Does U of London LLB program qualify graduates for Canadian Bar Exam?

I live in Vancouver, but the requirement for the society to recognized foreign degrees is a bit vague to me as it is said that they will be assessed on an individual basis.

 

Thanks for the well wishes.

I actually already have experience with Northumbria as a DL Law student, last week I submitted my dissertation on their LLM programme and assuming I pass that then I'm all done for the LLM.

In 2003-2004 I completed one year of the University of London LLB so I've decided to try and finish that up, but with Northumbria instead of UoL. My experience on the LLM was generally good and I'm hoping that this will be repeated with their LLB programme. If everthing works out okay I should be finished with the LLB in two years.

How's the London LLB going for you?

 

A couple of years ago, I looked at the Northumbria LLM in healthcare law for my own personal interest. I have been working in the USA medical malpractice arena for 20+ years.

I decided against it, since they told me it was really designed for people working in the National Health System in the UK, and someone with more than five years experience in medical jurisprudence would probably learn nothing new.

But Northumbria really looked like they had a nice LLM program with a number of specializations.

 

Overall I enjoyed studying with Northumbria. Like any program there were areas that were really good and areas that were lacking.

They have increased the breadth of their LLM offerings, and generally the pricing is not bad.

I would also point out that they offer research degrees (PhD and MPhil) and they are apparently residence in Newcastle is not required, although I would figure that one would be making their way to the school a couple times at least.

 

I suggest two things:

1) Send an e-mail to the Law Society of BC and get the info directly from the horse's mouth:

[email protected]

2) Carefully review the following at the Federation of Law Societies of Canada:

http://www.flsc.ca/en/foreignLawyers/foreignLawyers.asp

I think the above will answer your questions.

Good luck to you.

 

Well then...best of luck to you with your dissertation.

UoL is going well. I will write exams in due course. I'm actually thinking of transferring to University of Hudderfield's LLB via Holborne College as it is more business focused. And...it's reasonably priced.

 

Thankfully the dissertation is now sitting at the University waiting for critique. It should go okay considering I was in touch with my supervisor throughout and the feedback was good.

As I said before I really like Huddersfield and would have gone for their program if they could have gotten their act together. I think the best thing about Huddersfield is the modular format where you knock the courses off one at a time.

I have to admit that sometimes I think I should have let my University of London credits go and just started Huddersfield from scratch, it would have been 8 courses rather than the 6 I have to do at Northumbria.

I would, however, be remiss if I didn't mention that the price is right at Northumbria, GBP 300 per course, plus books.

If I can be nosey, do you ultimately plan to qualify as a lawyer or is the LLB more for personal/professional enrichment?

 

I will be using it to qualify as a lawyer. I've already contacted the Law Society and the Federation of Law Societies of Canada to ascertain what it is that I need to do in order to practise.

 

I've never contacted the Federation myself but have heard that they are not particularly helpful. Was that your experience? Would you mind commenting on what they told you? I have relatively recently developed an interest in qualifying as a lawyer (and I live in Canada) so I would very much appreciate hearing the results of your enquiries.

 

I found the Federation to be helpful. Fran Russo is the contact person there. Her e-mail address is: [email protected] The extent of my communication was an e-mail several years ago asking her to confirm if the Federation considers "external" law degrees from the University of London. She promptly e-mailed me back confirming that they do. Based on the information from the Federation's website, I expect to do some courses at a Canadian law school in the evening...if possible. Then...I will need to article with a practising lawyer (i.e. the Principal).

 

Most law students undertake a LLB or JD before going on to do a LLM. I notice that you're doing it the other way around. Just curious. How come you did you do your master's degree first?

 

It's not a particularly interesting story, but I can see why you'd be curious.

I've always been interested in studying law and I've been involved in a lot of legal work in my career. So in 2003 I started thinking about doing further education, I looked at an MBA but didn't really feel like it (I have a Bachelor of Commerce). I looked at a specialist degree in my field but didn't think it would add much. I looked at law which was what I really wanted to study.

At that point I looked at two programs, the LLB and LLM from University of London. I didn't really research other schools simply because I only happened upon University of London close to the application deadline. I did some research with a couple of the online tutorial providers and no one could assure me that they would be able to provide tuition for the LLM, so I decided to go for the LLB. At that point you were supposed to have a LLB to enter the LLM, although exceptions could be made, so the idea of starting the LLM with no previous legal education was daunting.

So I enrolled for the University of London External LLB in September 2003, and for 2003-2004 I did the LLB. I passed Criminal, ELS and Contract and had a lot of fun, but it was a lot of work. In the meantime I had done research and discovered the LLM at Northumbria with an area of focus that interested me, so with a year of the LLB under my belt I decided to go for the LLM because it would benefit me professionally immediately and, at that time I had no (or little) interest in becoming a lawyer.

Anyway I really enjoyed my LLM studies and over the last couple years things at work have been challenging (which is a nice word for problematic) so that brings me to thinking about becoming a lawyer. So that, and the fact that I kind of always wanted to finish the LLB, are my reasons for going back and trying to finish the LLB after the LLM. Which will look kind of silly but what are you going to do?

Northumbria have been helpful and have all but guaranteed that I can take advantage of senior status and credit transfer allowing me to finish the LLB in 6 courses. As I said before I was exceptionally keen to do the Huddersfield program but Holborn College needed confirmation from Huddersfield that I could apply both and that was getting complicated and there was no way to get a decision for September entry into their program (despite the fact that I first enquired in June).

So to make a long story short I did the LLM first because it was what fit for me at the time, then decided to do the LLB after because of how much I enjoyed the LLM.

See, now you're sorry you asked.

 

I'm not sorry at all. Thanks for sharing your situation/story. It just goes to show that everyone's situation is different. It's always good to hear how fellow law students are doing in the distance-learning world. I'm glad that options exist for law students to study externally. I've found that the United Kingdom, Australia and South Africa have some really good distance LLB and LLM programmes.

 

Actually, the DL offerings available from the UK, Australia and South Africa ARE really exciting. You can, I believe, study to the doctoral level completely externally.

It's just a shame that Canada (and the US to a lesser extent) is lagging so far behind.

Now all I need to hear is that I did okay on my dissertation and I'll finally have a distance learning degree in law.

 

Again, best of luck to you.

Keep us posted on your LLM.

 

Hi Warren_King,

I live in Vancouver, BC, as well and I have recently registered for the UOL external LLB program. So, has your sister decided to enrolled as well?

Thanks,
David

 

dko,

This thread is over two years old and Warren_King hasn't been active for over two years as well... How did you find the process? There is another member on this board who intended to enroll into the UoL LLB this year as well, but I'll let him speak to that...

HR

 

Hi HwyRogue,

Thank you so much for your reply. Yeah, I realized that all postings are in year 2006 before I posted my message. I just took a shot, hoping someone will reply because I have JUST received the study materials today.

Oh, that's nice that you know someone is intending to enroll. May I have his contact, please? Or, is there any other way for us to contact each other?

Thank you so much in advance and any comment is deeply appreciated.

Sincerely,
David

 

Studying law by distance is a lot of work but can be very rewarding (I'm talking personally rewarding here, although I suppose that it could be financially rewarding).

What do you plan to do with your in the future LLB?

 

Hi novemberdude,

Yeah, I figured that it's going to be a lot of work. May I ask you a question, please? I just got my study material yesterday so I am starting my studying today. I am planning to take the exam in May/June 2010. Do you think the would give me a reasonable time to study? Thank you in advance for your input.

Initially, I plan to practise law in Vancouver, Canada and in fact this is still what I am planning to do. If it doesn't work out, I would want to pursue teaching law.

Thank you for replying again.

Thanks,
David