Course overview

This course provides an opportunity for students who have completed the Legal Practice Course or Bar Professional Training Course to top-up their qualification to an LLM in Legal Practice. Current practising solicitors who undertook the former Law Society Final Examinations and barristers who have completed the BVC are also eligible for the course. Overseas qualified lawyers may be eligible, subject to having taken the Qualified Lawyers' Transfer Scheme (QLTS/QLTT) and/or gaining university accreditation of prior learning and experience.

You will have the opportunity to explore in depth a particular aspect of legal professional practice. This may reflect your current professional practice context or relate to your career development plans and/or academic interest.

The award of LLM will be available to you if you attend research seminars, delivered over four days, and satisfactorily complete a dissertation of 18,000 words (maximum) on an area of legal practice of your own choice (subject to approval and appropriate supervisory capacity within Anglia Law School). Anglia Law School employs a number of full-time academic staff with legal practice experience and accordingly is able to offer supervision in a variety of research fields for those wishing to undertake the LLM Legal Practice.

The taught element of the LLM (the research seminars) is delivered at our Chelmsford campus which is located a short walk from the bus and train stations, a 35-minute train journey from London Liverpool Street and with easy access from East Anglia and the Midlands. Supervision is available at our Chelmsford campus and may also be available at our Cambridge campus.

In the research seminars, you will develop your research skills across a range of appropriate techniques, such as bibliographical and electronic legal research skills, empirical techniques including surveys, questionnaires and interviews, and learn how to critically read research and formulate research questions, and write and present your research findings. In addition to these sessions, you may also seek guidance as part of the normal supervision process.

You will be allocated a supervisor to assist you in developing your research proposal/hypothesis, discuss your methodology (including the need for ethics clearance) and act as a mentor throughout. You will be expected to make regular reports to your supervisor on the progress of your work. The supervisory process will take place through a combination of face-to-face, telephone and email discussions.

The course contributes particularly to research, analytical and critical thinking skills, which are transferable skills highly valued by employers. It is highly relevant to related careers in the legal profession. The dissertation provides a medium for members of the legal profession to apply theory to practice and to contribute to best practice in their professional sphere.

Through this course you will be able to demonstrate the following skills, each of which is associated with academic mastery:

• the ability to raise significant and meaningful questions in relation to your area of specialism
• a depth of knowledge that may involve working at the current limits of understanding
• critical understanding of method and its relationship to knowledge
• awareness of, and ability to develop solutions to, ethical issues and dilemmas likely to arise in your research and/or your professional practice
• the ability to draw insightful and justifiable conclusions from information which may be complex or contradictory
• the capacity to expand, refine or redefine existing knowledge; to develop new approaches and contribute to the development of best practice in your professional sphere
• the ability to communicate in writing in a clear and cogent manner, consistent with the requirements of academic writing
• the ability to undertake wide-ranging, independent research, using those methodologies appropriate to the chosen project
• the capacity to evaluate your work from the perspective of an autonomous, reflective learner.

Assessment

You will complete an 18,000-word dissertation, which you will normally submit by the end of March if you study full-time, or September if you study part-time.

In addition to teaching time on-campus, all courses require intensive self-guided learning, research or private study and there may also be optional training, seminars, visits, lectures or master classes to attend.

Facilities

Libraries
You will have access to the libraries on both our campuses and our comprehensive online library, which can be accessed off-campus. You will also have access to the University of Cambridge Squire library. Our campus libraries offer a wide range of publications and a variety of study facilities, including open-access computers, areas for quiet or group study and bookable rooms. We also have an extensive Digital Library providing on and off-site access to e-books, e-journals and databases.

We endeavour to make our libraries as accessible as possible for all our students. During Semester time, they open 24 hours a day from Monday to Thursday, until midnight on Friday and Saturday and for 12 hours on Sunday.

IT resources
Our open access computer facilities provide free access to the internet, email, messaging services and the full Microsoft Office suite. A high speed wireless service is also available in all key areas on campus. If you are away from campus or a distant learner, our student desktop and its many applications can be accessed remotely using the internet. Your personal student email account provides free document storage, calendar facilities and social networking opportunities.

Throughout your studies you will have access to our Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), providing course notes, reading materials and multi-media content to support your learning, while our e-vision system gives you instant access to your academic record and your timetable.

Special features

Special features of this course include research-training workshops and up to six hours of supervisory input from an allocated supervisor.

Course convenor

Michelle McCanna

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Entry Requirements:

Entry is admission with 120 credits at Level 7. The credits may be obtained by: a pass in the Legal Practice Course from a UK University or other authorised provider; a pass in the Law Society Final Examination and completion of a minimum of one year of a training contract; a pass in the Bar Professional Training Course or Bar Vocational Course from a UK University or other authorised provider. Applicants must also provide a satisfactory research proposal with their application.

Our published entry requirements are a guide only and our decision will be based on your overall suitability for the course as well as whether you meet the minimum entry requirements.

We welcome applications from International and EU students. Please select one of the links below for English language and country-specific entry requirement information.

• International students
• EU students
• English language requirements

International Applicants

If you wish to study this programme full time, you will be required to study on a Student Visitor Visa, which allows you to enter the UK and study for up to 6 months. On meeting all of the conditions of your offer we will issue you with the necessary documentation to apply for a Student Visitor Visa. This programme does not meet the UKBA definition of full-time under the Tier 4 Student Visa route therefore we are unable to Sponsor students under Tier 4 for this programme.