LLB (Hons) Law with Criminology

4 Years On Campus Bachelors Program

University of Abertay Dundee

Program Overview

The LLB (Hons) Law with Criminology at Abertay gives you a thorough legal education that combines core law knowledge with practical insight and real-world readiness. It’s perfect for students who care about justice, want to understand how laws shape society, and envision themselves working in law, advocacy, or any field that values clear thinking, fairness, and legal awareness.

Curriculum Structure

Year 1
Your first year builds a strong foundation. You’ll start with core concepts like how the legal system works, basics of contract and criminal law, and legal reasoning — getting a clear sense of rights, obligations and how to interpret laws. This year helps you build the mindset and skills of a law student: reading carefully, thinking logically, and understanding how laws affect everyday life.

Year 2
In your second year, the study deepens: you’ll explore areas such as public/constitutional law, torts (when things go wrong), property law, and civil obligations — giving you insight into how laws govern relationships between individuals, communities, and the state. Your understanding of how law works in complex situations improves, and you’ll practise critical thinking and application of legal principles.

Year 3
The third year allows you to dive into more advanced and specialised legal topics — potentially including human rights law, commercial law, criminal justice, or optional subjects depending on your interests. You’ll also sharpen practical skills like legal research, essay writing, and analysis of case law. This year helps you begin to see how law connects with real-world challenges and prepares you for your final year and future career.

Year 4
In your final year, you bring it all together — studying advanced modules, engaging possibly in dissertation work or major projects, and focusing on areas you’re passionate about, whether it’s human rights, commercial law, criminal justice, or social policy. This year refines your legal understanding, analytical skills, and readiness to step into professional or academic paths with confidence.

Focus Areas:
Legal foundations; Contract Law; Criminal Law; Public & Constitutional Law; Tort & Property Law; Human Rights & Commercial Law; Legal research & analysis; Case law application; Critical thinking & ethics

Learning Outcomes:
You’ll develop a deep and broad understanding of how law operates in society, sharpen legal reasoning and research skills, learn to interpret statutes and case law, understand legal obligations and rights in diverse contexts, and be ready for legal practice or further legal study.

Professional Alignment (Accreditation):
This degree prepares you for the academic and professional requirements needed to pursue legal careers — giving you a route toward solicitor or legal-advisory training, advocacy, or other law-related roles.

Reputation & Graduate Prospects:
With an LLB (Hons) from Abertay, you’ll be equipped for careers in legal practice, advocacy, public policy, social justice work, consultancy, or further postgraduate study — standing out thanks to a well-rounded, practical legal education that balances theory and real-world relevance.

Experiential Learning (Research, Projects, Internships etc.)

Studying LLB (Hons) Law with Criminology at Abertay isn’t only about reading statutes and casebooks — it’s about learning to think like a lawyer, handle real legal ideas, and build skills you’ll use in everyday professional life. Through a mix of interactive classes, group work, research, and practical tasks, you’ll get chances to test your understanding, see how law works in context, and practise the kind of reasoning, writing, and problem-solving that real legal work demands.

Here are some of the ways you’ll turn theory into practical experience:

Moots and mock court-style exercises — you’ll get to role-play legal scenarios, argue cases, examine evidence or draft arguments, giving you a taste of real legal advocacy and courtroom procedure.
Group projects and collaborative case-studies — many assignments involve teamwork to analyse legal problems, draft legal documents, or propose solutions to hypothetical disputes, helping you build your communication, negotiation and analytical thinking skills.
Access to the law library and legal-research resources — you’ll use specialized legal texts, case law collections, journals and databases to study statutes, precedent cases and legal theory — preparing you for research-heavy work or further professional training.
Research assignments blending academic and real-life law issues — you’ll engage with contemporary legal challenges, policy debates, and societal issues through essays and projects that force you to apply legal principles to real cases and current social problems.
Skill development in legal writing, critical thinking, ethical reasoning and argument construction — through coursework, discussions and assessments you’ll learn how to craft clear legal arguments, evaluate complex situations and think like a lawyer.

Progression & Future Opportunities

Graduating with an LLB (Hons) Law with Criminology from Abertay gives you a solid launchpad — you could enter traditional legal roles like solicitor or barrister, work as a legal advisor or paralegal, or move into broader areas such as compliance, policy-making, or public service. This degree gives you the flexibility to follow law, social justice, public administration or consultancy careers — combining robust legal knowledge with critical thinking and practical skills.

With that in mind, after graduation you could enjoy benefits like:

Support from the university’s career services — helping you polish your CV, get ready for job applications or placements, and connect with employers in legal, corporate or public-sector fields.
Qualification to begin the pathway toward professional legal training — giving you the academic credentials you’ll need if you aim to qualify as a solicitor or barrister.
Opportunities in a wide range of sectors — law firms, advocacy and human-rights organisations, local or national government, regulatory or compliance bodies, NGOs — wherever legal insight and ethical judgment are valued.
A degree that holds long-term value: legal training from Abertay gives you a grounding that’s respected across industries — useful not just in legal practice, but in roles requiring critical reasoning, negotiation, policy understanding, and problem-solving.
A strong foundation if you choose to shift paths — the skills in research, analysis, communication and ethics you build during this course are transferable to many professional areas beyond law.

Further Academic Progression:
If you decide you want to specialise further, you could go on to postgraduate study — a Master’s in Law, Human Rights, Social Justice, or related fields — which can open doors to higher-level work, specialised legal or policy roles, or academic/research careers.