Professional Legal Practice, LLM

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Key Course Details

Mode of Study: Campus Based
Typical Offer (view equivalents): 2:2
Location: Singleton Park Campus

Start Date	Tuition Fees
Sep 2025	£ 11,500

LLM 1 Year Full Time

Mode of Study: Campus Based
Typical Offer: 2:2 - More Information
Location: Singleton Park Campus

Start Date	Tuition Fees
Sep 2025	£ 11,500

Professional Legal Practice, LLM

For Law Graduates Preparing for the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE) 1&2

students speaking inside the Richard Price Building

Course Overview

Please note that the part-time version of this course is suspended for 2024/25. Applications for 2025/26 will open in October 2024.

The LLM Professional Legal Practice is a professional course for law graduates that has been designed to align with the requirements of the Solicitors Qualifying Examinations 1&2 (SQE1&2).

The programme combines core knowledge and practical legal skills to provide essential preparation for law graduates looking to qualify as Solicitors in England & Wales via the SQE.

It offers you the opportunity to gain a master’s award, attain legal knowledge and skills, and prepare for life in legal practice.

The programme is delivered over the course of one academic year and is taught in two stages – stage 1 focuses on the core practice areas, with stage 2 focusing on developing your professional legal skills within the context of those core practice areas.

The programme culminates with an opportunity for you to undertake directed independent learning, authentic to the legal profession, which focuses on practical legal research and drafting.

If you are a non-law graduate looking for a conversion course to prepare for the Solicitors Qualifying Examination 1 (SQE1), please see our LLM Law & Legal Practice course page.

Why Professional Legal Practice at Swansea?

As a postgraduate student at the Hillary Rodham Clinton School of Law, you will be part of a globally recognised law school, with a thriving academic environment, that offers an exceptional student experience.

The Hillary Rodham Clinton School of Law is recognised as a source of expertise, and as having an impact in a diverse range of fields of practice. The School is wholly committed to continuous improvement in learning and teaching, and to putting students at the centre of its activities. You will be supervised by academics and qualified practitioners with a wealth of real-world experience, who are ideally placed to provide ongoing guidance and support.

The Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE)

The introduction of the SQE from September 2021 marked a significant change in the route to qualification as a solicitor in England and Wales.

The SQE, which involves two stages of centrally assessed examinations (SQE1 and SQE2) and a period of qualifying work experience, aims to provide a fair and consistent assessment for all candidates.

The SQE will eventually replace the current routes into practice. If you have already begun or accepted a place on a GDL or LLB on 1 September 2021, there are transitional arrangements for you to qualify via the Legal Practice Course route until 2032*.

*Applicants need to have accepted their offer of a place on a GDL by 31/8/21, or for an LLB by 30/9/21 to retain the ability to qualify via the LPC.

Please consult the Solicitors Regulation Authority for full details on routes to becoming a solicitor.

The SQE assessments do not form part of the programme itself and the cost of undertaking the SQE assessments is not included in the programme fee.

Your Professional Legal Practice Experience

We offer an inclusive, student-focussed learning environment and community, centred around your success.

You will gain excellent oral and written skills, learning to present your ideas in a range of formats. We provide our students with the means to become critically agile, analytical thinkers, adept at legal research and with a strong problem-solving skillset essential to life in legal practice.

The programme will include various forms of assessment, and you will be encouraged to develop team-working and communication skills through seminars and workshops, as well as project management and independent research skills as part of the independent learning module. These skills will ensure that you can compete successfully in the employment market.

You will also have access to guest lectures from prestigious practitioners and academics, and will benefit from our established networks to support your learning.

Professional Legal Practice Employment Opportunities

This programme responds to the needs of employers and focuses not only on preparing you for the SQE1 and SQE2 assessments, but also on ensuring that you have a solid foundational knowledge of the law and core practice areas, together with the practical legal skills that are essential to qualification.

Students intending to qualify as solicitors need to sit and pass the SQE1 and SQE2 assessment and complete two years of qualifying work experience in order to achieve that aim. However, students who do not wish to qualify will gain transferrable skills on this programme which will assist them in alternative careers. Examples include:

Academic lawyers
Accountancy
Banking
Commerce and business
Corporate governance
Crown Prosecution Service
Finance industry and banking
Government Legal Service
Legal publishing
Ombudsman departments
Regulators
Tax

Modules

The programme will deliver 180 credits over one year (FT), taught in two stages. The core knowledge required for SQE1 will be covered in stage 1, and the practice skills required for SQE2 will be developed in stage 2 in the context of the core practice areas.

There will be an element of Directed Independent Learning (40 credits), which you will undertake in stage 2 alongside your taught skills sessions. This independent learning project is authentic to the legal profession, focusing on undertaking practical legal research and preparing related reports directed to specialist and non-specialist target audiences.

All modules on the programme will be compulsory. There will be re-sit opportunities for all modules.

Year 1 (Level 7T)

FHEQ 7 Taught Masters / PGDip / PGCert

Compulsory Modules

Module Name	Module Duration	Credits	Module Code
Business Law and Practice	September-January (TB1)	20	LALM01
Dispute Resolution	September-January (TB1)	10	LALM02
Criminal Practice	September-January (TB1)	10	LALM03
Property Practice	September-January (TB1)	20	LALM04
Professional Practice and Legal Services	September-January (TB1)	10	LALM05
Wills and Administration of Estates	September-January (TB1)	10	LALM06
Introduction to Legal Skills	September-January (TB1)	0	LASM07
Introduction to Legal Skills	September-January (TB1)	0	LASM08
Professional Practice Skills 1	January-June (TB2)	30	LALM07
Professional Practice Skills 2	January-June (TB2)	30	LALM08
Advanced Legal Drafting	June-September (TB3)	40	LALD09

Entry Requirements

Our standard entry requirement is a 2:2 undergraduate degree in law or the successful completion of a Graduate Diploma in Law (or other equivalent post-graduate conversion course for non-law graduates), but each applicant will be assessed on an individual basis.

We are happy to consider applicants who have been out of education for a while, who have equivalent professional experience, or similar.

English language requirements - IELTS 6.5, with a minimum 6.0 in each component or an equivalent approved English Language test.

For students who fall short of only the English language requirement, we offer a range of pre-sessional training programmes that you may take before starting your degree programme.

We welcome applications from students from around the world and require evidence of previous study that is equivalent to the entry requirements.

How You're Taught

You will be taught in both large-group and small-group settings. The large-group sessions are taught across the cohort as a whole. The small-group sessions are practical workshops designed to replicate the work of a trainee solicitor. These are largely based around group tasks involving instructions from a client or senior member of the legal team, leading to case and matter analysis, application of the law in order to assist in achieving client goals, and developing essential practice skills.

You may be asked to prepare a letter of advice to a client, an internal note to your supervising partner, to present arguments orally, or to draft legal documents as a result of the work done in the workshop setting. The workshop sessions will help to build your confidence and legal skills in a friendly, professional, and rewarding environment.

Assessments have been designed to assist you in developing your written and oral communication skills, your ability to research the law, and your practical application of the law in context.

You will sit a variety of assessments across the programme that have been designed to test knowledge, application and skills in authentic ways. Examples include:

Written seen examinations
Unseen examinations
Open-book examinations
Multiple choice question examinations
Short-answer assessments
Take-home assignments
Writing a letter of advice
Writing a memorandum
Conducting ase analysis
Drafting court documents
Live advocacy
Conducting a client interview

Welsh Provision

Some provision

There are opportunities for Welsh speakers to study some elements of this postgraduate course through the medium of Welsh but there is not yet enough provision to reach 40 credits in each year. The Programme Director can outline to you what is available in Welsh.

Academi Hywel Teifi is here to support you throughout your time at Swansea University. We can offer you:

Access to generous Welsh-language study scholarships or bursaries.
Access to the Arwain mobile app for the latest information about Welsh-medium courses and modules available to download free on the App Store and Google Play.
An interview through the medium of Welsh when applying for a place.
Personal correspondence in Welsh, English or bilingually.
The option to create and submit your coursework or sit exams through the medium of Welsh (even if you have chosen to study in English), and your work will be assessed in Welsh.
A Welsh-speaking Personal Tutor.
One-to-one support to improve your academic Welsh language skills.
An opportunity to gain an additional free qualification that serves as evidence of your Welsh language ability for future employers.
Membership of the Swansea University Branch of the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol.

Visit the Welsh Language Rights webpage for further information about Students' Welsh Language Rights.

Continuing to study through the medium of Welsh will be:

a natural step for you if you have studied through the medium of Welsh at undergraduate level.
a way of maximizing your chances of getting the best education.
a way of receiving a high level of support as the study groups are smaller.
a valuable addition to your CV and career development.

Meet Your Lecturers

Our degrees are taught by industry experts, who have real-world experience; several of which are currently practicing as solicitors and barristers.

You can find out more about our academic expertise on our School staff pages and by viewing the profiles of our staff associated with our professional legal courses and the Centre for Professional Legal Practice.

Tuition Fees

Start Date	UK	International
September 2024	£ 16,300	£ 21,950
September 2025	£ 11,500	£ 11,500

Tuition fees for years of study after your first year are subject to an increase of 3%.

You can find further information of your fee costs on our tuition fees page.

You may be eligible for funding to help support your study. To find out about scholarships, bursaries and other funding opportunities that are available please visit the University's scholarships and bursaries page.

Current students: You can find further information of your fee costs on our tuition fees page.

Funding and Scholarships

You may be eligible for funding to help support your study.

If you're a UK or EU student starting a master’s degree at Swansea University, you may be eligible to apply for Government funding to help towards the cost of your studies. To find out more, please visit our postgraduate loans page.

To find out about scholarships, bursaries and other funding opportunities that are available please visit the University's scholarships and bursaries page.

Academi Hywel Teifi at Swansea University and the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol offer a number of generous scholarships and bursaries for students who wish to study through the medium of Welsh or bilingually. For further information about the opportunities available to you, visit the Academi Hywel Teifi Scholarships and Bursaries page.

Additional Costs

Access to your own digital device/the appropriate IT kit will be essential during your time studying at Swansea University. Access to wifi in your accommodation will also be essential to allow you to fully engage with your programme. See our dedicated webpages for further guidance on suitable devices to purchase, and for a full guide on getting your device set up.

You may face additional costs while at university, including (but not limited to):

Travel to and from campus
Printing, photocopying, binding, stationery and equipment costs (e.g. USB sticks)
Purchase of books or texts
Gowns for graduation ceremonies

Careers and Employability

Swansea Employability Academy (SEA) will support you at each stage of your career journey helping you build a bright future.

Our career support services include:

Employability workshops, employers’ talks, bespoke events and careers fairs
Individual advice and guidance from professionally qualified Careers Advisers
Help with finding jobs, internships, work placements and volunteering opportunities
Access to information resources on a wide range of career management topics
Funding to support student internship opportunities and Student Society/Club events.

We also provide help and advice for Swansea University Alumni up to two years after you graduate.

Employability Support at the Hillary Rodham Clinton School of Law

The Hillary Rodham Clinton School of Law has a vibrant Employability programme which focuses on establishing links between our students and the legal professions and in developing your employability and transferrable skills.

We host networking events, invite a range of guest speakers, organise work placements and internships, assist with CV and application form writing and can help you prepare for interviews. We also deliver a programme of talks throughout the year designed to get you thinking about developing your profile from as early a stage as possible.

The Faculty also has a dedicated Employability Team which provides support to you from the moment you join Swansea University. The team are on hand to help with a number of opportunities from Work Experience, Year in Industry, Graduate Roles and more.

Academic Support

As well as subject specific support by college teaching staff and your personal tutor, the Centre for Academic Success provides courses, workshops and one-to-one support in areas such as:

Academic writing
Maths and statistics
Critical thinking
Time management
Digital skills
Presentation skills
Note taking
Revision, memory and exam techniques
English language skills (if English is not your first language).

In addition, if you have a Specific Learning Difficulty (SpLD), disability, mental health or medical condition, the Centre for Academic Success have Specialist Tutors to support your learning, working alongside the Disability Office and Wellbeing Service to support all your needs and requirements whilst studying at Swansea University.

How to Apply

All full time applications should be made through the LawCABS website.

EU students - visa and immigration information is available and will be regularly updated on our information for EU students page.

Application Deadlines

We recommend that you submit your application to our courses as early as you can in advance of our application deadlines. Courses will close earlier than the application deadlines listed if all available places are filled. You can find further information on our Application Deadlines webpage.

Additional Information

Contact Details

Make a postgraduate enquiry

International students contact our International Team

Inspiring Futures Scholarships

The Hillary Rodham Clinton School of Law also offers Inspiring Futures Scholarships for international (including EU) postgraduate (taught) students who have an offer to study at the School of Law.