Law with Foundation

Law with a foundation year at the University of Reading is a four-year programme that opens the study of law to students who do not yet meet the standard academic entry requirements for a law degree. The foundation year provides the intellectual preparation, academic skills, and subject knowledge needed to engage successfully with degree-level legal study, making a rigorous legal education accessible to a wider range of students and providing a supported transition into the demands of the main law degree.

Following the foundation year, you will study the areas of English law that constitute a qualifying law degree, developing the analytical, research, and communication skills that are central to legal education and the legal profession. The law curriculum covers contract law, tort, criminal law, constitutional and administrative law, land law, and equity and trusts, with these foundational subjects providing the framework within which more specialised areas of law are encountered in later years. Reading's law school teaches in a supportive environment while maintaining the intellectual rigour expected of a qualifying law degree.

You will engage with legal materials, including statutes, cases, and secondary literature, developing the ability to read and interpret complex texts, to identify legal issues, and to construct and present legal arguments with precision and clarity.

Graduates hold a qualifying law degree that provides the academic foundation for entry to the legal profession. The most common professional route is into solicitor training through the Solicitors Qualifying Examination, and Reading's location in the Thames Valley, with access to London by train, gives graduates access to a broad range of law firms and legal employers. Careers as a barrister through the Bar Course are open to those who meet the relevant requirements.

Beyond the legal profession, law graduates from Reading enter a wide range of careers in compliance, commercial management, human resources, the civil service, banking, and finance, where legal knowledge and analytical skill are valued. Postgraduate study in law or a related field is available for those who want to develop their expertise.