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Oxford BCL Queries

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AlvinSee


Joined: 21 Jun 2008
Posts: 241
Oxford BCL Queries
Fri Jul 03, 2009 09:30 PM
NYU 2L, law review membership sounds goodt, and I suppose publications would help greatly. Most importantly, put in a CV which shows great enthusiasm - that would clinch you the offer :)
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QSWE

Joined: 23 Nov 2008
Posts: 674
Oxford BCL Queries
Sat Jul 04, 2009 06:13 AM
)

[Edited by QSWE on 31 Oct 2009]
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Jim691

Joined: 24 Nov 2005
Posts: 7
Oxford BCL Queries
Wed Jul 15, 2009 12:43 PM
To those of you who have studied the BCL,

How many of you took the dissertation option? Is it common to do so? And do you think it is worth taking Restitution, even if you are not going to practise or teach it, because of its excellent reputation? I personally want to become a public-law barrister, but am toying with the idea of doing Restitution, since it seems to be synonymous with the BCL.

Thanks,

J
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LawyerinUSA

Joined: 16 Feb 2009
Posts: 46
Oxford BCL and Cambridge LLM Applicants 2009
Wed Jul 15, 2009 05:20 PM
The BCL is not a course where you just roll up and get taught that "the law of x is y". Any JD/LLM degree will do that. At Ox, you are expected to teach yourself that stuff through readings (and the occasional lecture).
The BCL is aimed, rather, at high level critical analysis. This will be useful in practice (especially for those at the Bar) but it also lends itself very well to those wanting to make a career in academia/research (ie any subject does).


A couple of comments from an American in response to the quote above:

Although I have not completed the BCL, I do have a JD. Admitedly, JD programs are designed to prepare American lawyers to practice law rather than to prepare such lawyers for academia. However, it is an exaggeration to state that such programs simply teach black-letter law. In fact, several programs are theoretical (e.g., Yale, University of Chicago). Some of these theoretical programs, however, do not necessarily translate well to practice.

Critical thinking skills are essential to the private practice of law. However, clients pay for results, and I have noticed over years of practice that graduates of theoretical law programs sometimes have greater difficulty coming to concrete conclusions in a timely and cost-effective manner. Law in America has transitioned from a profession to a business, and efficiency is valued far more than deeper thinking. I have performed legal work for some of the largest corporations in the world, and even those corporations are looking at the bottom-line more so than ever before. Not necessarily a good development, but it is reality.

[Edited by LawyerinUSA on 15 Jul 2009]
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starstar

Joined: 08 Feb 2009
Posts: 10
Oxford BCL and Cambridge LLM Applicants 2009
Wed Jul 15, 2009 06:20 PM
Jim691 - I am in a similar position to you. I would like to practice as a public law barrister but I am reluctant to concentrate my BCL subject choice solely in this area, especially given the reputation the course has for private law and in particular Restitution etc.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?
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PublicBCL

Joined: 30 Jun 2009
Posts: 7
Oxford BCL and Cambridge LLM Applicants 2009
Sun Jul 19, 2009 09:43 PM

Law in America has transitioned from a profession to a business, and efficiency is valued far more than deeper thinking. I have performed legal work for some of the largest corporations in the world, and even those corporations are looking at the bottom-line more so than ever before. Not necessarily a good development, but it is reality.


Thanks LawyerinUSA. I've worked as well and I know that law is a business for commercial law firms. The point of my original post was to emphasise that the BCL will set you up for work at the English [or Commonwealth] Bar or as an academic, but that is not to imply it won't make you a better commercial attorney too.

I understand your point re the dangers of 'theoretical' programs, but I make 2 points in response. First, Yale is ranked 1 and UChicago 6 in the US News rankings, so they ain't doing too badly for themselves! Second, my point was that the BCL requires that you know lots of black letter law, but then goes on to ask much more of you than merely 'is the law of x y'.

As to the people asking about subject choice:
-restitution is supposed to be a brilliant entertaining very tough subject but I did not do it. It is certainly quite common to combine some public and some private, or some private and some philosophical, etc, subjects on the BCL. Restitution seems like an ideal one to pick if you had to choose one of the private subjects.
-some people do the dissertation. Very unclear whether this is a wise tactical choice. Up to your personal priorities.

[Edited by PublicBCL on 19 Jul 2009]
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Jim691

Joined: 24 Nov 2005
Posts: 7
Oxford BCL and Cambridge LLM Applicants 2009
Sun Jul 19, 2009 10:58 PM
PublicBCL,

Thank you so much for your post. It is most helpful. About doing a dissertation, you say that it is '[v]ery unclear whether this is a wise tactical choice'. Please could you explain why? I'm guessing you think this 1) because the BCL is geared towards exams -- with the tutorials, etc, and 2) because writing a dissertation could prove too onerous, bearing in mind the volume of reading one will need to do for the other three modules. These points certainly put me off writing a dissertation.

Of course, there could be other factors to consider, for example, whether one wants to teach or do future research, or whether one would prefer to do a piece of written work instead of an exam. But these factors don't concern me, since I don't want to be an accademic and I don't mind exams.

Thanks again for all your help, PublicBCL. All the best with your exams.

Jim



[Edited by Jim691 on 20 Jul 2009]
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bchell

Joined: 30 Jun 2009
Posts: 6
Oxford BCL and Cambridge LLM Applicants 2009
Mon Jul 20, 2009 01:28 AM
check out the spread of results on the exam report pages: dissertations do badly. with that said, i really wish i'd had only had 3 exams to do.

it is pretty soft-cock doing only 3 exams though. i know one clown who did all soft-cock subjects and then spoke loudly about wondering why people were stressed about exams. do not become one of them.

the dissertation can be written over Christmas. make sure you pick a narrow topic. all the bullshit topics got supervised, so it seems that if you do something like land rights for whales that will be ok.
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Jim691

Joined: 24 Nov 2005
Posts: 7
Oxford BCL and Cambridge LLM Applicants 2009
Mon Jul 20, 2009 09:25 AM
bchell

Thanks very much for the advice.

All the best with your exams.

Jim
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LLM99

Joined: 28 Apr 2008
Posts: 5
Cambridge Trusts
Thu Jul 23, 2009 05:15 PM
Hi friends,

Has any one been awarded 'Developing World Education Fund Scholarship' by the Cambridge Trusts?

Thanks and regards.

Jo
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QSWE

Joined: 23 Nov 2008
Posts: 674
Oxford BCL and Cambridge LLM Applicants 2009
Sun Nov 01, 2009 04:46 PM
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Pufer

Joined: 31 Oct 2009
Posts: 1
Oxford BCL and Cambridge LLM Applicants 2009
Sun Nov 01, 2009 07:02 PM
Hey everyone who made it this year, what was the ratio of selected to applicants?
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AlvinSee


Joined: 21 Jun 2008
Posts: 241
Oxford BCL and Cambridge LLM Applicants 2009
Sun Nov 01, 2009 10:25 PM
If I'm not mistaken, the ratio is about 1 to 4/5.
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