Liverpool Hope, Leeds Trinity, Portsmouth and Worcester
The College of Legal Practice (CoLP) has struck deals with four UK unis to deliver Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE) preparation as part of their new masters programmes.
The virtual law school has teamed up with Liverpool Hope University, Leeds Trinity University, the University of Portsmouth and the University of Worcester, with all four programmes launching this month.
Liverpool Hope’s practice-focused LLM will incorporate SQE prep from CoLP, offering aspiring solicitors in the Liverpool region another route into the profession. Next up, Leeds Trinity has launched a new Master of Laws programme with integrated SQE prep, combining the unis academic teaching with CoLP’s vocational training.
Portsmouth, meanwhile, has rolled out an LLM Professional Legal Practice which includes online prep for both SQE1 and SQE2 with CoLP. The course is designed to combine qualification prep with specialist knowledge and skills for legal practice. Completing the quartet is the Worcester, whose new Master of Laws programme will be taught by uni lecturers alongside the CoLP team.
Students across the four programmes will also have opportunities to clock up Qualifying Work Experience (QWE), either through the unis’ local employer networks or their own law clinics. The latest tie-ups take CoLP’s university partnership tally to 12.
Dr Giles Proctor, CEO of CoLP, said:
“We are delighted to be working with our new university partners to provide more opportunities for their students to further their legal studies and careers. As a Higher Education institution committed to supporting access to the profession, we have much in common with the universities particularly providing both the quality of learning and the pastoral care and guidance students need to work through the SQE syllabus. These partnerships are giving students much more choice in the market than existed under the old regime of the LPC. This can only be a good thing in addressing the diverse needs of students who want to progress a career in the legal profession.”
Elsewhere in the market, BARBRI has academic tie-ups with unis including Anglia Ruskin, King’s College London and Queen Mary, while The University of Law has teaching partnerships with the likes of Exeter and Liverpool, and most recently Lancaster.
Meanwhile, BPP favours direct training partnerships with City law firms and has tie-ups with a number of big names.