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About the course
Nottingham Law School's highly regarded Legal Practice Course (LPC) has been designed in conjunction with a range of practices, from high street firms to City corporates and the publicly funded sector. You can choose to specialise in a particular practice area or keep your options open with a cross section of choices. The decision on which pathway you want to embark upon is taken after the course has started giving you the opportunity to gain first hand experience of professional law before you make your choices. You can also study the Legal Practice Course part-time to fit around your other commitments. Successful completion of the course enables you to proceed to a training contract and then be admitted as a solicitor.

Why choose this course?

• Nottingham Law School's highly regarded Legal Practice Course is accredited by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA).
• We offer an award-winning pro bono programme, including a Legal Advice Clinic for the local community.
• Choose to specialise in a particular practice area or keep your options open with a cross section of options. Our LPC has been recently redesigned to better accommodate a variety of solicitors' practice types, and to provide much more flexibility in the way you can complete the course. To find out more about the pathways and choices available, visit our Legal Practice Course information 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.
• The number of graduates obtaining a training contract or paralegal work is consistently high.
• You will receive face to face teaching and personal contact, e-learning is only used where appropriate.
• You will benefit from a supportive atmosphere. We are big enough to have top-quality materials but small enough to know our students.
• 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).

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

Open day
We hold open days in autumn and spring 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.

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

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

Visit Nottingham Law School website

Please note the following information for applicants

Please note the following information for applicants

Course content

Pathways and choices
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 pathways 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 two 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.

Assessment
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 February and in June. You will be assessed in each skill, designed to establish competence, on a pass/fail 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).

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

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.

At Nottingham Law School we use the skills to give you specialist teaching according to the pathway you have selected. So we integrate each skills exercise not only within the context of one of the LPC subject areas, but also to advance your knowledge within that pathway appropriately. 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 do you study?
For Stage One, mostly you will get face-to-face class contact; study our LPC and you will be “taught by humans”. Sometimes we will lecture by IT remote delivery, but only sometimes and only if that really suits the task. We do make the lectures available for remote viewing by PC, but we take the view that, if you want to, you should always have the chance to go to a real class with live delivery.

The standard teaching day comprises one lecture (one hour), and one small group session (one and a half hours). Skills tuition is time-tabled in addition to this. The group work provides the focal point of the course with students carrying out a variety of practical tasks and exercises.

Our course materials provide you with most of the substantive and procedural information needed to carry out the various transactions. These free lecture time from the traditional chalk and talk format, to develop problem-solving skills.

Your future career
We have a dedicated careers team who will support you in your search for a training contract; the number of Nottingham Law School graduates gaining a training contract or paralegal work is consistently high.

At Nottingham Law School we don't view the LPC in isolation. It leads to a training contract and we can provide the support required to give you the best possible start to your legal career:

• Our Careers and Recruitment Service provide seminars with advice about training contract applications and interview techniques.
• We will review your training contract applications and formulate individual career plans. We also provide a practical interview preparation service.
• We provide a mentoring scheme with trainees from local law firms to provide support and guidance and a personal view of what to expect from life in the profession.
• We use the expertise gained from our MBA programme to develop your commercial awareness, which provides a true bridge into practice.
• We maintain regular contact with firms specialising in all areas of law.

Continuing professional development
Nottingham Law School also offers a suite of practice-based practitioner programmes specifically designed to meet the personal development needs of legal practitioners. We offer courses that qualify for CPD with the Solicitors Regulation Authority, in-house training and bespoke programmes. These courses are highly flexible and can be delivered throughout the year both nationally and internationally.

There are opportunities to get involved with pro bono projects and Nottingham Law School's Legal Advice Clinic, which enable you to gain practical legal work experience.