Everything you need to work out what to do next.

Studying law at Oxford

• What is the difference between Course I and Course II?

  Course I is the three-year law degree. Course II is four years, with the third spent studying law abroad in France, Germany, Italy, Spain or the Netherlands. Course II students return for a final year in Oxford and sit the same final examinations. Choose Course II because you want to study another legal system, not because it looks impressive — it is a genuinely different degree and the language requirement is real.

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• What does first year actually involve?

  First-year work builds towards Mods: criminal law, constitutional law and Roman private law. It is examined at the end of the year, and it is a pass-or-fail hurdle rather than something that follows you into your final degree classification. Most people find the volume of reading, not its difficulty, is the adjustment.

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• How many contact hours does law have?

  Few, by design. A typical week is one or two tutorials, a handful of lectures, and otherwise your own reading. That independence is why the social side of the subject matters: law is one of the easiest degrees at Oxford in which to go a fortnight without meeting anybody from your cohort.

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• How much reading is a tutorial essay meant to take?

  Most tutorials expect a reading list you cannot finish and an essay of around 2,000 words. Read strategically rather than completely: cases first, then the commentary that argues with itself. Nobody reads every item on the list, and tutors know it.

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• Do I need any legal knowledge before I arrive?

  No. The degree assumes none, and reading ahead is far less useful than arriving able to write a tight argument. If you want one book before you come, make it Nicholas McBride's Letters to a Law Student.

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Life at Oxford

• Does it matter which college you are at for law?

  Less than people think. Tutorials are often shared across colleges, the Faculty runs the lectures, and the Bodleian Law Library serves everyone. What varies is the number of lawyers in your year — a big cohort gives you people to argue with, a small one gives you more tutorial attention.

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• Can you do law and still have a life?

  Yes, and the people who do best usually have something outside the degree. The work is relentless in eight-week bursts and then stops entirely for six weeks. Plan around the rhythm rather than fighting it.

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• What are the vacations for?

  Officially, consolidation and collections. Practically, the vacations are when applications get written, mini-pupillages happen, and reading gets caught up. Michaelmas and Hilary vacations are when most law students do the careers work they have no time for in term.

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• Is being a law student expensive?

  Textbooks and travel to interviews are the two real costs. Libraries hold everything on the reading lists, most firms reimburse assessment centre travel if you ask, and the Society runs an access rate on membership precisely so cost is not the reason somebody misses out.

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Careers after Oxford

• How do I know whether I want to be a solicitor or a barrister?

  Test it rather than reasoning about it. Do one mini-pupillage and one insight scheme; the difference between advising a client on a deal and standing up to argue a case is obvious within a day. Nothing you do in first year closes either route.

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• When do I actually need to apply for things?

  First-year schemes in Hilary of first year. Vacation schemes in the autumn and winter of your penultimate year. Pupillage through the Gateway in the January of your final year, with Inn scholarships the November before. The Applications section above lays out each route with its timing.

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• Can I become a lawyer without a law degree?

  Yes, and a large share of trainees at City firms did another subject. You apply on the same timetable as law students in your penultimate year, and the firm funds your conversion after graduation. Everything on this page applies to you.

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• What do firms mean by commercial awareness?

  Not reading the news. It means being able to explain why something in the news changes what a client does, and therefore what a law firm gets instructed to do. The Society's weekly commercial awareness series is written to model exactly that move.

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• Do I need a first to get a training contract or pupillage?

  For most solicitor roles, a 2:1 is the stated requirement and is genuinely the bar. The Bar is more competitive and a first helps materially, though advocacy experience, mooting and scholarships carry real weight. If your grades slipped for a reason, say so in the application rather than hoping it is not noticed.

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• I have been rejected everywhere. What now?

  Rejection at this stage is close to universal and says very little about you. The practical move is to change one variable at a time: get somebody to read your form, apply to firms outside the twenty everyone applies to, and apply earlier in the window next cycle. Firms recruiting on a rolling basis fill places long before their published deadline.

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The Society

• What does membership cost and how long does it last?

  One payment covers your whole course. Degree membership is £50, postgraduate and visiting student membership is £30, and there is nothing to renew. See the membership page for what it includes.

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• I do not study law. Is the Society for me?

  Yes. Every event is open to every member, careers events assume no legal background, and a good number of our members read other subjects. Non-law students are the group firms most often say they want more of.

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• How do I get involved beyond turning up?

  Write for the journal or the commercial awareness series, or stand for committee at the termly elections. Both are the fastest way to meet the people running things, and both give you something concrete to talk about at interview.

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• Who do I contact if my question is not here?

  Email membership@oxfordlawsoc.com for anything about joining or events, or president@oxfordlawsoc.com for everything else. If a question comes up often enough, it ends up on this page.

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• Letters to a Law StudentNicholas J. McBride

  Before you apply
  The one book worth reading before you start. Written as letters to a prospective student, it explains how legal argument works rather than what the law says, which is the part nobody teaches you.
• Learning the LawGlanville Williams and A. T. H. Smith

  Before you apply
  The oldest survival guide there is, and still the clearest explanation of how to read a case and use a law library. Skim the chapters on legal method and ignore the careers advice, which dates faster than the rest.No stable link — search the title in your library catalogue or podcast app.
• What About Law? Studying Law at UniversityBarnard, O'Sullivan and Virgo

  Before you apply
  Six real problems worked through as a tutor would work them, so you find out what the degree feels like before committing three years to it. Useful for non-law students weighing up conversion.No stable link — search the title in your library catalogue or podcast app.
• The Rule of LawTom Bingham

  During the degree
  A senior judge explaining, in about 170 pages, what the rule of law actually requires. It gives you a principled position to argue from in constitutional tutorials and in interviews about the profession's purpose.No stable link — search the title in your library catalogue or podcast app.
• The Secret Barrister: Stories of the Law and How It's BrokenThe Secret Barrister

  During the degree
  The best account of what the criminal justice system is like to work in when it is underfunded. Read it as reportage rather than as neutral analysis, and it is genuinely eye-opening on the gap between the law as taught and as practised.No stable link — search the title in your library catalogue or podcast app.
• Eve Was Framed: Women and British JusticeHelena Kennedy

  During the degree
  Still the sharpest book on how the courts treat women, written by a practising QC. Dated in its examples and not in its argument, which is what makes it worth reading alongside a modern criminal law course.No stable link — search the title in your library catalogue or podcast app.
• In Your Defence: Stories of Life and LawSarah Langford

  During the degree
  Eleven cases told from the barrister's side of the table. The most honest thing available on what advocacy actually asks of you emotionally, which is the part mini-pupillages rarely show.No stable link — search the title in your library catalogue or podcast app.
• Tomorrow's LawyersRichard Susskind

  Going deeper
  The standard text on how technology reshapes legal services. Read it critically — Susskind's predictions run ahead of the evidence — but it gives you the vocabulary firms use when they talk about their own future.
• Barbarians at the GateBryan Burrough and John Helyar

  Going deeper
  The RJR Nabisco buyout told as a thriller. If you want to understand why private equity deals are structured the way they are, and why advisers matter, this does more for a corporate interview than any textbook.No stable link — search the title in your library catalogue or podcast app.
• The Big ShortMichael Lewis

  Going deeper
  Still the clearest explanation of securitisation ever written for people who do not work in finance — which makes it directly useful for reading anything about private credit or asset-backed lending today.No stable link — search the title in your library catalogue or podcast app.

• FT News BriefingFinancial Times

  During the degree
  Ten minutes, every weekday, on the stories that move markets. The most efficient commercial awareness habit available: listen on the walk to the library and you will have something current to say in any interview.
• Money TalksThe Economist

  During the degree
  Weekly and analytical rather than newsy — it explains why a development matters, which is the exact skill an application form is testing. Better than the daily briefings if you only have time for one.
• Law in ActionJoshua Rozenberg, BBC Radio 4

  During the degree
  The long-running programme on English law, moving between competition, constitutional questions and criminal justice. The reliable choice when you want law rather than markets.
• The Firm AnalystAdnan Shafi

  During the degree
  Student-facing commercial awareness aimed squarely at aspiring trainees, connecting economic developments to what they mean for UK firms. Pitched at exactly the level an application form expects.No stable link — search the title in your library catalogue or podcast app.

• LawCareers.Net commercial awareness hubLawCareers.Net

  During the degree
  The most complete free index of UK firms, deadlines and commercial awareness explainers. Use it as a reference rather than a read: it is where you check a firm's actual training contract numbers before an interview.
• OLS Commercial AwarenessOxford Law Society

  During the degree
  Our own weekly briefing: one story, what happened, and how to use it in an application. Written by Oxford students, which means it is pitched at the questions you are actually being asked.