Law Read, Watch Listen – Biddenham International School & Sports College

To stay cognitively engaged read/watch/listen to anything that relates to the law. Below are a number of suggestions. These will help develop research skills by using different modes of learning. It is important to engage in learning in a way that is interesting and stimulating.

Recommended TV programmes
for background law knowledge

Crime and Justice Documentaries
Ruth Ellis: A life for a life
Stephen Lawrence: 30 years on

Textbooks/Reference

About Law – An Introduction, Tony Honore
Landmarks in the Law, Baron Alfred Denning
Learning the Law, A T H Smith
Letters to a Law Student, Nicholas J McBride

Exams and Revision

Practice Paper 1
Practice Paper 2
Practice Paper 3
Practice Paper 4

Films

(Some of these films may include mature themes so please check the ratings before watching.)

To Kill a Mockingbird: is both a young girl's coming-of-age story and a darker drama about the roots and consequences of racism and prejudice, probing how good and evil can coexist within a single community or individual.

A Time to Kill: A heartbroken black father avenges his daughter's brutal rape by shooting the bigoted men responsible for the crime as they are on their way to trial. He turns to an untested lawyer to defend him. The layer struggles to believe that he can get the father acquitted in this small, segregated southern town, given his race and the deliberate nature of his crimes, but the father has unshakable faith in him.

Runaway Jury: After a workplace shooting in New Orleans, a trial against the gun manufacturer pits a lawyer against a shady jury consultant who uses illegal means to stack the jury with people sympathetic to the defence. But when one juror and his girlfriend reveal their ability to sway the jury into delivering any verdict they want, a high-stakes cat-and-mouse game begins.

The Split (TV series): The Defoes, a family of female divorce lawyers, are forced to face their past following the return of their estranged father after a 30 year absence.

Law and Order UK (TV Series): Police procedural and legal television programme. It is a crime drama based on Dick Wolf's “Law & Order", the longest-running crime drama on prime-time television in the States. Each instalment begins with the crime and the ensuing police investigation, before moving into the courtroom to see how the legal professionals work to secure a conviction.

Silk (TV Series): Follows barristers from a set of criminal law chambers in London. It is about life at the Bar, the dilemmas and problems that modern day barristers have to face, and what it means to become a 'silk'.