Law with Criminology (with Placement Year)

Investigate crimes and challenge injustice with our hands-on Law with Criminology degree
Construct arguments, evaluate ethical dilemmas, and make life-changing decisions with our Law and Criminology degree. You will learn to solve and prevent crimes through:

• analysing criminals and their motives

• assessing current trends

• understanding the impacts of crime

• evaluating punishment and rehabilitation methods.

You will also build detailed and analytical knowledge of the law, covering areas such as:

• criminality

• human rights

• business

• the healthcare sector.

Our law programmes are Qualifying Law Degrees (QLD). After successfully completing this course, you can become a barrister through the Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) or a solicitor through the Solicitor’s Qualification Exam route (SQE).

Hands-on experiences
With our undergraduate law and criminology course, you will learn through diverse hands-on experiences, such as:

• simulated negotiation exercises

• moot court

• pro bono initiatives.

Learn in Legal London
St Mary’s is based in Richmond-upon-thame, London. Therefore, you will have numerous opportunities to visit:

• the Supreme Court

• Old Bailey

• Royal Courts of Justice

• The Law Society

• Parliament

• the Inns of Court.

Work placements: apply your studies to the real world
You can complete a work placement in the local or wider London area.

Previous LLB Law students have worked at:

• private and sole practitioner solicitor firms

• barristers' chambers

• charities

• the Youth Justice Board

• Kingston Crown Court.

About the Placement Year
A placement year enables you to undertake a year of experience in an organisation between your second and final year.

It will enable you to:

• apply the knowledge and skills you gain from your course in a work setting

• build your commercial awareness and insights into organisations and industries you might want to work in

• develop your professional skills through company training, networking skills and confidence in the workplace

• get some great experience for future job applications or even land a graduate job.

Support from St Mary’s every step of the way
Securing a placement can really help you develop your job search skills and the Employability Service placement and Careers Teams can support you to find and apply for available opportunities.

Please note: in the event that you cannot secure a placement you will be able to transfer onto the three year version of your degree programme.

Hear from our students
Eleanor, Law graduate - "The support from St Mary’s really helped me take that step into the legal profession. The lecturers offered great mentorship, which had such a positive impact on me."

Why St Mary’s?
You will gain skills and support to make a positive impact – for yourself and for others – through high-quality teaching, real-world experience, and a community that lifts each other up. Our campus is a London oasis – blending city energy with open green spaces to think, connect, and grow.

Course Modules

During the first year of the programme, you will be introduced to law and its interaction with society and to some of the ‘Foundations of Legal Knowledge.’ You will consider key aspects of the English and EU legal systems and how laws are made and disputes resolved, the operation of the respective court systems. In the second year you will build on the knowledge and skills in the first year and continue to study the ‘Foundations of Legal Knowledge’ and develop key legal analysis skills. Criminology modules at this level will consider sociological understandings of a globalised society and the impact this has on forms of crime and the criminal justice processes established to police these crimes. In your final year you study subjects in greater depth and will study the final ‘Foundations of Legal Knowledge’ subject, Equity and Trusts. As a single honours student you will also carry out supervised research project on a topic of your choice.