The LLB as a liberal degree? A reassessment from an historical perspective

Despite the major recent expansion of law degrees in England and Wales and their accepted place as the `academic stage' of a lawyer's education, important questions remain or are even intensifying over their nature and content. It is said that there is an increasing urgency to develop broader and more liberal degrees, not least to respond to changes in the delivery of legal services and expertise but also societal imperatives. This article argues, through an exploration of historical data, especially from the nineteenth century, that the system of legal education that was developed and embedded during that period inevitably makes liberalising law degrees both problematic and challenging.