Optional placement:
- Applied Professional Practice (120 credits)
Enhance your organisational and specialist knowledge, capabilities and skills and develop your ability to self-reflect. Explore career paths you may not have considered and link theory to practice. Build on the academic and practical work undertaken on the placement stage and examine this further in your final year.
Final year (national level 6):
Core modules:
Advance your understanding of the nature and utility of the concept of trust law and of equitable remedies. Develop your analysis and independent thinking skills and use them to tackle practical problems. Consider the development of equitable principles, express private trusts, charitable trusts, duties of trustees, the nature and scope of fiduciary obligations, breaches of trust or fiduciary obligation and resulting and constructive trusts.
Optional modules (choose 100 credits)
- Law Research Dissertation (20 credits)
Conduct in-depth original research and study into an area of law of interest to you. Analyse the law in a variety of relevant social, economic, commercial, or political contexts. Produce a written dissertation and undertake independent research in areas of law that have not previously been studied.
Explore the law that governs medical treatment and healthcare in England and Wales. Critically examine the laws that govern assisted reproduction, research, and experimentation, organ donation, medical negligence, treatment of patients who lack the capacity to consent, and end-of-life care. Place a particular focus on the ethical issues that arise in the context of medical care.
- Commercial Law (20 credits)
Develop a critical knowledge and understanding of central tenets of commercial contract law, including agency, insurance, and consumer legislation. Undertake detailed document review and drafting, learn how to analyse commercial contracts and advise clients as to their obligations and liabilities, and draft standard form contracts suitable for practice. Examine, at length, the various provisions of the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977, the Sale of Goods Act 1979, the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2014, and the Consumer Rights Act 2015.
- Employment and Labour Law (20 credits)
Understand the main areas of individual employment law and how employment law in practice affects the working relationship between employers and employees. Considers issues of unlawful discrimination, including recent law relating to discrimination. Consider termination of employment with a particular focus on the right not to be unfairly dismissed which is the most common substantive claim heard by employment tribunals.
- Public International Law (20 credits)
Gain an introduction to the concepts, principles, institutions, and debates that frame public international law today. Question the role of international law in international affairs with a focus on modern conflicts and technological advances. Examine the role and relationships of international organisations and institutions such as the United Nations, the International Court of Justice, and the European Union.
- Counter-Terrorism Law (20 credits)
Develop a critical understanding of the legislation applicable to counterterrorism in England and Wales. Critically explore the legal definition of terrorism, the role of counter-terrorism institutions, proactive counter-terrorism legislation (offences), and reactive counter-terrorism legislation (police powers). Consider the human rights concerns in relation to counterterrorism, as well as methods of control where prosecution is not a viable option.
- Crime, Justice and Society (20 credits)
Gain a foundational knowledge of the field of Criminology, including a study of crime, those who commit crime, and the criminal justice and penal systems. Attempt to define crime and justice by examining the theory underpinning it. Study the individuals and groups involved in the criminal justice system and crime prevention, punishment, and penology.
- Property Law and Conveyancing (20 credits)
Identify the critical steps in a property transaction in the context of domestic or commercial transactions or both, and in relation to freehold and leasehold property. Develop an awareness of the conflicts of interest that may arise when acting for more than one party in a property transaction. Draft a transfer deed and undertake the pre- and post-completion checks, including how to fulfil obligations to a mortgage lender.
- Wills and the Administration of Estates (20 credits)
Develop a systematic understanding of key aspects of the law governing wills and the administration of estates. Consider what might happen in the event that a will, or part of a will, is invalid. Learn more about how and when challenges on a will can be made.
- Business Law and practice (20 credits)
Form a foundation for understanding the nature of business from a legal perspective. Explore the law of business organisations and develop knowledge and skills including the formation and constitution of business organisations, the financing of companies, and the management, administration, and regulation of companies. Delve into a simulated client file and take your client through the infancy of their business, to partnership, to company formation, and then, through to insolvency.
- Sunderland Student Law Clinic (40 credits)
Work on “live” cases for clients at the Sunderland Student Law Clinic under the supervision of a qualified solicitor. Interview real-life clients and obtain relevant information about client issues. Research and accurately identify legal and factual issues and then present reasoned solutions to the client.
Please note, optional modules may change.
