Alice
Richmond

Why did you choose NTU and your course?

I chose NTU because it is my hometown and having studied for my undergraduate degree at the University of Leeds I was excited at the prospect of studying at home for my final year of education. I knew that NTU and the Law School particularly had a great reputation amongst law firms so I knew that having obtained my LPC here would stand me in good stead.

What have you enjoyed about your course?

Learning from the experience of those teaching the course. The LPC is unique from other courses because it is widely set by the SRA and so in some senses when I began the course I felt that it would be a box-ticking exercise, as something I just needed to complete to get to the next stage to qualifying as a solicitor. However, the tutors on the course really brought the material to life for me with anecdotes of their experience in practice. As such, I feel as though I gained so much more from the course than just the qualification. I feel far more prepared to enter the workplace than I did before beginning the course and that’s due to the tutors sharing their own experiences of legal practice.

Tell us about your online learning experience…

I have really enjoyed the online learning aspect of the LPC. It has encouraged me to learn more independently, and search for answers on my own before resorting straight to emailing a tutor for help, or asking directly in the way I would in a face-to-face session. Therefore, in a lot of ways it has prepared me well for entering practice where there will be an expectation that I think for myself before asking others. Of course it hasn’t been entirely independent and I have found the tutors to be super efficient in getting back to me via email whenever I did have any questions.

How did you find the transition from face-to-face to online learning?

It was definitely a step up in terms of the independence of online learning compared to attending face-to-face classes and it took some time to adjust but the guidance we have been given by tutors is so comprehensive that I haven’t felt in any way that the adjustment has affected my learning. There are a variety of resources available from podcasts to PowerPoint presentations to written guidance and multiple choice Q and A’s which has enabled me to learn in whichever way I’ve found the most useful for each particular aspect. For example, if I found a topic difficult I would utilise all of the resources to better my understanding as much as possible whereas other topics I understood well I would rely on the written guidance alone. Therefore online learning has enabled me to structure my time in order to focus on more difficult aspects of the course.

How have your course tutors supported you during online learning?

Very efficient in replying to emails, providing clear written feedback on submissions of work, sent a document of revised deadlines to help keep us on track from home, comprehensive written and spoken guidance on every aspect of the content and frequent communication through the online portal. So loads of support!