Legal Practice (PgDip)

How will I be taught?

Teaching is conducted in large and small group lessons. Large groups take the form of lectures to all students and each large group lasts one hour. Most large group lessons are pre-recorded and accessed online, but some large groups are delivered live and are scheduled on the timetable.

Small group teaching will be timetabled in groups of up to 16-18 students although you may be organised into smaller groups for the purpose of some lessons. Small group lessons are usually scheduled to take place for two hours, although some may be of two and a half or three hours duration. Attendance at small group sessions is compulsory.

A distinctive feature of the LPC is that a substantial part of the time devoted to classroom practice overall will involve you in the exercise of the Course Skills.

How will I be assessed?

The LPC assessments are designed to be fair, rigorous, realistic and provide sufficient depth and/or breadth of coverage of the skills and subjects assessed. Individual assessments will cover a representation of the outcomes in the particular subject or skills area. A practical emphasis will appear throughout.

There are formative assessments for each of the Stage one subjects and skills. These formative assessments help you to adjust to the different requirements of the assessments on a vocational, as opposed to, an academic course.

There are 14 summative assessments, assessing all of the compulsory Stage one subjects and skills and the three vocational electives. All assessments are supervised, except for the assessment in Practical Legal Research, which takes the form of written coursework.

Most of the supervised assessments are open book written examinations but there are supervised oral skills assessments in Advocacy, Interviewing and Advising and Wills and the Administration of Estates.

How will I be supported?

Your learning will be supported through e-learning; all modules are supported by Learning Central, a virtual learning environment that is available on and off campus through which you will access a wide range of materials for your modules. We provide most of the lesson materials in electronic form as well as in hard copy. We also make available recordings of large groups via Learning Central.

You will receive dedicated pastoral support through our personal tutor scheme. We offer an extensive programme of careers lectures and workshops with a specialist Careers Advisor. A designated Disability and Diversity Officer ensures that reasonable adjustments are made for students with disabilities. The University also has a range of services to support you, including the Careers Service, the Counselling Service, the Disability and Dyslexia Service, the Student Support Service and excellent libraries with specialist law librarians and resource centres.  

Feedback

Feedback is regarded as a priority and is intended to raise your levels of competence.  You will have formative assessments in the Stage one subjects and comprehensive feedback on those formatives, to help you prepare for the summative assessments.  You will be given feedback for all oral skills practices.  You will also receive feedback from your tutor in the small group sessions as the course progresses and feedback from your fellow students.

What skills will I practise and develop?

Within the curriculum, you will develop your ability to undertake independent learning and team-working skills. Communication skills are developed in small groups, where you will be required to work collaboratively on problems and tasks. The emphasis on the course is on the application of legal knowledge to simulated factual situations, giving advice to the client and undertaking tasks according to the client’s instructions.

The LPC is a practical course and you need to analyse the facts to identify the relevant issues on which the client needs advice; identify the relevant law and procedure; apply the relevant law and procedure to the relevant facts and advise the client, clearly and fully, taking into account the rules of professional conduct and the commercial and business needs of the client. 

Outside the curriculum you will have the opportunity to develop wider employability skills through participation in the school’s Law in Action pro-bono schemes run with partner organisations, in which student volunteers assist real people in their dealings with the law. Some examples of the schemes currently available to students include: 

• Law in Justice: the Innocence Project (dealing with alleged miscarriages of justice);
• Law in Healthcare: the NHS Continuing Healthcare Scheme (helping families claim back care home fees that arguably should have been covered by the NHS);
• Law in Sport: the Rugby Union Project (providing legal advice and legal newsletters to rugby clubs);
• Law in Court: the Personal Support Unit (PSU) (offering practical support and assistance to people at court, in family and civil matters); and
• Law in Mental Health: the Hafal Appropriate Adult Scheme (students are trained to support vulnerable adults being interviewed after having been arrested).

Other activities include mooting, negotiating and client interviewing competitions.