lawyer

What is LLB Degree?

LLB (LL.B, LLB or Ll.B.) is an abbreviated form of Bachelor Laws, a bachelor or undergraduate degree in law basically coming from England. Now, it is already being offered in most common law countries as the fundamental law degree. In a few countries like Canada, it is usually being referred to as a post- graduate degree since one of the requirements of admission is a previous university education. The abbreviation LL in this case means the genitive plural form of legum, or of lex, law. Therefore, when you say LLB in Latin, it means Legum Baccalaureus.

Basically, in law, for most common law countries, the academic degree is the Bachelor of Laws other than United States, which has substituted it with the Juris Doctor degree. The primary degree in Scots Law as well as South African law is also called Bachelor of Laws, which is conferred to by a lot of universities in these said countries. It is also regarded to as a professional degree considering one of the main goals of the degree, which is the provision of academic training for these aspiring lawyers. However, it was in Paris where this bachelor’s degree actually originated. More specifically, it was in the University of Paris, and was later on implemented at Cambridge and Oxford.

Back then, law students usually study civil and common law alike. However, these days it has become less common already. Yet, there are still a few institutions such as University of Ottawa, McGill University, along with University of Ottawa’s mixed programme with the Department of Canon of Cardiff University, offering alternates to this common law.

The Bachelor of Laws programme is basically take right after the secondary school is completed. This is the case for most common law countries, except US, as mentioned earlier. However, for admission in the LL.B program in a few universities in Australia and Britain, college attendance or a certain number of points have to be earned. An accelerated program might also be given, in which the time for study becomes lesser. It now turns as a second-entry programme for the LLB after the completion of a prior undergraduate degree, termed as, LL.M or Masters Degree in Law.

Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, being among these common law countries, have the kind of LL.B program, which can actually be taken right after the secondary school is completed. In Canada on the other hand, since it makes use of a dual system of laws, there are two Canadian law degrees are actually being used. Admission to the common law LL.B program may be conferred to those possessing 2-3 years of undergraduate studies or those who have just finished a previous undergraduate degree.

On the other hand, the civil law LL.B program is a first-entry program. Thus, it requires a CEGEP (College d enseignement general et professionnel or College of General and Vocational Education ) diploma. In Malaysia, public universities with the LL.B program would only allow the students to continue further had they passed the A-Levels examination upon the completion of their secondary studies, which is referred to as the Malaysia Higher School Certificate. It is actually a qualification which is considered higher than the Malaysia Certificate of Education.

After completing the LL.B degree, graduates are qualified to apply for membership of the bar or law society. In order to be a part of this, the graduate is subject to complete the professional exams.