Law and the bar · degree
The diploma is national, the curriculum is not: the examples on this page come from Lyon 3 and Lorraine, for the 2026-2027 year. What you work on first is the three legal exercises.
The real format of the exam, and what actually decides it.
The law degree is prepared over three years, six semesters and 180 ECTS credits. Each semester ends with exams, in continuous assessment or as a final paper depending on the unit. A second chance exists, in forms that vary from one faculty to another: an additional session, a replacement paper or the last continuous-assessment mark.
What decides is the ability to handle a subject in the required format, not the volume of course material absorbed. Essays, case-law commentaries and case studies do not exist at high school: they are learned in tutorials, from model answers, from the first semester. The lengths and coefficients are set by each faculty.
The format and weight of each paper, without the noise around it.
An issue, a two-part plan that answers it, precise references. Reciting the course is not enough.
Identify the meaning, scope and value of the decision, then discuss it. Paraphrasing the ruling earns nothing.
Characterise the facts, state the applicable rules, conclude. Method counts as much as the solution.
Precision of vocabulary and concepts. There is no room for approximation.
The dates that matter, with their status.
Lorraine, 2026-2027: papers from 14 to 19 December 2026, then from 4 to 9 January 2027. If you enter the first year in September 2027, your first exams will fall in January 2028.
Official date. 11 March 2027 is the last day to submit your choices.
Official date: a choice not confirmed on that day is abandoned.
Lorraine: written papers from 3 to 18 May 2027, orals until 21. Local calendar, not national.
Lorraine, 2026-2027. Elsewhere, the second chance may be a single paper or the last continuous-assessment mark.
Dates checked on October 28, 2026. Any date that hasn’t been published is flagged as such.
The obstacles that cost you points, not the clichés.
In an essay, the marker looks for an issue and a plan that answers it. Without a legal issue, your knowledge remains a list: the course learned by heart is not enough.
Describing the facts and the solution is not enough. You must identify the meaning, scope and value of the decision, then discuss it. A descriptive commentary does not show that you understood the ruling.
Facts are characterised before a rule is applied. Skipping this step costs the method marks, even if the solution is right.
At Lyon 3, the major and the minor do not compensate: a weak minor mark cannot be made up with civil law. Moving up a year requires 40 major credits. Your faculty's rules may differ.
A course goes in. Ready-made materials come out. You study.
A fixed template: facts, procedure, claims, legal issue, solution, scope. Three corrected rulings, then you time yourself.
Essay: an issue, then two parts that answer it. Case study: characterisation, rules, conclusion. The plan is written before the script.
In Lorraine, semester 1 is decided from 14 December 2026, and the year provides only two attempts. Note your faculty's dates and work backwards: June is a safety net, not a strategy.
Study materials, not a promise you’ll pass.
For the case-law commentary, you upload the PDF of the decision and your tutorial notes: the sheet gives you the facts, the procedure and the solution to put back into your template. The account is free.
The minor is decided on quizzes and short answers: you generate questions from your political science or economics course, and spot the concepts you confuse before the paper.
When you characterise facts, the chat answers only from your files: the exact rule or definition, without leaving your course.
On a whole unit, the map connects the general regime, exceptions and rulings. That is the material for a two-part plan, not another summary.
Summry does not read rulings for you, does not mark your script and does not know your faculty's rules: the method of the three exercises is learned from model answers and in tutorials.
The questions we get asked most often about Law degree.
No. There is no competitive exam: you apply on Parcoursup, and each faculty examines your file with its own criteria. The real filter comes later: 49.2% of 2023 new baccalaureate holders in law and political science moved into the second year (SIES, November 2025).
The diploma is national, the curriculum is not. Each faculty sets its units, coefficients and assessment arrangements. At Lyon 3, civil law weighs 11 ECTS and is marked on an annual 3-hour paper plus continuous assessment; elsewhere, the split changes. What remains common: 180 ECTS over six semesters.
Among 2020 baccalaureate holders entering the first year of law and political science, 30.4% obtain their degree in three years and 43.3% in three or four years (SIES, November 2025). These rates cover the law and political science disciplinary group, not the law mention alone. 87.7% of these students had a general bac.
You have a second chance. At Lyon 3, the year follows a three-part rhythm: normal session, replacement session, then second chance. Elsewhere, the form changes: additional paper, single resit in June or last continuous-assessment mark. Your faculty's assessment rules say which applies.
The degree remains general, but the third year opens pathways: at Lyon 3, private law or public law, with options to choose at the start of semester 5. Some faculties also offer double degrees in law-economics, law-history or law-political science, heavier and selective.
Information gathered from official websites, checked on October 28, 2026. The links open the original source.
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