Legal Practice Distance Learning, LLM

This new LLM (Master of Laws) award is for those with professional legal qualifications, for example the BPTC or LPC (or their precursors). Credit points are awarded for these professional qualifications and students can then 'top-up' these points with a dissertation or publishable article to gain this LLM. This course is studied by distance learning.

Nottingham Law School is introducing a new LLM (Master of Laws) award for those with professional legal qualifications. Professional legal qualifications (for example, BPTC or LPC or their precursors) will provide evidence of appropriate prior learning and achievement, equivalent to two-thirds of the LLM award.* Students will then 'top up' these credit points with a dissertation or publishable article, studied and completed by distance learning, to gain the Masters of Laws degree.

In the increasingly competitive legal employment market practitioners may find that having an additional qualification, a masters degree, will make them stand out from the competition. The LLM Legal Practice (DL) qualification will not only provide additional evidence of your academic ability but also showcase your knowledge of more specialised aspects of legal practice.

The LLM Legal Practice (DL) provides 60 Masters level credits which, when combined with the evidence of academic achievement from the successful completion of the BPTC or LPC (or equivalent), will lead to the award of an LLM.

The course is equivalent to 600 hours of study and includes a manageable assessment task of either a traditional dissertation or the production of an article of publishable quality.

Our course is designed to allow completion of the top-up element over a 4-24 month time period. This would allow students to undertake study immediately following the completion of the LPC or BPTC and complete the course quickly, but also offers more flexible timeframes for completing the self-study module.

The course is not just for current LPC and BPTC students. Those who have successfully completed the LPC and BPTC (or their equivalent) at any time are eligible for admission. The course will be extremely attractive to practitioners as it also satisfies CPD requirements.

Introductory programme
The introductory programme includes guidance on research methods, and legal writing. All students will undertake the introductory programme by distance learning.

Dissertation
In line with our existing LLM courses, students have a wide discretion in the selection of their dissertation topic, subject to the capacity of the Law School to provide expert academic supervision. The Law School has academic staff with wide-ranging expertise across diverse areas of law. However, students are encouraged to consider areas of law that are particularly pertinent to their anticipated or actual area of practice when selecting their chosen topic. The dissertation is 18,000 – 20,000 words in length.

Publishable article
As an alternative to the dissertation, students can, with guidance from an experienced academic, produce an article of publishable quality. This is likely to be of shorter length than the dissertation, focussing on a particular point of practice or law.