Northumbria pilots groundbreaking training course

Northumbria Law School has been approved by the SRA to pilot a new course which will enable students to graduate with the educational qualifications required to apply to join the roll of solicitors. The Master of Law (Solicitor) degree - the first of its kind - takes five years to complete and incorporates each stage of the training process; it is equivalent to a qualifying law degree, LPC and training contract. Due to the fact that this is a pilot, places are strictly limited and only include those who are already on the school's degree course.

Commenting on the pilot, SRA head of education and training Clare Gilligan said: "Over the coming months, we will observe students' progress with interest and monitor the feedback we receive both from the candidates themselves, the provider and the employer. Once the first stages of the [SRA's work-based learning] pilot are completed later this year, we will be considering the results of the independent evaluation before consulting the profession on the way forward. I am sure that Northumbria's new degree course will certainly provide some food for thought."

For more about work-based learning, see our feature "Working it out with WBL".

In other law school news, the University of Sheffield is to begin offering the GDL from September 2011, making it the first Russell Group University to offer both the LPC and GDL. The course has been validated by the SRA to take 60 students and will cost £6,300.  

GDL programme director Andrew Callaghan told The Lawyer: "Bearing in mind our established reputation in offering both academic and professional legal education, the introduction of the GDL was a fairly obvious move for us, and it should sit well alongside, and as an alternative to, our MA Law. We hope that many of our GDL students will decide to stay with us for the LPC."