Law Conversion and Barristers Training Course LLM

Congratulations on receiving an offer to study the LLM Law Conversion and BTC at Nottingham Law School. This course has been designed to equip you with the legal knowledge and skills to pass the Bar Training Course and also to provide you with the practical knowledge employers regard as essential in the current legal market.

You will develop an understanding of the law and practice in key legal areas and you will have many opportunities to develop and practice your legal skills, both of which will prepare you for a career at the Bar. Additional opportunities are available through our on-campus law firm, NLS Legal, where you can work on real cases and provide legal advice and representation to the public.

I look forward to welcoming you at enrolment.

Felicity Campbell
Course Leader

A reputation you can trust
Join a Law School with more than six decades of experience and a long-established record of excellence in legal education, recognised nationally for producing practice-ready barristers.

A seamless route to the Bar
This integrated course combines the PGDL and the BTC, giving you the full foundation of legal knowledge and the professional skills required for your training, while preparing you to pass the Bar and progress confidently towards practice.

Training grounded in real practice
Work with realistic case scenarios and gain the qualifications, practical skills and professional insight that Chambers and employers expect.

Focused support towards pupillage
Our dedicated Employability team will guide you through every stage of the recruitment process, offering expert advice, application support and exclusive opportunities to help you secure pupillage.

Exceptional practical experience
Build your advocacy and client-care skills in our multi-award-winning on-campus law firm, NLS Legal, a unique opportunity to work on real cases with real clients.

Career-enhancing opportunities for every student
Throughout the course you’ll take part in structured activities designed to strengthen your profile and accelerate your career at the Bar.

Interactive, in-person learning
Weekly small-group workshops foster discussion, collaboration and confidence, supported by teaching staff who know you and are invested in your progress.

Personalised academic and professional support
You’ll have a dedicated personal tutor who will get to know you, guide your learning, and support your early career development, including your first applications to Chambers.

An authorised provider with proven expertise
Nottingham Law School is one of a select number of institutions authorised by the Bar Standards Board to deliver vocational training for the Bar, with a long-standing strength in practical skills development.

Outstanding facilities and a vibrant university experience
Benefit from all the resources of a top university, specialist spaces, outstanding library and IT support, alongside a dynamic university environment with sports clubs, societies, language support and a thriving Students’ Union.

All details of your offer can be found on the Applicant Portal.

If you wish to accept your offer, log onto the Applicant Portal and follow the instructions set out in your offer email. We aim to acknowledge your acceptance straight away. If you don’t hear from us, please contact us via Ask NTU.

Once you’ve met all conditions you should enrol online. Please do this before the start of your course.

Membership of an Inn of Court

To enrol on the course you must be a member of an Inn of Court. Please refer to the Inns’ websites for details of their closing dates for applications.

Course start date

Start dates for the 2026/25 academic year are yet to be confirmed, but as an indication, please find below the start dates for the 2025/26 academic year:

Monday 15 September 2025

In your first year, you will focus on learning the substantive law in seven key subject areas, but will also cover some essential practitioner skills in the Legal Professional Environment module. Your second year will then focus much more on the practical knowledge and skills essential for practice at the Bar.
In-person workshops are compulsory. They are at least two hours and provide an opportunity to learn and discuss topics and fictional practical scenarios in depth with your peers and tutor.
You will also be required to attend examinations and induction events during the academic year. You will receive notice of these dates well in advance.
It will help you if you do a limited amount of preparatory reading before the course starts. Set pre-reading will be available prior to the start of the course.
Learning resources and timetables are online so a laptop is essential for your studies. You will also need Wi-Fi at home.

Deferrals

Please contact us via Ask NTU if you wish to defer your place.

Course adjustments

Our offer is based on the assumption that, when you made your application, you disclosed any disability that might affect the way in which we deliver the course or assess you.

In such a case, we will either:

agree with you that the disability will require no special facilities, or
meet you to discuss what facilities will be necessary.

If you have a disability but have not yet disclosed it, we need to hear from you immediately so that we can evaluate your needs and determine what adjustments we are able to make to accommodate those needs. Please contact Student Support Services by emailing Student Support.

Please note that if you are a current student at Nottingham Trent University (NTU) and you already have adjustments through Student Support Services for your current course, these adjustments will not automatically be carried forward on to your SQE preparation course. You will need to contact Student Support Services as soon as possible so a fresh evaluation can be made to accommodate your needs.

Accommodation

As a postgraduate student, you can apply for University accommodation. To guarantee yourself a place, you should apply and pay your deposit before the end of May.

International students are required to make an advance payment. Click here to find out more about paying your fees: how and when to pay your fees.

Nottingham Law School is delighted to offer a number of generous scholarships and loyalty schemes to students starting in September including:

Nottingham Law School’s Professional Courses Scholarship for Academic Excellence
Nottingham Law School’s Professional Courses Scholarship for Outstanding Achievement
NTU alumni discount
University of Nottingham and University of Lincoln fee concession

For more information on fees and funding, please visit: NLS Funding Page

Course fees

Please visit the course page for full details of course fees.

Visit us at one of our Postgraduate open events, find out more about student life and meet our academics.

Your future career

Successful completion of this course enables you to be called to the Bar and progress to pupillage. Throughout your training, you’ll receive tailored support from our specialist careers and placement team, who will help you pursue pupillage or alternative legal pathways.

You’ll benefit from one-to-one advice, application reviews and mock interviews, as well as a programme of workshops that follow the pupillage application cycle. These sessions focus on both practice at the Bar and wider legal career options. Course tutors are also available for career guidance, drawing on their experience in practice.

Links with the profession

Our strong professional connections give you exceptional insight into life at the Bar. Guest lectures, practitioner-led workshops and networking events run throughout the year, giving you regular opportunities to meet practising barristers.

We also host the annual Nottingham Law School Law Fair, where NLS students gain exclusive access to Chambers representatives, a valuable chance to network and build relationships ahead of mini-pupillage and pupillage applications.

Our careers consultants will support you in securing work experience and other legal employment, helping you develop a competitive profile.

Gain practical experience at NLS

NLS Legal
As part of your BTC journey, you’ll have the opportunity to work with NLS Legal, our fully regulated, multi-award-winning on-campus teaching law firm. Each year, hundreds of students volunteer and gain real experience with real clients in a supportive environment, reinforcing the skills developed throughout the course while contributing to access to justice in the local community.

Support Through Court
Nottingham Law School is the sole host university for Support Through Court’s National Helpline and National Online Service, which assist people navigating the court system without legal representation. Students can volunteer to support callers and service users, without giving legal advice, gaining valuable experience in client communication, empathy and legal system awareness, all essential skills for future barristers.

Find out more about employability support at NLS by clicking here.