Course description
Course content
The course content and assessment are largely prescribed by the SRA.
We start teaching the compulsory subjects straight away. Our introductory programme covers:
* tax
* EU law
* conduct, accounts and financial services
* commercial contract law.
The programme is short because we integrate them into the main subjects as much as possible and as soon as possible. Once we are teaching substantives we blend law, procedures and skills. That's how law works in practice and our track record has always been about preparing students for a real professional environment.
Three compulsory subjects, Business, Property and Litigation (Civil and Criminal) run from September to mid-February in conjunction with associated skills. We mix large and small group teaching, though the emphasis is on small. But each has its place and the mixture of the two, coupled with self study packs and delivery by IT systems, achieves variety and balance – a bit like practice should be.
You will be taught advocacy and oral presentation; Interviewing; Research and Writing and Drafting. Skills amount to about 20% of our LPC so they don't dominate course content but the success of any LPC depends largely on the effectiveness of the skills tuition. At Nottingham we genuinely integrate the skills, placing each skills exercise in the context of one of the LPC subject areas. We keep theoretical material to a minimum and believe in experiential learning - learning by doing - and give you plenty of opportunities to practise. There’s lots of constructive feedback from us on how you are doing and how to get better still.
We provide you with skills guides that set out the successful criteria for the performance of each skill, how to learn it and how it is assessed. Each skill is normally taught in two subject areas to guarantee transferability.
In the final stage there is a choice of up to three elective subjects from:
* advanced commercial litigation and dispute resolution
* advanced commercial property
* advanced criminal practice
* commercial law
* debt finance and banking
* employment law
* family and child protection law
* personal injury and clinical negligence litigation
* private acquisitions
* private client
* public companies and equity finance
* social welfare law.
When choosing electives it is important to bear in mind your intended career path and at Nottingham you can choose your electives from a wide range of trios which align with potential practice areas.
Assessment
Assessment is 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).
Study Location
You can now study in Nottingham or London. We have partnered with Kaplan Law School to offer Nottingham Law School's LPC and GDL from a brand new central London campus, as well as from Nottingham.
Study routes
Full-time: September – June.
Special benefits
This is the only Legal Practice Course in the country to receive the highest possible rating from the Law Society/SRA in every year of its operation.
You can expect to be 'taught by humans' at Nottingham Law School; eLearning will be used only where appropriate. We teach 650 full-time LPC students a year. This means that we are big enough to have top quality materials, but small enough to know our students.
Generally about 95% of our students pass first time.
Students who take our LPC after successfully completing a GDL, with Nottingham Law School or another provider, have the opportunity to obtain a full LLB (known as a graduate LLB), reflecting the significant effort and achievement of the combination of a GDL and an LPC.
Accreditation
The Law Society.
Professional development
Nottingham Law School offers a range of pro bono opportunities.
We think languages prove very useful to you professionally. The University runs courses in a wide variety of major languages at a number of levels from beginner to advanced. We encourage you to take part. There are fees but we subsidise them on your behalf.
Further information
It is vital that you have completed the academic stage of training and become a student member of the Law Society within the appropriate time scales. For further information see the Solicitors Regulation Authority letter for LPC students and Resit Notice.
