Updated 28.10.2026• 8 min read• Universities

Good law schools that don’t require the LNAT

Only nine UK universities use the LNAT for 2027 entry. This guide lists the fifteen Russell Group universities that offer a law degree without it, how they rank for law, what each one asks for instead, and how to plan your UCAS choices around the test.

Jurica Research

LNAT preparation

If the LNAT is the part of a law application that worries you, it may help to know that most UK law schools do not use it. For 2027 entry, nine UK universities use the test: Bristol, Cambridge, Durham, Glasgow, King’s College London, LSE, Oxford, SOAS and UCL. SOAS asks for it only from applicants with non-standard qualifications, such as an Access to HE Diploma or a BTEC. Every other UK law school selects on your UCAS application.

Which Russell Group universities teach law without the LNAT?

Fifteen of the Russell Group’s 24 universities do. Eight of the 24 use the LNAT, and Imperial does not teach undergraduate law, which leaves the fifteen universities in the table below. None of them sets an admissions test for the standard LLB for 2027 entry.

These are the standard offers on each university’s LLB course page, read in October 2026 (Cardiff’s from a copy of its page saved in September 2026). Edinburgh publishes the range of grades that most of its successful applicants had, and not a single offer. Most of these universities also make lower contextual offers, and offers for other qualifications differ, so it is worth checking the course page before you rely on a figure.

There are two things to notice in the table:

1. Only four of the fifteen ask for an A*: Edinburgh, Manchester, Queen Mary and Warwick. The others ask for AAA, although Cardiff publishes a range that goes down to ABB.
2. These courses are still competitive. Queen Mary, for example, has about 340 places on its undergraduate law courses and receives about 3,500 applications a year, which is roughly ten applications for each place.

How do these universities rank for law?

That depends on which table you read, so we have combined four of the published law rankings into one order. On that measure, Warwick and Edinburgh share first place among the fifteen, Queen Mary, Leeds and Nottingham come next, and Newcastle is fifteenth.

Two of the four tables rank UK universities only: the Complete University Guide 2027 and the Guardian University Guide 2027. The other two, the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2026 and the Times Higher Education (THE) subject rankings for 2026, compare law schools around the world, and below 100th place they give a band (such as 101–150) instead of an exact position. We have left out The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide, because its subject tables are open only to subscribers.

Every column is the ranking for law, read on 28 October 2026, and an equals sign marks a shared place. The overall place is our own calculation. For each table we put the fifteen in order against each other (a shared place or a shared band counts as the average of the positions it covers), and we then averaged each university’s four positions.

There are three things to notice in the table:

1. The UK tables and the world rankings measure different things. The Complete University Guide combines entry standards, student satisfaction, research quality and graduate prospects, while the Guardian builds its table from teaching measures such as satisfaction, spending per student and how many students continue into the second year, and it leaves research out. QS and THE, on the other hand, rely heavily on research and reputation (QS asks academics and employers which universities they rate). If teaching and support matter most to you, we suggest giving the two UK tables more weight, because that is closer to what they measure.
2. The same university can be ranked very differently. Queen’s University Belfast, for example, is 8th in the Complete University Guide, joint 20th in the Guardian and in the 101–150 band in QS. Edinburgh is only 16th in the Complete University Guide but 15th in the world in QS.
3. The overall order is close in places. Warwick and Edinburgh have exactly the same average, as do Queen’s University Belfast and Manchester, and in the middle of the table one or two places make little difference. In general, we would not choose between two of these universities on the overall order alone, since the course, the entry requirements and where you would like to live are likely to matter more.

What should I know about each university?

Below is a short note on each one: how it selects, and anything about the course that you should know before you put it on your UCAS form.

How do these universities choose without a test?

They rely on the UCAS application: your predicted and achieved grades, your GCSEs, your personal statement and your reference. Nottingham, for example, says that it puts exam grades first for most courses but still reads the personal statement to understand your motivation.

This has three consequences for how you prepare:

1. Your grades matter more. Without an LNAT score to compare applicants, your predicted grades and GCSE record are the main evidence of your ability, so you should make sure your school’s predictions are realistic and that your reference explains anything unusual in your record.
2. Your personal statement is the main place where you can show an interest in law. We recommend giving it the time you would otherwise have spent preparing for the LNAT, because it is often the only part of the application that tells the university why you want to study the subject.
3. You avoid the test fee only if none of your choices uses the LNAT. The LNAT costs £75 at UK and EU test centres and £120 elsewhere, and one sitting covers every LNAT university you apply to.

Should I still apply to universities that use the LNAT?

That depends on where you want to study. UCAS allows five choices, and you can mix universities that use the LNAT with universities that do not. You only need to sit the test if at least one of your choices requires it.

In general, there are two sensible approaches:

1. If one or two of the universities you most want to attend use the LNAT (UCL or King’s College London, for example), sit the test once and fill the rest of your choices from the table above. That way, a disappointing LNAT result affects only part of your application.
2. If you would rather not sit the test, choose all five from universities that do not use it. This is a reasonable choice: all fifteen are Russell Group universities, and the routes into the profession described in the FAQ below do not depend on whether your university used the LNAT.

What about Edinburgh and the other Scottish universities?

Edinburgh is on our list because it does not use the LNAT. However, its LLB is a degree in Scots law. Edinburgh says the degree is intended as a qualifying degree for practice in Scotland, and that there are rules which allow a Scots-qualified solicitor or advocate to requalify as a solicitor or barrister in England and Wales.

If you are fairly sure you want to practise in England and Wales, we suggest weighing the extra step of requalifying against the English universities in the table before you decide. Of the Scottish universities, only Glasgow is on the LNAT Consortium’s list, and it requires the test for its LLB degrees unless you already hold a degree.

Frequently asked questions