In the article, the author reflects on his studies at a leading Scottish university — the University of Dundee. Although the paper mainly focuses on patterns of the UK’s master-of-laws education, the author also analyzes some general features and principles of higher education in the United Kingdom. The author believes these educational standards could be of use to Ukrainian policymakers in reforming the system of legal education. Arguing that the current system of higher education in Ukraine lags far behind its British analogue, the author concludes that this weakness is mainly caused by free (or almost free) university education. The state cannot provide proper financing for higher education, and the only way to improve the current system is establishing of the marketbased approach to provision of educational services in Ukraine (whereby students will pay an economically sound tuition fee for their university studies). In the author’s view, only market-based mechanisms are able to upgrade the university-education system in Ukraine and align the number of universities with real needs of the society in lawyers.