Law with Foundation Year
Law is one of the most intellectually demanding and socially consequential subjects you can study at degree level. It asks you to engage with the rules that govern society, the institutions that interpret and enforce them, and the philosophical questions about justice, rights and authority that underlie them. Legal education in England and Wales covers contract, tort, criminal law, public law, equity and trusts, European and international law, and much more, requiring you to think precisely about language and argument, to read cases critically, and to apply principles to novel factual situations.
At the University of Derby this four-year full-time programme begins with a foundation year, which is designed to build the academic skills needed to engage confidently with degree-level legal study. The foundation year welcomes students from a wide range of prior educational experiences and provides a structured route into the full law degree. Derby Law School provides a supportive environment with strong connections to local and regional legal practice, and the programme is designed to develop both the academic legal knowledge and the professional skills that employers and training providers look for.
The typical entry tariff for this programme is around 56 UCAS points, reflecting the inclusive nature of the foundation entry route.
A law degree opens a wide range of career paths. Those who wish to become solicitors or barristers typically complete postgraduate professional training, and a qualifying law degree provides the foundation for that route. However, law graduates also enter careers in business, compliance, financial regulation, human resources, public policy, the civil service, local government, the charity sector, journalism and management consulting, where the analytical precision and understanding of rules and institutions that law develops is consistently valued.
Postgraduate study in specialist areas of law, such as commercial law, human rights, environmental law or criminology, is also well supported by the undergraduate degree.