LLB Hons Law with French
ApplyKey facts
- UCAS Code: M1R1
- Accreditation: Law Society of Scotland
Facilities: Strathclyde Law Clinic
Part-time study: available
Study with us
- enhance your career opportunities with knowledge of the law and languages of an EU member state
- spend a year in the country of your chosen language studying at one of our partner institutions – develop language skills and cultural awareness
- the degree is accredited by the Law Society of Scotland
- gain practical court-room experience through the Mooting Society
- develop your legal skills as a member of Scotland’s largest student-run Law Clinic
Why this course?
The Law School at Strathclyde is one of Scotland’s leading providers of legal education. We're home to the country’s first student-run law clinic, which offers a unique, real-world, learning environment, and to Ardcalloch, a virtual community where the legal issues of everyday life are played out.
French is a major international language. It is the first language of more than 100 million people across the world, while more than 60 million people speak French as a second language.
Studying with us will give you the chance to become a fluent linguist and, with our year abroad programme, an opportunity to experience living, working and/or studying in another country.
All of our LLB graduates satisfy the professional requirements of the Law Society of Scotland and the Faculty of Advocates to proceed to the post-degree stages of professional training required to become a practising lawyer in Scotland.
What you’ll study
Year 1
The core law classes in first-year are Legal Methods and Public Law 1. First-year French classes introduce contemporary language, culture and studies of French society, which will provide a basis for further specialisation in Years 2 and 3.
Year 2
Core law classes in second-year are Criminal Law 1; Public Law 2; Involuntary Obligations; Delict and Unjustified Enrichment; Property; and Domestic Relations. In French, you'll continue to study the contemporary language, both written and spoken, through language exercises, including translation and oral practice.
Year 3
As a third-year student, the core Law classes you'll study are Commercial Law; EU Law; and Evidence. You'll also select one Law elective from a list of options. Year 3 French classes provide further detailed study of the language, written and spoken, with studies of set texts and practical exercises.
Year 4 (Year abroad)
You'll spend fourth year abroad at one of our partner universities in France (Lyon/Toulouse/Marseille/Angers). The year abroad plays a key part in developing language skills and cultural awareness, as well as giving you the chance to gain a closer knowledge of the French legal system.
Year 5
You'll select two honours classes in law, and a legal issue on which to focus your dissertation. Small group seminars replace formal lectures in Honours year. For final-year French, you'll take the relevant honours classes in spoken and written language, together with one class in Modern French culture. These classes help you to build on your ability to give professional presentations and interpreting skills.
Law Clinic
Strathclyde’s Law Clinic is run by students for members of the public who cannot afford a lawyer and are not eligible for legal aid.
More than 200 of our students are now involved and regularly represent clients in Small Claims and Sheriff Courts.
Students receive basic training in legal skills, such as interviewing, negotiation and advocacy and (in the Clinical Legal Practice course) reflecting on experiences and on the ethics and justice of legal practice. Assessment in relevant courses such as Employment Law and Housing Law will be partly on the basis of students’ handling of cases.
Find out more about our Law Clinic.
How to become a lawyer
There are different routes to a career in law. The choices you make now can affect the steps you would need to take to achieve your desired career in law. Here we explore the process of becoming a lawyer in Scotland and look at the different roles available within the law profession.
How to become a lawyer
Law
Semester 1
Legal Processes & Systems
The aim of this module is to provide students with an introduction to the concepts, structures and processes that make up a legal system. It is designed to equip all students studying law with the knowledge and understanding that they will utilise in all other law modules: the “tools of the trade”.
Law of Persons
The aim is to teach students the rules governing, and the definition of, legal and natural persons, their status and capacity. The module is also designed to introduce students at the very start of their legal studies to the idea that legal concepts can be both natural (the child) and non-natural (the limited liability company) – both are “persons” in law.
Semester 2
Constitutional Law
The aim of this module is to introduce students to the institutions, actors, processes and concepts that make up the UK constitution including its particular application to Scotland. It is designed to introduce students to methods of critical engagement with constitutional law in both theory and practice.
Law of Obligations 1
The aim is to introduce students to the concept of obligations that can be enforced by legal process. Students will also have the opportunity to develop their problem-solving skills and ability to construct appropriate legal questions and answers.
Law & Society
This module engages with some challenging problems faced by law within contemporary society. It introduces students to some aspects of the social, political, and ethical conditions in which law operates. It deals with the interaction of law with justice, politics, morals and equality. The course will examine the role and challenges of law in times of social change. The course is structured around three key themes:
- legal reasoning
- law & politics
- law & social change
French
Year 1
You'll take two combined classes: French 1A (semester 1), French 1B (semester 2). These courses are mainly organised around a linguistic progression towards level B1 in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. There's a regular input of cultural background which takes the form of three lectures in semester 1 and two in semester 2 covering the following topics:
- The Making of Modern France
- France in a Global Context
- Understanding the French Republic
- French Identities
- Contemporary French Society
In addition, there's an introductory lecture in semester 2 entitled ‘What is translation about?’.
Law
Semester 1
Criminal Law & Evidence
This module is intended to familiarise students with, and elicit an understanding of, the basic elements of Scots criminal law and evidence, including the development of the system, fundamental concepts and their operation in relation to certain specific crimes. The module will teach the application of fact handling, rhetoric and proof by lawyers and the contexts in which the rules of evidence operate, all integrated practically with the criminal law.
Law of Obligations 2
The aim is to teach students the rules governing claims for personal injury, economic loss and hurts to personality rights. The design of the class will help to develop problem solving and advice-giving skills in relation to the law of delictual liability generally.
Administrative Law & Fundamental Rights
The aim of this module is to introduce students to the institutions, actors, processes and concepts that make up administrative and human rights law including their particular application to Scotland. It is designed to introduce students to critical engagement with administrative law, both in theory and in practice.
Semester 2
Commercial Law
Commercial law is a second year compulsory subject on the LLB (and LML) degree. The class provides you with an understanding of commercial law in a Scottish context. It partially meets the commercial law subject requirements and related skills outcomes of the Law Society of Scotland and the Faculty of Advocates (albeit that some of the commercial professional topics, eg sale of goods and insurance law, are dealt with by other courses).
Building on the knowledge you acquire in first year, the general academic objective of the course is to examine the basic principles and rules concerning core aspects of commercial law, including the main principles of agency, partnership and company law, the law relating to various methods of payment (including consumer credit and bills of exchange) the rules governing the ways in which creditors can ‘secure’ repayment of a debt (eg through taking personal guarantees from third parties for repayment of the debt, or by establishing rights in security over debtor property); the basic principles of diligence; the consequences of both corporate and individual debtor inability to repay debts (corporate insolvency and personal bankruptcy respectively).
While the focus of the class is on ‘a black letter’ analysis of relevant statutory and common law in the broad commercial area, in order to aid understanding of relevant principles, the class also examines the policy rationales underlying the current law and recent and projected reforms in this area
EU Law
The EU law class focuses on the constitutional and institutional order of the EU as well as one the internal market. To this end, the class looks at the European integration process, the EU institutions, EU competences, the decision-making process within the EU, the principles underpinning the EU legal order and the principles governing the internal market.
French
Le Monde du Travail
Cultural focus: time (35 hour week, RTT and ‘ponts’, paternity/maternity leave, …) & ‘human resources’ (hierarchical organisation, discrimination, unions, relocation,…)
Linguistic focus: the negation, asking questions, using pronouns.
La France et L'Europe
Cultural focus: the origins of the European ideal, Europe and the EU viewed from France.
Linguistic focus: subjunctive mood.
Immigration & Nationalité
Cultural focus: a historical view of immigration in France and a look at the specificity of the French ‘integration’ system.
Linguistic focus: the system of tenses in French (concentrating on past tenses).
Les Femmes en Politique
Cultural focus: a further look (after first year) at French politics, concentrating on topical issues.
Linguistic focus: modal verbs.
Les Régions
Cultural focus: decentralisation, importance of regions in France.
Linguistic focus: the passive voice.
L’Économie
Cultural focus: the French economy (role of the state, …), marketing à la française
Linguistic focus: equivalent of –ing in French.
In addition, students specialising in French take the French Culture and History 2 class. This class focuses on the Occupation and French Colonialism/Decolonisation. The historical context for each topic is first set, and documents from the two periods studied, before discussion moves on to the cultural domain, via analysis of the following texts and films:
- Au Revoir les Enfants (film, Malle)
- Stupeur et Tremblements (text, Nothomb)
- L'Étranger (text, Camus)
- Le Samourai (film, Melville)
- Anthology of historical texts relating to the Second World War
- Anthology of historical texts relating to French Colonialism/Immigration
Law
Semester 1
Law of Property
The aim is to teach students the classification of property in the Scottish legal system, how ownership is distinguished from possession, how property is acquired, the rights it carries, and how property can be transferred. The module is also designed to introduce students to some of the conceptual issues of property, including how “property” itself is defined either as an item or as a relationship; and how property can be corporeal (a thing) or incorporeal (an idea or right, such as copyright).
Elective modules
In addition, you'll be required to do two elective modules. Optional modules change year on year, so please check with the Law Course Support Team at the start of the semester to confirm which classes are available
Semester 2
Reflective Project
The aim is to enhance students' ability to undertake independent learning, and to ensure that they take a reflective approach to their work while at the same time developing a consciousness of the ethical dimensions of professional legal practice.
French
L’Esclavage Moderne
Cultural focus: a historical review of slavery and a look at modern forms of slavery.
Linguistic focus: reinforcement work on subjunctive mood, passive voice and negative forms.
Les Nouvelles Façons de Consommer
Cultural focus: the impact of consumerism on the environment.
Linguistic focus: adjectives and comparative, hypothesis, conditional mood.
Le Système Éducatif
Cultural focus: a look at current issues in the French education system.
Linguistic focus: reported speech, imperative mood, a further look at pronouns.
L’Année à l’Étranger
Cultural focus: practical module aiming at preparing students for the year abroad.
There is also a French Studies 3 class: Freedom and Identity in France and the Francophone world. This class is based on the study of the following texts and films as examples of the treatment of the class’s twin themes:
- Milou en mai (film, Malle)
- Poverty (various texts)
- The Dreyfus Affair (various historical texts)
- Monsieur Klein (film, Losey)
- Rue des Boutiques Obscures (text, Modiano)
- National Identity in the Third Republic (various historical texts)
In your final year, you'll concentrate on translation, written and oral language and interpreting. You'll also have the chance to write a dissertation in Spanish. If however, you choose to write your dissertation for your other Honours subjects, you'll take two of our cultural classes. These classes reflect the research expertise of our staff and include Latin America through Indigenous Eyes, Visual Culture in Spain, and Key Theories and Debates of Translation Studies (Spanish).
Year abroad
Law
French
French
The language course is based on a series of thematic dossiers dealing with current issues in France and the Francophone world. The focus of the class is on reinforcing and developing key professional language skills, such as translation into English, translation into French, liaison interpreting, and 'exposé' (formal oral presentation).
Students in Joint Honours French will additionally have one or more French Studies 4 classes. Everyone will take the Core Class, Images of Women, which considers the changing portrayal of women over the centuries, using the following texts as the basis of discussion:
- Madame Bovary (novel, Flaubert)
- Fatale (novel, Manchette)
- L’événement (Ernaux, novel)
- Women in the Paris Commune of 1871 (various historical documents)
Joint Honours students not writing a dissertation in French will take these two further classes:
- The Occupation and its portrayal in French films
- France since 1945
Assessment
Law School assessment methods include:
- exams
- multiple choice exams
- problem-based and critical analysis essays
- presentations
- group work
- reports
- case studies
- reflective diaries
A range of assessment methods are used for students of French. Written exams include translations from and into French, writing for a specific purpose and essay questions. Continuous assessment involves exercises ranging from online grammar tests to the group project, which allows students to conduct research and prepare a presentation.
Learning & teaching
The Law School aims to help students develop knowledge and understanding of the principles, nature and development of law and legal institutions, both in Scotland and in other jurisdictions.
Law students are encouraged to visit courts, participate in moot courts and see, first-hand, how institutions, such as tribunals, operate.
Learning and teaching methods for students of French include:
- lectures
- seminars
- workshops
- webcasts
Entry requirements
Required subjects are shown in brackets.
| Highers |
(Higher English B, Maths/Applications of Mathematics National 5 C, or equivalent)
(including English at B and relevant modern language at B; plus National 5 Maths or Application of Maths at C.) Preferred subjects
|
|---|---|
| A Levels | AAB-BBB |
| International Baccalaureate | 34 - 30 |
| Irish Leaving Certificate | Two H2 passes and three H3 passes including English
|
| HND | Legal Services: Year 1 entry AAA in Graded Units, with Higher French B. Other relevant HND qualifications will be considered on an individual basis; please contact us for advice. |
| International students | View the entry requirements for your country. |
| Deferred Entry | Not normally accepted |
Additional Information
- essay-based Highers/Advanced Highers/A Levels recommended, for example Social subjects, Philosophy, Psychology, RMPS
- experience in a law firm is not expected
*Standard entry requirements
Offers are made in accordance with specified entry requirements although admission to undergraduate programmes is considered on a competitive basis and entry requirements stated are normally the minimum level required for entry.
Whilst offers are made primarily on the basis of an applicant meeting or exceeding the stated entry criteria, admission to the University is granted on the basis of merit, and the potential to succeed. As such, a range of information is considered in determining suitability.
In exceptional cases, where an applicant does not meet the competitive entry standard, evidence may be sought in the personal statement or reference to account for performance which was affected by exceptional circumstances, and which in the view of the judgement of the selector would give confidence that the applicant is capable of completing the programme of study successfully.
**Minimum entry requirements
Widening access
We want to increase opportunities for people from every background. Strathclyde selects our students based on merit, potential and the ability to benefit from the education we offer. We look for more than just your grades. We consider the circumstances of your education and will make lower offers to certain applicants as a result.
Degree preparation course for international students
We offer international students (non-EU/UK) who do not meet the academic entry requirements for an undergraduate degree at Strathclyde the option of completing an Undergraduate Foundation year programme at the University of Strathclyde International Study Centre.
Upon successful completion, you will be able to progress to this degree course at the University of Strathclyde.
International students
We've a thriving international community with students coming here to study from over 140 countries across the world. Find out all you need to know about studying in Glasgow at Strathclyde and hear from students about their experiences.
Visit our international students' section
Glasgow is Scotland's biggest & most cosmopolitan city
Our campus is based right in the very heart of Glasgow. We're in the city centre, next to the Merchant City, both of which are great locations for sightseeing, shopping and socialising alongside your studies.
Life in Glasgow
Fees & funding
All fees quoted are for full-time courses and per academic year unless stated otherwise.
Fees may be subject to updates to maintain accuracy. Tuition fees will be notified in your offer letter.
All fees are in £ sterling, unless otherwise stated, and may be subject to revision.
Annual revision of fees
Students on programmes of study of more than one year (or studying standalone modules) should be aware that tuition fees are revised annually and may increase in subsequent years of study. Annual increases will generally reflect UK inflation rates and increases to programme delivery costs.
| Scotland |
Fees for students who meet the relevant residence requirements in Scotland are subject to confirmation by the Scottish Funding Council. Scottish undergraduate students undertaking an exchange for a semester/year will continue to pay their normal tuition fees at Strathclyde and will not be charged fees by the overseas institution. |
|---|---|
| England, Wales & Northern Ireland | £9,250 Assuming no change in fees policy over the period, the total amount payable by undergraduate students will be capped. For students commencing study in 2024/25, this is capped at £27,750 (with the exception of the MPharm and integrated Masters programmes). MPharm students pay £9,250 for each of the four years. Students studying on integrated Masters degree programmes pay an additional £9,250 for the Masters year with the exception of those undertaking a full-year industrial placement where a separate placement fee will apply. |
| International | £21,700 |
| Additional costs | International studentsInternational students may have associated visa and immigration costs. Please see student visa guidance for more information. LawCourse materials & costsNo additional costs for law modules and all compulsory material is in the library. FrenchCourse materials & costsThe majority of course materials are available to students via Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). Students can print course materials at their own expense. The cost of course texts does not normally exceed £30 per academic year. Key language texts are used over 2 or 3 years of study. Multiple copies are also available in the University Library. Study abroadStudying abroad is an integral part of the degree and usually takes place in year 4. Students are required to meet travel, accommodation and living costs. These costs will vary dependent on the country of study. |
| Available scholarships | Take a look at our scholarships search for funding opportunities. |
Please note: All fees shown are annual and may be subject to an increase each year. Find out more about fees.
How can I fund my studies?
Students from Scotland
Fees for students who meet the relevant residence requirements in Scotland, you may be able to apply to the Student Award Agency Scotland (SAAS) to have your tuition fees paid by the Scottish government. Scottish students may also be eligible for a bursary and loan to help cover living costs while at University.
For more information on funding your studies have a look at our University Funding page.
Students from England, Wales & Northern Ireland
We have a generous package of bursaries on offer for students from England, Northern Ireland and Wales:
You don’t need to make a separate application for these. When your place is confirmed at Strathclyde, we’ll assess your eligibility. Have a look at our scholarship search for any more funding opportunities.
International Students
We have a number of scholarships available to international students. Take a look at our scholarship search to find out more.
Dean's International Excellence Award
This scholarship is for new international students who will begin a full-time undergraduate course in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in September 2024. The award is a £5,000 scholarship per year for the duration of their degree (total of £20,000 for a four year course). All offer-holders are eligible for this scholarship.
Dean's International Excellence Award
Careers
Most Strathclyde LLB graduates enter the legal profession after completing the Diploma in Professional Legal Practice and a two-year traineeship in a law firm.
The single European market and the mutual recognition of legal qualifications in the EU member states allows lawyers to practise their profession outside their national jurisdictions (often on completion of a short conversion course) and Law with a Modern Language graduates are well-placed to work professionally in the country of the language they have studied.
Knowledge of the law, legal system and language of at least one other EU member state greatly enhances career opportunities in the fields of industry, commerce, banking and accountancy, central and local government.
Chat to a student ambassador
If you want to know more about what it’s like to be a Humanities & Social Sciences student at the University of Strathclyde, a selection of our current students are here to help!
Our Unibuddy ambassadors can answer all the questions you might have about courses and studying at Strathclyde, along with offering insight into their experiences of life in Glasgow and Scotland.
Chat to a student ambassadorApply
Start date:
Law with French (1 year entry)
Start date:
Law with French (1 year entry)
Start date: Sep 2024
Law with French (1 year entry)
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