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The Guardian's Top Law Books for Law Students

Studying for an LLB or law degree requires great commitment and focus. The Guardian’s Law section asked its readers which books future law students should be reading to prepare themselves for this journey.

 

Learning the Law (2020) by Glanville Williams often appears on many law reading lists. It features both on the Cambridge University’s Law Reading List and Oxford’s Law Reading List, as decided by the university’s professors of law. The author, Williams, covers the essential skills required to master, if students want to succeed in both in their legal studies and in their future careers in law. Having a book about general terms can come in handy through the entirety of your law studies. Additionally, it is also beneficial for those not on a traditional path of law education and is a great way to further your legal knowledge.

 

The complexities of our legal system can, on one hand, swiftly deliver fair and reasonable justice, yet on the other, let down so many. Helena Kennedy’s Eve Was Framed is an exemplary book that offers an impassioned and personal critique of the British Legal System. It explores the system that has repeatedly failed woman as lawyers, victims and defendants. However, Kennedy speak of the optimism that subsists in the system for woman in the legal profession.

 

Covering a broad range of legal issues and topics will aid law students in grasping a greater understanding of the functions and principles of our legal system. These reading recommendations provides law students the opportunities to further immerse themselves in the world of law, as recommended by their peers.

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Rt Hon Lord Bingham of Cornhill KG PC FBA Tom Bingham (Author)

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'A gem of a book ... Inspiring and timely. Everyone should read it' Independent '

 

The Rule of Law' is a phrase much used but little examined. The idea of the rule of law as the foundation of modern states and civilisations has recently become even more talismanic than that of democracy, but what does it actually consist of?

 

In this brilliant short book, Britain's former senior law lord, and one of the world's most acute legal minds, examines what the idea actually means. He makes clear that the rule of law is not an arid legal doctrine but is the foundation of a fair and just society, is a guarantee of responsible government, is an important contribution to economic growth and offers the best means yet devised for securing peace and co-operation. He briefly examines the historical origins of the rule, and then advances eight conditions which capture its essence as understood in western democracies today. He also discusses the strains imposed on the rule of law by the threat and experience of international terrorism.

 

The book will be influential in many different fields and should become a key text for anyone interested in politics, society and the state of our world.

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Letters to a Law Student: A guide to studying law at university (2017)

 Nicholas McBride (Author)

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What does it take to succeed as a law student? This book will show you how.

 

Voted one of the top 6 books that all future law students should read by The Guardian’s studying law website*, Letters to a Law Student is packed full of practical advice and helpful answers to the most common questions about studying law at University across every stage of taking, or thinking about taking, a law degree.

 

Discover:

· Whether reading law at University is the right thing for you;

· What law students do;

· How to get the best marks in exams;

· Tips on coping with the challenges of studying law;

· What you can do with a law degree;

· The way in which qualifying as a solicitor is set to change in the future.

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Glanville Williams: Learning the Law (2020)

ATH Smith (author)

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First published in 1945, Glanville Williams: Learning the Law has been introducing new and prospective law students to the foundation skills needed to study law effectively for over 70 years. Presenting an overview of the English Legal System and covering the essential legal skills that students need to master if they want to succeed both in their legal studies and in their future careers, this is a must-have book for all new law students! - Introduces students to the basic legal materials such as statutes and case law, and explains how these are to be read and interpreted in the light of common law doctrines of precedent; - Explains how legal problems are to be solved and discussed in the examination room; - Offers advice on study methods, exam preparation, time and stress management; - Discusses the methods of legal research, and explains where to look for the law, both on paper and electronically; - Covers participation in moots, mock trials and other competitions; - Discusses employment prospects and gives advice on seeking and obtaining work; - Provides recommendations for further reading within and outside the law.

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What About Law?: Studying Law at University (2011)

Janet O'Sullivan and Graham Virgo Catherine Barnard (Author), Catherine Barnard (Editor), Janet O'Sullivan (Editor),

Amazon 4.5 star

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Most young people considering studying law, or pursuing a legal career, have very little idea of what learning law involves and how universities teach law to their students. The new edition of this book, which proved very popular when first published in 2007, provides a 'taster' for the study of law; a short, accessible presentation of law as an academic subject, designed to help 17- and 18-year old students and others decide whether law is the right choice for them as a university subject, or, if they have already made the choice, what to expect when they start their law degree. It helps answer the question 'what should I study at university?' and counters the perception that law is a dry, dull subject. What About Law? shows how the study of law can be fun, intellectually stimulating, challenging and of direct relevance to students. Using a case study approach, the book introduces prospective law students to the legal system, as well as to legal reasoning, critical thinking and argument. This is a book that should be in the library of every school with a sixth form, every college and every university, and it is one that any student about to embark on the study of law should read before they commence their legal studies. All of the authors have long experience in teaching law at Cambridge and elsewhere and all have also been involved, at various times, in advising prospective law students at open days and admissions conferences. Listed as one of the 'Six of the best law books' that a future law student should read by the Guardian Law Online, 8th August 2012.

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Eve Was Framed: Women and British Justice (1993)

Helena Kennedy (Author)

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Eve Was Framed offers an impassioned, personal critique of the British legal system. Helena Kennedy focuses on the treatment of women in our courts - at the prejudices of judges, the misconceptions of jurors, the labyrinths of court procedures and the influence of the media. But the inequities she uncovers could apply equally to any disadvantaged group - to those whose cases are subtly affected by race, class poverty or politics, or who are burdened, even before they appear in court, by misleading stereotypes.

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Bleak House (1852/53)

Charles Dickens (Author)

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£3.79

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£7.99

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As the interminable case of Jarndyce and Jarndyce grinds its way through the Court of Chancery, it draws together a disparate group of people: Ada and Richard Clare, whose inheritance is gradually being devoured by legal costs; Esther Summerson, a ward of court, whose parentage is a source of deepening mystery; the menacing lawyer Tulkinghorn; the determined sleuth Inspector Bucket; and even Jo, the destitute little crossing-sweeper. A savage, but often comic, indictment of a society that is rotten to the core, Bleak House is one of Dickens's most ambitious novels, with a range that extends from the drawing rooms of the aristocracy to the poorest of London slums.

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