| Product: |
Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London in general |
| Date: |
26.08.05 (508 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Good faculty, helpful professors, interesting courses
Disadvantages: Bad location
In the middle of East London on the long stretching Mile End Road, lies a true gem: The Faculty of Law of Queen Mary College. Whilst the other faculties may not be reknown for their brilliance, the law faculty sets itself apart by miles.
COURSE OPTIONS
There is a choice of doing a regular 3 year LLB or a 4-year long LLB with the option to spend the third year of your studies at another European university. Whilst I did not take part in the 4-year programme, those who did participate all had great experiences and returned to Queen Mary ready to tackle the fourth year.
During your final year of Queen Mary's LLB program, you have the opportunity to apply for a free scholarship to do a LLM in the US at William & Mary College in Virginia. There is one full scholarship available per annum. It helps to have done the 4-year LLB programme and to have been actively involved in the life of the law school. If interested in this scholarship, you should make your interest known as soon as possible.
Queen Mary also offers several LLM programmes - the most well-known being the LLM in commercial law. The Centre for Commercial Law Studies is known for its quality in teaching, set up originally by Professor Goode,
FIRST YEAR
During first year you do not have a choice of courses. You will be required to take:
Contract Law
Land Law
Public Law
Criminal Law
The great thing about the teaching is that the material is pretty much 'spoon fed' to you. The lecture handouts for all subjects are very comprehensive and great tools for revision purposes (provided you fill in a bit more detail about the relevant cases).
SECOND YEAR
During second year you will be required to take:
Law of Torts
Law of Trusts
European Law
Administrative Law
You also have the option of choosing one other subject (discussed below).
THIRD YEAR
During third year you will only be required to take Jurisprudence. Other than that you get to pick 3 or 4 other subjects (depending whether you want to take full options or half options).
OPTIONS
Queen Mary offers a range of different subjects. the most unique option is US Constitutional Law, taught by Dr. Eric Heinze. I took the following options at Queen Mary:
US CONSTITUTIONAL LAW
While this course will not help budding solicitors and barristers a lot, it provides a great wealth of information that will assist in drawing comparisions between US and UK constitutional law. I found that I could easily weave in the things I learned in this course into my Jurisprudence and Administrative Law papers.
The course is also extremely helpful for those intending to sit the New York Bar at some stage. About 1/6 of the multistate exam on the New York Bar consists of US constitutional law issues.
Subjects covered in this course include: Federalism, Abortion, Death Penalty, Physician Assisted Suicide, Equality of Race and Gender.
The course is taught in small group sessions.
The course is evaluated by a written exam, which comprises 100% of the mark.
LABOUR LAW
This course is extremely useful for anyone intending to practice in this area, intending to do the LPC or just wanting to learn more about employment related rights.
It is taught in both in large and small group sessions. The lectures can be a little bit dense at times, but the tutorials tend to clear up any confusion. It is pertinent to bring a keen interest in the subject to this course, because excelling in the subject will involve reading a lot of articles and cases.
Subjects covered in this course include: The employer/employee relationship, redundancy, unfair dismissal, wrongful dismissal, transfer of undertakings and general worker's rights.
The course is evaluated by a written exam, which comprises 100% of the mark.
COMMERCIAL LAW
This course is useful for those intending to practice in the area. It also provides useful information about consumer rights and payment methods. It (perhaps surprisingly) does not provide much help for those going on to take the LPC after the LLB.
First term mostly revolves around the Sales of Goods Act. Second term mostly covers payment mechanisms.
Subjects covered in this course include: Satisfactory quality of goods, payment and delivery of goods, remedies agains non-delivery, bills of exchange, payments systems,
This course is taught in small group sessions.
The course is evaluated by a written exam, which comprises 100% of the mark.
CONFLICT OF LAWS/PRIVATE INTERNATIONAL LAW
This course is extremely interesting and helpful to all those who intend to practice in an international environment. It will also assist in LPC studies during the Litigation course.
The entire course surrounds the issue of jurisdiction and the interesting question of where a defendant may be sued if there are several international elements involved.
Subjects covered include: Jurisdiction in cases of torts, contract and family law cases involving an international element. There will be a thorough examination of the Conventions relating to Jurisdiction.
This course is taught in small group sessions.
The course is evaluated by a written exam, which comprises 100% of the mark.
TUTORS
Each student is assigned a personal tutor.
Most tutors I encountered during my time were extremely helpful when help was needed or references were required. I myself required hundreds of references, which were gladly given.
CAMPUS/BUILDING
During my time at Queen Mary, the faculty was rather run down. Much has changed since my times, however, and it has been recently renovated to high standards.
The nice thing about Queen Mary is that it is a true campus, which is a rare find so close to Central London. Campus comprises Barclays Bank, Waterstones, STA Travel, a student pub, a student cafe, a student union shop and even the infamous nightclub E1.
The student residences are of relatively decent quality, but the precise circumstances are always dependent on your flat mates. Lindop House is my first recommendation.
LOCATION
The downside to Queen Mary is its location. Being in the East End of London, the area is still pretty run down and crime runs high. During my time at Queen Mary I personally was involved and witness to 4 crimes, including assault and theft,
I strongly recommend that anyone considering Queen Mary should opt to live away from the East End and commute to school.
Otherwise be bery careful. After sundown you should not be wandering around this neighbourhood on your own, especially not as a female.
ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
Applicants are expected to achieve good to excellent A-level results. Equivalents from overseas examinations, such as the International Baccalaureate (36 to 40 points would be required) are also welcomed. There are a number of mature and overseas students at Queen Mary. Admission decisions are usually made on results alone, but occassionally an interview may be conducted.
WBPAGE
http://www.qmul.ac.uk/law/
Summary: A great college and brilliant law school in a bad location.
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