Welcome to Law at Canterbury Christ Church University. We are delighted that you have accepted the offer of a place on one of our Law Courses. We provide a wide-ranging undergraduate legal education which not only develops you, but also prepares you for employment or post-graduate studies.

Dr Matthew Stubbins
Director for Law, Senior Lecturer in Law, and Barrister

Key dates

Course start date: 16 September 2024

Academic Calendar: Semesters

View key dates for this Academic Calendar for 2024-25 including when teaching starts and finishes and when you break for holidays.  

Welcome and induction

Your Welcome Week is an essential introduction to your course and student life at CCCU, helping you to feel confident and prepared for your studies right from the very start.

It is important to check your Welcome Schedule for all the activities you are required to attend during the week.

We will let you know your group and room for the Meet your Personal Academic Tutor session during the Course Welcome on Monday 16th September. If you are unable to attend this session or have any queries regarding this please go to Nf01 (Newton) at the beginning of the Meet your Personal Academic Tutor activity to find out your group.

Your teaching timetable 

UniTimetables provides an overview of all teaching activities on a course. Your individual timetable will be available via MyTimetable and is personalised to show you what modules and groups you are expected to attend.

Your individual student timetable can only be produced once you have engaged with online registration and created your computing account. It is essential you complete these tasks when invited, so that your course team can assign you to your teaching activities and publish your individual timetable.

Find out more about all aspects of timetabling for new students including user guides.

Welcome

The Law Team appreciates that this is a time of change for you. The prospect of university can be  daunting as it is a big step up from your previous education experiences. This might also be the first time you are leaving home and moving to a very different place. To assist with this transition, you will be assigned a personal academic tutor (PAT). Your personal tutor will be your first point of reference for any personal or general academic matters you might have throughout your time at the university. Our very hands-on peer mentors, who are currently students in their second and third years, are also ready to guide you through your journey.

The Department’s members of staff will meet you during the welcome week when you will be invited to join several activities, and you will receive the key information you need to get started with your studies. You will learn a lot about studying at CCCU and be given important information about your law degree, so please engage with as many of the activities as you can. The activities and guidance you will receive this week will hopefully make things a little easier for you as you settle into your studies.

 

Social Media

We have a Facebook page, where you can send a message via messenger to inquire about Law at Canterbury Christ Church University. Like and follow the page Law at Canterbury, to get updated each time new content is posted.

You can also follow our Law and Mooting Society on Instagram, @law_and_mooting_cccu, to get up-to-date information on the activities carried out by the Law and Mooting Society.

The law department also has a blog, Law and Mooting Society. 

You can also keep up to date with what is going on in our Faculty and count down to beginning your studies with us by following us on Instagram

 

Getting started

We take a modern approach to legal education and aim to be both practically oriented and academically critical. Our areas of expertise include mediation and other means of alternative dispute resolution, through which we provide a different experience from other law degrees. We believe in a flexible and progressive socio-legal education. Studying law at CCCU will provide you with an opportunity to gain a degree that presently satisfies the academic stage of training on the pathway towards becoming a barrister in the England, as well as providing a background towards the Solicitors Qualifying Exam (SQE).

Our law degree will enable you to acquire a wide range of useful employability skills including critical thinking; team working; effective time management; presentation skills; and the ability to identify and construct an argument in both written and oral format. As well as preparing you for a career in the legal profession, these skills will be useful for a much broader range of career opportunities such as the civil service, consulting, personnel management, publishing, politics and teaching.

You will study 6 modules during each academic year. The academic year is split into two semesters and you will complete 3 modules per semester.

Semester 1 Modules:

Introduction to Obligations

English Legal System

Law in Society

Semester 2 Modules:

Contract Law

Criminal Law

Dispute Resolution

Although you are not expected to do any reading before you arrive, you will find it easier if you have some background of what to expect studying law or generally about law. Feel free to choose any of these books to familiarise yourself:

  • The Secret Barrister, The Secret Barrister: Stories of the Law and How It's Broken (Picador; Main Market edition 4 April 2019)
  • N. J. McBride, Letters to a Law Student: A Guide to Studying Law at University (4th edition, Pearson 2018)
  • Catherine Barnard, Janet O'Sullivan and Graham Virgo (eds), What about Law: Studying Law at University (2nd revised edition, 2011)
  • Water B, Klien T, Learning Legal Skills and Reasoning, 5th edn (Routledge, 2021)
  • OSCOLA Referencing Guide, 4th edn - https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/sites/files/oxlaw/oscola_4th_edn_hart_2012.pdf

Your welcome and induction to the course and the university will be w/c 16th September 2024 - we look forward to meeting you then.

 

Community

On the social side, the Student Union (CCSU) has a huge range of clubs and societies – all of which have unique social calendars of their own and offer endless opportunities to make lifelong friends and discover new hobbies. And you can always create your own society and cultivate your own community!

CCSU will be hosting their Welcome Fayre on Wednesday 18th September 2024. Make sure you keep checking the CCSU website for further details and how to get involved.

We understand that you may be nervous about your first few weeks on campus but rest assured - you'll be joining a nurturing and supportive environment where diversity, equality and individuality are part of everything we do.

You can find out more about our welcoming community and making friends. 

If you are an International Student joining us then please see our International Student Support pages for further information and guidance.

 

Pre-course reading

This is the reading list for the two core Semester 1 modules that all LL.B. & LL.B. with another subject students will take. LL.B. students will also complete the module Law in Society during Semester 1, and LLB with another subject students will complete a module from the other subject that they are studying. If you are studying Law with another subject please see the Course Essentials page for your other subject area for any summer reading you may need to complete.

Books are available from the University bookshop at a discount, and you can buy them when you arrive. Alternatively, you might like to buy books from the current Year 2 students. You should aim to buy core texts and access the recommended titles as you need from the library.

Introduction to Obligations

Core Texts

  • McKendrick E, Contract Law (15th ed. Palgrave Macmillan 2023)
  • McKendrick E, Contract Law: Text, Cases and Materials (10th ed. OUP 2022)

Recommended Reading

Macdonald, E & Atkins, R Koffman & Macdonald’s Law of Contract (9th ed, Oxford University Press 2018)

  • Mulheron R, Principles of Tort Law (CUP, 2nd edn, 2020)

English Legal System

Core Texts

  • Elliott, C and Quinn, F, English Legal System (21st ed, Pearson 2020/2021)
  • Slapper, G and Kelly, D, The English Legal System (19th edn, Routledge 2020)

Both of these books come with extensive companion websites that students will be expected to engage with.

Recommended Reading

  • Cotterell, S, Critical Thinking Skills: Developing Effective Analysis and Argument (3rd edn, Palgrave Macmillan 2017)
  • Twining, W and Miers, D How to Do Things with Rules (5th edn Cambridge University Press 2012)

 

International student success programme

International students: don't miss out! Make sure you register for our international student success programme which provides practical advice on preparing to live and study in the UK.

Contact details

If you have any queries, please contact the course team at law@canterbury.ac.uk