Legal Practice Course (Professional Diploma in Legal Practice)

Rhian Williams
“The tuition I received has been fantastic, and the workshops gave me the opportunity to see how others approach the work. The lecturers are enthusiastic about their work and got to know everyone, which helped a lot! I’ve enjoyed my time at The City Law School and I’ve learned a lot – the LPC has filled in the gaps from my degree and I’m now looking forward to starting my training contract.”
Rhian Williams

LPC Student


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    • Content  Teaching  Assessment  Opportunities  Futures

    Overview

    Our Legal Practice Course (LPC) has been designed in consultation with solicitors and legal service employers to ensure that you are fully prepared for the demands of the modern legal profession.

    We offer the Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice, Postgraduate Certificate in Legal Practice and Stage Two (subject to validation). You can choose to study the whole Postgraduate Diploma with us or any combination of Stages One and Two. Successful completion of both Stages One and Two entitles you to progress to the next phase of your vocational training as an intending solicitor.

    The quality of our LPC has been recognised consistently by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), who have repeatedly awarded us the highest grading in all areas of the course.

    Our Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice, Postgraduate Certificate in Legal Practice and Stage Two vocational electives are dynamic and transaction-based. They have been designed to ensure that whether you study the complete Diploma with us or a combination of Stages One and Two you incrementally acquire the skills and knowledge you need to start go onto a training contract or the next stage in your career.

    The Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice

    • Awarded to those students who are successful in both Stages One and Two at the School
    • Stage One full-time from September 2010 to February 2011 (face to face teaching four days per week and one day for private study - students may choose at the start of the course whether to be in the morning or afternoon cohort for face to face teaching); plus
    • Stage Two full-time from March to June (face to face teaching four days per week and one day for private study). (This does not necessarily have to be in 2011, but both Stages One and Two must be successfully completed within five years of sitting your first assessment at Stage One); 
    •  Stage Two may also be completed  by any of the combinations set out in the Stage 2 bullet point below (but both Stages One and Two must be successfully completed within five years of sitting your first assessment at Stage One); or
    • Students will be provided with a transcript of their assessment results.

     

    The Postgraduate Certificate in Legal Practice

    • Awarded to those students who are successful in Stage One at the School
    • Stage One full-time from September 2010 to February 2011 (face to face teaching four days per week and one day for private study);
    • Students will be provided with a transcript of their assessment results;
    • Students may later add Stage Two at the Law School to be awarded a Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice (see above).

     

    Stage Two

    • A complete Stage Two consists of three separate vocational elective subjects.
    • A complete Stage Two full-time from March to June 2011(face to face teaching four days per week and one day for private study)
    • One or two vocational elective subjects from our full range March to June 2011 (spread across four days a week of face to face teaching) (students may complete the other one or two vocational electives in the same timeframe each year but both Stages One and Two must be successfully completed within five years of sitting your first assessment at Stage One if you wish to progress on to the next phase of vocational training for intending solicitors -a training contract/work based learning).
    • Students will be provided with a transcript of their assessment results.



    Why the City LPC? 

    Our top-rated, skills-focused LPC will ensure you:

    • Meet the demands of practice and the expectations of a legal firm
    • Acquire the knowledge and skills you’ll need day to day in practice
    • Gain high standards of client service and professional delivery
    • Develop solid life-long learning patterns and effective working habits
    • Can make an immediate contribution to your firm by being prepared for practice.


    Content    

    The City Law School sets itself apart from some other providers as all of Stages One and Two are taught at Masters level, not simply at degree level. Like all others, our Stage One consists of the elements listed below. At the School each element of Stage One is developed to deliver the relevant legal skills/knowledge that all trainee solicitors/work based learners need.

    Stage One

    • Professional Conduct and Regulation (including Solicitors’ accounts)
    • Wills and Administration of Estates
    • Taxation

    Core Practice Areas:

    • Business Law and Practice
    • Property Law and Practice
    • Civil and Criminal Litigation

    Skills subjects:

    • Practical Legal Research
    • Legal Writing
    • Legal Drafting
    • Interviewing and Advising
    • Advocacy
       

    Stage Two

    Our Stage Two is designed to equip you with the detailed knowledge and skills required for your future choices of specialist areas of law. You need to study three vocational electives. You may choose all three from our specialist clusters or you may mix and match between clusters. Once you have been accepted onto Stage Two of the course we will, if you wish, advise you as to the most appropriate combinations. 

    Commercial Cluster

    • Advanced Litigation
    • Commercial Dispute Resolution
    • Commercial Law and Practice
    • Equity Finance
    • Mergers, Acquisitions and Takeovers


    Litigation Cluster

    • Advanced Litigation
    • Commercial Dispute Resolution
    • Employment Law and Practice 
    • Family Law and Practice


    Hybrid Cluster

    • Advanced Litigation 
    • Commercial Law and Practice
    • Employment Law and Practice 
    • Private Client
        

    Teaching   

    Both Stages One and Two closely replicate the demands and disciplines of practice through realistic and engaging exercises, with particular focus on Commercial Awareness, Professional Conduct and Regulation and Legal Skills. They are designed to provide you with transferable skills which can be applied in a variety of contexts. The training materials reflect the work you will do during the early years of practice and are made available to you both in hard copy and online.

    On enrolment you will receive:
    > A complete set of detailed manuals for the Stage you are studying
    > Your own copy of various standard practitioner texts for the Stage you are studying


    This course marks the start of your legal career, so you are expected to attend and work as you would if you were in practice. We build in as much flexibility as possible for our students with optional early evening practitioner sessions and a choice of morning or afternoon classes for Stage One teaching.


    Teaching by professionally qualified experts
    Our quality teaching staff bring a wide range of experience and specialist practice to our course. We offer:

    • Direct and continuing experience of practice
    • Exceptional, personalised training
    • A wide range of specialist subjects


    Our Stage One and Stage Two timetables consists of:

    • Four days teaching each week (equating to around 15-18 hours class contact time)
    • One day for preparation, professional development and research each week
    • 20 plus hours of private study and preparation work each week
       

    Our Stage Two may be studied in various combinations as set out in the overview above.


    Our unique, carefully developed skills training is:

    • Focused on practical legal skills
    • Written and developed in close consultation with practitioners
    • Supported by specially-written course manuals


    Class sizes
    All modes of delivery include large group sessions, workshops up to a maximum of 18 students and skills sessions up to a maximum of 10 students.
     

    Assessment   

    The whole of both Stages One and Two is assessable and all assessments are open-book.

    All assessments are based on realistic exercises that reproduce the demands of practice and reflect the work done on the course.

    Advocacy and Interviewing and Advising have oral assessments that are performed live with actors playing the role of client and/or witness. Interviewing and Advising requires some follow-up written work, and Legal Drafting, Legal Writing and Practical Legal Research have written assessments that respectively require you to prepare a piece of drafting, write a letter of advice and produce a research report.


    Feedback, including self-assessment and peer assessment, is central to the development of your legal skills, and your own professional (and even personal) development.


    In order to make sure that our feedback is useful to you, we ensure that:

    • All of our staff are fully trained in giving effective feedback
    • The criteria for all skills modules are highlighted for students in the introductory stages
    • All skills-based small group sessions focus on one or more assessment criteria

     

    Opportunities   

    We place a strong emphasis on the individual professional development of every one of our students and offer numerous opportunities to participate in “live client” work through the Free Representation Unit (FRU) and our Pro Bono Advice Unit.

      

    In addition, Training Contract and careers advice is available from the moment you accept your place on the course, which will assist you in obtaining work experience before applying for your Training Contract.
     

    Finally, City LPC students also have the opportunity to apply to undertake a heavily supervised, practice-focused dissertation following their LPC, upon completion of which they will be awarded an LLM in Professional Legal Practice.


    Futures   

    Successful completion of the LPC leads to City University London’s respected Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice, which will mean that you will have completed the formal part of your legal education and will be ready to start the work-based learning portion known commonly as a Training Contract.