with the personal statement and references. Our website lists the minimum requirements which students need to meet in order to be considered for admission, though the requirement for either of our LLB Accelerated programmes is a cumulative GPA of 3.3 (or equivalent).
Programme Enquiries
Dr Catherine Ng
Senior Lecturer, School of Law
B Comm (UBC, Vancouver), LLB (U of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario), LLM (Osgoode Hall Law School, York U, Toronto), DPhil (Oxon, Oxford)
e: c.w.ng@abdn.ac.uk
t: +44 1224 273897
