Bachelor of Laws
Bachelor of Laws degrees are awarded by universities in regions including Europe, Australia, China, Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Japan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Uganda, Kenya, Ghana, New Zealand, Nigeria, Singapore, South Africa, Botswana, Brazil, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, and United Kingdom.
[8] The "arts" designation of the degree traditionally signifies that the student has undertaken a certain amount of study of the classics.
[9] In continental Europe, the bachelor's degree was phased out in the 18th or early 19th century but it continued at Oxford and Cambridge.
[11] However, because of the lack of standardisation of study and of objective standards for appraisal of these apprenticeships, the role of universities became subsequently of importance for the education of lawyers in the English speaking world.
[19] The Inns of Court continued but became less effective, and admission to the bar still did not require any significant educational activity or examination.
Therefore, formal schools of law were called for, but not finally established until later in the century, and even then the bar did not consider a university degree in admission decisions.
In England and Wales it is also possible to study a programme for conversion called the Graduate Diploma in Law which allows entry to the legal profession following completion of a previous undergraduate degree unrelated to law, which entitles graduates to take the vocational courses for entry into the legal profession.
The Scots Law LLB is generally taken as a four-year honours course, similar to other university degrees in Scotland.
Students wishing to satisfy the Law Society of Scotland requirements to become a solicitor must also complete the postgraduate Diploma in Professional Legal Practice at an approved university.
A qualifying law degree for the purposes of admission as a lawyer in Australia is either the undergraduate LLB program at accredited universities, or the graduate JD (Juris Doctor).
The successor of these boards that still operates the alternative is the Legal Profession Admission Board, which issues the distinct Diploma in Law, equivalent to either an LLB or a JD Law degrees typically last 4 years for undergraduate admission or 3 years for university graduates.
Of the thirty-eight law schools, thirteen of those universities have also started offering the Juris Doctor as a graduate-entry degree.
The National University of Bangladesh also offers a two-year LLB degree to graduates of subjects other than law.
Unlike the United States, the JD is considered a bachelor's degree-level qualification, albeit a "second-entry" one.
Hence all are lawyers eligible and can be admitted to the High Court as a legal professional is entitled to be bestowed with the title "Advocate & Solicitor".
This rule was laid down by the Pakistan Bar Council in 2016 requiring 5 years of education to obtain a Bachelor of Laws qualification.
[23] This change in the legal education rules led to the abolishing of 3 year LLB programs being offered by universities in Pakistan.
[24] To be called to the Singapore Bar, graduates are minimally required to possess an LLB or JD from a recognised university.
[30] The curriculum is typically structured around preliminary, core and advanced courses,[31] and most universities also offer elective coursework.
[33] Along with Latin, these were, but are no longer, "subjects compelled by statute",[34] and were typically entrance requirements for the LLB, having been studied as undergraduate modules.
Similarly, Roman Law was previously a preliminary course, whereas, in both the post- and undergraduate degree, it is now offered as an elective.
In the nineteenth century, the University of London conferred degrees of LLB on clerical and lay students at St. Patrick's College, Carlow from 1840 onwards.
[40] Some universities in the United Kingdom and New Zealand offer variations, which generally take four years to complete and include a wider range of topics as well as some degree of specialisation or the study of multiple jurisdictions, such as the LLB Law with French Law and Language offered by the University of East Anglia.
[41] Various universities in the United Kingdom and Australia will allow a degree that combines study with a non-law discipline.
[49] Before the degree was phased out, notable recipients of the LLB include former United States presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and William Howard Taft; former United States Supreme Court Justices Earl Warren, Anthony Kennedy, William Rehnquist, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Thurgood Marshall, Sandra Day O'Connor and Stephen Breyer; former FBI director J. Edgar Hoover; American judge and jurist Richard Allen Posner; as well as the first female commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission, Frieda B. Hennock.
[53] Additionally, both New York and Massachusetts permit Canadian LLB holders to take the bar exam.
The actual procedure to receive the respective national licence is regulated by the member state and therefore differs from country to country, and temporary restrictions may in certain cases exist, but every EU member has to apply the relevant EU Directives to its own national law.
The Italian Diploma in Law, equivalent to the LLB, does not directly qualify one for a career in any legal profession, as graduates are required to undergo a traineeship for 18 months before taking a government exam to sit for the Italian bar or take the exam as public notary.
Alternatively, this requirement can be met by undertaking two further year of studies (Diploma di specializzazione per le professioni legali – equivalent of a 2-year Master of Arts).
Prior to that, the sole degree of "Licenciatura en Derecho" allowed graduates of law direct access to the legal profession without further training and masters.
