This course offers a speedy route for non-law graduates to progress onto the solicitors or bar vocational courses. It is a one-year full time course, and students are expected to cover the seven foundations of legal knowledge plus one other area of law. However, this can vary from institution to institution. These awards are essentially research-based, although for those not having any postgraduate experience, there may well be a significant element of research training. These are mainly for people who wish to pursue an academic career, but it is possible to pursue research in relation to professional interests.
Students can register for the M.Phil.
D., with a transfer from the former to the latter at the end of an 18 month period. The essential difference between the two awards is that the Ph.D. must contain an element of originality that need not be found in the M.Phil. Whilst undertaking research degrees, students are allocated a subject expert as their supervisor, and are expected to maintain a close academic relationship with that person. Institutions could offer research supervision in areas such as Business Law, Criminology, Company Law, Comparative Law, Critical Legal Studies, Employment Law, Environmental Law, Family Law, Feminist Legal Studies and Intellectual Property. The aim of the course is to prepare students for legal practice, enabling them to develop the necessary knowledge and skills required to practise as a solicitor.