The master Legal Theory & Socio-Legal Studies gave me a lot of freedom to develop my own interests and to discover what my talents are as a law student.
Lieske Bottema
Student Legal Theory & Socio-Legal Studies 2019-2020
I am Lieske, 23 years old and in the year 2019-2020 I participated in the master Legal Theory & Socio-Legal Studies. After finishing my bachelor’s degree in Law at Erasmus University Rotterdam, I wanted to get a master degree in law as well. However, in my opinion the bachelor mainly taught me how to think like a judge, and honestly, that wasn’t really my thing. I wanted to think outside of the law, approach the law from other disciplinary perspectives. As I have followed a double bachelor at the Faculty of Philosophy, I was looking for a master in which I could combine the insights from both my legal and philosophical background. Well, I found it!
The master Legal Theory & Socio-Legal Studies gave me a lot of freedom to develop my own interests and to discover what my talents are as a law student. The many essays I had to write enabled me to dive into topics that spur my interest, to engage with political debates and to write on topical issues. There is a lot of focus on developing skills like reading, writing and presenting. The teachers are involved with the students, and the lectures are very interactive. The small group of students made it easy for me to socialise and we had drinks together on a weekly basis.
I must admit that the master programme can be quite challenging. There is hardly any week without deadlines and the work load can be stressful. However, a lot of assignments also creates the opportunity to get a lot of feedback. Moreover, I consider myself a deadline junkie, so for me the time pressure worked really well to keep on track.