Introduction
Mode of Attendance: Full-time
In an increasingly interconnected world, the law is no longer the preserve of single jurisdictions as legal issues are no respecters of national borders. A SOAS Law degree addresses this need by providing our students with an educational experience that equips you with a distinctive set of skills far beyond what is offered by most traditional Law Schools.
The SOAS Law Combined Honours Degree is a 3 or 4-year full-time degree, which aims to produce highly-skilled, civic-minded and critically engaged graduates, who can effectively contribute to their communities and societies through the knowledge and skills gained on this course.
The nature of the Combined Honours degree enables you to develop a specialist niche for yourself by studying a second subject.
The BA Law Combined Honours Degree is aimed primarily at those not wishing to become practising lawyers, but provides students with a wide range of analytical and transferable skills and is suitable for any profession in which a non-specialised degree is required. Although it is possible to switch to the LLB at the end of Year 2 or 3 provided the student has taken and passed all the required courses necessary to qualify for an LLB.
May be combined with:
Those who are interested in combining the study of law, the economy and politics, please look at BA Politics, Economics and Law (PEL)
Arabic+, MT16 BA/LWA
Chinese+, MT11 BA/LWCH
East Asian Sudies
History, MV11 BA/LWH
Korean+, MTDL BA/LWKO
Languages and Cultures
Social Anthropology, LM61 BA/SALW
Why SOAS?
SOAS is unique as the only higher education institution in the UK specialising in the study of Asian, Middle East and North African (MENA) and Sub-Saharan African regions.
We are specialists in the delivery of more than forty African and Asian languages. Your command of a language will set you apart from graduates of other universities.
This programme will immerse you in the legal traditions and practices of a number of global regions, which will give you a critical understanding of the role of law in the world today.
We specialise in key topics including international and transnational law, human rights, transnational commercial law, environmental law, comparative law and socio-legal method.
Allows you to develop a specialist niche alongside your Law degree by utilising the global expertise of one of our other departments.
Employment
The degree structure provides students with a combined law degree aimed primarily at those not wishing to become practising lawyers. It provides students with a wide range of analytical and transferable skills suitable for any profession in which a non-specialised degree is required.
Skills gained include:
specialist knowledge of comparative law, human rights, environmental law and international law,
choosing to study a combined degree programme will increase the breadth of your knowledge, and will develop additional skills,
the ability to think laterally and employ critical reasoning,
analytical skills,
problem-solving skills,
the ability to formulate sound arguments,
ability to interpret and explain complex information clearly,
communication and presentation skills.
SOAS Law graduates have gone on to pursue careers directly related to law or used their skills and expertise to get take up professional and management careers in both the private and public sectors. The Law degree programmes have also enabled graduates to continue in the field of research either at SOAS or other institutions
Graduates have gone on to work for a range of organisations including:
Allen & Overy
Clifford Chance
Baker McKenzie
United Nations
Linklaters
Lloyds Banking Group
Gibson Young Solicitors
Liberty UK
Slaughter and May
CMS Cameron McKenna
Types of roles that graduates have gone on to do include:
Trainee Solicitor
Barrister
Finance Manager
Legal Researcher
Paralegal
Financial Analyst
Procurement Manager
Tax Consultant
Business Developer
Recruitment Consultant
Structure
Students take 120 credits per year composed of core and optional modules, which allows students to design their own intellectual journey while maintaining a strong grasp of the fundamentals.
Students may take a maximum of 60 Law related credits and a minimum of 30 Law related credits a year on this programme.
In Year 1 students are introduced to the core elements and principles of the English legal system and provided with the key analytical skills necessary for undertaking a demanding law degree program.
In the second, third and fourth years’ our students will be even more fully immersed in the distinctively SOAS program. Our students can choose from a wide array of optional courses that draw on the unique research expertise of our staff. The emphasis we place on choice, and research-led teaching, will allow our students to pursue a number of distinct specialisms as their degree progresses, but whichever path they choose to focus on the courses they study will all be imbued with that distinctive SOAS dimension, that stresses critical engagement and understanding of the role of law in the world at large.
Year 1 - If taking two compulsory modules in the second subject
Compulsory Module
Introduction to Law and Legal Processes
Contract Law
Criminal Law
and
Second Subject
Students take 60 credits in the second subject.
Year 1 - If taking three compulsory modules in the second subject
Compulsory Module
Introduction to Law and Legal Processes
Contract Law
and
Second Subject
Students take 90 credits in the second subject.
Year 2 - If Criminal Law not taken in year 1
Compulsory Module
Criminal Law
Legal Systems of Asia and Africa
and
Second Subject
Students take 60 credits in the second subject.
or
Choose modules from List of Modules below to the value of 60 credits.
Year 2 - If Criminal Law already taken in year 1
Compulsory Module
Legal Systems of Asia and Africa
and
Second Subject
Students take 90 credits in the second subject.
or
Choose modules from List of Modules below to the value of 90 credits.
Year 3
Second Subject
Students take 120 credits in the second subject.
or
Choose modules from List of Modules below to the value of 120 credits.
List of Year 2 Optional Modules
Law and Society in South Asia
Islamic Law
Introduction to EU Law
Chinese Law
Law of Tort
Public Law
Common-Law, Equitable and Comparative Property 1: Property Interests
Introduction to Global Commodities Law
Foundations of Human Rights Law
Public International Law
International Law of the Sea
The Art of Advocacy
International Environmental Law
List of Year 3 Optional Modules (subject to availability)
Family Law
Asylum and Immigration Law
Law and Society in South Asia
Law and Society in Africa
Islamic Law
Independent Study Project on a Selected Legal topic
Company Law
Chinese Law
Intellectual Property Law
Law of Islamic Finance
Advanced Comparative Administrative Law
Commercial Law
Law, Multiculturalism and Rights
Law of Commercial Arbitration
Alternative Dispute Resolution
Introduction to EU Law
Contract Law
Law of Tort
Common-Law, Equitable and Comparative Property 1: Property Interests
Common-Law, Equitable and Comparative Property 2: Proprietary Relationships
Public Law
Introduction to Global Commodities Law
Foundations of Human Rights Law
Public International Law
Law and Society in Africa
Law, Terror and State Power
UoL Options
Up to one 30-credit level 5 or level 6 LLB module in Law taught at another University of London Law School - King’s College, LSE, QMUL, UCL and Birkbeck - subject to approval and provided that a similar module is not taught at SOAS.
Important notice
The information on the programme page reflects the intended programme structure against the given academic session.
Admissions and Applications
To apply for an undergraduate degree at SOAS (including students wishing to transfer from another university) you must apply through the UK's central universities application organization, UCAS. An application form and details of courses can be found on their website. UCAS charges an applicant's fee for handling the application.
You can apply to up to five choices of higher education institutions or course on the UCAS form. How you utilise the choice is up to you. In other words, you could apply to do the same subject, for example, economics, at five different universities, or five different courses at the same university, or any combination of subject and institution. Nor do you have to use up all five choices. Whatever you choose you should list your choices in the order they appear in the UCAS handbook.
Entry Requirements
Applicants with standard qualifications (such as A levels, International Baccalaureate or other High School qualifications considered equivalent to A levels) are not required to take the Law National Aptitude Test (LNAT), but the School of Law will consider making lower offers (eg AAA, AAB, ABB or 37, 36, 35 in International Baccalaureate) to candidates who do so and perform promisingly in that Test. SOAS accepts students from a wide variety of backgrounds, as well as mature applicants and those with non-standard qualifications. Among these applicants, those with Access to Law qualifications and SOAS Intermediate Certificate Course students are preferred.
A-Levels: A*AA - AABIB: 37 (6/6/6)
Interview Policy: We also encourage applicants with non-standard qualifications (including Access to Higher Education Diploma and Foundation Courses) all of whom are required to take the LNAT. We also encourage students taking the SOAS Foundation Courses at IFCELS to apply. Students offering level 3 BTEC qualifications either on their own or in combination will be required to take the LNAT.
Alternative entry requirements
BTEC: DDD
Access to HE: Minimum of 30 Level 3 Credits at Distinction (with LNAT)
Scottish Highers: AAAAA
Scottish Advanced Highers: AAA
Irish LC: 360 points from 5 Higher level subjects at grade C1 or above
Advanced Placement: 4 5 5 (Two semesters - UCAS Group A) plus US HSGD with GPA 3.0
Euro Bacc: 85%
French Bacc: 15/20
German Abitur: 1.5
Italy DES: 85/100
Austria Mat: 1.5
Polish Mat: Overall 80% including 3 extended level subjects
English Language Entry Requirements
You must be able to show that your English is of a high enough standard to successfully engage with and complete your course at SOAS. Please note that we take our English language requirements seriously and failure to meet them exactly may well result in your application to SOAS being rejected. It is not possible to negotiate if your scores are below our required levels, with the expectation that because they are 'close enough' they will be accepted. It is important that you plan appropriately, well in advance, so that your English language test comes in good time and so that you have time to retake the test if necessary. We do not accept reasons of inconvenience or financial hardship for not submitting or retaking an English test.
International students
For EU and International students who need a visa, if unconditional entry scores are achieved we accept qualifications from several countries, as well as a range of international qualifications and tests.
If a Tier 4 entry visa is required then a SELT, such as UKVI IELTS may be needed. For this reason, we recommend all Tier 4 visa students to choose the UKVI IELTS Academic test as the test of first resort.
