LAW-10041 - Module Specification
School of Law
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

Programme/Approved Electives for 2024/25

Available as a Free Standing Elective

Co-requisites

None

Prerequisites

N/A

Barred Combinations

N/A

Description for 2024/25

Why do you want to be a lawyer? Discover the variety of differing roles available within the legal profession. Reflect on your own motivations and drivers for entering the legal profession, Discover through guest speakers and case studies the wide variety of skills needed within the legal profession and increasing emphasis on legal tech and commercial awareness in the legal industry.
We examine the traditional and non traditional roles available as well as challenging preconceptions about lawyers through a series of role models and case studies.

This module aims to introduce students to the variety of differing roles which lawyers play within society, but also the different roles within the legal profession existing in contemporary society. It examines what it is to be a lawyer- whether as a judge, academic, solicitor, barrister, legal apprentice, CILEx, legal technician, solicitor advocate or paralegal. Guest speakers and staff will discuss their career paths, challenges and successes. This will deliberately focus on a variety of different roles and challenging historical stereotypes and providing appropriate role models for future lawyers. The speakers will provide a wide range of perspectives and bring their own personal identities as central themes. It will also examine the role of pro bono in modern society and the role lawyers play in the provision of legal advice in the broadest sense.
Students will examine their own skills strengths and weaknesses and analyse their own legal identity and using examples consider the role (if any) they wish to play in a modern society. It will build on the theme established within Legal Essentials of 'being a lawyer'.
This module deliberately focusses on the current challenges and opportunities in being a lawyer in modern society from diversity, legal tech and ethical dilemmas to commercial awareness.

Intended Learning Outcomes

reflect on their own legal identity and identify career aspirations within a variety of legal roles within contemporary society: 2
analyse the nature and meaning of 'professional conduct' and potential ethical dilemmas as applied to lawyers in England and Wales in the context of the changing nature of: the legal profession and the professions as a whole.: 1
identify and analyse the different roles lawyers in the broadest sense play within contemporary society: 1,2
analyse specific case studies within the legal profession, reflecting critically upon the nature of contemporary legal practice in England: 1,2
effectively evaluate academic writing for relevance, reliability and credibility: 1,2
synthesise views on challenges facing the legal profession and how these might be addressed (with particular reference to their own legal identity in assessment 2): 1,2

Study hours

11 x 1 hour lectures live online or in person
9 x 1 hour seminars
36 hours preparation for seminars
94 hours private study and assessment preparation

School Rules

None

Description of Module Assessment