PGCPELAW - Common Professional Exam

This course provides students with the necessary exemptions to proceed onto either a Legal Practice Course or a Bar Vocational Course.

The Joint Academic Stage Board, which acts on behalf of the Law Society and the General Council of the Bar, has approved this course as providing the academic stage of training for solicitors and barristers.

The general aim of the CPE course is to provide non-law graduates with an academically rigorous programme of education in law which is designed to assist those who undertake it to prepare for entry onto the Vocational Stage of legal education and training and to acquire a sound foundation upon which to develop both the legal knowledge and the competencies required for their subsequent careers in legal practice.

Knowledge and understanding
The student is expected

• to acquire a sound knowledge of those seven areas of law which are considered by the professional bodies to be fundamental to any study of law and of at least one other area of law;

• to acquire a knowledge and understanding of the legal system and process;

• to acquire an appreciation of the relationship between national and community law

Cognitive/intellectual skills
On completion of the course, the successful student will be able to:

• analyse legal problems and provide a range of solutions to them;

• develop in a legal context a range of skills previously acquired which contribute to academic study, solving problems and communicating effectively;

• transfer and apply knowledge and skills learnt in one legal context to another;

• develop a capacity for critical assessment of the law;

• develop the ability to work with, and recognise the potential of, information technology in the context of the law and legal study

• the processing and application of legal and factual information;

• the analysis of legal problems and the provision of a range of solutions.

Practical skills
On completion of the course, the successful student will be able to:

• demonstrate an awareness and understanding of the areas of law studied, of the legal process and the inter-relationship between different areas of law in a national and European context;

• identify, find and use a range of sources of legal information, including information technology, to assist in legal study and to extract the essential points from the information;
• analyse legal information and apply it to the solution of problems.

• communicate legal information efficiently both orally and in writing;

• assume responsibility for the continuing development of his or her own legal education and competence.

Key/transferable skills including employability and professional practice
The overall curriculum is designed both to ensure that students have a thorough grounding in the key foundation subjects in law which are required of the professional bodies, and also develop in the students certain key skills which are essential to ensure competence in the legal profession. These skills are embedded in the curriculum and developed within each unit. The key skills are:

• to communicate ideas, principles, theories and information effectively both by oral and written means

• to make effective use of research facilities, in the form of books, written reports and computer data-bases

• to be able clearly and cogently to analyse problems and to reach and present justifiable conclusions

• to become active and reflective legal thinkers and practitioners

• to listen effectively and communicating information effectively both orally and in writing;

• to investigate and research legal information (using original sources) and the extraction of the essential points from that information;

• to transfer and apply knowledge and skills learnt in one legal context to another;

to develop a capacity for critical assessment of the law; of their own views; and of the arguments of others.

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Skills are assessed through seven examinations and six pieces of coursework.

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On graduation, you'll be eligible to undertake either the Legal Practice Course or Bar Professional Training Course, and from there to proceed either to a training contract with a firm of solicitors or a pupillage in a barrister's chambers.

The Common Professional Exam (CPE) is a well-recognised route to a legal career, and many employers in the legal field actively favour postgraduate students who have a proven expertise outside the area of law.

Success on the CPE will also enable you to apply to take an LLM if you wish to pursue an academic career or simply to expand your legal knowledge.

You will be required to have:

• a UK first degree at 2.2 or above (applicants who do not hold a UK first degree must obtain a Certificate of Academic Standing from either the Solicitors Regulation Authority or The Bar Standards Board

All applicants must be able to demonstrate proficiency in the English language. Applicants who require a Tier 4 student visa may need to provide a Secure English Language Test (SELT) such as Academic IELTS. For more information about English qualifications please see our English language requirements.

Students who have failed any units on the CPE/GDL, LLB or any other law course at this or any other institution will not be considered for a place.