Law

Studying Law at Cambridge is the ideal preparation for a career in Law. In addition, the Law course at Cambridge provides students with the opportunity to learn how to make cogent and forceful arguments, as well to study the forces that shape the society they live in and its major institutions.

Law at Pembroke

At Pembroke, we understand that studying Law as a student at Cambridge can be challenging: You will be studying a subject unlike any subject that you might have studied at school (including Law A-Level).

Studying Law at Cambridge requires students to make use of, and develop, a very wide range of skills. Subjects such as Politics, Philosophy, Economics, and History are all highly relevant to the study of Law. The kinds of interpretative and analytical abilities required to make sense of the law and legal texts are not unlike those needed by students studying English or the Natural Sciences. The mental rigour needed to apply the law correctly to a problem scenario can be almost mathematical in nature. Writing essays on what the law should say on a range of controversial issues involves the development of rhetorical skills that will be familiar to students of Classics.

The content of the law is constantly changing, and a given area of law will probably change even as you are studying it. Coping with and accounting for those changes requires Law students to possess a great deal of mental flexibility so as to allow them to adapt quickly to new developments in the law.

Consequently, we make every effort to ensure that students studying Law at Pembroke get the help and attention they require to make the most of their abilities as a Law student, including providing Pembroke Law students with a first class Law Library, which occupies an extension to the Pembroke Library.

The Director of Studies in Law plays a major role in helping law students at Pembroke achieve their potential, arranging small group teaching (supervisions) for them and giving them regular feedback and tips on their performance as law students.

For more information on what it is like to study Law at Pembroke, read this introductory guide for First Year Pembroke Law students that was composed by Tom Fletcher, a Pembroke Law student.

Please note, Pembroke does not accept affiliated applications for Law.

Pembroke Law Teaching Staff

Nick McBride - Director of Studies

The Director of Studies in Law at Pembroke is Nick McBride, who is well-known to law students both in the UK and across the world as the author of Letters to a Law Student (now in its 5th edition).

He is also the author of a leading textbook on Tort Law (now in its 6th edition), introductory books on Key Ideas in Contract Law, Key Ideas in Trusts Law, Great Debates in Jurisprudence (now in its 2nd edition), and two seminal books on the theory of private law and its relationship with human flourishing: The Humanity of Private Law, Part I: Explanation, and The Humanity of Private Law, Part II: Evaluation.

His commitment to developing students' potential has resulted in his creating the websites www.mcbridesguides.com in 2014 (with almost 750,000 views since its creation) and www.letterstomygodson.com in 2020 (with almost 3,000 views since its creation). Many of his writings can be found on the Social Sciences Research Network at www.ssrn.com (search for 'Nicholas McBride) and he regularly ranks among the 7% most downloaded authors out of the over 1,000,000 writers on the network. He is currently working on a long-term project on the nature of evil and its relevance to law.

Professor Trevor Allan 

Professor Trevor Allan supervises in Constitutional Law. He is the author of numerous books and articles on public law (the law relating to the regulation of government power), including Law, Liberty, and Justice, and Constitutional Justice.

Professor Loraine Gelsthorpe

Professor Loraine Gelsthorpe supervises in Criminology, Sentencing and the Penal Student. She is a leading figure in the world of criminology, and is the author, co-author, or co-editor of numerous books on that subject, including (most recently) Women, Crime, and Criminal Justice; Exercising Discretion; A Restorative Approach to Family Violence; and Handbook of Probation.