Legal Methods and Skills
Overview
- Credit value: 0 credits at Level 4
- Convenor: Professor Daniel Monk
- Tutors: Dr Olivia Hamlyn, Dr Kojo Koram
- Assessment: a 2000-word case commentary (100%)
Module description
This module acts as an introduction to your law degree and to many of the skills you will need to be successful in it. You will gain essential knowledge about basic legal concepts, the sources of law and the institutions of the English legal system and the people who work within it. You will also be introduced to the unique features of studying law, the different ways of reading law and asking questions about law.
Indicative syllabus
- Introduction
- Court structure and sources of law
- Reading cases
- Statutory interpretation
- Judges and judges
- Lawyers and lawyering
- Civil litigation
- ADR
- Access to justice and legal aid
- Online justice
Learning objectives
By the end of this module, you will have gained:
- complex perspectives which can be used to explore and critique the concept of law
- knowledge of techniques used by lawyers in the reading of legal texts and presentation of a case
- general knowledge of the dimensions of the history of modern law and legal systems
- both general and detailed, critical insights into what it means to think like a lawyer.
You will also be able to:
- read, recognise, interpret and critically assess cases, statutes and scholarly articles
- demonstrate proficiency across a range of different perspectives from which to critique legal methods and legal systems
- conduct independent legal research.