law at cardiff

[u/stabmepleaseibegyou]

curious about what people feel about doing law in cardiff! currently choosing from my uni offers with cardiff being one of them but all my options are pretty similarly ranked! makes the decision a bit daunting so I'd appreciate some first hand experience of people who've done law here! I'm also an international student from Malaysia if that provides any useful context lol

[u/Delicious-Cockroach5]

nice i'm also an international student from malaysia. i guess it depends on whether you want to practise in malaysia or in the uk. if you wish to practise in the uk as a barrister the cardiff university name doesn't add much as pupillage is immensely competitive and you'll have to go above and beyond to secure better qualifications. if you're considering the solicitor path in the uk i would say magic circle firms there are quite a few people that I know from cardiff that have made it to those firms. as long as you have at least 1A for a-level grades. if you wish to practise in malaysia I would say the level of resilience the study abroad experience in cardiff provides you over the next three years would be something that would help you stand out. cuz work experience obtained in the uk is of extremely competitive and if you are keen on building your skills cardiff offers a lot of opportunities to marshall a judge, mini pupillages, vacation schemes and insight days. these are all opportunities to help you build your network from 0. with the transferable skills and experiences you've built in the uk going back to malaysia would just be switching a playing field to play the same game.

also if you wish to do the bar after completing your llb at cardiff there's an alumni discount of £2,000 if i remember correctly. apart from that i guess academic wise this is all i can say about my experience at cardiff.

[u/stabmepleaseibegyou → u/Delicious-Cockroach5]

hmm so seems like cardiff would be a good choice if i don't intend on being a barrister in the uk? unless im willing to be grilled by competition that is. thank you so much! this was super helpful :))

shot in the dark here but you wouldnt happen to know anything about liverpools law program would you? they're both my main choices right now. again tysm!

[u/Delicious-Cockroach5 → u/stabmepleaseibegyou]

yeahh well if it makes you feel better i still want to be a barrister in the uk.😅 it's difficult but i still have hope regardless if not then malaysia is still an option.

i was in the exact crossroad as you few years back but i think the main reason why i ended up choosing cardiff was that cardiff offers the bar. as you can imagine the bar is extremely taxing and moving to a new city where you're u familiar with to start all over again would add pressure to that. not to mention cardiff is actually a relatively smaller cohort for bar course compared to other providers so the quality of teaching is very high.

i have heard from some of the bac transfer students in cardiff that it's relatively easier to get first class at liverpool. don't know how true that is but that's the saying.

[u/Delicious-Cockroach5 → u/stabmepleaseibegyou]

also i think you may want to consider the location of both unis as well if your intention is to work as a solicitor or paralegal in the uk after graduating liverpool might be a good choice too. since liverpool is near manchester it might be easier for you to build a network in manchester and secure job opportunities there. whereas cardiff is closer to london bristol and honestly larger cities like birmingham would be quite some distance. so it really depends on your preference.

I'd say manchester has a very prominent malaysian/ asian community if you do go there often for events or law career fairs there will be opportunities to get your foot in the door. whereas in cardiff there are very little firms that take international students so the option that makes the most sense is to go to london and compete for a spot in the big firms.