LLB Law with Criminal Justice & Human Rights

This law degree gives you the opportunity to obtain specialist knowledge and deepen your understanding of criminal justice and human rights, and their challenging interactions.

• This degree – a pathway of LLB Law – enables you to contextualise the study of law and broaden your horizons, opening up career opportunities in criminal justice professions, and human rights jobs in the third sector. It will lead to an LLB Law (Hons) with Criminal Justice and Human Rights degree.
• We’re one of the highest-rated courses in the country. We're number 1 in the UK for student satisfaction (Complete University Guide Law League Table 2024). In the National Student Survey 2022, our Department of Law was ranked number 1 in the UK for its intellectually stimulating curriculum and programme, and we were rated the best department in London for quality of teaching in law.
• Goldsmiths has a rich heritage of social awareness and engagement. You'll be part of an environment that champions human rights and social justice.
• You’ll not only get a qualifying law degree, but the course has also been developed in anticipation of the new Solicitors Qualifying Examinations (SQE). Training for these is integrated throughout the degree, with the option to take an SQE module in your final year.
• This degree is active. You won't just be sitting and reading, you'll learn problem-solving, debating and advocating through a range of experiential learning, extra-curricular and professional development activities, on campus and beyond.
• You will gain systematic knowledge and understanding of criminal justice and human rights theory and practice, and be equipped with the ability to critically engage with core debates in these areas.
• The programme will provide you with the conceptual and methodological tools required to analyse and explore the ideas, actors, and practices central to criminal justice and human rights law.
• You will hone the essential critical thinking and practical skills needed in representing clients and defending cases as a solicitor or barrister specialising in criminal law and human rights.

Contact the department

If you have specific questions about the degree, contact the Department of Law.

We accept the following qualifications:

A-level: ABB
BTEC: DDD
International Baccalaureate: 33 points overall with Three HL subjects at 655
Access: 60 credits overall with 33 distinctions and distinctions/merits in related subject

Alternative qualifications and experience

See our full list of undergraduate entry qualifications.

We welcome students with a range of educational experiences. If you believe you may not meet the standard qualification requirements we would still encourage you to apply because we consider all aspects of your application when making a decision.

We’ll pay particularly careful attention to your personal statement, which is your opportunity to demonstrate your interest in the subject you’ve applied for. Your referees are also welcome to include any relevant contextual comments around your academic achievements. We’ll look at all these things when making a decision on your application, as well as your qualifications and grades, and may still be able to offer you a place.

International qualifications

We also accept a wide range of international qualifications. Find out more about the qualifications we accept from around the world.

If English isn’t your first language, you will need an IELTS score (or equivalent English language qualification) of 6.5 with a 6.5 in writing and no element lower than 6.0 to study this programme. If you need assistance with your English language, we offer a range of courses that can help prepare you for degree-level study.

Preparing you for a successful future

There are many ways the LLB will prepare you for career success, and lots of potential routes you can take – whether you want to become a solicitor or barrister, or apply your skills and knowledge in different areas.

Solicitor or barrister

The LLB will allow you to qualify as a solicitor or a barrister, and throughout your studies you’ll acquire the academic knowledge, professional awareness and skills needed to pursue a dynamic legal career – in England, Wales and internationally.

It is a qualifying law degree (QLD), recognised by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) and Bar Standards Board (BSB), and has also been designed specifically to provide graduates with a solid foundation to tackle the new Solicitors' Qualifying Examinations (SQE) for all future solicitors and the equivalent training and qualification process to become a barrister.

Find out more about becoming a solicitor or barrister.

Cutting-edge specialisms

Reflecting Goldsmiths’ creative and progressive ethos, the degree also offers opportunities for you to engage with pioneering and future-looking topics that will open up exciting career paths in law and other areas. You’ll be able to develop specialist knowledge in cutting-edge areas of law, such as:

• Criminology and human rights
• Criminal law
• Artificial intelligence and law
• Commercial law and international trade aggreements
• Media law
• Art law
• Creativity and intellectual property law
• Financial technology

You can choose to either explore a variety of modules, or to focus on options that relate to one of the specialist themes that run throughout law at Goldsmiths.

Careers further afield

LLB Law graduates can also pursue career opportunities in a wide range of other areas, such as:

• Human rights and the third sector
• Financial technology and regulation in the financial sector, including compliance
• The civil service
• Journalism, the media and creative industries
• Patent and trademark litigation
• Art and cultural heritage litigation
• The government, for example in relation to immigration or foreign affairs
• Mediation
• The Crown Prosecution Service
• The police or the prison service
• Legal recruitment
• The ‘in-house’ legal practice sector
• Academia

Collaborations, placements and partnerships

Partnerships with leading organisations

Cutting-edge collaborations with global law firms, government organisations, local councils, NGOs, think tanks and academics in world-leading universities support the delivery of all our programmes, exposing you to unique opportunities to grow a strong awareness of future career destinations and develop dynamic professional networks throughout your degree.

These include:

• Linklaters LLP
• Debevoise & Plimpton LLP and Boies Schiller & Flexner LLP
• UK Supreme Court
• National Justice Museum at the Royal Courts of Justice
• Kalisher Trust
• Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants and Migrants’ Rights Network
• Fair Trials
• Big Brother Watch
• Liberty
• Crown Prosecution Service
• Law Commission
• Honourable Society of the Inner Temple
• Stanford Law School
• Berkeley Law
• Loyola Law School (Los Angeles)
• New Europeans
• Human Rights Lawyers’ Association
• Forensic Architecture
• Lewisham Borough
• Council of Europe
• British Academy
• Garden Court Chambers
• Doughty Street Chambers

And many others.

Welfare benefits course and Legal Advice Centre placements

We give you access to a welfare benefits course provided by the Pro Bono Community organisation. This prepares you for 3-6 months placements in Legal Advice Centres in London. There are 15 placements in Legal Advice Centres available to our students on an annual basis.

The welfare benefits course has 30 spaces annually, and equips you with foundational knowledge in contemporary areas of legal practice such as benefits for people unable to work due to sickness or disability, universal credit, benefits for migrants, help with housing costs, appeals and advocacy.

The course also has a core introductory element covering the background to Law Centres, legal aid, triage, interview techniques and practical skills.