The Legal Cheek View
The LPC at ULaw’s Leeds campus is delivered in a glass-fronted, seven-storey building supposed to replicate “the corporate setting of a professional firm”. It’ll make you feel like you’re a lawyer already. But don’t get too carried away: “As an accelerated LPCer, I rarely had time to admire the soft furnishing,” one student tells us.
The towering campus does, however, have a rooftop terrace with a view so you can revise for your exams while feeling inspired by the city skyline. You may even be able to spot the law firms that populate the city, some of which are not too far away at all. They include DLA Piper, Irwin Mitchell and Eversheds Sutherland. No doubt they’ll be a constant reminder to crack on with training contract applications, preferably well ahead of the deadlines.
Despite trying to emulate a law firm, the campus study spaces are “functional”, comments one insider. But there is a good range of “interesting” electives and an active careers service that students say is “good for people with no experience or [who] want to go into practice”. In addition, there is “lots of pro bono for family” and what one student calls “fluffy practice areas”.
Teaching is generally good, but, as is common across all LPC courses, the pressures of having to fit in the syllabus into a fairly short period time can lead to it feeling a bit rushed at times. “Some lectures seemed to be in a panic,” one recent graduate told us.
Overall, ULaw Leeds does what it says on the tin in preparing students for both their exams and in legal practice later on. An LPC student reports: “Gained skills I didn’t have before and have a few prospective employers interested (legal and non-legal)”. When it comes to the exams, note to self: “no one cares if you get a pass, commendation or distinction”. As long as “the law firms feel they are getting a reasonable standard of trainee that they can mould, then they will be happy”.
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Key Info
ULaw offers a total of 4,750 full-time LPC places and 2,000 part-time LPC places across its centres nationally; part-time fees are per year. Under its ‘Employment Promise’, ULaw offers to refund the course fees for any of its LPC graduates who fail to get a job within nine months of completing the course. The refund is made up of 50% cashback plus 50% credit towards further courses. All prices include the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) registration fee of £15.