9 replies to this topic

[PurpleMustang]

I am in my second year of undergraduate studies right now, and I have recently been accepted to go on an exchange to England for the 2012-2013 academic year - and I'm extremely excited.

Right now, I'm studying a combination of Psychology, Criminology, and Business courses at Western.

I will either be pursuing a degree in Honours Psychology or Business at Ivey. As a result of going on my exchange, I will likely have to take a fifth year.


Because a student can go to law school right out of high school in England, I am allowed to take law school courses while on exchange. Is this something you think would be a good idea? If so, which courses (specifically - i.e., torts, criminal, contract) do you feel would be the best options?

Thanks a lot.

[Mal]

I would recommend not taking the core law school courses. It'd be more worthwhile long term to take things that are about the UK legal system, or a class on statutory interpretation or the like.

[PurpleMustang]

Unfortunately, they don't have any classes like that. There is a "Legal Skills" class for first year law students, but I'm not sure that is similar to what you're describing. Out of curiosity, why would you advise against taking core courses? I was considering criminal law, tort law, and law of evidence.

[whereverjustice]

I can't imagine Canadian law schools would allow you to count those courses toward a Canadian law degree. I guess you could take one if you're still trying to make up you mind about whether law school is worthwhile for you and want a taste, but then, law teaching might be pretty different over there.

Really I can't think of any other reason to do it rather than something you're actually interested in.

[PurpleMustang]

Oh, I didn't think they would apply to a law school degree. If I take the courses, it's merely out of pure interest.

[Radfahrer]

I took a European Union Administrative law class while I was on exchange and found it quite interesting. We learned a bunch about how the levels of court, policies, agencies and how the constitution works in the EU, along with the convoluted process of how it works with local governments. They watered it down for exchange students, but there were still lots of case readings and convoluted terminology. We had a 100% final examination where we got a case and had to respond to the issues, reference previous cases and give our opinion of how the court would rule on it. It didn't influence me on whether I wanted to go to law school, but it gave me an idea of the rigour behind studying law, and how interesting/boring it can be. If you can find something like this that gives you a broader perspective of how the legal process and constitution works in a different country, do it, but taking stuff like torts/criminal/contracts which are going to be in-depth and very specific might not be as interesting.

[Mal]

What school are you going to? It seems odd to me that there is nothing like that. I'd be looking at courses that focus on theory, often called "jurisprudence".

You should avoid core courses because (1) it will be repetitive if you do law school later (2) it will provide a false sense of security and could give you bad habits and (3) it won't be beneficial longterm. It is far too easy to fall into the thinking that you can "jump start" law school by taking a course and OF COURSE it will help! It isn't going to help and those courses are not particularly interesting.

You are going to the UK, that is exciting. If you go to law school later you don't want to tell anyone who interviews you that "I went to UK on exchange and took torts there", you want to say "I went to UK on exchange and got to take jurisprudence learning about X"". Why? Because one makes you look like an interesting person that took advantage of going abroad and the other makes you seem one dimensionally focused on law.

Edit: Rad that is exactly the type of thing I was getting at! Sounds interesting if you describe it, not something people that don't have that opportunity are going to have, and is specific to that part of the world.

[PurpleMustang]

@Mal - I'm going to the University of Essex.

This is a list of their courses:
http://www.essex.ac....es/default.aspx

And select Law from the drop-down.

[Radfahrer]

Take something like "Introduction to the Law of the European Union" or "European Human Rights Law". The EU system is unique and there's no other like it in the world, and some of the cases where governments conflict with EU policy can be quite interesting.

You should remember one of the most important things you'll take away from exchange will be a broadened perspective. Don't squander the opportunity!

Edited by Radfahrer, 18 February 2012 - 09:40 PM.

[Mal]

PurpleMustang, on 18 February 2012 - 09:35 PM, said:

@Mal - I'm going to the University of Essex.

This is a list of their courses:
http://www.essex.ac....es/default.aspx

And select Law from the drop-down.

I agree with Rad above. I would take the "Philosophy, Political theory and the European Union"... that is a jurisprudence course. It is a good midway between undergrad type courses and law school.