BA (Hons) Business Law

Russell

I reckon my course is one of the broadest, if not the broadest programme offered by our Business School. Before making my selection I was initially confused as to what I wanted to major in, my heart was tugging towards business but my reasoning was tugging towards law. That’s when I had the pleasure of doing some research and finding out if it was possible to have a combination of the two and lo and behold, the answer lay right before me, BUSINESS LAW!!! My research served me right as I began to discover the intricacies involved in this course, and also, much to my delight, I found out that Corporate Lawyers are the highest paid individuals involved in the legal sector. That’s right, not judges, not barristers but corporate lawyer$. Let’s be honest, the large majority of us want to make it big and get money right, unfortunately it’s not always the best option to have a career in something you love because that something might not be able to pay the bills or put the food on the table for your family.

With Business Law, you have the flexibility of either choosing to either decide to major in the corporate sector, or in the legal. As far as the legal goes, you would however need to do an extra year of education known as a Conversion Degree, in order to be classified as a qualified lawyer. Both options are beneficial in the sense that you immediately become a cut above the rest due to the duo of skills you would have obtained so if you choose business for example, you will have the benefit of having a sound knowledge of some law principles so this will immediately make you a more lucrative choice for employers. All courses in the Business School offer the option of undertaking a Sandwich Year which is essentially a work based placement year(after successful completion of the second year) to gain some experience and undoubtedly attain some golden contacts and links. I recommend whoever is reading this to seriously consider this placement year because as a graduate, this is without a doubt one of the best things you can have on your CV. It will show experience and reliability in your chosen sector and graduates that undertake this placement are more likely to gain employment right out of university more so than their counterparts. I've had some graduates advise me on this matter and they said that off all the decisions they made during university, a placement year was by far the best, as it made them immediately more employable and gave them some real experience and for any that had doubts about their career choice, the year of work put it all into perspective for them. It goes without saying that one should aim to obtain placement in an industry along the lines of the programme they are studying and the career path they wish to take and for a successful year of placement, in most cases if you worked well with your employers they will guarantee you a position as soon as you finish, which banishes the fears of immediate unemployment fresh out of university. HOWEVER, if you do intend on taking a placement year, first year results will also be fairly important, don’t listen to the “First year doesn't count” banter because employers will review results from both your first and second year to assess the fact that you’re well on your way to securing a 2:1. Besides, even if you don’t end up taking the placement, doing well in first year also gives you the required momentum to take on a considerably more challenging second year so the only people that moan about second year being unbearable are mostly people that partied away their first year. Don’t get me wrong, by all means, socialise, enjoy yourself and live up the experience but remember that when it’s time to work, you knuckle-down and get on with it, pass assessments, meet deadlines. “Work hard, Play Hard” as they say.

Back to the course itself, it contains a rich mixture of business management, ICT, accounting as well as law to give a very balanced three years of study. The first year is primarily focused on the introduction to accounting and legal principles with a larger influence from business logistics and ideologies. The second year is mainly law based, however it maintains some business modules as well to keep the balance and the third year is more or less a choice really, it comes down to the title, business or law. Either way, I’ll end up in a suit, and I couldn't be happier about that part!! The lecturer’s and tutors really get stuck in in trying to further your education and make sure that you grasp the concepts and the large majority of lecturers from the Business School either own, or have owned their own businesses so when they are teaching you and giving examples, examples are also drawn from personal experiences to give depth to lessons given. Our lecturers and tutors will support you all along the way, all you have to do is ask J.

So, all in all, I find this to be a well-rounded course and I make the cliché reference of stating that it gives a person “The best of both worlds,” you can’t go wrong with Business Law.