Northumbria Uni offers quick qualification path
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has approved plans for a new course that will reduce drastically the cost of legal education.
The five-year pilot course, which will be run by Northumbria University, will allow students to qualify as solicitors in five years rather than the usual six by combining all levels of legal education with professional training.
Northumbria University associate dean for undergraduates Kevin Kerrigan said: “We’re trying to push the boundaries of how you can qualify as a lawyer and are interested in how a university can play a significant role in qualification.
“Next year [2012] the first students for a generation will qualify as solicitors without having completed a formal training contract, and we hope their profile will be of some interest to law firms.”
The move coincides with the continuing fragmentation of the legal market, with many LPC providers rolling out alternatives to the full-length LPC, such as BPP Law School’s seven-month version.
The aspiring solicitors enrolled on the Northumbria course will be exempt from the LPC, which costs around £9,000, and will instead complete their work-based learning (the equivalent to the training contract) during the course of their studies.
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Readers' comments (83)
Questor | 21-Mar-2011 12:03 pm
A good step in the right direction...
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Anonymous | 21-Mar-2011 12:30 pm
To clarify, most students at Northumbria will study for 4 years (which includes the LPC). They then do a training contract with law firm in the normal way, as many do.
This initiative means those who want to can apply to do something akin to a training contract with the university's law centre which provides free legal support to the community. The undergrad course, LPC and the quasi-training contract are all blended into a 5 year stint.
Good idea and one which will mop up a few who can't get training contracts but who are not without talent.
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Anonymous | 21-Mar-2011 12:52 pm
This will do nothing more than make the said institution a lot of money and in the process provide even more qualified solicitors without jobs!
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Anonymous | 21-Mar-2011 2:35 pm
As a student of Northumbria on the LPC Exemption route I can honestly say that the teaching and training is next to none. The majority of staff are practicing Solicitors and Barristers. We do work-based learning from the very start of our degree which puts us at a cut above the rest compared to the normal academic law degree. The degree is also more and more recognised and respected within firms not just in the North East but also in London. We also had the 2nd highest employment rate behind Oxford.
Therefore in response to, "This will do nothing more than make the said institution a lot of money and in the process provide even more qualified solicitors without jobs!" I think this is a very unfair comment. Also as the University offer standalone LPC and BPTC courses surely if they wanted to make more money the new course would be contradictory as it would be in their interests to get more on the standalone course rather that the incorporated which is only £900 more than normal fees anyway
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Realpolitik | 21-Mar-2011 3:11 pm
Anonymous@2.35pm, the teaching and training is next to none because - assuming you are a student of Northumbria - you know nothing else. It is extremely unlikely that any London firm will employ a solicitor who completed their training in an academic vacuum. That said, to pay an extra few grand, in order to call oneself a qualified, unempolyed solicitor is, I suppose, better than nothing...
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Anonymous | 21-Mar-2011 3:32 pm
Realpolitik is correct. No doubt Northumbria is a very good law school. Its graduates do tend to do well and train and qualify at many good regional/national firms.
That said, I can not imagine any commercial firm employing a solicitor who actually QUALIFIED at a university. Perhaps a local village or high street practice would though. Small firms who do not offer training contracts might be able to pick up a useful addition to the team through this...
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Anonymous | 21-Mar-2011 3:36 pm
With all due respect 'realpolitik', there are students who leave the so-called red brick universities after a 3 year law degree without having a gram of intelligence about the practical aspects of law. In comparison to my peers who have attended these universities for law, we simply are not in the same league.
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anon | 21-Mar-2011 3:37 pm
I did the undergrad at durham and LPC at northumbria, the quality of teaching and the faciilties is actually far far better at northumbria. They have a 4 year course that is a very good option and seems to produce plenty of talent. That said, I wouldn't want to train at it's law office and can not imagine that a 5 year course is going from a level student to qualified solicitor is likely to produce anyone able to practice at any decent commercial firm, whether in London or Newcastle.
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Maverick | 21-Mar-2011 4:50 pm
Personally, I wouldn't touch anyone who'd done their degree at Newcastle Poly. I think that I shall stick to employing candidates from Oxford and Cambridge, not those who have failed their A levels and who been given a second chance in life by some money making new "university". Northumbria is appalling in my view.
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Anonymous | 21-Mar-2011 5:10 pm
Can I just say that next to none means almost non existent and that second to none means in first place (not second to anything). It would appear that Northumbria student at 2.35 and Realpolitik are troubled by this distinction, which is sadly not a ringing endorsment for the uni, but then neither is using 'also' in every sentence.
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