LLM in Legal Practice

The LLM in Legal Practice will enable you to develop skills and knowledge to the high standard required to succeed in your legal professional career.

Delivery:
Full time according to Funding Council definitions

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Why study LLM Legal Practice at BU?

Acquire a sound foundation upon which further legal knowledge, training and competences can be built during the Training Contract phase of training and beyond
Develop high standards of legal knowledge and critical analytical understanding of the law of England and Wales and its position in the international legal arena
Take advantage of opportunities for work-based learning, building on your employability skills or to inform your reflective portfolio/research project
Benefit from an academically stimulating and dynamic learning environment
Network with a range of legal professionals, share experiences and work together.

Find out more about the content of this course.

Please note: Full time applications for this course should be submitted through LawCAB. Part time applications should be submitted to BU. The LLM in Legal Practice is intended for those wanting to qualify as a solicitor through the LPC route and where you started your Qualifying Law Degree or GDL prior to 1 September 2021 or 23 September 2021 respectively.

See what it's like to study on this course

Image description — The Sir Michael Cobham library courtyard

Next start date:

September 2023, September 2024

Location:

Bournemouth University, Talbot Campus

Duration:

1 year full-time or 2 years part-time (part-time option not available for September 2023), blended delivery

Entry requirements:

A Bachelors Honours degree with 2:2 from a Qualifying Law Degree Graduate Diploma or a pass in the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL)/ Common Professional Examination (CPE). For more information check out our full entry requirements.

International entry requirements:

If English is not your first language you'll need IELTS (Academic) 6.5 with a minimum of 6.0 in writing and 5.5 in all other components of speaking, listening and reading. For more information check out our full entry requirements.

Course details

On this course you will be taught by a range of staff with relevant expertise and knowledge appropriate to the content of the unit. This will include senior academic staff, qualified professional practitioners, demonstrators and research students. In some instances, staff will be based remotely, delivering sessions virtually to you on campus. This ensures we are able to connect you to the best specialists in the field.

You will be provided with text books for stage 1 and 2 units in your choice of electronic or hardcopy.

How you will be assessed

You will be assessed by written exams, and you will also undertake group work and coursework culminating in your final year research project. The assessment methods for each unit can be found in the programme specification for your course.

Download the programme specification (pdf 742kb)

Units

Semester one

Core units

Business Law & Practice: Acquire a good understanding of substantive business law and the institutional and transactional features of business law which pervade all areas of practice and are essential for practitioners. Knowledge of business accounts underpins a Solicitor’s ability to advise business clients in practice.
Property Law & Practice: This unit provides a general foundation for knowledge and skills required in a conveyancing transaction.
Litigation (Civil & Criminal): Gain an understanding of the civil and criminal litigation processes, and the ability to manage these in a professional practice context. Advocacy is embedded in the learning and assessment of this unit, through which you will gain necessary skills when representing a client before the court.
Accounts & Regulation: Develop a solid grounding in matters of professional conduct, ethics and nancial services. You’ll also gain an understanding of the Solicitors’ Accounts Rules in the context of systems and procedures to which you will be exposed in practice.
Wills & Administration of Estates: Acquire knowledge of probate, estate management and related work which is essential to your legal profession. Knowing about revenue law is seen as underpinning much of a Solicitor’s working practice in this area of law.
Legal Skills: Learn to produce a coherent piece of writing based on facts, general principles and legal authority; understand the need for thorough investigation of a client’s factual and legal issues; appreciate interview techniques; and learn to accurately draft a range of documents assessing legal and factual issues.

Option units (choose three)

Commercial Property: Gain an insight into the type of work conducted by commercial property departments.
Commercial Law & Intellectual Property: Learn to appraise the various legal and regulatory regimes applicable to commercial transactions and intellectual property matters.
Advanced Litigation: Develop your tactical and analytical skills and knowledge in a professional litigation context.
Employment Law: Appreciate and understand the rights of, and remedies available to employees and other workers and di erent methods of dispute resolution in professional and commercial contexts.
Family Law: Gain an understanding of the main areas of concern to a family Solicitor and of the tactics and procedures involved in dealing with family matters.
Private Client: Gain knowledge and skills for matters you will encounter within a private client department.
Client in the Community: Develop a working knowledge of law and practice in areas including welfare bene ts, homelessness & housing law, children’s proceedings and juvenile crime.

*Please note that these option units require minimum numbers in order to run and may only be available on a semester by semester basis. They may also change from year to year.

Semester two

Core unit

Skills & Research Portfolio: Undertake a core skills, networking, research and re ection in preparatory unit to advance your employability preparation for your choice of the nal project.

Option units (choose one)

Future Lawyer Portfolio & Skills: This re ective project is practice focused and helps enhance your skills and futureproof your learning as a legal practitioner.
Legal Practice Research Project: With guidance, you will undertake a signi cant piece of self- managed practice-led research in an area of particular interest to you.

Programme specification

Programme specifications provide definitive records of the University's taught degrees in line with Quality Assurance Agency requirements. Every taught course leading to a BU Award has a programme specification which describes its aims, structure, content and learning outcomes, plus the teaching, learning and assessment methods used.

Whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the programme specification, the information is liable to change to take advantage of exciting new approaches to teaching and learning as well as developments in industry. If you have been unable to locate the programme specification for the course you are interested in, it will be available as soon as the latest version is ready. Alternatively please contact us for assistance.

Blended delivery

This course is delivered through an innovative and legal practice-focussed approach. A blended delivery is taken with 25% of teaching delivered face-to-face, focussing on building and refining your key legal practice and advocacy skills. The remaining 75% of teaching will be delivered through a combination of online asynchronous (recorded) and synchronous (materials). This blended approach stresses the importance of the in-person and digital legal skills you will use in practice. The online delivery enables you greater flexibility in managing your studies around your other commitments, such as part-time legal practice experience, caring commitments, etc.

You will receive dynamic and comprehensive legal skills and legal knowledge teaching from a number of legal experts, many of whom have been legal practitioners for many years. On campus delivery will build the cohort community through regular face-to-face sessions and wider Law team research seminars and events.

Entry requirements

General entry requirements

The entry requirements for this course are:

A Bachelors Honours degree with 2:2 from a Qualifying Law Degree or a pass in the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL)/ Common Professional Examination (CPE).

The LLM in Legal Practice is intended for those wanting to qualify as a solicitor through the LPC route and where you started your Qualifying Law Degree or GDL prior to 1 September 2021 or 23 September 2021 respectively.

International entry requirements

You can find details of the international qualifications we accept, and what level of study they apply to, on our entry requirements for non-UK students' page.

Please see below some examples of the qualifications for entry:

India: Bachelor’s degree (4 years) from a recognised HE institution with a minimum overall result of 55%
Nigeria: Bachelor's degree from a recognised institution with a minimum classification of 2:2
Thailand: Thai Bachelor's (Honours) degree from a recognised higher education institution with a minimum GPA of 2.5/4.0
Turkey: Bachelor’s degree (Lisans Diplomasi - four years) with a minimum overall GPA of 2.3/4.0
Vietnam: Bachelor's degree/Bang tot nghiep dai hoc with an average score of 6.5/10, or a Master’s degree/Thac si.

All applications will be subject to a minimum grade and your degree may need to be in a relevant subject area.

English language requirements

If English is not your first language, you will need to provide evidence that you understand English to a satisfactory level. English language requirements for this course are normally:

IELTS (Academic) 6.5 with minimum 6.0 in writing and 5.5 in all other components, or equivalent.

View further information about our English language requirements.

Bournemouth University International College offers a number of pre-sessional English and preparatory programmes to prepare international students for postgraduate study at BU. Admission to the degree is guaranteed on successful completion of your course to the required level.

Your application

For Legal Practice we are looking for applicants who have completed a Qualifying Law Degree qualification or any other qualification approved by the SRA for this purpose.

For post-experience and professional qualifications, there may be additional entry requirements set by the association or institute that ultimately administers the qualification in question. The qualification description on the course information pages should tell you what these are but please get in touch if you are in doubt.

What we’re looking for

We encourage applications from individuals with excellent research, analytical skills and enthusiasm for debates. We are looking for self-managed learners who are happy to work hard to meet the demands of this rewarding course.

Furthermore, we seek individuals with a keen interest in developing new skills and who will draw upon their existing experiences, to enhance their legal expertise and careers prospects.

Selection methods

How and when to apply

Full time applications for this course should be submitted through LawCAB.

If you will need a visa to come to the UK to study, please think carefully about the length of time it will take for your visa application to be processed and make sure your visa will be ready in time for the beginning of your course.

Part time applications should be submitted to BU. Click the green ‘Apply now’ button to submit your application free of charge online through myHub, our application portal. You will create your own myHub account so that you can track the progress of your application. Don’t forget to save your application as you go; you can return to it at as many times as you want before you submit it. For more information visit our How to apply section.

Costs and fees

All fees are quoted in pounds sterling and are per annum. Fees quoted are for tuition only unless stated otherwise. Your tuition fees will be the same for each year of your course.

Find out more about living expenses for postgraduate students

No hidden extras

What’s included in your tuition fee?

Your tuition fee covers expenses associated with your course including tuition materials, access to facilities, mandatory field trips and the following:

Materials for laboratory and field-based teaching activity.
Support for finding placements (UK or abroad) and fieldwork, and non-financial support whilst on placement if this is part of your course of study.
A range of student services – advisors, help desks, counsellors, placement support and careers service.
The Library – access to a wide range of electronic resources (databases, e-journals and e-books), print and multimedia collections, subject librarians and study spaces.
Access to Brightspace, our virtual learning environment, which offers a responsive and personalised learning experience with powerful learning analytics capabilities, integrated social media and advanced video features.
IT labs (some open 24/7), wireless network, AV equipment to borrow.
Disability and additional learning support, according to individual circumstances.
The BU Language Centre to help you develop/improve foreign or English language skills.
24 hours a day, 365 days a year security team.

Costs of living and other expenses you need to consider

Additional costs

We are committed to offering you value for money and ensuring there are no hidden costs while you are studying with us, therefore we have listed below any additional costs you may incur that are not covered by your tuition fee:

Laptops, tablets and mobile devices and any software used on personal devices. Access to a personal computer is strongly recommended for your study. If you are experiencing financial difficulty, visit our website for information regarding hardship funds.
Textbooks, general stationery and other supplies. Our award-winning library is stocked with a large range of textbooks and online resources, free of charge. The Students’ Union shops stock a wide range of stationery supplies on both campuses.
Accommodation and living costs. Our accommodation price guide can be found on our website.
Travel costs for optional field trips, outdoor wear and footwear for mandatory and optional field trips (if applicable).
Travel costs to and from the University campus. An annual bus pass can be purchased alongside your rent if you are living in halls of residence/Unilet accommodation or may be purchased separately.
Clothing or equipment costs required for your placement if this is part of your course of study.
SportBU membership.

While all aspects of the programme, including required field trips, are included in the fee, additional, optional or extra curricula activities may be available for which a student contribution is required.

Repeat units

Deposits

International (not Rep. of Ireland) students need to pay a non-refundable £3,000 deposit to secure their place on a postgraduate course. You will need to pay your deposit by the date stated in your offer letter. The remainder of your fee will be payable on registration/enrolment/ There are two exceptions to the non-refundable rule on the deposit.

You fail to meet the academic or English requirements of your offer
You are refused a visa to enter the UK, provided the reason for the refusal is not a fraudulent application.

Financial help available from BU

Our staff

On this course you will be taught by staff with relevant expertise and knowledge appropriate to the content of the unit. This could include senior academic staff, qualified professional practitioners and research students, many of whom are actively engaged in research and/or professional practice which is integrated into the teaching of this course. Please note that staff can change.

Dr Melanie Stockton-Brown – Course Leader

Course changes

Changes for 2023 entry

Date	Changes to this course
18/11/2022	Where the change was made: Key information Change: Part-time study option suspended for September 2023 entry

Changes for 2022 entry

Date	Changes to this course
15/08/2022	Where the change was made: Entry requirements Change: Entry requirement details updated to clarify Qualifying Law Degree requirement. Previous text: A Bachelors Honours degree with 2:2 in a required subject, or a pass in the Graduate Diploma in Law/ Common Professional Examination (CPE).
28/06/2022	Where the change was made: Key information Change: Part-time study option suspended for September 2022 entry
25/05/2022	Where the change was made: Key information and course details Change: Blended delivery added. Reference to an optional exit point at PG Dip level removed. Prevoius text: You can choose to exit the course to graduate with a Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice.
17/12/2021	Where the change was made: Apply now button Change: January application option removed

Changes for 2021 entry

Date	Changes to this course
23/08/2021	Where the change was made: Key information, Course details Change: Duration: 1 year full time or 2 years part time. Required subjects: Qualifying Law Degree qualification or any other qualification approved by the SRA for this purpose. IELTS: IELTS (Academic) 6.5 with minimum 6.0 in writing and 5.5 in all other components New units: All Previous text: Duration: 6 months full-time or 1 year part time Required subjects: Successful completion of BU's LPC IELTS: IELTS (Academic) 6.0 with a minimum of 5.5 in each component

Date

Changes to this course

23/08/2021

Where the change was made: Key information, Course details
Change:

Duration: 1 year full time or 2 years part time.
Required subjects: Qualifying Law Degree qualification or any other qualification approved by the SRA for this purpose.
IELTS: IELTS (Academic) 6.5 with minimum 6.0 in writing and 5.5 in all other components
New units: All

Previous text:

Duration: 6 months full-time or 1 year part time
Required subjects: Successful completion of BU's LPC
IELTS: IELTS (Academic) 6.0 with a minimum of 5.5 in each component

Statistics shown throughout this page are taken from Unistats and BU institutional data unless otherwise stated.