Course specification and structure
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PMLEGAPR - LLM Legal Practice

Course Specification


Validation status Validated
Highest award Master of Laws Level Masters
Possible interim awards
Total credits for course 232
Awarding institution London Metropolitan University
Teaching institutions London Metropolitan University
School Guildhall School of Business and Law
Subject Area Law
Attendance options
Option Minimum duration Maximum duration
Full-time 1 YEARS  
Part-time Evening 2 YEARS  
Part-time Day 2 YEARS  
Course leader  

About the course and its strategy towards teaching and learning and towards blended learning/e-learning

The LLM in Legal Practice is a Masters level course which incorporates the Legal Practice Course (LPC). The LPC is part of the vocational stage of training to qualify as a solicitor and can be studied with an LPC provider authorised by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) by students who have already completed the academic stage. The aim of the LLM in Legal Practice is to prepare students for work-based learning and to provide a general foundation for practice as a solicitor, whilst also enabling students to develop a research interest.

The LLM in Legal Practice aims to prepare students for employment as a trainee solicitor and to provide students with a solid foundation for subsequent practice as a solicitor. In addition, this course offers students an opportunity to extend their research in an area of interest within legal practice, through a research module and a dissertation.

The LLM in Legal Practice comprises three parts (including the two stages of the LPC):

• Stage 1 of the LPC - Core Practice Areas, Skills, Solicitors Accounts, Wills, Tax and Professional Conduct and Regulation; and
• Stage 2 of the LPC - Three Vocational Electives; and
• LLM modules in research methodology and a dissertation.

The Legal Practice part of the Course

The SRA requires those who are admitted as solicitors to have the knowledge and skills necessary for practice. It does this by specifying the education and training that an individual must complete. These requirements are set out in the Training Regulations 2014 - Qualification and Provider Regulations, which govern all aspects of qualifying as a solicitor from July 2014.

This course can be studied full-time or part-time (in the day or in the evening).

This course provides graduates who have completed the academic stage of legal training with the professional stage of training required to qualify as a solicitor. We have a long-standing reputation for training solicitors and were one of the first universities to be validated to run the Legal Practice Course.

The course imitates the nature of the work students would encounter in legal practice and follows clients through various legal transactions and court hearings. It builds on the substantive law that students will have already learnt and includes the study of both law and procedure in the major areas of practice.

Students will also learn the everyday skills of legal research, interviewing, writing, drafting and advocacy to prepare them for their subsequent professional training and for practice as a solicitor.

The LLM part of the Course

In addition, we aim to help students apply academic understanding and research techniques to the analysis of law, policy and practice within your chosen area for the final LLM qualification. Students will also learn how to produce analytical, creative and original research that demonstrates the relationships between substantive law, policy, socio-economic context and legal practice.

The combined qualifications of the Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice (LPC) and the LLM in Legal Practice are designed to enhance students’ career prospects, demonstrate their research capabilities and knowledge of a particular legal area, whatever branch of law they intend to follow.

The course has dedicated facilities. These include an LPC resource room (with its practitioner library and IT resources) and teaching rooms with audio-visual recording facilities. Materials and case studies are provided within the course fee.

Teaching and Learning

The course aims to place learning, and the techniques of learning, at the heart of the student experience. On completion of the course, students should be capable of applying the learning and techniques of learning in a professional context and so ensure high quality of legal advice.

The course will seek to:

• Mix academic and practice based activity as appropriate
• Make effective use of learning technologies and blended learning
• Embrace student diversity
• Encourage widening participation
• Offer learning support where necessary

Learning and teaching will embody a model of critical reflection in which students are encouraged to build on existing knowledge and experience and reflect on their application in ‘real’ settings. Consequently:

• Teaching will seek to involve students as active participants;
• Learning opportunities will seek to reflect the needs of the diverse student body, which may include a significant proportion of mature students, students from non-standard academic backgrounds, students who have been out of the educational system for a period before returning to complete the academic stage of their training, as well as those with significant experience of work in a legal environment;
• Assessments will be aligned with the course learning outcomes and be designed to sustain reflection as they are open book and require the application of knowledge to solve practice based problems.

The course will be taught by a combination of Tutor Led Sessions (TLS) and Student Led Sessions (SLS). Both the TLS and SLS will involve up to 16 students. The purpose of each is described below:

TLS will build upon the students’ pre reading. Tutors will explain complex issues and help place issues within the context of solicitors’ practice. Each TLS will have at least one ‘TLS task’, where students engage in an activity based on their pre-reading. Tutors will be encouraged to deliver the TLS in a questioning and interrogatory style. The SLS following on from the TLS is held in the following teaching week to allow students time to prepare and reflect. The SLS are predominantly practical, transactional and student led. The activities therein will build upon the pre-reading, TLS and WebLearn questions.

Students will generally be expected to prepare an aspect of the SLS in advance. SLS will also usually contain an unseen activity to develop ‘thinking-on-ones’-feet’. Students will develop their understanding of a topic through practical activities such as role-plays, drafting, advocacy and research where possible, if this is commensurate with the subject matter, if it helps achieve the learning outcome and where there is a sound pedagogical rationale for doing so.


TLS aim to:

• provide an overview of the subject;
• provide orientation by locating the subject matter in the wider context of the course and referring back to the prior learning the students have acquired;
• identify salient features and elucidate more complicated points;
• cross refer to the manual and practitioners texts;
• provide guidance on the application of this information to practice;
• elucidate issues with a bearing on the central themes.

SLS offer more detailed and intensive study of themes introduced in TLS and subsequently pursued in reading and private study. They will be used both to advance, and to clarify and consolidate knowledge and ensure understanding, engaging students more actively in the learning process than in the TLS.

Exercises will test and reinforce knowledge and comprehension. These will be achieved by using “real” practice-based examples of applications of knowledge which may be demonstrated, attempted, considered, analysed and discussed by the students in the whole group or in sub-sets of three or so. As far as possible, students will work with “real” materials, forms, precedents, practitioner texts, facts and sources. They will be expected to consider the ramifications of their actions/advice holistically including issues relating to core areas, as well as issues affecting clients’ overall aims and non-legal options. The aim of the method is to promote better comprehension or know-how by hands-on practice.

The practice context predominates. Aspects of developing transactions may be studied over several sessions, or a case study may develop through a whole subject. The tutor will receive feedback indirectly from the manner of the students’ reaction to the material studied. This will allow the tutors to respond to student need for the remainder of the unit, so giving more control over the form, content and direction of the session to students.

SLS will be the principal opportunity for resolving difficulties of understanding by question and answer between tutor and student, and student to student, to assess learning and verify and advance understanding. This will oblige students to synthesise the knowledge gained in both typical and, as appropriate, atypical practice contexts with dynamic development under the control of the tutor.

The balance between different types of sessions throughout the course gives the optimum support for students according to the type of material being addressed and allows the delivery of all the integrated elements of the course by effective means. There will be sufficient scope for flexibility in sessions to permit genuine participative experiential learning to take place.

For the LLM modules, students will develop their area of research interest by taking two modules as follows:

• Research Methodology: Students will attend a weekly three hour session consisting of TLS, SLS and practical IT based learning;
• Supervised dissertation writing: This is a non-taught

Course aims

The course aims to prepare students to pass the compulsory professional qualification in order to be admitted as a solicitor, to prepare them for the period of recognised training (usually a training contract) and provide a solid foundation for subsequent practice.
In addition, the course offers students the opportunity to extend their research in an area of interest in legal practice, through a research module and a dissertation, which aim to:

• Stimulate and develop an awareness and understanding of current/critical developments within a chosen area of legal practice;
• Develop in students an awareness of research methodologies and an ability to develop research strategies appropriate to the academic and professional requirements of the area of study;
• Enable students to apply academic understanding and research techniques to the analysis of policy and practice within the chosen legal field leading to the production of a dissertation;
• Develop the skills necessary to enable the student to produce a well-written, well-referenced discursive, critical and evaluative dissertation.

Course learning outcomes

The Learning Outcomes for this module consist of prescribed Learning Outcomes for the LPC modules and separate Learning Outcomes for the LLM modules.

The LPC Learning Outcomes are prescribed by the SRA in a document called Legal Practice Course Outcomes – September 2011.

It states: “On successful completion of the course students will have reached a significant stage in the framework of their training towards becoming a solicitor. They will have begun to develop many of the areas of knowledge, skills and understanding expected of a newly-qualified solicitor.”

Legal Practice Course Outcomes

At the end of the course, successful students should be able, under appropriate supervision, to:

• Research and apply knowledge of the law and legal practice accurately and effectively;
• Identify the client's objectives and different means of achieving those objectives and be aware of the financial, commercial and personal priorities and constraints to be taken into account the costs, benefits and risks involved in transactions or courses of action;
• Perform the tasks required to advance transactions or matters;
• Understand the key ethical requirements contained in the SRA Principles of Regulation and Code of Conduct, understand where these may impact and be able to apply them in context;
• Demonstrate their knowledge, understanding and skills in the areas of:
o Professional Conduct and Regulation
o the core practice areas of Business Law and Practice, Property Law and Practice, Litigation and the areas of wills and administration of estates and Taxation
o the course skills of Practical Legal Research, Writing, Drafting, Interviewing and Advising, and Advocacy. Students should also be able to transfer skills learnt in one context to another;
• Demonstrate their knowledge, understanding and skills in the three areas covered by their choice of electives; and
• Reflect on their learning and identify their learning needs. (SRA September 2011).

LLM Outcomes

At the end of the course, successful students should have the following abilities:

Knowledge and Understanding

• Identify the main intellectual influences shaping the traditional and current directions of academic and professional research in a chosen area of study;
• Analyse and evaluate through research a developing or critical area of legal practice;

Cognitive/intellectual skills

• Assess at least one generic approach to research as employed in legal study and in related socio-economic and literary areas of study;
• Analyse and evaluate the results of research into a critical or developing area of legal practice in a clear and structured way, identifying its relevance to legal practice;

Practical Skills

• Retrieve, interact with and document a range of primary and secondary legal documentation;
• Produce a research proposal to reflect upon a specific issue of legal practice and assess the viability of such research;
• Demonstrate an ability to communicate complex, up to date legal information through producing a well-written dissertation with clarity, accuracy and structure.

Key Transferable skills including employability and professional practice

Sound judgment
Personal responsibility
Library and IT research skills
Written communication skills

Course learning outcomes / Module cross reference

The LPC learning outcomes are prescribed by the SRA in a document called Legal Practice Course Outcomes – September 2011. The modules all contribute to students being able to meet those learning outcomes.

At the end of the course, successful students should be able, under appropriate supervision, to:

1. Research and apply knowledge of the law and legal practice accurately and effectively;

2. Identify the client's objectives and different means of achieving those objectives and
be aware of

• the financial, commercial and personal priorities and constraints to be taken into account
• the costs, benefits and risks involved in transactions or courses of action;

3. Perform the tasks required to advance transactions or matters;

4. Understand where the rules of professional conduct may impact and be able to apply them in context;

5. Demonstrate their knowledge, understanding and skills in the areas of:

• Professional Conduct and Regulation
• the core practice areas of Business Law and Practice, Property Law and Practice, Litigation and the areas of wills and administration of estates and taxation
• the course skills of Practical Legal Research, Writing, Drafting, Interviewing and Advising, and Advocacy. Students should also be able to transfer skills learnt in one context to another;

6. Demonstrate their knowledge, understanding and skills in the three areas covered by their choice of electives, and reflect on their learning and identify their learning needs;

7. Knowledge and Understanding

• Identify the main intellectual influences shaping the traditional and current directions of academic and professional research in a chosen area of study;
• Analyse and evaluate through research a developing or critical area of legal practice;

8. Cognitive/Intellectual skills

• Assess at least one generic approach to research as employed in legal study and in related socio-economic and literary areas of study;
• Analyse and evaluate the results of research into a critical or developing area of legal practice in a clear and structured way, identifying its relevance to legal practice;

9. Practical Skills

• Retrieve, interact with and document a range of primary and secondary legal documentation;
• Produce a research proposal to reflect upon a specific issue of legal practice and assess the
viability of such research;
• Demonstrate an ability to communicate complex, up to date legal information through producing a well-written dissertation with clarity, accuracy and structure.

Principle QAA benchmark statements

Law

Assessment strategy

Assessments reflect the Module Learning Outcomes. Ranges of assessment methods, including diagnostic, formative and summative assessment, are deployed which seek to facilitate the development of critical reflection and which enable students to succeed.

(a) Summative Assessments

All summative subject assessments (except those in Solicitors' Accounts, referred to further below) are unseen time-constrained open book examinations with advance disclosure of documents.

The examinations take the form of transactional questions, which require the students to analyse given scenarios and to apply the law to the facts of that scenario so as to reflect the realities of practice. As noted below, in Business Law and Practice (BLP), Property Law and Practice (PLP) and Civil Litigation, multiple choice questions are also included in the papers to ensure coverage of the course.

Students are provided with advance disclosure at least one week before the date of the relevant examinations. (There is no reading time in the examinations).

(b) Rationale for Advance Disclosure and Open Book examinations

Advance disclosure of documents is released for all examinations. Examiners are of the view that this more closely reflects the reality of practice as a trainee solicitor. It is a more realistic test of an ability of students to achieve the learning out comes.

The use of open book examinations enables students to refer to permitted materials (including subject manuals and their personal notes), as they would do in practice. This allows for the emphasis to be placed on the application of legal principles and rote-learning is discouraged. Due to the time constrained nature of the assessments; students need to be familiar with their materials and to be able to check particular details, again in a manner that replicates practice.

New information and/or further documentation are contained in all exam papers so that students cannot anticipate questions from the documents disclosed in advance. Students are expected to apply their knowledge of the law to the problem scenarios set, and the method of assessment encourages deep learning.


(c) Skills Assessments

Skills assessments are aimed at assessing the student’s ability to carry out realistic exercises which replicate as closely as possible work of the sort that a trainee solicitor might be asked to carry out in practice at the outset of a training contract. Students are required to demonstrate that they have met the SRA’s Learning Outcomes. They are also expected to demonstrate their ability to apply their knowledge of the relevant law to practical problems and to respond appropriately to questions put to them.

The written skills assessments of Writing, Drafting and Practical Legal Research are assessed by way of unsupervised assessments in order to:
• mirror practice;
• maximise the use of resources (particularly in the context of Practical Legal Research); and
• provide an opportunity for students to effectively demonstrate their skills in a context other than a formal supervised examination.

In relation to the last point, it is recognised that all students should enjoy an equal opportunity to display their learning through a diversity of assessment formats. This is of particular importance to disabled students, for example dyslexic students, who may find that the challenges resulting from their condition are compounded by the pressures of a time-constrained assessment.

Further information is provided on each of the skills assessments below.

(d) Formative Assessments

Formative assessment is at the heart of the assessment strategy and learning experience. It ranges from formal mocks to informal classroom activities. Students are provided with formative assessment opportunities throughout the course to ensure they are fully prepared for the summative assessments. Further information is given below in respect of the formative assessment opportunities for each of the subjects and skills assessments. The formative assessments are designed to familiarise students with the nature of the summative assessments, inform them as to their progress and provide timely feedback. Feedback on formative assessments is a combination of individual written tutor feedback (and ‘feed-forward’), detailed examiners’ guidance, peer feedback, oral feedback and self-assessment.

Feedback is given in the context of the relevant assessment criteria to assist students to identify for themselves areas for improvement and support the development of self-reflective skills. The self-assessment opportunities also help students to engage with feedback. Students are further encouraged to seek oral feedback from their tutors.
Students are encouraged to seek feedback on all summative assessments as well as formative assessments. Feedback on summative assessments may be formative in nature.

(e) THE ASSESSMENTS

(i) Core Practice Areas

The core practice assessments will usually take place in the third and fourth week of February.

The core practice areas are assessed as follows:

Students sit a 3 hour long transactional-based paper in each of the following subjects:
BLP (including Business Accounts), PLP and Civil Litigation.

The paper also includes multiple-choice questions. Students are advised to spend no longer than 1 hour on this part of the assessment.

Students sit a 2 ½ hour long transactional-based paper in Criminal Litigation.

The Civil Litigation paper and Criminal Litigation papers are sat on separate days but must be taken within the same diet of assessments. The marks for the Civil Litigation paper and Criminal Litigation paper will be aggregated to derive the overall mark for Litigation in the ratio of 60%: 40%.

(ii) Vocational Elective Subjects

The vocational elective assessments will usually take place in the first and second week of June. Students are assessed in each of the vocational electives by one 3 hour long transactional-based paper.

In order to consolidate learning, students attempt part of a past examination paper in a Tutor Led Session and complete the paper in their own time. Individual answers are not marked due to time constraints. However, in a Student Led Session, students self-assess their performance by reference to the written examiners’ guidance and may seek further guidance from tutors.

(iii) Skills Assessments

The Skills are assessed on a competent/not yet competent basis. Students are given full written feedback (on both a summative and formative basis) indicating which, if any, of the assessment criteria have not been met and containing suggestions for areas of improvement.

Students who are assessed as not yet competent are encouraged to seek oral feedback from the tutor who assessed their work.

The Skills are assessed as follows:

Practical Legal Research (PLR)
PLR is assessed once by way of a written assessment. The assessment is linked to Litigation. At the beginning of the course, students are given a formative PLR Assessment. Tutors individually mark this and students are given full individual written feedback, supplemented by oral feedback where requested.


Legal Writing and Drafting
Students are assessed twice in Legal Writing and Drafting by way of written assessments. Legal Writing is linked to Property Law and Practice. Drafting is linked to Business Law and Practice. In advance of the Legal Writing and Drafting Assessment, students are given a formative Legal Writing and Drafting Assessment

Interviewing and Advising
Students are assessed once in Interviewing and Advising. The assessment takes the form of an interview of a client in the context of Wills and Administration of Estates.
Students are all required to undertake practice role-plays and mock interviews in Wills and Administration of Estates, Interviewing and Advising. Students are given individual oral and written feedback by the tutor and their mock interview is recorded to allow students to self-assess their performance. They also receive peer feedback immediately following their mock.

Students are also assessed in Wills and Administration of Estates during the Interviewing and Advising assessment and a separate result is recorded.

Advocacy
Students are assessed once in advocacy. The assessment takes the form of a mock court hearing in the context of either Criminal or Civil Litigation. Students are required to undertake practice role-plays and mock assessments in advocacy. They are given individual feedback by the tutor and have their mock assessment recorded so that they can also self-assess their performance. They also receive peer feedback immediately following their mock.

(iv) Professional Conduct and Regulation

Professional Conduct and Regulation is assessed on a competent/not yet competent basis. It is assessed both discretely and through the medium of the core practice assessments. At least 5% of the marks available in the core practice assessments are allocated to Professional Conduct and Regulation. However, the marks obtained in the context of the core practice assessments are not aggregated with those obtained in the discrete assessment.

The discrete

Organised work experience, work based learning, sandwich year or year abroad

There is a work experience week during which students are encouraged to apply for work placements and to further develop their CVs.

There are links with law professionals which operate mentoring schemes and offer work placements through the Faculty Employability Unit.

Course specific regulations

LPC ASSESSMENT REGULATIONS 2017-2018

1 Interpretation

1.1. These regulations shall be read together with:

a. London Metropolitan University Academic Regulations, including Regulations governing Appeals against Decisions of Assessment Boards; and
b. the requirements and regulations of the Solicitors Regulation Authority; and
c. the LPC Assessment Strategy

1.2. Where these regulations are silent the London Metropolitan University Academic Regulations apply. Where there is a conflict between these regulations and London Metropolitan University’s Academic Regulations these regulations take precedence.

1.3. Except where the context otherwise requires, the principles contained in the Interpretation Act 1978 shall apply to the interpretation of these regulations.

1.4. Without prejudice to the generality of regulation 1.3, in the event of uncertainty or ambiguity arising from the interpretation of these regulations, an interpretation which favours the student shall be preferred to one which does not.

2. The LPC Board of Examiners

2.1. The operation of the assessment process shall be subject to control by the Legal Practice Course (LPC) Board of Examiners, which consists of:

• the internal examiners and
• the external examiners appointed by the University as provided in the University regulations.

2.2. The Chair of the LPC Board of Examiners is the Team Leader of the Legal Practice Course or his/her nominee.

2.3. The Vice Chair of the LPC Board is the member of academic staff responsible for assessments or his/her nominee

2.4. The quorum for a meeting of the LPC Board of examiners is one third (30%) of the members eligible to attend and at least one external examiner

2.5. The terms of reference of the LPC Board of Examiners is:

(a) To act as the Subject Standards Board for the LPC;

(b) to confirm marks and grading awarded to a student who has undertaken a Legal Practice Course Assessment;

(c) to approve the Transcript for each student;

(d) to make recommendations to the University awards Board for the award of the Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice on successful completion of the Legal Practice Course and the award of such Diploma with Distinction or Commendation in accordance with Regulations 7 to 9;

(e) to determine whether a student has exceeded the time limit for completing assessments;

(f) to determine what action shall be taken in the case of a student failing or not sitting some or all of the Legal Practice Course Assessments which they have elected to sit;

(g) to make recommendations (within the constraints of the external control exercised over the course by Solicitors Regulation Authority) on any matters concerned with the Assessment Strategy;

(h) to be responsible for determining actions in terms of the effect, if any, of circumstances related to the delivery or assessment of a unit of study adversely affecting the performance of a whole cohort or a particular sub-group of students in an assessment or unit of study as a whole;

(i) to determine applications for extenuating circumstances;.

(j) to be responsible for such other matters as are referred to it by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, or by the Academic Board or its sub-committees of the University.

Attendance

2.6. Attendance at all formal teaching sessions is compulsory. The LPC Board of Examiners may, in its discretion, determine that a student who has failed to attend formal teaching sessions without the approval of the LPC Team Leader shall not be permitted to take assessments or, having taken an assessment, that attempt shall be disregarded. When a student is for good reason unable to obtain such approval before the period of absence, the student should seek the approval of the LPC Team Leader as soon as they are able to do so. Students shall be required to produce medical evidence when the absence is on medical grounds.

Student Misconduct

2.7. It shall be the responsibility of students to ensure that the work they submit for assessment is entirely their own and that they observe all rules and instructions governing examinations. Any allegation of student misconduct including academic misconduct’ includes all forms of cheating, plagiarism and collusion shall be dealt with under the University’s Academic Regulations. Any student found to be guilty of academic misconduct shall be subject to the provisions of those Regulations. In addition, the LPC Board may determine whether to refer a student who is found to have committed academic misconduct to the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

3. Assessment Scheme

3.1. The LPC comprises stage 1 and Stage 2. To pass Stage 1 a student must pass the Core Practice Areas, Professional Conduct And Regulation, Solicitors Accounts, the Skills And Wills and Administration of Estates.

To pass Stage 2 a student must pass 3 different vocational electives.

Stage 1 - Core Practice Areas

3.2. Business Law and Practice, Property Law and Practice and Litigation shall each be assessed by way of one core practice area assessment lasting a minimum of three hours. A core practice area assessment shall take the form of an examination or some other form of supervised assessment.

3.3. Each core practice area assessment may be split into two parts, and in that event:

(a) each part may take place on different days

(b) the two parts shall be within the same period of assessment

(c) one assessment mark shall be derived by aggregating the marks from the two parts

(d) for all purposes in these regulations, the two parts constitute one core practice assessment and a student must take both parts of the assessment - one part cannot be ‘carried over’ to a later assessment period

(e) a minimum of 5% of marks in each core practice assessment shall be allocated to Professional Conduct and Regulation.

3.4. There shall be two parts to the Litigation assessment, one Civil and one Criminal, with the marks for each aggregated to derive the overall mark in the ratio of 60:40%.

Stage 1 - Professional Conduct and Regulation

3.5. Professional Conduct and Regulation shall be assessed in two ways:

• a discrete assessment which shall last for a minimum of two hours and which shall be taken during the final assessment period of Stage 1 of the course and

• within each of the three core practice assessments in which at least 5% of the marks shall be allocated to Professional Conduct and Regulation.

The marks are not aggregated: a student must pass the discrete assessment in Professional Conduct and Regulation in order to pass the subject.

Stage 1 - Solicitors' Accounts Rules

3.6. The Solicitors’ Accounts Rules shall be assessed separately under supervised conditions. The assessment will last for two hours. No materials are permitted save an unmarked copy of the Solicitors’ Accounts Rules.

Stage 1 - Skills

3.7. Each of the five Course Skills of Practical Legal Research, Writing, Drafting, Interviewing and Advising and Advocacy shall be assessed once.

a. Interviewing and Advising shall be assessed together

b. Advocacy shall be assessed in the context of either Civil Litigation or Criminal Litigation or both

c. Each skills assessment may be combined with:

d. Core practice area assessments, in which case a mark shall be given for the core practice assessment and a competent/not yet competent decision made for the skills element

e. One or more other skills assessments, in which case separate competent/not yet competent decisions shall be given for each skill

f. Each skill shall be assessed on a competent/not yet competent basis.

Stage 1 - Wills and Administration of Estates

3.8. Wills and Administration of Estates shall be assessed once during the course in the context of the Interviewing and Advising assessment. A separate result for Wills and Administration of Estates of competent/not yet competent will be recorded on the student’s transcript. A student will not be able to pass Stage 1 of the Legal Practice Course until an award of competent has been achieved.

Stage 2 - Vocational Electives

3.9. Each Vocational Elective shall have one assessment lasting a minimum of three hours. An elective assessment shall take the form of an examination or some other form of supervised assessment

3.10. The elective assessments may be split into two parts, and in that event:

(a) each part may take place on different days

(b) the two parts shall be within the same period of assessment

(c) one assessment mark shall be derived by aggregating the marks from the two parts and

(d) for all purposes in these regulations, the two parts constitute one elective assessment and a student must attempt both parts of the assessment – a mark for one part cannot be ‘carried over’ to another assessment period.

For full course specific regulations, please refer to the Course Handbook.

Modules required for interim awards

Students are required to take all of the Stage 1 Core Practice Area, Skills, PCR and Solicitors Accounts Modules. They are required to take 3 of the Stage 2 Vocational Electives Modules.

They are required to take all of the LLM modules.

Arrangements for promoting reflective learning and personal development

Students are advised from the outset of the course to consider their career pathways, in consultation with the tutors and other career advisers within the University.

Students are also encouraged to reflect on their own learning and development throughout the course. At the end of each teaching session, tutors review the specific learning outcomes for that session with the students who then give feedback on their progress and understanding. Regular self- assessment of work takes place with the use of examiners’ guidance and suggested answers to enable students to better engage with assessment criteria and identify for themselves their own development needs.
Students keep a portfolio of formative and summative assessments which contain detailed comments on areas for development.

Other external links providing expertise and experience

Solicitors Regulation Authority

Professional Statutory and Regulatory Body (PSRB) accreditations & exemptions

London Metropolitan University is an SRA (Solicitor Regulation Authority) approved LPC provider.

Career, employability and opportunities for continuing professional development

Each student is designated a “Professional Mentor” to provide individual advice and guidance.

London Metropolitan University Student Services (Careers) has Careers Consultants who are available to see LPC students for advice and guidance about securing legal experience and training contracts to help develop their professional career.

The Careers deliver employability skills training workshops and guest speaker sessions that LPC students can attend in skills such as communication, teamwork, meetings, and project management amongst a range of others.

Careers Consultants also hold individual appointments to discuss individual careers guidance supporting career planning, researching firms for legal experience and training contracts, legal focussed CVs, applications in particular also addressing the needs of firms that require competency based evidence, mock interviews for legal experience and training contracts, networking to make an impact including online and so forth.

Students can register with Careers to receive relevant legal and other vacancies, as well as volunteering and pro bono opportunities, through our online vacancy system, Prospects Net.

Students can also apply for the Careers Mentoring Scheme, which includes legal professionals.

On completion of the course graduates will be prepared to start a period of recognised training or work-based learning, which is the other component of the vocational stage of education and training. Students completing the LPC at the University have gone on to training contracts in a variety of law firms and organisations including City law firms, Medium sized law firms, High Street firms, in house, for the CPS and not for profit organisations including law centres and advice agencies.

An LLM can enhance the LPC which qualifies you to enter into Work-Based Learning with a firm of solicitors or an in-house legal department. The LPC also provides a good grounding for practice as a paralegal, in local or health authorities, in local or central government, in commerce either in company secretarial/governance/ regulatory areas or if you aspire to being on a board of directors.

Career opportunities

The Post Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice (LPC) qualifies you to enter into a training contract with a firm of solicitors or an in-house legal department. The LLM in Legal Practice further enhances your employment prospects. The course also provides a good grounding for practice as a paralegal, in local or health authorities, in local or central government, in commerce either in company secretarial/governance/ regulatory areas or if you aspire to being on a board of directors.

Entry requirements

You will be required to have:

  • a qualifying law degree (awarded by a Solicitor Regulation Authority (SRA) approved provider), with at least second class honours. This must include having adequately passed assessments in the seven Foundations of Legal Knowledge: Public Law, Obligations I (Contract), Obligations II (Tort), Criminal Law, Land Law, Equity and Trusts, and Law of the European Union. Further guidance on what amounts to a Qualifying Law Degree is available on the SRA website.
  • (if you’re a non-law graduate) a Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) or Common Professional Examination (CPE) with an average of at least 50%.

Prior to joining the course applicants will also need to provide evidence of Completion of the Academic Stage of Training in the form of:

  • a letter or email from the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) (obtained prior to July 2014) or
  • a letter from the awarding University to state that your Undergraduate Degree is a Qualifying Law Degree (to be issued on completion of your award) or that you have completed and passed all seven core GDL/CPE subjects within the maximum number of attempts allowed (not more than three)

Other factors will be taken into account, in particular the need to study part time, in London, evidence of ability to pursue successfully the skills components of the course and your motivation to become a solicitor, evidence for example by relevant unpaid or paid work experience.

Official use and codes

Approved to run from 2018/19 Specification version 1 Specification status Validated
Original validation date 14 Aug 2018 Last validation date 14 Aug 2018  
Sources of funding FUNDED ENTIRELY BY STUDENT TUITION FEES
JACS codes M250 (Legal Practice): 100%
Route code LEGAPR

Course Structure

Stage 1 Level 07 September start Offered

Code Module title Info Type Credits Location Period Day Time
LC7024 Litigation Core 39.5 NORTH AUT TUE AM
          NORTH AUT TUE EV
          NORTH AUT TUE PM
          NORTH AUT FRI PM
          NORTH AUT THU EV
          NORTH AUT THU PM
          NORTH AUT FRI AM
          NORTH AUT THU AM
LC7025 Research Skills Core 2.75 NORTH AUT NA  
LC7028 Wills and Administration of Estates Core 2 NORTH AUT TUE EV
          NORTH AUT TUE PM
          NORTH AUT TUE PM
          NORTH AUT FRI PM
          NORTH AUT THU PM
          NORTH AUT FRI AM
          NORTH AUT THU EV
LC7029 Business Law and Practice Core 24 NORTH AUT MON AM
          NORTH AUT MON EV
          NORTH AUT MON PM
          NORTH AUT THU PM
          NORTH AUT WED EV
          NORTH AUT THU PM
          NORTH AUT TUE PM
LC7030 Property Law and Practice Core 24 NORTH AUT MON AM
          NORTH AUT MON EV
          NORTH AUT MON PM
          NORTH AUT THU AM
          NORTH AUT TUE AM
          NORTH AUT WED EV
          NORTH AUT MON PM
LC7031 Advocacy Skills Core 0 NORTH AUT NA  
LC7032 Legal Writing Skills Core 2.25 NORTH AUT NA  
LC7033 Drafting Skills Core 2.25 NORTH AUT NA  
LC7034 Professional Conduct and Regulation Core 1.5 NORTH AUT NA  
LC7043 Solicitors Accounts Core 6 NORTH AUT NA  
LL7003 Legal Research Methodology Core 20 NORTH AUT THU EV
          NORTH SPR WED AM
LL7P17 Legal Practice Dissertation Core 60 NORTH SPR NA  
          NORTH SUM NA  
LC7023 Interviewing Skills Option 5.5 NORTH AUT NA  
LC7026 Civil and Commercial Mediation and Alternative ... Option 13.5        
LC7035 Child Law and Practice Option 13.5 NORTH SPR FRI PM
          NORTH SPR THU PM
LC7036 Commercial Law and Practice Option 13.5 NORTH SPR MON PM
          NORTH SPR THU EV
          NORTH SPR TUE AM
LC7037 Employment Law and Practice Option 13.5 NORTH SPR MON EV
          NORTH SPR FRI AM
          NORTH SPR THU AM
          NORTH SPR MON EV
LC7038 Family Law and Practice Option 13.5 NORTH SPR TUE EV
          NORTH SPR FRI AM
          NORTH SPR THU AM
          NORTH SPR WED EV
LC7039 Housing Law and Practice Option 13.5 NORTH SPR THU PM
          NORTH SPR THU EV
LC7040 Immigration Law and Practice Option 13.5 NORTH SPR TUE EV
          NORTH SPR FRI PM
          NORTH SPR WED EV
          NORTH SPR TUE PM
LC7041 Intellectual Property Law and Practice Option 13.5 NORTH SPR TUE EV