Advanced Legal Practice (LPC LLM) - LLM

Our broad-based LPC provides a solid foundation for your legal career. You will study the core practice areas, course skills and additional areas as prescribed by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA).

We place great emphasis on developing your key legal skills, which are taught in an integrated manner, ensuring you are well equipped for entering your chosen field.

Core modules

• Business Law and Practice
• Civil and Criminal Litigation
• Property Law and Practice
• Interviewing and Advising
• Practical Legal Research
• Writing, Drafting and Advocacy
• Solicitor's Accounts
• Professional Conduct and Regulation
• Wills and Administration of Estates
• Taxation

Optional modules

In addition to the core modules, you will study three optional subjects. We offer you a wide selection, allowing you to pursue a specialist career path or keep your options open. However, there must be sufficient demand for each module to enable us to run it.

• Acquisitions
• Commercial Law
• Employment Law
• Family Law and Practice
• Private Client (Estate Planning)
• Public Company Finance
• Intellectual Property and Competition Law
• Advanced Criminal Litigation
• Commercial Litigation and Dispute Resolution
• Commercial Property
• Media and Entertainment Law
• Personal Injury and Clinical Negligence
• Public Childcare and Housing Law Practice

Following the two years taught part of the course, there is an additional year for self-study. You have a choice of 15/45/60 credit M level modules to complete your Masters, which are detailed below. All modules focus on continuing your professional development as a reflective practitioner with responsibility for your own development and learning.

Professional Development (Law)

You will produce a project report reflecting on your development as a trainee lawyer, whether through legal employment; work experience (through our collaborative scheme with Bristol Law Society); one of our Pro bono activities; participation in our legal simulation project; undertaking accredited mediation training; or participating in a range of mediation/mooting competitions.

Professional Conduct and Regulation in Practice

Having completed the PSC, you will compile a portfolio reflecting on how the knowledge you acquired during the PSC has informed your work and development as a trainee solicitor/solicitor in practice, and how it impacts on the law firm or business in which you work.

Continuing Professional Competence

Your report will be based on your knowledge of one or more particular practice areas. You will also need to reflect on key attributes of the SRA's Competency Statement, demonstrating your own development as a reflective practitioner responsible for your own continuing professional competence.

Research and Practice Portfolio

You will produce a portfolio report based on your experiences in a legal or other workplace context. This will demonstrate your expertise in one or more practice areas, drawing on your own practical and professional experience, some of which may connect with work you undertake for your clients.

The University continually enhances our offer by responding to feedback from our students and other stakeholders, ensuring the curriculum is kept up to date and our graduates are equipped with the knowledge and skills they need for the real world. This may result in changes to the course. If changes to your course are approved, we will inform you.

We are solicitors ourselves, teaching in our own practice areas. We know how much practitioners value the development of skills required to be an effective trainee lawyer and this lies at the heart of our teaching. Our enthusiastic and experienced team come with a wide range of experiences, and our pastoral and academic support is provided by our tutors themselves.

Most LPC teaching takes place in practice-based workshops (where you will be in a group of approximately 12-16 students), allowing you to gain an understanding of many common legal transactions and procedures.

You will have lots of opportunities, through role play, to practice legal skills, such as interviewing, advocacy and negotiation. Additionally, we run virtual case studies and filmed skills sessions to help you develop your client-facing skills.

For more details see our glossary of teaching and learning terms.

Full-time

The taught part of the course is delivered over one year. You will have four workshops timetabled over two consecutive days during each week of the Core Stage 1 of the course, plus optional lectures. You can choose which two days you want to attend, making it possible to study the LPC around your other commitments.

Part-time

For those wishing to study part time, the taught part of the course is delivered over two years.

There are two possible options to undertake the taught part of the course:

• One is a block-learning option. This means you will attend a two day study session each month (with a three day session in year one). These are held on Friday and Saturday.
• We also run a day release part-time Masters course. In this case, you attend two workshops on one day a week over two years alongside full-time students. On the part time course, the core modules will be split across the two years. Certain optional modules are only available during the second year, due to requiring the foundation knowledge of some of the core modules delivered in year one.

As well as the study days on both part-time routes, you will need to attend skills assessments and examinations at various points throughout the course.

Personal support

When you accept an offer with us, you'll have access to a pre-course contact tutor to support you with careers or any other issues. Once on the course, you will then be allocated a supervising principal. They will meet you regularly to discuss your progress and help with applying for training contracts. We operate an open-door policy, so you can contact your supervising principal and tutors at any time.

The content and methods of assessment for all Legal Practice Courses are largely determined by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. All but one of our written examinations are open book. There are also a number of assessed written and oral skills exercises. These are held at different points during the course. You will also benefit from practice assessments in core skills, which will be sat in assessment conditions and marked by your tutors.

For more details see our full glossary of assessment terms.