Law Summer School (Civil Law) - Detailed Outline (In-Person)

This page provides a detailed outline of the in-person Law Summer School – Part 2 (Civil Law), a five-day course for students aged 15-18 who are interested in law, curious about how legal systems resolve disputes, or beginning to think about future study in the subject. The programme below explains what students study on each day, moving from contract law, negotiation, and tort through negligence, corporate law, and defamation to the final Mock County Court Trial.

The course is designed to give students a serious but accessible introduction to legal reasoning in civil law. Rather than focusing on exam technique, it emphasises discussion, analysis, argument, and application. Students are introduced to core legal ideas, work through real and hypothetical cases, and consider difficult questions about responsibility, compensation, reputation, risk, and fairness.

Teaching takes place through small-group seminars, negotiation exercises, case analysis, client interviewing, and courtroom advocacy, giving students a clear sense of how law can be explored in an academic setting. Across the week, they build skills in legal analysis, persuasive speaking, close reading, strategic questioning, and the clear construction of arguments – all of which culminate in the final Mock County Court Trial.

Prefer to view and download the PDF version of the Law Summer School – Part 2 outline? You can do so here.

Jump to a particular section:

Day One – The Art of Making and Breaking Deals
Day Two – Civil Wrongs and Legal Reasoning
Day Three – Business, Liability, and the Law
Day Four – Responsibility, Reputation, and Rights
Day Five – Have Your Day in Court – The Mock County Court Trial

Across the week, students explore a wide range of legal topics and methods, including contract formation, contractual interpretation, negotiation, tort law, negligence, advocacy, corporate finance, insolvency, corporate manslaughter, occupiers’ liability, client interviewing, and defamation. The course combines legal study with practical exercises and structured discussion, so that students are not only learning what the law says, but also practising how lawyers analyse problems, advise clients, and build arguments.

By the end of the course, students should have a clearer understanding of how civil legal problems are approached, how arguments are developed and tested, and how different areas of law reflect wider questions about responsibility, justice, and social policy. They will also have had the chance to develop confidence in speaking, reasoning, and working collaboratively under pressure.

Please note that for some groups, sessions may run in a different order.

10.30 – 1.00 Contract Law – What Makes an Agreement Legally Binding?

The course begins with an introduction to civil law and to one of its most important areas: contract. Students explore what a contract really is, why some promises are legally enforceable while others are not, and what the law looks for when deciding whether a deal has truly been made. Along the way, they are introduced to core ideas such as offer and acceptance, consideration, intention to create legal relations, certainty, capacity, and legality – not as a list to memorise, but as a way of thinking carefully about when the law should step in and hold people to their word.

This opening block matters because contract law looks deceptively simple at first. Most people feel they already know what a deal is, but legal disputes often arise precisely when the facts are unclear, the terms are incomplete, or the parties have understood the agreement differently. Students begin developing the habit of breaking a legal problem into parts, identifying what must be shown, and explaining their conclusions with precision. It is a strong introduction to legal reasoning and to the kind of close analysis and structured argument that runs throughout the week.

1.00 – 2.00 Lunch

2.00 – 4.30 Interpreting Contracts and Negotiating Outcomes

In the afternoon, the focus shifts from making contracts to understanding and negotiating them. Students look at how lawyers interpret contractual terms, why careful drafting matters, and what can happen when agreements are badly worded or open to more than one meaning. This helps them see that contract law is not just about rules, but about language, judgment, and the practical consequences of ambiguity. Students are encouraged to think about what each side to an agreement is really trying to achieve, and how lawyers resolve disputes when those aims begin to pull in different directions.

The second half of the afternoon turns to negotiation. Students are introduced to the idea that much legal work happens not in court but in discussion, compromise, and strategic decision-making. Through negotiation-based activities, they practise persuasion, prioritisation, and the ability to argue firmly while still working towards a workable outcome. This gives the first day an energetic and practical finish, while also showing students that a good lawyer needs to understand not only legal principles but also the human and commercial realities behind a dispute.

10.30 – 1.00 Reading Cases and Understanding Civil Liability

Day Two begins by helping students get more confident with one of the most distinctive features of legal study: reading cases and working out what judges have actually decided. Students explore how lawyers identify the central reasoning in a judgment, distinguish it from wider comment, and use decided cases to understand how legal principles develop over time. This gives them a clearer sense of how the common law works in practice, and helps build the close-reading skills that matter so much in legal study.

The focus then widens into tort law – the area of civil law concerned with wrongful harm. Students are introduced to the idea that civil law is not only about agreements and bargains, but also about responsibility when things go wrong. They explore the different kinds of harm tort law addresses, and the difficult question of how the law tries to put a person right after injury, damage, or loss. This part of the day is especially valuable because it pushes students to think about fault, compensation, and fairness in a more open-ended way, while also giving them a strong conceptual foundation for the rest of the week.

1.00 – 2.00 Lunch

2.00 – 4.30 Negligence and Civil Advocacy

In the afternoon, students turn to negligence – one of the most important and widely used areas of tort law. They examine the core questions a court must ask when deciding whether someone is legally responsible for harm: was there a duty of care, was that duty breached, did the breach cause the harm, and was the damage too remote? This gives students an excellent framework for careful legal reasoning, because it requires them to move step by step through a problem and justify each stage of their analysis rather than jumping straight to a conclusion.

The final part of the day introduces civil advocacy. Students begin developing the practical courtroom skills they will need later in the week, including how to question witnesses effectively and how to present legal arguments in a clear, structured, and persuasive way. The emphasis here is not on theatrical performance, but on precision, control, and confidence – understanding what matters, asking the right questions, and communicating an argument so that it is both legally sound and convincing. This gives Day Two a practical finish and helps students see how legal knowledge is turned into action in court.

10.30 – 1.00 Corporate Finance and Insolvency

Day Three begins by turning to the legal world of business. Students explore the different structures that businesses can take, from sole traders to companies, and consider why these distinctions matter so much in practice. They look at the roles of directors, shareholders, and creditors, and begin to understand how the law shapes the way businesses raise money, take risks, and protect themselves. This part of the course is especially useful because it shows students that company law is not just technical background detail – it is part of the legal framework that makes modern commercial life possible.

The focus then shifts to insolvency and the question of what happens when a business can no longer meet its financial obligations. Students consider how the law responds when companies get into serious difficulty, and why insolvency law has to balance competing interests: trying to save viable businesses where possible, protecting creditors, and ensuring that directors act responsibly when things start to go wrong. This session gives students a strong sense of the human and economic stakes involved in business law, while also developing their ability to think through complicated problems in a structured and practical way.

1.00 – 2.00 Lunch

2.00 – 4.30 Corporate Manslaughter and Responsibility at the Highest Level

In the afternoon, students move into one of the most serious and thought-provoking parts of the course: corporate manslaughter. This area of law sits at the boundary between civil and criminal responsibility, and asks what should happen when the way an organisation is managed leads to a death. Students explore the legal idea that a company can itself bear responsibility, and examine the difficult questions that follow from that: when should blame attach to an organisation rather than an individual, how serious must the failure be, and what counts as justice when the consequences are catastrophic?

This is a particularly rich session for discussion because it brings legal analysis together with ethical and political judgment. By looking at major real-world examples, students are encouraged to think carefully about safety, accountability, institutional failure, and the limits of punishment when the defendant is not a person but an organisation. It is also a day that broadens students’ sense of what law can do. Up to this point, much of the course focuses on disputes between individuals or businesses; here, the lens widens to questions of public harm, regulatory failure, and the responsibilities that come with power.

10.30 – 1.00 Occupiers’ Liability and Client Interviewing

Day Four begins with occupiers’ liability, an area of law that asks when people or organisations are responsible for injuries that happen on their property. Students explore how the law approaches accidents in shops, schools, public spaces, and private premises, and consider why liability can depend so heavily on context – including whether the injured person was invited, whether the danger was obvious, and what steps it was reasonable to expect the occupier to take. This is a particularly engaging topic because it takes situations that can sound quite ordinary at first and reveals the difficult legal questions underneath: how far should the law protect people from harm, and how far should individuals be expected to look after themselves?

The second part of the morning turns to client interviewing. Students learn how lawyers gather the facts of a case, identify what is legally important, and ask questions in a way that is clear, focused, and reassuring. This helps them see that legal skill is not just about knowing rules – it is also about listening carefully, spotting gaps or inconsistencies, and building trust with the person seeking advice. For many students, this is one of the most revealing parts of the week, because it shows how much of legal work depends on communication, judgment, and the ability to turn a messy real-life story into a structured legal problem.

1.00 – 2.00 Lunch

2.00 – 4.30 Libel and Defamation – Reputation, Media, and Free Speech

In the afternoon, the focus shifts to defamation law and the question of when words become legally actionable. Students explore how the law protects reputation, what makes a statement defamatory, and why this area of law is often pulled between two powerful values: freedom of expression on the one hand, and protection from serious reputational harm on the other. This is one of the most immediately recognisable parts of the course, because it connects legal ideas to journalism, celebrity cases, social media, and public controversy. It encourages students to think carefully about where the boundaries of free speech should lie, and whether the law strikes the right balance between open debate and personal protection.

This session is also rich in legal and ethical complexity. Students consider the difference between fact and opinion, the importance of truth, and the circumstances in which the public interest may justify publication. As they work through examples, they build the ability to analyse language closely, identify what a statement might imply, and argue about how law should respond in difficult and contested situations. It is a strong end to the day because it combines technical reasoning with issues that feel highly current, public, and arguable.

10.30 – 12.30 Mock Trial Preparation – Shaping the Argument

The final day begins with focused preparation for the County Court Mock Trial. By this stage, students have built up a strong grounding in civil liability, negligence, occupiers’ liability, damages, and courtroom skills, and the morning is devoted to turning that knowledge into a coherent legal strategy. Working in teams, they refine their arguments, identify the strengths and weaknesses in their case, and think carefully about how best to present the evidence. This session helps students see that success in law is not just about knowing the rules, but about selecting what matters most, anticipating the other side’s case, and presenting an argument with structure, clarity, and confidence.

This preparation time is also an important opportunity for students to develop teamwork and judgment under pressure. They work on opening and closing speeches, prepare their questioning of witnesses, and consider how issues of liability and damages fit together in a realistic civil dispute. As they do so, they begin to experience a key feature of legal practice: the need to make decisions in conditions of uncertainty, weighing evidence, choosing emphasis, and thinking strategically rather than simply repeating everything they know. By the end of the morning, students are not only better prepared for the trial itself, but also more aware of how legal arguments are shaped, refined, and tested before they ever reach the courtroom.

12.30 – 1.30 Lunch

1.30 – 4.30 County Court Mock Trial – Putting Civil Law into Practice

In the afternoon, students take part in the County Court Mock Trial itself. Representing either the claimant or the defendant, they argue a civil case involving negligence or occupiers’ liability, question witnesses, and present submissions on both responsibility and damages. This gives them the chance to bring together everything they have studied during the week in a setting that is practical, demanding, and highly engaging. The mock trial is often one of the most memorable parts of the course because it allows students to experience the pressure and excitement of legal argument for themselves, while also seeing how legal principles operate when applied to contested facts.

The final session is not only about advocacy, but about synthesis. Students must draw on their understanding of tort law, evidence, reasoning, and persuasion all at once, while also responding to the unpredictability of witness answers and the arguments made by the opposing side. It is a fitting conclusion to the week because it transforms civil law from something studied on paper into something active and lived – a process of judgment, argument, and decision-making in which precision and confidence really matter. Whether acting for the claimant or the defence, students finish the course with a far clearer sense of what it feels like to build and present a legal case from beginning to end.

This outline provides a detailed view of the themes, ideas, and legal problems explored during the in-person Law Summer School – Part 2. The programme is designed to introduce students to some of the key concepts, debates, and methods used in civil legal study, combining case analysis, discussion, negotiation, advocacy, and applied exercises to show how lawyers interpret rules, resolve disputes, and think through difficult questions of responsibility, compensation, and fairness.

You can also return to the main in-person Law Summer School page for full details about the course and how to apply.