Law

Department statement

Our teaching is driven by a commitment to active and innovative approaches to learning, aimed at inspiring and supporting students as they develop throughout their degree. Students are challenged to reflect on what they are taught and think critically in order to develop intellectual independence and graduate skills.  Workshops and seminars are integral to our active learning and research-oriented approach. Here small groups of students discuss, present and apply the law based on what they have learnt through teaching and independent study. Our teaching is enhanced by the use of our virtual learning environment which enables students to engage with peers, academics and interactive content to further their studies outside of the classroom.   Through this teaching students will be supported to develop the skills of working independently and with others, furthering their knowledge through research, and communicating complex concepts to a range of audiences.  Students will be encouraged to respond to feedback from peers and staff to apply their understanding of the law in their academic work and beyond.  Student experience and wellbeing is an integral aspect of our teaching and learning.

The department has an excellent track record of engaging with widening participation activities and programmes. These include:

• Pathways to Law, a 2-year programme for A-level students either in first generation of their family to go to University or eligible for free School meals.
• Black Lawyers Matter – Lemn Sissay bursary and programme of workshops and events to address the under representation of Black people, particularly men in the legal and criminal justice professions.

Social responsibility is deeply embedded in many of our T&L activities. The Justice Hub enables students to engage directly with different aspects of law through specific course units and volunteering opportunities, internships and vacation schemes, e.g., at the Legal Advice Centre, Dementia Law Clinic, Manchester Innocence Project.  PGT Healthcare programmes, both DL and campus based, have an important social responsibility role of enabling healthcare professionals (as well as those working in regulation/law) to develop their knowledge of healthcare ethics and law and apply this in their roles.  

We have a new LLB programme commencing in September 2022. The purpose is to provide a rigorous legal education grounded in ‘active learning’;  to build on our shared teaching and research strengths and to encourage team-teaching; to offer flexibility and student choice, including opportunities to specialise; to make efficient use of academic time and develop a curriculum that is straightforward for PSS to administer; to focus on skills, which provides a route to the legal profession and other graduate careers; to deliver a highly marketable programme in a competitive recruitment environment. The programme design process was informed by consultation with colleagues and alumni and supported by Learning Technologists from the Faculty of Humanities. We developed a set of principles set out in reports focusing on the aims of Social Responsibility and Ethical Students, Employability, Pastoral Support, Teaching and Learning, Assessment and Feedback and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. These will form the framework for embedding these strengths and values into the curriculum.

Our assessment practices emphasise validity, reliability, accessibility and inclusivity. It is intended to support student engagement, learning, progression and retention and is an integral part of curriculum and teaching and learning process. We promote assessment for learning/assessment as learning as well as ensuring that assessments are aligned with learning outcomes. We have encouraged the use of a broad assessment types in Years 1 and 2 to support the development of a range of skills and there is incremental development and support for different types of assessments. Many of the assessments have been designed to promote authenticity of assessment tasks, using hypothetical real-world scenarios, and there are opportunities in Year 3 to undertake a dissertation or self-directed projects. Reflection is introduced in Year 1 and students will be encouraged to develop feedback.

We have a number of highly successful seminar and lecture series including those run by the Manchester International Law Centre (MILC) and the Centre for Social Ethics and Policy (CSEP) seminar series which engage students at all levels.

Our Law in Practice units enable students to develop practical legal skills by requiring them to provide advice in simulated cases and role-play in a legal practice scenario. An advanced unit supports students to provide advice to real clients in the University of Manchester Justice Hub, under the supervision of qualified practitioners.  The courses provide students with an experiential liberal education, where the students assist clients, who cannot access legal help elsewhere and learn about the disproportionate impact of the law on the most vulnerable and disadvantaged. As well as acquiring generic legal skills, the students learn to understand, value and empathise with other’s perspectives, critically reflect upon the inordinate social, political and economic power structures that influence the law and question accepted norms, values and stereotypes.  The Law in Practice unit was highly commended for the University’s ‘Making a Difference’ Award for Outstanding Teaching Innovation in Social Responsibility. In our new LLB curriculum (commencing Sep 2022) we will adapt our provision to enable us to offer all students the opportunity to develop these skills in a simulated context in Year 2, with the option of a further course unit developing more advanced skills in Year 3. 

Students also have the opportunity to develop advocacy skills in each year of their degree programme and, in the final year, can take an Advocacy course which is taught primarily in small groups. Students practice and are assessed on their ability to create and present legal arguments orally and respond clearly and confidently to counterarguments from peers and questions from a judge.  We have developed innovative UG and PGT courses in Legal Tech which involve direct input from partners in industry. 

On our new LLB curriculum, the new Introduction to Law and Legal Skills unit will integrate peer mentor support into student activities within the unit, providing additional skills support for students and establishing connections between students across the programmes. This course unit will also embed digital skills using the JISC Discovery Tool and will embed a student project on sustainability and the UN Sustainable Development Goals to enable students to explore these issues from a legal perspective at the very start of their legal studies.

Aspirations for the future include expanding the provision of clinical legal provision with scope for expansion and cross institutional development in the area of Legal Tech where we have already built some expertise and capacity.  We plan to build on our established record of DL provision in PGT Healthcare programmes and also develop online LLM provision in the commercial law area.

Information about studying Law at The University of Manchester

People in the Law Department