Bachelor of Laws

The degree of Bachelor of Laws is the principal academic degree in law in most common law countries. It is abbreviated LL.B. (or sometimes Ll.B.): "LL" is an abbreviation of the genitive plural legum (of laws), thus "LL.B." stands for Legum Baccalaureus in Latin. In the United States it is sometimes called "Bachelor of Legal Letters" to account for the double "L"; see also Juris Doctor. Historically, law students used to study both ecclesiastical law and common law. Today, this is much less common. However, a few institutions, such as Cardiff University's Department of Canon (Ecclesiastical) Law, continue to offer alternatives to the common law.

International situation

Alternative titles and formats

In the United States the LL.B. became a three year graduate degree taken after completion of a four-year undergraduate degree. The LL.B. has now been widely replaced in the United States by the Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree although little has changed in its form and structure.

Related Topics:
Undergraduate - Juris Doctor

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In most of the Commonwealth, the LL.B. remains the qualifying degree for the practice of law, though some universities award the degree of Bachelor of Civil Law (B.C.L.). At Oxford and Cambridge, the principal law degree is a B.A., in Jurisprudence and Law respectively; the B.C.L. and LL.B. (recently renamed LL.M.) are postgraduate degrees. Some universities in the United Kingdom and New Zealand offer variations of this degree, such as the LL.B.(Europe), which generally take four years to complete and include a wider range of topics as well as some degree of specialisation.

Related Topics:
Commonwealth - Bachelor of Civil Law - Oxford - Cambridge - B.A. - LL.M. - United Kingdom - New Zealand

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Eligibility to foreign jurisdictions

Foreign law graduates wishing to attain admission to the bar in the United States may find their qualifying LL.B law degree fulfils core admission requirements and allows them to take the bar exam, directly. For example, New York permits holders of Oxford and Cambridge B.A. degrees and University of London LL.B. degrees (NOT THE EXTERNAL DEGREE) to take the bar, and both New York and Massachusetts permit Canadian LL.B. holders to take the bar. (The University of Toronto J.D. is a renamed LL.B. and treated no differently by American states.) The procedures vary between states and interested applicants should seek specific advice.

Related Topics:
New York - University of London - Massachusetts - University of Toronto

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