Open University Law Degree

[samwilliams]

I was wondering if any of the lawyer-type people here could give me a tiny bit of advice.

I'm considering doing an open university law degree (having started, but then decided it wasn't right for me, a veterinary medicine degree) and was interested to see what the general opinion on how good the OU degree is?

The general idea I've got is that there is a massive difference in reputation between law degrees, and I don't particularly want to study for one only to find out that it's virtually useless in the real world!

Thanks

Sam

[ledger]

can't comment on the quality of the OU law degree, but did start an OU maths degree before switching to a full time maths degree. Don't uinderestimate how hard it is to balance work, a life and an OU course. Good luck.

[ulakye]

I don't think there is anything wrong with an OU law degree but I would point out that there has been a significant increase in the number of people taking law degrees over the past 10 years. Thus the jobs market for legal positions does tend to be very competitive so you need to be 100% certain that this is the right path for you.

Where I work at present we have 2 PAs who have very good law degrees but couldn't get decent legal jobs out of it. Ended up having to take the PA jobs to pay off student debts etc. They are the best PAs I've ever worked with but they are still on £12k a year.

[dieseljohn]

Not sure if its true but I once heard that there are more applicants to do Law degrees each year than there are solicitors in the country.

[Muncher]

ulakye said:

I don't think there is anything wrong with an OU law degree but I would point out that there has been a significant increase in the number of people taking law degrees over the past 10 years. Thus the jobs market for legal positions does tend to be very competitive so you need to be 100% certain that this is the right path for you. Where I work at present we have 2 PAs who have very good law degrees but couldn't get decent legal jobs out of it. Ended up having to take the PA jobs to pay off student debts etc. They are the best PAs I've ever worked with but they are still on £12k a year.

Spot on

I don't honestly think it matters a great deal where you do your law degree. Only 8 hours per week lecture time, with 95% of it down to your own reading anyway.