Law and Social Policy

Law and social policy is a combination that places legal study in direct conversation with the policies and structures through which society attempts to address human need, distribute resources, and manage risk. Law provides the formal frameworks through which rights are defined, disputes are resolved, and state power is exercised and constrained. Social policy examines the purposes and effects of welfare systems, housing policy, health care organisation, education, social security, and the responses to poverty and inequality, asking both what governments do and what they should do.

Together they form a degree that is intellectually rigorous and directly relevant to some of the most pressing questions in public life.

At the University of Edinburgh, this four-year full-time programme leads to the LLB (with Honours), the Scottish qualifying law degree, and includes a year abroad that gives you the opportunity to study at a partner university in another country. Edinburgh Law School has a strong reputation in Scots law and in comparative and international legal scholarship, and the four-year structure of a Scottish degree gives you additional depth across both law and social policy. The year abroad is an opportunity to engage with different legal systems and social policy frameworks, which is particularly enriching in a combined degree that is already comparative in its orientation.

You will study the foundations of Scots and UK law, including contract, delict, property, criminal law, and constitutional law, alongside social policy, social research methods, and the analysis of welfare states, inequality, and public policy. The programme is particularly well suited to those who want to pursue careers in law, public policy, government, or social research.

Graduates of law and social policy programmes move into legal practice in Scotland and beyond, the civil service, local government, social research, public policy, NGOs, and international organisations. The LLB from Edinburgh is a qualifying law degree for Scotland and provides the foundation for solicitor training north and south of the border.