Do law students have meaningful opportunities to work with other students?
Published Jun 16, 2024 · Updated Feb 25, 2026
opportunities to work with other studentslawCollaboration is part of everyday legal practice, but students do not always experience it as part of their law degree. NSS open‑text comments suggest law trends more negative than the sector overall on opportunities to work with peers, so designed, timetabled group work is one of the most practical levers for improvement.
In the National Student Survey (NSS) open‑text theme for opportunities to work with other students, sector sentiment is close to balanced (46.3% positive vs 49.3% negative). The Common Aggregation Hierarchy subject grouping for law trends more negative on collaboration (index: −11.2).
Within law, concerns about assessment can overshadow peer work. Comments about marking criteria score −46.7 on sentiment, while students rate teaching staff highly at +35.0.
Use the category as a cross‑sector indicator of learning community, and the subject grouping for like‑for‑like benchmarking. Together, they point to timetabled, low‑friction collaboration, aligned to assessment clarity, as the most reliable route to a stronger student experience in legal education.
Working with other students is central to legal study and practice. Collaboration helps students test complex legal theories, sharpen critical analysis, and build professional judgement through discussion with peers.
Incorporating the student voice strengthens this further. Analysing survey comments helps staff understand how students experience group work, and where friction arises. Programmes can then adjust module design to support collaborative learning so more students can engage and progress.
How does group work advance legal learning?
Build collaboration into the module timetable and rhythm, with intentional group formation, clear roles, and checkpoint sessions. Structured group tasks, such as analysing case studies or building joint arguments, help students engage with multifaceted issues while developing interpersonal skills and legal acumen.
This mirrors professional teamwork and gives students practice presenting and defending ideas in supportive but challenging settings. Because much legal study involves dense textual analysis, groups can also help demystify complex materials. Provide ready‑to‑use digital spaces, templates, and light‑touch contribution checks at milestones to reduce friction and promote accountability.
What does meaningful social interaction add?
Peer relationships build confidence and readiness for practice. Formal study groups and informal meet‑ups enrich learning and widen networks. Talking through challenging cases or theories helps students clarify doubts and stay engaged.
To widen participation, offer asynchronous options alongside set “collaboration windows” in the evening or online, and a simple matching tool so students with similar availability can find partners. Staff can model inclusive norms and make space for diverse voices within seminars and workshops.
How should independent learning sit alongside collaboration?
Blend independent preparation with structured peer interaction, and link both directly to assessment. Students can prepare a case independently, then test and extend their analysis through seminar debate, strengthening subject mastery and discourse skills.
Align group tasks to the assessment brief, and provide exemplars and rubric‑based guidance, so collaborative outputs stay focused on the criteria students will be judged against. Defined roles and agreed working norms help keep contributions equitable.
What student support best enables peer collaboration?
Make inclusion visible and support reliable. Provide accessible materials, hybrid‑ready rooms, and captions; offer brief micro‑skills training on delegation, decision‑making, and conflict resolution; and set a clear escalation route for group issues.
Facilitation matters. Peer mentoring, workshops, and discussion forums help students build confidence and community. Personal tutor and student support teams can schedule proactive check‑ins around group milestones so help is timely and consistent.
How can virtual classrooms sustain collaboration?
Use structured online methods that promote interaction. Virtual breakout rooms, collaborative documents, and pre‑provisioned channels help recreate the dynamics of in‑person groups. Recorded materials let students engage at their pace and arrive better prepared for discussion.
To counter weaker social cues online, set clear roles and time‑boxed tasks, and use light peer‑assessment components to deter free‑riding. These practices widen access for commuting, mature, or part‑time students while maintaining academic standards.
Why does teamwork matter for professional readiness?
Teamwork underpins contemporary legal practice, from case preparation to negotiation. Well‑designed projects, moots, and simulations build confidence in managing evidence, argument, and client‑facing communication. Programmes can borrow studio‑style patterns that work elsewhere, such as project sprints, crits, and showcases, and adapt them to legal pedagogy so students get iterative peer feedback and practise collaborative problem‑solving.
What should we take from this analysis?
Collaboration enhances learning in law, but it needs deliberate design and operational support. The category evidence suggests the tone around peer work is mixed, and law leans negative unless collaboration is easy to access and aligned to assessment.
Programme teams should timetable group activity, reduce organisational friction, and connect peer work to transparent marking criteria. Build on strengths in teaching staff by foregrounding structure and facilitation in group settings, and make support routes visible and consistent across the cohort.
How Student Voice Analytics helps you
- Shows sentiment and volume over time for opportunities to work with other students, with drill‑downs by subject, cohort, campus and demographics.
- Benchmarks law against similar subjects and student segments so you can prioritise actions for groups who struggle to access peers, and track change like‑for‑like.
- Produces concise, anonymised briefings for programme teams, with exportable summaries for boards and quality processes.
- Surfaces quick wins on assessment clarity, timetabling, and group design so staff can pilot improvements and track impact.
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