Senior Status Law

Senior Status Law is a route into legal education designed specifically for graduates who already hold a degree in another subject and want to obtain a qualifying law degree without repeating an unnecessary amount of generic academic content. It is a rigorous and intensive two-year programme that delivers the foundational legal knowledge and analytical skills that any would-be solicitor or barrister needs, while allowing students to make use of the intellectual maturity and academic discipline they have already developed.

At Aberystwyth University, this two-year full-time LLB is taught in the oldest and most established law department in Wales. You will cover the core areas of English and Welsh law, developing the capacity to read and interpret case law and legislation with precision, construct legal arguments, and apply legal principles to complex factual situations. Many of the staff have practised as solicitors themselves, and their professional experience infuses the teaching with practical application that complements the theoretical legal study.

The department's ethos is to develop ingenuity and independent thinking alongside the doctrinal knowledge that the law requires. With a typical entry tariff of 120 UCAS points, the programme expects solid prior academic achievement.

The Senior Status LLB opens the same range of career paths as a standard three-year law degree. Solicitor and barrister training are the most direct routes, and the qualifying nature of the degree provides the essential academic foundation for both. Beyond legal practice, law graduates with prior degrees in other subjects often find that the combination is particularly valuable, bringing contextual expertise to areas like commercial law, healthcare law, intellectual property, or environmental law.

Postgraduate study in law, including specialist LLM programmes, is available for those who wish to develop further expertise before entering professional training.