The University of Law (ULaw) is to partner with the University of Sheffield to run the latter institution’s vocational law courses from January 2021.
ULaw will take over the Legal Practice Course (LPC) and the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL), and will also lead the rollout of the Solicitors Qualification Exam (SQE).
The institution has form when it comes to taking over other universities’ postgrad law courses. It signed up to similar partnerships with Exeter in 2015, Reading in 2017, Liverpool in 2018 and the University of East Anglia in 2019, for example. It also briefly took over Oxford Brookes’ LPC in 2013-14.
The transfer in provision will take place from September this year and will be led by the dean of ULaw’s Leeds campus, Matthew Tomlinson.
The University of Sheffield’s said the move would allow its own law school “to place a strategic focus on its excellent research-led teaching in criminology and law.”
Tomlinson said: “The University of Sheffield has run very successful GDL and LPC programmes for more than 20 years so it will be a privilege for us to work with the team in Sheffield to really drive the university’s offering forwards. The Yorkshire legal scene is full of incredible talent and growing at a fantastic rate, so we’re excited to see what the future has in store.”
Professor Graham Gee, head of Sheffield’s law school, said: “This partnership with The University of Law marks an exciting development for the University of Sheffield at a time of changing qualification routes for solicitors. We are particularly excited about new opportunities to work jointly with the University of Law on employability initiatives that will give our students a head start as they prepare for the legal marketplace.”
