Legal Practice Course (Full-time), LPC

In the opinion of the profession and former students, Nottingham Law School is an outstanding place to study the LPC. The course has an excellent reputation amongst employers and students and provides you with the best foundation for a new and exciting career as a solicitor.

About the course

The Legal Practice Course (LPC) at Nottingham Law School has a reputation that is second to none. The course has continuously received the highest possible grading from the Solicitor's Regulation Authority of commendable practice in every area of the course.

Nottingham Law School's LPC has been designed in conjunction with a range of legal practices, from high street firms to City corporates and the publicly funded sector. The course allows you to specialise in a particular practice area or keep your options open with a choice of pathways through the LPC. Your decision on which pathway to follow is taken after the course has started which gives you time to gain a flavour of legal practice before you make your choices. You can also study the Legal Practice Course part-time to fit around your other commitments. Transfers between the part-time and full-time course are possible.

Successful completion of the course enables you to proceed to a training contract and then be admitted as a solicitor. The job market is very competitive and whether you come to Nottingham Law School with a 2.1 or a 2.2 we can add value to enhance your CV and increase your employability in the following ways:

Why choose this course?

• We offer an award-winning pro bono programme, including a Legal Advice Clinic for the local community.
• We also have a professional practice lecture series where practitioners provide guidance on specialist aspects of law, the life of a solicitor and tips for securing training contracts.
• An iPad will be provided for each LPC student to enhance your learning experience and use of online sources. Find out what your fee includes (Terms and conditions apply).
• You can choose from a wide and varied range of elective subjects. To find out more about the pathways and choices available, visit the 'course' tab at the top of this page.
• Decide on which pathway you want to embark upon after the course has started.
• Our dedicated careers team will provide guidance and support to help you secure a training contract and any other form of legal employment.
• The number of graduates obtaining a training contract or paralegal work is consistently high.
• You will receive face to face teaching and you will be allocated a personal tutor who will look after your pastoral care while studying the LPC.
• You will benefit from a supportive atmosphere in the Law School and will also benefit from the facilities available at a large university campus. There is a wide variety of sporting and other activities you can participate in and additional courses are available e.g. language courses.
• Students who take the whole of our LPC after successfully completing a GDL, with Nottingham Law School or another provider, can apply for the award of a Graduate LLB* which is received after your successful completion of the LPC, to recognise your achievement. (Students coming through the ILEX route may also be eligible).
• After completing this course you can top-up your credit points and gain an additional LLM Legal Practice at no extra cost.

*Please note that those students who are exempt from some of the GDL subjects may not be eligible for a Graduate LLB.

Entry requirements

See the Applying section for full details.

Open day

We hold open days in autumn, spring and early summer each year for anyone considering studying on the Nottingham Law School LPC. The day provides the opportunity for you to find out more about the course, meet tutors and current students, take a campus tour, view our facilities and take part in a careers workshop providing advice on how to gain a training contract. Find out further details and to book your place.

SRA Membership

The SRA has guidance for LPC students and providers on meeting SRA enrolment deadlines. It is important you check the SRA website regularly to ensure you comply with current requirements and deadlines.

LPC students starting in September 2014 will shortly be able to register using the SRA's online enrolment system.

Student enrolment is the process by which potential LPC students:

• show they have satisfied the academic stage requirements and are therefore eligible and sufficiently qualified to continue to the vocational stage of training,
• show by passing the Suitability Test that they are of the appropriate character to continue to the next stage of training on the route to becoming a solicitor, and
• bring them within the regulatory regime of the SRA.

The SRA Training Regulations 2011 state that LPC applicants must have enrolled with the SRA before they begin the LPC. It is very important that students enrol well in advance of their anticipated LPC start date to allow time for their applications to be processed.

If you have any queries about this course please contact us:

Contact details
Telephone: +44 (0)115 848 4460
Email us

Visit Nottingham Law School website

Course content

It may be that you know right from the start what sort of practice you are heading for; you might have a sponsoring firm that has made that clear for you. You might just be really certain what you want to do, or you might want to keep your options open as to what type of law you end up in. It may be that you can only decide when you've seen some really practical law in action.

Either way we have a pathway to suit you, and we deliver the differences in the way we tailor the skills tuition. You don't have to decide in advance – you can start the course and then make the decision. So you can select skills pathways which advance your core knowledge in a way that is suited to you.

Our flexible LPC pathway (the blue route on the chart ) allows for a cross section of skills training which advances your knowledge in a variety of legal environments, and gives you a sound basis for the widest variety of practices.

Alternatively you can choose one of our more specialist skills pathways (the green routes ). These are tailored to either practice in commercial firms or the provision of law with a distinct publicly financed angle.

If you are certain that you want to work in City / Commercial practice, then the corporate pathway (the red route ) allows for the whole of your LPC to be geared that way, culminating normally in the three corporate electives.

View the structure of the new LPC: your LPC, your choice

How will I be assessed?

Assessments are designed to integrate with the course as a whole. We assess each stage of the LPC's content by assessments at the end of that stage, in January / February and in May / June. You will be assessed in each skill, designed to establish competence, on a competent / not competent basis. You will be assessed by examination in each of the three compulsory and elective subjects (your own prescribed materials being allowed in the exams).

Flexible timetable

We are able to offer flexible timetabling for the LPC Stage One modules (these modules take place between September and February). Students can elect to study either in the morning or afternoon. Once you have accepted your offer you should complete the Preference Form below.

Please note that while Nottingham Trent University will make every effort to accommodate your timetable preference we do not guarantee that you will be timetabled according to your preference or that your teaching will be limited to the times indicated on the Preference Form.

Electives

Most students prefer to move on to Stage Two of the LPC, the electives, immediately after completion of Stage One, but you don't have to and there is a variety of choices.
You can:

• stop for a while after Stage One and rejoin the course in a following year (although SRA rules impose time limits on how long you can wait)
• undertake the electives in part-time mode.

It is up to you which way you choose; most students like to complete the LPC as soon as possible, but some like to undertake electives once they have a better idea of their intended practice area.

Further details about elective options

To enable us to plan for elective options, once you have accepted your offer you will be able to choose which electives you think you would like to study with us. There will be an opportunity for you to change your elective choices once you start the LPC.

There is also an option to choose your preferred timetable sessions - morning or afternoon. Once you have accepted your offer please complete the preference form for both elective and timetable options. The form for 2014 entry will be available on this page shortly.

Course skills

The course skills are advocacy, interviewing, research, writing and drafting and these are often seen as providing the most demanding, and hopefully rewarding, elements of the course. We give particular attention to the written skills of research and writing and drafting; we take seriously the concerns of many firms about the capacity of trainees to handle this type of work in the early part of their training contracts.

Theoretical material is kept to a minimum, and the emphasis is normally on practice and feedback to develop the skills you will need on entering the profession.

How will I study?

For Stage One, you will mostly receive face-to-face class contact. You will always have the opportunity to attend live lectures, however these will be video and audio recorded to allow you to view later or as part of your revision. Live lectures normally take place between 12 noon and 2 pm each day. Sometimes we will lecture by IT remote delivery, but only if it suits the task.

Small group sessions normally take place between 9am and 12 noon or 2 pm and 5 pm Monday to Thursday each week. Fridays are generally kept free to allow for independent study and preparation.