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The route into litigator

Assembled backwards from the job: the degrees that lead there, the subjects those degrees require, the exams and when they are sat, and what the whole thing costs in years. Print it.

1. Subjects, chosen at fifteen or sixteen

Aggregated across every degree that leads here. Anything marked required closes the door if you skip it.

Saudi curriculum track

المسار الشرعي— Sharia, or مسار إدارة الأعمال— Business Administration · المسار العامor مسار إدارة الأعمال

A-Level

  • Historyhelpsfor Law, Political Science and International Relations
  • Economicshelpsfor Law, Political Science and International Relations
  • A languagehelpsfor Law, Political Science and International Relations
  • English Literaturehelpsfor Law
  • Government and Politicshelpsfor Political Science and International Relations
  • Mathematicshelpsfor Political Science and International Relations

IB Diploma

  • History HLhelpsfor Law, Political Science and International Relations
  • Economics HLhelpsfor Law, Political Science and International Relations
  • English A HLhelpsfor Law
  • Arabic Ahelpsfor Law
  • Global Politics HLhelpsfor Political Science and International Relations
  • A second languagehelpsfor Political Science and International Relations

Advanced Placement

  • AP World Historyhelpsfor Law, Political Science and International Relations
  • AP English Languagehelpsfor Law
  • AP United States Historyhelpsfor Law
  • AP Comparative Governmenthelpsfor Law
  • AP Latinhelpsfor Law
  • AP Comparative Government and Politicshelpsfor Political Science and International Relations
  • AP US Government and Politicshelpsfor Political Science and International Relations
  • AP Macroeconomicshelpsfor Political Science and International Relations
  • AP Statisticshelpsfor Political Science and International Relations

2. The degree

More than one route usually exists. They are not equivalent.

  • Law

    Court practice and dispute resolution — the version of law that most students picture.

    Three to four years for the LLB, plus one to three years of professional training and examinations. In the US, law is a graduate degree taken after a first bachelor's.

  • Political Science and International Relations

    Via a law conversion, which is a common and well-trodden route from this degree.

    Three to four years, often with a language, an exchange or an internship year.

3. Exams, and when to sit them

Registration deadlines fall weeks or months before the exam. That is what people miss, not the exam.

  • LNATSeptember to January

    Required by Oxford, UCL, LSE, KCL, Bristol, Durham, Glasgow, Nottingham and SOAS among others. Nothing to revise and a great deal to practise; the official practice materials are free.

    • July to SeptemberUCAT testing window, sat at a test centre.
    • September to JanuaryLNAT testing window for most law courses.
    • OctoberMost Oxford and Cambridge subject tests — TMUA, ESAT, PAT, TSA.
    • JuneSTEP, sat alongside A-Levels as a condition of a Cambridge or Warwick offer rather than for shortlisting.
  • LSATAfter a first degree, for the US

    The US graduate-entry route, and years away from a school decision.

  • Qudurat and TahsiliGrade 11 and 12

    The Saudi admission composite; some law and Sharia colleges require the humanities Tahsili.

    • Several periods across the yearQudurat (General Aptitude Test), open from Grade 11. Computer-based and paper sittings both run.
    • Final months of the school yearTahsili (Scholastic Achievement Test), sat near the end of Grade 12 once the syllabus is covered.
    • Spring and summer of Grade 12University applications through the unified admission portals and each university's own portal.
  • TSAOctober

    Oxford PPE and related courses.

    • July to SeptemberUCAT testing window, sat at a test centre.
    • September to JanuaryLNAT testing window for most law courses.
    • OctoberMost Oxford and Cambridge subject tests — TMUA, ESAT, PAT, TSA.
    • JuneSTEP, sat alongside A-Levels as a condition of a Cambridge or Warwick offer rather than for shortlisting.
  • SAT or ACTGrade 11 to early Grade 12

    For US applications.

    • March, May, JuneSpring sittings. The standard first attempt, in Grade 11.
    • August, October, November, DecemberAutumn sittings. The second attempt, and the last one that reaches early US deadlines is usually the October or November date.
    • Two to four weeks after each sittingScores released; sending them to universities is a separate step with its own timing.

4. After the degree

Training, licensing and the years between graduating and practising independently.

United Kingdom · United Kingdom — barrister

  1. schoolA-levels, any subjects2 yr
  2. undergraduateLaw degree, or any degree plus a conversion course3–4 yrs
  3. postgraduateBar training course1 yr
  4. trainingPupillage1 yr
  5. practiceTenancy in chambers — self-employed practice0 yr

LicensingCall to the Bar, then completion of pupillage before independent practice.

United Kingdom · United Kingdom — litigation solicitor

  1. schoolA-levels, any subjects2 yr
  2. undergraduateLaw degree, or any degree plus a conversion course3–4 yrs
  3. trainingProfessional qualification and paid training period2–3 yrs
  4. licensingAdmission to the roll of solicitors0–1 yrs
  5. practiceLitigation solicitor0 yr

LicensingAdmission as a solicitor; higher rights of audience require a further qualification.

United States

  1. schoolHigh school, any subjects4 yr
  2. undergraduateBachelor's degree in any subject4 yr
  3. postgraduateJuris Doctor3 yr
  4. licensingBar examination and admission0–1 yrs
  5. practiceLitigation associate or public defender / prosecutor0 yr

LicensingState bar admission.

Saudi Arabia

  1. schoolSecondary school, either track3 yr
  2. undergraduateBachelor of Law (Sharia and law, or law)4–5 yrs
  3. trainingSupervised practice period3 yr
  4. licensingMinistry of Justice licence to practise0–1 yrs
  5. practiceLicensed advocate0 yr

LicensingMinistry of Justice licensure, restricted to Saudi nationals for practice before the courts.

5. What the route costs

Not tuition — time. The years spent training are years not spent earning, and that is the largest cost of a long route by a wide margin.

United Kingdom

School-leaving to independent practice: 5–6 years.

The shortest route needing no degree written up on this site is management consultant at 3 years. Someone taking that route has been earning for 3 years by the time this one starts. At their entry pay of £27,000–35,000, that is roughly £81,000–105,000 of earnings deferred.

United Kingdom

School-leaving to independent practice: 5–7 years.

The shortest route needing no degree written up on this site is management consultant at 3 years. Someone taking that route has been earning for 4 years by the time this one starts. At their entry pay of £27,000–35,000, that is roughly £108,000–140,000 of earnings deferred.

United States

School-leaving to independent practice: 7–8 years.

The shortest route needing no degree written up on this site is aircraft maintenance engineer at 4 years. Someone taking that route has been earning for 4 years by the time this one starts. At their entry pay of $48,780–62,630, that is roughly $195,120–250,520 of earnings deferred.

Saudi Arabia

School-leaving to independent practice: 7–8 years.

The shortest route needing no degree written up on this site is air traffic controller at 4 years. Someone taking that route has been earning for 4 years by the time this one starts. At their entry pay of SAR 140,000–220,000, that is roughly SAR 560,000–880,000 of earnings deferred.

How that figure was reached, and what it leaves out

It is arithmetic on the sourced figures elsewhere on this site — training years multiplied by the shortest route’s entry pay — not a measurement of anything. It ignores what trainees earn while training, which in medicine and several other routes is a real salary. It ignores the pay you reach afterwards, which for long routes is usually higher and can overtake the gap entirely. And it excludes tuition, deliberately: Saudi public universities charge nationals no tuition, and fees abroad vary so widely by country and university that any single figure would be misleading. Treat it as a sense of scale for the years, not as a calculation of whether a career is worth it.

Everything on this page is assembled from the career page, the majors that lead to it and the exams those majors require, so it cannot say something they do not. Entry requirements change every year — confirm on the course page for the year you apply.