Your Classmates

You may be considering moving straight on to the BCL or MJur from your current undergraduate programme or you may already have worked in the law or legal practice and be considering embarking on advanced study in order to move on to another area of the law or enhance your career in your current post. In either event, the BCL or MJur will provide you with exactly what you require.

IN SELECTING FROM THOSE WHO APPLY FOR ADMISSION TO THE BCL OR MJUR, WE LOOK FOR THESE QUALITIES:

• A track record of outstanding academic achievement (ordinarily we look for results in the top 5-10% of your cohort for your first degree).
• Application: exceptional academic motivation; capacity for sustained and intense work; developed ability to organise time and set own agenda for study; intrepid attitude towards investigation and learning.
• Knowledge: a broad, deep, advanced, and integrated understanding of the main branches of law of at least one municipal legal system.
• The maturity to cope with a professional learning environment, although prior work experience is not essential.
• Reasoning ability: outstanding analytical abilities, including the ability to draw and to maintain difficult distinctions, the ability speedily to separate the relevant from the irrelevant, and the ability to develop and sustain complex arguments under pressure.
• Capacities for accurate observation and insightful criticism, including willingness and ability to engage with disciplines other than law and to bring their insights to bear on legal problems.
• Originality and creativity of thought, open-mindedness, and capacity for lateral thinking; excellent powers of synthesis and economy of thought.
• Communication: willingness and ability to express highly complex ideas clearly and effectively in English, with a particular eye to finesse and economy; ability to conduct a mature debate leaving room for the contributions of others; aspiration to professional standards of style and organisation in legal and scholarly writing.

The BCL and MJur are tough and demanding courses which offer significant professional and academic rewards to successful candidates. We expect our applicants to be exceptional and judge them accordingly. 

STUDENT PROFILE

Helen Pugh 
BCL, United Kingdom

Helen Pugh had already spent four years at Keble College, Oxford reading Law with German Law when she enrolled on the BCL. With a First Class undergraduate degree and her sights set on a career at the competitive English Bar, the BCL was the natural stepping stone.

Helen saw the BCL as a unique opportunity to tackle the most challenging areas of English law under the tuition of world class legal minds.

‘It takes the foundation knowledge and skills you learn at undergraduate level and turns them into premium assets to any employer.

The level of debate in seminars and tutorials is astounding. Intelligence is  given so add that to the wealth of experience stemming from a multinational and varied student population and you have a fair idea of the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity on offer.

Studying aside, the sheer range and quality of activiites and societies which Oxford offers - punting, college sports, debates, mooting to name just a few - was the cherry on the cake.'

Helen went on to take up the position of Visiting Tutor in Commercial Contract at the London School of Economics and is now a pupil barrister at 3 Hare Court, a leading civil commercial set of chambers in London.

STUDENT PROFILE

Paschalis Paschalidis
MJur, Greece

Paschalis Paschalidis came to Oxford after gaining impressive results in his undergraduate degree at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He completed the MJur in July 2007 and subsequently progressed to the MPhil, before continuing to doctoral student status.

‘The MJur has been by far the most challenging and competitive degree programme I have undertaken. I chose Oxford for three main reasons. First, it gave me the chance to study law under the guidance and supervision of academics whose...

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