Hillary Rodham Clinton School of Law

In co-operation with the College of Law and Criminology, English Language Training Services (ELTS) has developed three full-time, pre-sessional courses for undergraduate and postgraduate students intending to start a Law/LLM programme in the autumn term. Both courses give prospective Law and LLM students opportunity to improve their understanding of English legal terminology and academic study skills.

The courses are designed for you if:

• you need to develop your academic skills, understanding of English legal terminology and academic English language ability as a condition of entry to the Hillary Rodham Clinton School of Law at Swansea University.
• you have already met the university’s English language conditions but would like experience of UK academic study and expectations in order to be as well prepared as possible before starting your academic programme in Law at the university.

The summer Law Pre-sessionals are intensive 11, 9, and 6 week courses which will build your confidence and enable you to begin your LLB, LLM, or Law undergraduate or postgraduate programme with a good understanding of the expectations of academic study in a UK university. The course will help you to develop the following:

• Vocabulary for Maritime, Commercial, IP, Tort, and Contract Law
• Integrated Academic Skills (Academic Reading, Listening, and Writing)
• Law Lecture Programme
• Listening and Note-taking Skills for Law Lectures
• Debating Skills
• Using Academic Sources and Referencing Skills
• Critical Thinking
• Writing Skills for Law essays

Each week includes 23 hours of organised tuition plus an individual tutorial at least once every two weeks. In addition, you will be required to carry out a programme of self-study and complete a number of individual assignments. The maximum class size is 18.

During the course, you will build a portfolio of coursework which will be used as part of your final assessment. Each Summer Pre-sessional student has a personal tutor who will meet you regularly to help you to develop individual targets to achieve your academic goals and to write your individual project.

The Summer Law Pre-sessionals give you everything you need to maximise your confidence and improve your skills before you begin your Law degree at the start of the academic year.

You will be assessed using a combination of

• a portfolio of the work you do during your course (70%), and
• an end of course exam (30%).

The portfolio provides detailed evidence of your language level and skills, your academic skills, and your readiness to begin academic study at a UK university.

N.B. Attendance on the above programme does not guarantee progression onto your degree programme. If you have a conditional offer based on your level of English, you will have to achieve the required standard through the programme assessment and examination.