The Obligatory I' m Done Thread!

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by novemberdude, Jul 2, 2008.

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  1. novemberdude

    novemberdude New Member

    My LLB(Hons) journey is finally finished.

    In the Fall of 2003 I started working towards a LLB through the University of London (External Programme) . I did one year there, took a two year detour getting a LLM from Northumbria, then finished the LLB at Northumbria.

    Putting it into two sentences like that does not really do justice to the ups and downs involved in studying law by distance, but in a nutshell let's just say I'm thrilled to be done.

    I also want to say a sincere thank you to everyone here at degreeinfo. Although I'm not a prolific member of the community (most of you here probably don't remember one of my however many posts) having this place to read and occasionally talk about distance education has really been a help.

    So thanks to all of you for both assistance and particularly for your inspiration. My distance learning journey has been a great experience and I thank all of you for being along for the ride.

    Also thanks to Bruce, Randall and Ted (I think I have that right) for moderating this board and Chip for his King of the Realm duties. If I've forgotten anyone I apologize, and thanks to you too.

    And a special thanks to whoever it was who first mentioned Northumbria as a distance learning option.

    All the best to everyone.
     
  2. Bruce

    Bruce Moderator

    Congratulations!
     
  3. friendorfoe

    friendorfoe Active Member

    Congrats...
     
  4. pugbelly

    pugbelly New Member

    Great job!
     
  5. sentinel

    sentinel New Member

    Congratulations indeed.

    Out of curiosity in which country do you live? Do you intend to practise law or was the legal knowledge gained for use in another area?
     
  6. Randell1234

    Randell1234 Moderator

    Congratulations! and you are welcome.
     
  7. BlueMason

    BlueMason Audaces fortuna juvat

    Congrats, indeed! LLM, LLB... and now nothing? ...you'll be bored ;-) I certainly hope you'll stick around and provide advice to those of us who intend to pursue the LLB.
     
  8. J. Ayers

    J. Ayers New Member

    Double congratulations (for both degrees) and best wishes!
     
  9. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    Congratulations, novemberdude, LLB, LLM! When do you start the LLD? :D
     
  10. sshuang

    sshuang New Member

    Hi novemberdude,

    Could you share information on LLB from Northumbria?

    For example, did you have to go to UK?
    How were the courses assessed?
    Were the courses difficult comparing to UOL?
    And etc...

    Thanks
    sshuang


     
  11. Shawn Ambrose

    Shawn Ambrose New Member

    Congrats - and although I have no interest in pursuing the LLM/LLB, let me know details as well. I'm sure there is someone lurking on the board who is.

    Shawn
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jul 3, 2008
  12. Abner

    Abner Well-Known Member

    Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!! Good for you.


    Abner :)
     
  13. RoscoeB

    RoscoeB Senior Member

    Congrats, Novemberdude!

    Great accomplishment!

    Roscoe
     
  14. Vinipink

    Vinipink Accounting Monster

    Congrats and much success!
     
  15. novemberdude

    novemberdude New Member

    Thanks everyone!

    I have to admit that my initial reaction when I got my results was relief. I've now managed to transition quite smoothly to being really delighted.

    Now there have been quite a lot of questions and comments and I hope to answer them all, if anyone wants further clarification I'll be more than happy to help:

    SShuang:

    I did attend (non compulsory) residential study weeks in Newcastle. They were really helpful, a lot of fun and really made me feel part of the university community. Newcastle is also a pretty decent city and a short trip to Edinburgh which si a great city. Unfortunately the availability of study weeks has been discontinued for incoming students.

    Assessment varied by course, the courses I took were either 30% assignment and 70% exam (invigilated at a local university) or 100% exam. I understand that one course may be 50% for each, but I can't say for sure.

    In terms of course difficulty it's hard to say because I stopped and did the LLM between London and the Northumbria LLB, so my level of preparation for my time on the Northumbria LLB was far superior. However, my feeling was that the courses were of equal difficulty in terms of what you had to learn (they are both qualifying law degrees after all) but that marking at London was more severe.

    Overall I think Northumbria is very good. I could go on at length about pros and cons, but in short the law school is good with a good local reputation. One nice thing is that they are a very large law school, so with 80+ academic staff they are able to supervise a wide range of research projects. They are also open to allowing a distance learning approach to graduate research degrees (MPhil and PhD), which I think is great. They also have a wide offering of distance learning LLMs.

    Ted

    I start the Doctorate in September, actually! Thanks for asking! One thing that I am extremely pleased about is the fact that my Northumbria degrees were considered to fully qualify me to enter a residential doctoral program in law at a Canadian university. I think this is a great statement on the advances that distance learning has made over the last few years.

    HwyRogue

    I certainly intend on sticking around, distance education has turned into a hobby of mine along the way. Plus I love talking about non residential legal education. So I'm not really planning on going anywhere.

    I'm also really happy to be a sounding board or any sort of general support for anyone studying law at a distance.

    And as I said about, I won't be missing legal studies for long as the doctorate starts in a couple months (I never, ever, thought I would do a doctorate).

    Sentinel

    I live in Canada (Quebec). I initially enrolled in the LLB out of personal interest. I switched to the LLM because it related to what I do professionally. It's funny, because along the way I became more interested in law than I first imagined and it reached the point where I wouldn't mind practicing law. There are challenges in that because I live in Quebec so the common law degree isn't paticularly relevant. University of Ottawa (Civil Law Section) was willing to offer me some transfer credit (in the order of 12-18 credits). In the end, for a number of reasons, I have decided to put off studying towards a Canadian LLB. My general advice to anyone who wants to practice law in Canada is to, if at all possible, earn a Canadian degree. A foreign degree can be helpful in ultimately qualifying in Canada but it's a lot of effort for an uncertain outcome. On the other other hand if it's the only way one can do it then it's worth thinking about.

    Of course, as these things go, my career has been turned upside down and inside out over the last couple years so it would be a good time to actually study law full time, I've just elected to do it at the doctoral level (which is probably not smart professionally but once in a while you've got to do what you want rather than what's smart).

    Thanks again and best of luck to everyone!
     
  16. morganplus8

    morganplus8 New Member

    Congratulations, a fantastic and inspirational story!
     
  17. sshuang

    sshuang New Member

    Hi novemberdude,

    Thanks for sharing the info.
    Few more questions...

    1. How much did the LLB cost?
    2. Did you have to pass, e.g., three exams in one sitting, like with UOL?

    Thanks
    sshuang
     
  18. novemberdude

    novemberdude New Member

    1- The LLB cost me GBP 300 per module (9 modules for a senior status student, but I was only at Northumbria for 6 modules). I understand that the fees may have increased a bit. There is no application fee, no graduation fee, no technology fees, so the cost is pretty clear cut. Books are not included, and they are not really cheap, although you can get good deals on Alibris etc for some of them. I'd budget close to $100 per course for books.

    2- Unlike the University of London LLB the Northumbria LLB is modular, meaning that you can take as few modules as you want. To be clear there is no requirement to take a specified number at a time. Another nice feature is that for open learning students deferrals are available, so if you get busy and can't sit/aren't prepared for your exams in May you can defer to August with no negative academic consequences.
     
  19. telefax

    telefax Member

    Congratulations! Great success story...
     
  20. sshuang

    sshuang New Member

    Northumbria LLB

    Hi novemberdude,

    Thanks for sharing the info. It will be great if you can also answer the following questions:

    1. You mentioned below that one can defer the exams from May to August. So let's say if I take two courses per year, can I take one exam in May and the other one in August? Or do I need to defer both exams to August?

    2. How many questions and how long are each exam?

    3. Do you have sample exam questions you can e-mail to me? I like to compare them with the US bar exam questions.

    4. And any other of your experiences regarding to courses.

    Regards,
    sshuang



     

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