Learn more about why we study law, and examples of the legal, social and political questions addressed by our academics.
Why study law?
An LLB from the LSE provides an excellent platform to launch a legal career, but it is also the study of a social science. Law explores how people organise their personal, social, economic, and political relationships through rules.
If you're considering the LLB , ask yourself these questions:
Are you interested in any of the following?
Government, politics, business, finance, property, international relations, war, international trade, families, reproduction, healthcase, media, environment, human rights, crime, punishment, war crimes ...
Almost every aspect of society is subject to law. An interest in what people do with and to each other is a great advantage for the successful study of law.
Are you interested in making rigorous arguments and counter-arguments?
The legal judgments and academic commentaries you will have to read are mostly made up of arguments. Arguments about what the law is; arguments about how it should be applied; arguments about what the law ought to be; arguments about why the law is as it is.
Do you have an appetite and capacity for substantial reading and close analysis of text?
Like the practice of law, the undergraduate study of law requires a willingness to read and absorb large amounts of text. It also requires, when necessary, to be able to read particular passages very carefully and to think in detail about the possible meanings and ambiguities in them.
If your answer to these questions is yes, then an LLB may be a good fit for you.
Questions of Law
LSE Law School Students learn that law is not a body of knowledge stored in libraries, but a presence all around us, constantly evident in our social, civil and business interactions.
Students are immersed in an environment where academics not only have extraordinary levels of knowledge to impart, but also, through their world-leading research, actively contribute to shaping the development of the law, and exploring how the law can provide solutions to issues of contemporary significance.
Below is a snapshot of some of the work of LSE Law School's academics.
Learn about this issue and more on the Company Law course, taught by Professor Eva Micheler and Dr Suren Gomtsyan.
Professor Micheler is a member of the LSE Law and Financial Markets Project. She writes widely on corporate and comparative law and her work has been cited by the UK Supreme Court and by the Austrian Oberster Gerichtshof. She has advised the UK Department of Business, Innovation and Skills on questions relatin to intermediated shareholdings and recently published research on how the technology underlying Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies could be used to connect securities investors and issuers. Dr Gomtsyan research and teaching focuses on corporate law, corporate governance, and private ordering.
Professor Emily Jackson researches medical law and ethics, and writes on such issues as the law relating to assisted suicide and euthanasia. She is the author of Medical Law: Text, Cases and Materials, a Judicial Appointments Commissioner and a Member of the BMA's Medical Ethics Committee.
Learn about this issue and more on the Medical Law course, taught by Dr Cressida Auckland and Ms Hannah Gibbs.
Learn about these issues and more on the Contract Law and Commercial Law LLB courses.
Dr Paul MacMahon's primary interests are contracts, commercial law, and international arbitration. His work has been cited in the English and Singapore Courts of Appeal, and he has served as an expert on English law in foreign court proceedings. Dr MacMahon teaches on the Commecial Law course.
Professor Jeremy Horder researches regulatory criminal law and is the co-author of Principles of Criminal Law. Before joining LSE Law, he was a Law Commissioner for England and Wales. Dr Abenaa Owusus-Bempah researches areas of criminal procedure and the law of evidence. Her current research focuses on the use of rap music as evidence in criminal trials. Dr Peter Ramsay writes about the expanding scope of the criminal law. He is the author of The Insecurity State. Learn more about these questions on the Criminal Law course and Topics in Sentencing and Criminal Justice.