How accurate is The Paper Chase?

It may not be the best known law school film, but many consider 1973's The Paper Chase to be the best and most accurate portrayal. Based on a book by a then-recent Harvard graduate John Jay Osborn, Jr., the film stars Timothy Bottoms, Lindsay Wagner and John Houseman:

It's a fine film and thoroughly recommended. But, regardless of how well it captures the experience of either Harvard or American law schools as a whole (and as Harvard is traditionally one of the top US law schools it's not necessarily representative), as with many screen portrayals the relationship to a distance learning Law degree in the UK is somewhat limited. It does capture well how Law is very much about theory and application and that the ability to remember umpteen facts is not sufficient or even necessary (hence why many students, lecturers and lawyers do not instantly recall every case). There's certainly plenty of reading of cases and statutes then discussing them. It shows that Contract Law is not the easiest of subjects or the one everyone enjoys, sentiments definitely shared by many on our WhatsApp group when we took the module.

And a couple of the cases discussed in the film are from English Law. Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Co ([1893] 1 QB 256) is one of the best known of all contract cases and is discussed accurately in the film. Vigers v Cook ([1919] 2 KB 475) may be a little less well known (it didn't come up on my module nor is it covered in Poole's Casebook on Contract Law, at least not in the sixteenth edition) but is still an interesting precedent, especially as in the film the discussion of the case serves as background to a key silent confrontation between the protagonists whilst the rest of the class struggle to recall the facts of the case (as a starter, one of the parties' son died and the other party was the undertaker - but who was who?).

(The opening scene has brought to fame a case from New Hampshire, Hawkins v. McGee (84 NH 114, 146 A. 641 (1929)), also known as the "Hairy Hand" case. In part because of its appearance here, this case continues to be heavily used in American Contract Law classes, often at the start of the course, and is widely discussed. The opening scene delivers the common portrayal of the facts of the case but more recently this portrayal has been challenged, not least in a 2010 article by Daniel O'Gorman (full reference below) in which he went back to the original trial transcripts and came to some very different conclusions about the dispute. There's a good summary in Another Perspective on Dr. McGee and the Case of the Hairy Hand by Norman Otto Stockmeyer.)

But the classes in which the lecturer puts students through the fire with the Socratic Method of teaching, the study group trying to produce revision guides ("outlines") and descending into personal conflict, the chaotic preparation for exams, the intellectual struggle between the student and the lecturer and so forth all belong to a very different world from my studies. And results no longer come in envelopes, though as I've previously noted, it is still possible to make a paper aeroplane out of them in homage to the ending. As for the closeness to the US law school experience, here's Learn Law Better's take on it:

Still, it's definitely worth watching, especially for the Oscar winning performance of John Houseman as Professor Kingsfield, the Contract Law lecturer. There was later a television series as well in which Houseman reprised the role, but I've only seen the first episode and it's nowhere near as good.

Reference

O'Gorman, D. (2010) 'Expectation Damages, the Objective Theory of Contracts, and the 'Hairy Hand' Case: A Proposed Modification to the Effect of Two Classical Contract Law Axioms in Cases Involving Contractual Misunderstandings', Kentucky Law Journal, 99, pp.327-377. Available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2815050

So just where is the Public Law banner image from?

The teaching website for each OU module comes with a special banner graphic that aims to represent the content of the module. It can be a cartoon image, a photograph, an AI image or a collage. Usually, it's clear what it represents and how it links to the module in question.

But one image in particular has stumped many a student. Just what is the repeated symbol on the Public Law banner and how does it relate to the subject?

The answer is surprisingly simple.

It's a picture of the carpet in the Supreme Court with its unique symbol.

The four plants represent the four nations of the United Kingdom:

• A flax for Northern Ireland
• A thistle for Scotland
• A Tudor Rose for England
• A leek for Wales

The symbol can be found repeatedly on many of the carpets in the Supreme Court building; this particular photograph was taken in Courtroom 2.

The four flowers can also be found on the formal badge of the court. Here's the one in Courtroom 2.

It's a surprisingly obvious image when you think about it. A glance at the covers of various Public Law textbooks show either abstract images or umpteen images of Parliament so it's nice to have some variety.

All these images were taken on a tour of the Court with members of the Open University Law Society as part of a very memorable evening. Both the Society and a visit to the Court are well recommended.

(All images my own.) 

Tutors and students

The word "tutor" is used in many ways across education, ranging from private tutors giving extra teaching to individual pupils or students through to being an alternative name for a housemaster or housemistress overseeing potentially up to a hundred different pupils in some schools. The focus can vary from academic to pastoral support though many straddle the two roles.

Within the Open University a "tutor" is assigned to a number of students on an individual module. Most directly they mark some of the assignments (literally the "Tutor Marked Assignments" and the "End of Module Tutor Marked Assignments"). They are there to offer direct support and advice to the student, which isn't always taken up. They often give advice and support to all their students through the online Tutor Group Forums, as well as reading and commenting on some of the posts students may put there as they discuss the material. And they can give individual advice which is available through emails and scheduled phone calls.

The tutors also run "tutorials", online sessions where a tutor takes students through a portion of the course material. However, there is no requirement for students to attend the ones taken by their own tutor, though if one's schedule allows it, it can be helpful to go to some of theirs to get more direct support. Each module has multiple tutorials covering the same material, offering different times to attend, and not every tutor takes one of every particular version. So it's not unusual to go to tutorials taken by several different tutors over the course of the module.

It's different from a single student physically going to meet a tutor for a one-on-one session but, as previously discussed, the method of Open University study is now rather different from the days depicted in Educating Rita.

Tutors are assigned just before the formal start of a module. At the point I'm writing this, I've just received details of my tutor for one module, someone I've not directly encountered on any previous module. Meanwhile, I await for my tutor on my other current module to be assigned. We'll see how each module goes.

(Image created with Microsoft 365 Copilot.)

Into the new academic year

We're now into a slightly strange period of the academic year at the Open University. On the one hand, the year has formally started and the module websites have opened, allowing students to start reading through the content. On the other, the introductory sessions have yet to happen, tutors have not yet been assigned, Tutor Group Forums (TGFs) have not yet opened, details of tutorials are not yet available for booking and some of the first assignments are still locked.

At a glance, this may seem confusing, especially compared to some bricks & mortar universities. Though looking deeper, it's actually not so different from those where module guides are provided to students in advance of the first (teaching) week, allowing them to start thinking ahead, doing early readings and so forth. It just seems a bit different because the module website itself fulfils the role normally taken by lectures.

As is so often the case, some of this comes back to flexibility. By opening the websites a few weeks early, students have the opportunity to start working through the material at their own pace and get ahead of the recommended schedule if needs be - and there are a lot of real life events that might encourage that. For example, students with children can get a week ahead at this stage and then take a week off studying for half-term.

But one of the side effects is that it isn't always possible to do all the early activities in the module units and some momentum can be lost. Some of them ask students to write a short piece, post it on their Tutor Group Forum and then discuss it with other students in replies. However, as the tutors haven't yet been assigned and the TGFs not yet opened, it isn't possible to do this activity. And so the students most likely to start building momentum for online discussions instead often wind up skipping over the posting, leaving some TGFs notably bare and consisting of little more than the tutor posting advice each week.

In addition, the tutorials broadly align to the recommended schedule for the units and the special tutorials to support assignments are close to the deadlines, so there is a risk of ending up out of sync with the plans. So I don't recommend getting too deep into the module at this stage.

However, it's good to get through the early material and in particular to go through as much of the introductory week material as possible. Some of my modules have had as many as seven different sections in the introductory week, ranking from quick introductions to the course to the Law Undergraduate Guide, which is lengthy and updated each year. So the extra time to get through it all is welcome. In addition, if one is taking more than one module at a time, it's good to get a sense of how long each will take and start pacing well.

As well, there are other general introduction activities laid on through Welcome Week, both in-person and online, so there are good opportunities to get (back) into things.

So this phase of the year is not as complicated as it may first seem.

(Image created with Microsoft 365 Copilot.)

Why every student needs a Law dictionary

Consider these words:

appellant, respondent, interlocutor, tort, counsel, dictum, Master of the Rolls, plaintiff, 

All are found in the first opinion in one of the most famous cases in British legal history (though this is not the most famous opinion in it; instead it's a dissent). All technical terms that a student may not have encountered before.

Law is full of such technical terms, though fortunately the use of Latin has seriously declined in recent years. A student coming to a case afresh (and this case could be one of the first judgments they ever encounter the text for) may struggle to navigate some of the words in them. But the course is Law, not Vocabulary. Students must learn to master the terminology by themselves.

And so if there's one resource they need more than any other it's a Law dictionary. Trying to read legal sources without a guide to the terms can often leave one stumbling. Time and again my own has brought enlightenment, whether basic terms at the start or more complicated concepts.

I use A Dictionary of Law (and yes, the title on the cover says "Oxford Dictionary of Law" but one should always use the title and capitalisation on the inside front page as a book's title), one of many from the Oxford Reference series. It's proved invaluable as have some other volumes in the series - I once found some key details for an assignment in The Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists, not normally the first place to go on a Law degree.

So make sure you get a Law dictionary as early as possible.

Oh and the case? It's none other than Donoghue v Stevenson.

(Photo my own.)

Recent sudden changes on this blog

Some of you may have seen the blog constantly changing themes and settings in the last twenty-four hours. This has been because of some technical errors that have been a pain to (hopefully) fix. Apologies for the changes and problems in the meantime.

Normal service should now be resumed.

The blog has also had some problems with Google indexing. Looking around the internet, this is not the only Blogger blog suffering from this. Hopefully, this will sort itself soon. And in the meantime to help the poster who raised the problem there, here's a special link for their blog: Everyday Answer Lab — A Collector's Life: By Jerrad — A personal blog about figure collecting, One Piece, handmade pieces, displays, and the hobbies I genuinely enjoy.

How to deal with loneliness

Distance learning can be lonely. After starting my degree it was nearly two years before I met anyone from the Open University in person. I have never even had a phone conversation with any students on my modules.

This is invariably different from when I studied in person, regardless of whether I lived on campus, nearby or commuted in from further afield. As a result, it's much harder to share the experience with others, discuss everything from how to do a particular format for an assignment to discussing problems with university admin to just relaxing and sharing the joy of having completed something.

I have a life away from university study and so there are people I see, speak to and deal with regularly. And there are other ways to pass time. Doing a specific hobby alongside the degree is one way. Making guaranteed time to see friends or go places is another. Even just finding a good TV series or book to pass the time can help. But few people around you may know what it's like to be distance learning and even fewer will know about current courses.

But there are ways to connect with other students virtually.

The university provides online internet forums at various levels - tutor group, module, Level 3 route, degree amongst others - that allow some formal discussion and connection. They're also a way to post links to other places where students can connect directly.

Social media is the main way I've connected with others. Facebook has some groups for the Open University, but they can be a little quiet, especially if they've been running for many years. More active are WhatsApp groups. A number of students have set up WhatsApp communities for study with one or more groups for specific fields, usually individual modules. When run well - and all the ones I'm on are very well run - they can be a good way to connect with other students, discuss tips for studying, technical problems, future module choices, life away from studying and so much more. I have found them very helpful in knowing I am not alone.

But if social media messaging isn't your thing, then there are still other ways to handle loneliness.

There are dedicated groups and organisation that one can join. Students at the OU are automatically members of OpenSU (previously the Open University Students Association), the students' union. It runs many events and gives support and advice so check out their website. There are also societies, of which the most significant is the Open University Law Society (OULS) which runs a wide range of activities.

However you approach it, you are never truly alone. There are ways to connect with other students and get involved, even if you never meet them in person. They are still out there.

(Image created with Microsoft 365 Copilot.)

A new academic year begins

And so the new academic year begins. This year I enter Level 3 and I'm taking more modules, hoping to complete the Law degree by next summer. It's going to be an interesting time ahead.

The shift from one level to another is quite a different experience from going forward from one academic or school year in a bricks & mortar institution. Whether it's university or school, there's a continuity of people around you and a shared experience so you return to familiar faces and surroundings. But with distance learning, you're not returning anywhere physical or seeing anybody after a time away. Instead, you're just going back to your desk at home. So all the focus is on waiting for the new academic year's module website to open.

The start to a module is often a bit staggered, with the website opening a few weeks before a module formally begins. This allows some students to get ahead but things can be complicated if tutors haven't yet been allocated whilst the online forums for most modules I've done often don't open early enough. One result is that very few students make the recommended online posts from module activities so it's harder to . Everybody studies at their own pace and around their own schedule so some will want to start ploughing through as soon as possible whilst others choose to follow the formal schedule and await the online tutorials to help them. There's no one right way to do things.

Level 3 sees students split off onto different pathways, which I'll discuss in more detail in later posts. It's by far the most diverse of all with many possible module combinations so my experience will be very different from many other students on other routes. So let's see how it goes.

(Image created with Microsoft 365 Copilot.)

Getting your module results

There's a strange limbo after one submits an End of Module Assignment (EMA). The module is over but the results aren't through for some time. Other demands, including other modules, can absorb time but there's still a sense of wondering that can't be satisfied one way or another until the result arrives. And that will take quite some time.

(And yes there's a reason for this, lest someone from the Open University staff be reading this and wants to point out the amount of time it takes to mark, moderate, externally moderate, work out overall marks and any adjustments and so forth. It's inevitable it takes time but that doesn't change the waiting experience.)

And then comes the day when one gets one or more of their results. With all the speculation this involves.

The Open University's systems are complicated and one effect seems to be that results don't always come out at quite a pre-announced "big bang" moment. The day of results can shift a bit. With one module I had both a delay of many days announced due to major systems failing and then also a release a couple of days earlier than the revised expected date. And then once the marks are out, it often seems to take a few days for all the relevant parts of the site to catch up, so I sometimes have a final mark in one place, a promise of a mark in a second and a blank in a third. Eventually everything is displayed correctly but not immediately.

Related to this the announcements that the results are out don't always come at the same time. So sometimes the first I've learnt that results are out has been messages on social media. When I've logged into the website there's been a message there - but the email to tell me to go to the site to look hasn't come until later. It makes for interesting fun, especially if I'm out and about with only the phone to check on.

My previous study was in a different era with most things submitted on paper and overall results coming in the mail or announced at a set time on a noticeboard. There was a similar sense of speculation and randomness with the post (although in those days it was much more reliable) but not the odd way of learning results were out through instant messages.

All this adds to the tension as one goes to see what their actual result is, perhaps added to by comments online as one person declares they did terribly whilst another is shocked to have done so much better than expected. And then the chaos as one clicks on the wrong link and then has to go back before eventually making it through to find the dreaded header "Overall module result", looking down and seeing the result. It's a nerve wracking experience but it has to be done.

Unless one decides to do something radical. But unfortunately with results coming online it's not possible to make a paper aeroplane out of an unopened envelope and throw the unseen results into the air, as happens at the end of The Paper Chase. Still there's nothing to stop you printing them out for a substitute effect - the plane in the picture at the top was made out of a printout of my Contract Law result because I thought of the film's ending and decided to homage the scene. But unlike Hart in the film I made sure to read my results first.

(Photograph my own.)

So just what were the facts in Donoghue v Stevenson?

It may seem surprising but many Law students, lecturers and lawyers do not carry extensive case lists in their head. The law is constantly evolving and it's better to look up a key case than to try to work from memory.

But there are some cases that have become so famous that they're heavily remembered and invariably encountered in law classes. Some set down key legal principles, such as Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Co ([1893] 1 QB 256), one of the best known cases in Contract Law. Others are remembered because of problems they exposed in the justice system, such as the Adolf Beck case that showed how unreliable eyewitness evidence can be. And then there's the case on which negligence law is founded, Donoghue v Stevenson.

Donoghue (or McAlister) v Stevenson ([1932] All ER Rep 1) may well be the best known legal case in British history. Notably, the relevant chapter in 100 Cases That Every Scots Law Student Needs to Know is titled "The Most Famous Case Of All". It's not hard to see why.

The case was key in the development of negligence law, by far the most litigated part of Tort. It applied to both Scots Law and English Law (the assertion that the law was identical in both jurisdictions was not disputed during the case though some have later questioned this) and the ruling was taken up across common law jurisdictions. It's often encountered by Law students very early in their studies. Many law schools (including the Open University's) teach Tort Law at Level 1; some others may leave Tort to Level 2 but have introductory Law modules that include Donoghue. It involves a highly ordinary scenario of a drink in a café with a very memorable horrific image that is easy to relate to. And the ruling invokes grand religious principles of the duty to one's neighbour.

In all this it's easy to forget some basics in the case. Including that the facts of the case were never actually established.

It doesn't help that the House of Lords judgment itself opens with "My Lords, the facts of this case are simple" as though there were established facts even though the opening paragraph also contains the disclaimer "she alleged, and at this stage her allegations must be accepted as true...".

In most cases an appeal on a point of law to a higher court is not the conclusion of a dispute. Usually, the higher courts will rule on the appeal and then the case goes back to the lower courts to be determined in light of that ruling. In this dispute, the ruling meant that Donoghue could sue Stevenson for negligence despite not having a contractual relationship and so a hearing was scheduled. But in the intervening period Stevenson died and before the case could eventually be tried his estate settled out of court.

So we don't know for certain the facts of the case. The story is of a woman (Mrs Donoghue) and her friend going to a café in Paisley on the evening of 26 August 1928, the friend ordering drinks, Mrs Donoghue drinking most of an opaque bottle of ginger beer and then, when the remainder was poured, discovering it contained the dead body of a snail, causing her to suffer shock and gastric illness.

But it was never proved in court that there was a dead snail in the bottle. Nor was it ever proved for certain that the bottle of ginger beer had been prepared and sealed by Stevenson's company. This was a time when bottles were often reused and sometimes returned to the wrong manufacturer. Although his estate settled, Stevenson, had he lived, may well have based his response on this and a court would have had to determine whether or not his company had indeed been responsible for a dead snail getting into the bottle.

And so perhaps the most famous case of all has no clear facts.

(Image created with Microsoft 365 Copilot.) 

The big product liability case: Coyote vs. Acme

Is there anything sadder than getting excited about a film involving a product liability case?

I'll avoid answering that one. But tomorrow just such a film comes out, Coyote vs. Acme (and yes, that's not the way to cite a case...) in which Wile E. Coyote takes on the company which supplies all his defective equipment:

(Yes it doesn't come out until next week in the US. But this is a UK based blog and here proceedings start tomorrow.)

And this is not the first time that this dispute has been contemplated. Back in 1990 The New Yorker carried a fictitious legal case document, Coyote v. Acme by Ian Frazier.

Although comedic, this is based on a serious legal concept, product liability. A manufacturer and supplier has a duty to supply well-designed goods that work as intended and come with warnings. Wile E. Coyote's attempts to catch the Road Runner have so often failed because the equipment he's obtained from Acme has been defective. The US based Pisanchyn Law Firm has a blog post explaining this in more detail at What Coyote vs. Acme Teaches Us About Product Liability (Yes, Seriously).

So tomorrow we'll see one coyote take on a big corporation and it should be fun.

One line of defence I doubt we'll see is the question as to whether Wile E. Coyote is a single animal. This moment, from the 1955 short Ready.. Set.. Zoom! suggests otherwise and there may be a limit to how much one coyote can claim:

So tomorrow we'll see some fun as Wile E. Coyote finally takes on his true nemesis. And have some legal fun at the same time.

A Level results day

Good luck to all those of my readers getting their A Level results today.

And this is also a day when a lot of confused statistics and nonsense fly about. So here are a few potential rejoinders.

Firstly, a lot of the statistics about the number of students accepted onto particular subjects at university come from UCAS. The figures only cover applications made through them and don't include students who've applied to the institution directly, which includes many distance learning, mature and/or part-time students. This is especially true in subjects where the Open University has the largest student numbers in the country, such as Law.

Secondly, there's often a lot of nonsense written about A Levels getting easier. This has been going on since at least when I took my A Levels back in... erm... very many years ago, and probably long before then. A lot of this comes from non-specialist journalists and commentators writing and opining on a subject they don't know the full details of. The reality is that much has changed over the years including teaching methods, technological support, methods of examination and also the competitive environment with ever greater numbers of students applying to university and under ever more pressure to perform well. So direct comparisons of grades across the decades don't mean much; nor can you pull out an old A Level paper (something much easier to do in the internet age) and ask today's pupils to answer it to compare results.

It does not help that normally this is about the slowest news week of the entire year and A Level results are a guaranteed source of news that get perhaps too much attention. If they came out in a busier news week then the coverage would be more limited and likely to be dominated by those who actually understand the education sector. Maybe this year the Clacton by-election (which is polling today in case you haven't noticed) will help draw away some of the less informed.

If you haven't got the grades you were hoping for, don't panic. There are plenty of options out there, whether going through Clearing, taking a break or the Open University amongst others. There are many lawyers and other professionals who have got where they have in spite of A Level disappointment.

(Image created with Microsoft 365 Copilot.)

How accurate is Educating Rita?

By far the best known film about the Open University is Educating Rita from 1983. Written by Willy Russell, based on his stage play of the same name, it stars Michael Caine as lecturer and OU tutor Frank Herbert and Julie Walters as Susan "Rita" White, a hairdresser taking an OU course in Literature:

So how accurate to modern day OU study is it?

In my experience not very. It may have been much closer to reality in 1983 but technology and the methods of OU study have moved on a lot in the decades since.

In Educating Rita the methods of teaching we see are regular in-person one-on-one tutorials, lectures broadcast on television at anti-social hours and a summer school whilst assessment is by final examination. All of these are very different from how I have been taught and assessed. For starters, I have not had any physical meetings with any of my tutors. All our contact has been through either online group tutorial sessions (and these are not always taken by my own assigned tutor), emails or the occasional arranged one-on-one call. Invariably the interaction is very different to that of Rita and Frank and so the whole premise of the film would not work. Also, there are no longer televised lectures. (The one shown here appears to be broadcast late at night when the BBC Programme Index suggests the OU was generally broadcasting in the morning in this period. However looking again on the film's apparent release date * 16 June 1983, we do indeed find very late evening lectures were broadcast on both BBC1 and BBC2.) There are some summer schools and other in-person teaching events but not on my modules. But instead students do get to interact through online tutorials and forums (and unofficial WhatsApp groups) and there are some assignments that require us to respond to each other's work. In contrast to Rita's exam, so far on my modules at least they have all been fully assessed by coursework though I understand this is a relatively recent development for OU Law modules.

Some things that are familiar include the studying with books at home amidst potential distractions all around or the awkward hours for sessions that can interfere with domestic and social life for both students and tutors ("They expect me to teach when the pubs are open!") though nowadays most evening online tutorials seem to be taken by tutors from their homes (and there are fewer restrictions on pub opening hours). Rita is a young working woman who left school without any qualifications and is seeking to advance herself through the OU; through the WhatsApp groups supporting my modules I have encountered a number of real life OU students who fit this description.

But regardless of how it reflects studying today, it's a good film to watch. Oh and it has Michael Caine actually saying the line previously misattributed to him. "Not many people know that."

(* Film release dates can be tricky to look up at a glance, especially for films in the pre internet era. In those days, it was common for a film to be released first in London's West End and then steadily rolled out across the country. The exact rollout might vary a bit for other factors, most obvious school holidays. There's also the complication of dates for premieres that were often not the day immediately before a film was available to the public anywhere. And international releases were staggered as well. Online searches for a British film often bring up anything ranging from the premiere through to a US general release.

The main reason behind all this was the cost of the physical film prints with many reused from one market to the next. However as global communications and marketing grew, whilst technology made piracy easier, the staggered release dates increasingly created problems as demand was whipped up before the official supply was ready. Some of the big blockbuster movies started investing in many more screening prints to allow for global simultaneous releases and the more recent rise of digital projection has removed the print cost problem. However, staggering can still take place for other reasons such as a country's distributors waiting for a film to prove itself in other markets or even just aligning to local peak weeks for greater ticket sales.)

Book buying - what to watch out for

The Open University used to send copies of the core textbooks to Law students prior to the start of the module (and may still do so on some other subjects; I've heard mixed reports). They've since switched to using Law Trove which gives online access to the text of a much wider range of books from Oxford University Press. But many students find it easier to read from physical paper books and will seek to obtain new or second hand copies of the core textbooks for modules. And at other universities, especially those with physical seminars, the situation can differ and physical copies may be essential.

It may seem tempting to rush out and buy a full set of Law books at the start of a course. They may even seem to be good gifts for someone else. But, as I hope to explain, this can be counterproductive. Book buying is a complicated affair best handled over the whole of the course.

If you're thinking of giving a textbook as a gift, be aware that there isn't one standard set of textbooks across the country. Each university chooses its own set of books. In some areas of Law one book is so dominant that it is very widely used but in others there's a range of potential core textbooks and many different choices are made. Also for gift-givers even if you read Law at the same university previously do not assume the same book will still be used, even if a new edition has recently been published.

Law is a field where things change quickly and there is a high turnover of editions. As I've previously discussed, many books go through new editions every few years, sometimes as quickly as every year for statute books. The textbooks and casebooks that are core on the Open University degree haven't turned over quite as fast, but of the eight I either used or would have used on Level 1 and Level 2 modules, no less than six already have new editions out. A full set of the eleven books used on non-SQE modules purchased in 2022 for someone taking Law part-time over the next six years would have seen at least five superseded by new editions by the time the relevant module started and at least another five superseded by the end of the degree (the sole exception at the moment is Peace & Stevens' Trusts and Equitable Obligations, most recent edition 2022). Someone studying full-time might be luckier with the turnover but if they'd started in 2025 then at least four books would have newer editions by the time they reached the relevant module and another two had new editions published so close to the start of the year that the previous books might have been used.

And that's even before one makes their optional module choice final. No one student is going to need all eleven books. Books on Business and Employment Law or Evidence Law are not going to be much help if one ends up taking Family Law and International, Environmental and Space Law instead.

So it's best for the student to control the buying and to do so spread out across the degree, only obtaining the latest editions close to starting the relevant module. With that in mind, here are a few tips.

Double check both which books you need access to and which editions. Not only are there multiple editions out there (some of which use very similar covers - looking especially at you EU Law: Text, Cases, and Materials), but there are a number of similar titled books by the same author(s) such as Poole's Casebook on Contract Law and Poole's Textbook on Contract Law, both now by Merkin and Saintier. That one has definitely caught a few people out. Look up the book on the publisher's website (for the OU this is usually Oxford University Press's Academic section) to see if there's a new edition out this year and double check whether the brand-new edition will be used or the previous one. Sometimes a new edition published in the summer is deemed too soon for use in modules in the immediate next academic year (and the position can differ for modules starting in September/October with those starting in January/February). If the older edition is listed, try sending an email to see if you can get definite confirmation whether that's up-to-date or not.

High street bookshops will be unlikely to have most of the books on the course lists and/or mentioned on this blog on their shelves. These are specialist books with a limited lifespan and general demand is limited. The main exceptions tend to be Law dictionaries and longer life opinion pieces such as The Rule of Law by Lord Bingham of Cornhill or Justice: What's the right thing to do? by Michael J. Sandel. All of these I've often found in high street bookshops.

Larger bookshops in city centres and/or near universities may have some of the textbooks on shelves (in central London I've certainly seen a good many at both Foyles on Charing Cross Road and Waterstones on Gower Street) but don't expect to find absolutely all the ones you need there, especially if the bookshop is nearer other universities whose own Law courses prescribe different textbooks.

Ordering online is the best way forward but remember to compare prices. Also look out for discount codes that are sometimes provided through universities. And make sure the order goes to an easy-to-reach address or a good collection point.

Second hand copies are fine providing they are the edition you need. Make sure to look around, not just on regular sites like Amazon and eBay but also on sites like Vinted where many students offer their no-longer-needed books. You can even find books offered on social media groups but exercise caution about the buyer. As always, check carefully that you're buying the correct edition. Some books are much easier to find at cheap second hand prices (or deep discounted new editions) than others so the more you can save on one book the more you can put towards another.

Good luck buying!

(Photograph my own.)

What are the different types of law book?

(Be warned. A lot of the links on this post may rot quickly.)

There's a lot of reading in Law. Much is done online these days and indeed the Open University now uses a subscription to Law Trove rather than bulk buying physical copies of core textbooks then sending them out to students. (I am not sure what the policies are for other subjects.) So what are the differences between the books?

Statute books

Although the OU doesn't use these, instead relying on online databases, they are some of the best known law books out there. A statute book contains the current legislation in an area of law, primarily the statutes as currently in force but sometimes also other key texts such as international treaties. By far the best known are Blackstone's Statutes. These books are often used in physical seminars, allowing students to access and discuss the current legislation immediately.

However, be warned that these books date very quickly and are updated at an incredible speed. At one stage Blackstone's issued new volumes for specific academic years, though lately they've gone back to numbering each edition instead. The numbers can range wildly - at the time of writing this post Blackstone's Statutes on Medical Law is on its eleventh edition whilst Blackstone's Statutes on Contract, Tort & Restitution and Blackstone's EU Treaties & Legislation are both on their thirty-sixth editions. (And I will not be surprised if those numbers have increased by the time you read this, but I'm not going to be perpetually updating this post.)

Because of this high turnover buying older editions second hand can be a mixed blessing. The prices often plummet quickly. However, some second hand booksellers won't even touch them and older editions won't always have the current law as amended in them.

Case books

A case book is primarily built around the texts of key judgments in an area of law, often accompanied by commentary. Currently, there's one of these used as the core text for an OU module, Poole's Casebook on Contract Law.

Again these are books that are often updated, though not as rapidly as statute books. I used the 16th edition of Poole which was still going three years after publication.

Textbooks

This is a relatively general term for the bulk of the core books in use. Each textbook provides a general overview of an area of law. Again these are frequently updated. In my time with the OU textbooks have ranged from second editions (e.g. Lamont's Family Law) to sixteenth editions (e.g. Smith & Wood's Employment Law).

Note also that many of the longer running textbooks have had multiple authors over the years and in some cases the original author's names are preserved in the title (e.g. Pearce & Stevens' Trusts and Equitable Obligations which is now by Barr and Picton) even though it has been a good number of years and editions since they last contributed themselves.

Dictionaries

There's a lot of specialist terminology in Law and a good legal dictionary is invaluable. I use A Dictionary of Law which, for reasons known to them, has the slightly different title "Oxford Dictionary of Law" on the cover and spine. Now in its tenth edition, it's also available online. The OU is one of many institutions with a subscription to the Oxford Reference website where students can access the contents. Other Law dictionaries are also available.

There are also dictionaries for many other subjects and these can prove useful for specific modules or even specific assignments. For instance A Dictionary of Business and Management may help students studying Business Law.

Exam help books

There are a number of these around but as all of my degree so far is assessed by coursework it's hard to comment on these.

Popular guides to Law

There are a number of guides to particular areas of law on the mass market. These books are primarily aimed at the public and are not especially academic. Whilst they can provide a general introduction to a specific subject, it is best to avoid referencing them.

Other books

Various other books of use might come up, whether histories, polemics, philosophical texts, biographies and others. Invariably these are a wide range and it's not possible to do them justice here. Unlike many of the other books discussed in this post, these don't tend to go through so many editions and so have a longer shelf life; some of them are also more likely to be found in high street bookshops. Two from my own shelf that stand out are The Rule of Law by Lord Bingham of Cornhill and Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do? by Michael J. Sandel. And of course there are many, many others.

(All photographs my own.)

What are Postgraduate Certificates and Diplomas?

Yes this is a blog by a Bachelor's student and primarily focused on undergraduate study, at least currently. But having explained What are Certificates and Diplomas of Higher Education? it would be remiss to not cover the postgraduate equivalents as well.

These operate much the same way. A Postgraduate Certificate (abbreviated PG Cert) is an award that indicates a student has completed and been assessed for study up to the equivalent of the first third of a Master's degree (60 credits at Level M in the jargon). A Postgraduate Diploma (abbreviated PG Dip) is a similar award that indicates a student has completed and been assessed for study up to the equivalent of the second third of a Master's degree (120 credits at Level M).

(Unlike the undergraduate equivalents, the Postgraduate Certificates and Postgraduate Diplomas sit at the same level as Master's degrees on all the frameworks used in the United Kingdom. They are awards at Level 7 on the Regulated Qualifications Framework used in England and Northern Ireland and the Credit and Qualifications Framework for Wales or Level 11 on the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework.)

And again these function either as shorter qualifications in their own right or intermediate qualifications for students who have yet to complete a full Master's degree.

By far the best known postgraduate non-degree award may also be the most confusing one, namely the Postgraduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) for teachers. At present the only one the Open University offers is the Postgraduate Certificate in Education in Wales, only available to students in Wales. A glance at PGCE programmes across multiple universities show they appear to generally require 60 academic credits at Level M, so they do now match the name, but in addition have other requirements, often credits for the practical training element or, as in the OU's case, additional credits at a lower level. There is also the Professional Graduate Diploma in Education (PGDE), most common in Scotland, but this has a less confusing name.

Whereas there are other non-degree awards called certificates or diplomas at undergraduate level, the Open University is very consistent with the naming of its taught postgraduate awards and so everything is either a PG Cert, a PG Dip or a Master's degree.

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What are Certificates and Diplomas of Higher Education?

Degrees are not the only qualifications universities offer. There are also many other awards. At the Open University the most prominent at undergraduate level are Certificates of Higher Education and Diplomas of Higher Education. But just what are they?

Quite simply a Certificate of Higher Education (abbreviated CertHE) is an award that indicates a student has completed and been assessed for study up to the equivalent of the first year of a three-year full-time Bachelor's degree (120 credits at Level 1 in the jargon). A Diploma of Higher Education (abbreviated DipHE) is a similar award that indicates a student has completed and been assessed for study up to the equivalent of the second year of a three-year full-time Bachelor's degree (120 credits at Level 2).

(In the language of the various frameworks for qualifications used in the United Kingdom, they are awards at Levels 4 and 5 respectively on the Regulated Qualifications Framework used in England and Northern Ireland and the Credit and Qualifications Framework for Wales or at Levels 7 and 8 respectively on the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework.)

They are achieved in one of two ways. They can be studied for as short qualifications in their own right with dedicated outlines and modules. Or they are awarded to students who have completed the first and/or second full-time (equivalent) year of university.

Some universities award them to students who leave early. But the Open University also makes them available to ongoing students who've completed a level or the equivalent of a full-time year. As most OU students are studying at a slower rate and many do interrupt their studies, it will be a long time before they receive a degree. The Certificates and Diplomas help to fill this gap by providing formal recognition for study already undertaken. For some students they are the first qualification certificates they have ever received and are much appreciated.

A quick note that these are not the only non-degree awards available from the OU. I'll discuss postgraduate awards another day. There are also currently ten undergraduate awards with either "Certificate" or "Diploma" in the name that don't easily fit into the CertHE, DipHE, Foundation Degree, Bachelor's Degree model. They have an eclectic mix of lengths and levels with the result that some of the titles are inconsistent and potentially confusing.

The only one in Law is the Professional Certificate in Legal Practice: SQE1. This contains 90 credits at Level 3 and consists of the three modules to prepare students for the Solicitors Qualifying Examination. Just to be confusing the OU has two other awards with "Professional Certificate" in their names with different requirements. The Professional Certificate in Chemistry contains 90 credits at Level 2 (plus an in-person practical 2.5 day laboratory school). Meanwhile, the Professional Certificate in Practical Statistics contains 120 credits across all of Levels 1, 2 and 3.

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How to become a solicitor

The route to becoming a solicitor has changed dramatically in recent years. And this has had a major impact on legal education.

Again this applies only to England and Wales with Scotland and Northern Ireland having their own pathways.

The old route followed a similar model to that for barristers. There was the academic stage of either a Qualifying Law Degree that included the seven Foundations of Legal Knowledge or another university degree followed by an intense law conversion course, usually the Graduate Diploma in Law. There was the vocational stage in the form of the Legal Practice Course. And there was the training stage in the form of a training contract.

However, a review in the 2010s has led to a major shake up of the whole process. To become a solicitor one now needs to take the following:

• A university degree, but it doesn't have to be in Law. (But that no doubt helps.)
• The Solicitors Qualifying Examination. This comes in two parts, testing both knowledge and skills. The exam is nationalised but many providers offer their own preparation.
• A total of two years of Qualifying Work Experience, with flexibility on where it is taken and when relative to both the degree and the SQE.

Notably there is no longer a formal requirement to have studied the Foundations of Legal Knowledge. The SQE tests Functioning Legal Knowledge (yes the acronym is identical) which covers many of the same subjects along with some others and operational knowledge.

(One of the biggest differences is that the amount of EU Law has been significantly reduced to the point that a course of study for SQE preparation, such as the solicitor route of the Open University's Bachelor of Laws degree, does not double as the full Foundations, unless one takes EU Law as an additional module.)

So far the impact on undergraduate Law degrees has been mixed. Because the barristers' route hasn't changed, most LLB degrees are still built around the Foundations of Legal Knowledge. Some universities have introduced an "integrated Master's degree" - basically a four-year degree that combines both the Bachelor's and Master's stages in a single course - called the Master's in Law (MLaw) that includes preparation for taking the SQE exams.

The Open University has taken a different approach, with different pathways at Level 3. One of them is SQE preparation in three modules (plus one option) offering a combined degree and SQE preparation together. There is also the standalone Professional Certificate in Legal Practice: SQE1 which consists of the three SQE modules by themselves.

As it's only five years since the SQE was introduced there will invariably be modifications to come. But for now this is the route to becoming a solicitor.

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How to become a barrister

Although I'm not personally aiming to become a barrister, the formal requirements continue to form the backbone of legal education up and down the country. So here's a quick overview.

First off this only directly applies to England and Wales. Northern Ireland also has barristers but I'm not sure of the exact route that needs to be taken; however going by the OU's information the academic requirements are mainly the same apart from it also being compulsory to study Evidence Law. Scotland does not have barristers. Instead, the lawyers who appear before courts are called advocates and have a separate path to qualification.

The route to become a barrister has three stages, known as the academic, vocational and training stages.

The academic stage requires either a Qualifying Law Degree that includes the seven Foundations of Legal Knowledge or another university degree followed by an intense law conversion course, usually the Graduate Diploma in Law.

The vocational stage requires a special vocational course, mainly taken at dedicated law course providers. The name is a source of confusion as the last couple of decades have seen renames, replacements and individual providers picking their own names or, worse, switching them around. So you'll hear variously of the "Bar Practice Course", the "Bar Professional Training Course", the "Bar Training Course", the "Bar Vocational Course" and so forth. There's also "Bar Vocational Studies" and the "Postgraduate Diploma in Bar Practice". It's easy to see why some use just the "Bar Course" and why others sarcastically refer to the "Bar [Whatever Middle Words Are Used This Week] Course".

The training stage involves working under the supervision of existing barristers, shadowing them and learning like an apprentice.

It's a long tough process and not everyone makes the whole distance.

The requirements of the academic stage continue to have a strong hold on the curriculums of Bachelor of Laws degrees across the country with nearly all LLB degrees still making the seven Foundations of Legal Knowledge compulsory, even for those students not aiming to become barristers. The Open University's LLB is one of the most flexible with alternative paths for those aiming to become solicitors and those seeking an academic degree in Law but not aiming for either profession.

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What is Graduate Entry?

Quite simply in the UK Graduate Entry (also sometimes confusingly called "Senior Status") means that a student already holds at least a Bachelor's degree and is on a shortened length programme that leads to a second degree at the same level. This can either involve not having to take the early modules completely or else taking a special condensed accelerated programme.

The most common Graduate Entry degrees are in Law and Medicine though I've also seen options for Dentistry, Economics and Veterinary Medicine amongst others at various institutions. The Open University's main graduate entry degree is the Bachelor of Laws (Honours) (graduate entry) which does not include the Level 1 modules (i.e. the equivalent of the first year of a full-time degree).

This should not be confused with a postgraduate degree which is taken at a higher level from a Bachelor's degree and (normally) requires at least a Bachelor's degree to enter. However, some institutions do not always use the terms "graduate" and "postgraduate" with this level of clarity. There are some Master's degrees that serve as conversions from one subject to another, such as the OU's Master of Science in Psychology (Conversion).

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