Law with Foundation Year

Law is one of the most enduring and consequential of disciplines, concerned with the rules, principles, and institutions through which societies regulate behaviour, resolve disputes, and pursue justice. It is a rigorous intellectual training as well as a professional qualification pathway, developing your ability to read complex documents carefully, to construct and test arguments from evidence, and to understand the frameworks that govern how people, organisations, and states relate to each other. A law degree with a foundation year makes this training accessible to students whose prior qualifications or circumstances have not followed a conventional route.

At the University of Derby, this part-time programme with a foundation year is designed for those who have the motivation and potential to succeed in law regardless of their earlier academic background. Derby Law School brings a strong commitment to teaching quality and student support, and the foundation year provides a genuinely thorough preparation before the main legal study begins. You will study the core subjects of English law, including constitutional and administrative law, criminal law, contract law, tort, equity and trusts, and land law, developing the legal reasoning skills that both the profession and academic legal study require.

The analytical and communicative skills that a law degree develops are among the most transferable of any discipline. The ability to read carefully, argue precisely, handle complex information, and think under pressure is valued by employers across a wide range of sectors.

Graduates who wish to qualify as solicitors or barristers continue to further professional training. Others go on to work in the civil service, compliance, human resources, financial services, police, courts administration, local government, journalism, and a wide range of other fields where legal understanding is valuable. Postgraduate study in law or a related field is also an option for those wishing to specialise.