Curriculum Information

Document Version

QAA Benchmarks

Educational Aim

Learning Outcomes

Course Structure

Level 7 Modules

Teaching and Assessment

Learning and Teaching Methods

Employer Engagement

Entry to the legal profession remains intensely competitive and USW recognises the need to equip students with the knowledge, skills and motivation to succeed in such an environment. As postgraduates, students are encouraged to start their career planning early and to continue focussing on career planning and networking. The Careers and Employability Service has worked with the Law School to develop the provision, outlined below, for LLM students. Careers workshops, employer talks and vacancies are promoted primarily via the UniLife and Careers and Employability Service websites, via Unilearn and also on the Law School Careers Noticeboard and through flyers and leaflets. All the above Careers and Employability Services continue to be available to LLM students free of charge.

All students (full-time and part-time) have the opportunity to find out about the Careers and Employability Service by attending an induction talk given by the Faculty Careers Adviser during the induction programme. This talk covers key issues and support available for those students seeking to secure work experience or training contracts. Students are encouraged to make the most of the services and opportunities on offer. The Careers Adviser delivers numerous careers talks each academic year which covers issues such as compiling a CV, seeking work experience, stop-gap jobs and alternative career routes for graduates.

The Faculty Careers Adviser is available to give one-to-one guidance to all its students. This Adviser is based in the Advice Zone in the Library, where students can book a 1 hour or 30 minute appointment from 10am to 4pm on Monday to Friday. Students with limited time or those studying part-time can take advantage of an email, telephone careers or live chat enquiry service. At these sessions, students are able to identify personal strengths, abilities and interests and clarify key factors that are important when targeting law firms. They can also discuss in detail their CVs, training contract applications, work experience, career networking opportunities or alternative career options.

All students have access to a ‘mock interview’ service as preparation for any career-related interview. This is available to them during their time on the course and also after graduation.

Students have access to the Careers Information Room in the Advice Zone. Here they can research career areas, employers, further study, job hunting, voluntary work, vacation work, work experience and work overseas. Increasingly, careers information is being made available to students online and the Careers and Employability Service has developed a range of resources specifically for law students on its website.

The Careers and Employability Service runs a series of Autumn and Spring workshops aimed at improving students’ skills in CV-writing, creative job-hunting, completing effective application forms, interview techniques and psychometric testing. Students can book these sessions which can be followed up by a one-to-one guidance appointment to address specific issues related to law. These workshops are advertised on the Careers and Employability Service website and on the School Careers noticeboard. Additionally, course tutors can arrange for the Faculty Careers Adviser to deliver Law-specific workshops in relation to training contract applications and interviews.

The Careers and Employability Service runs a series of Autumn and Spring Term employer talks, giving students the opportunity to speak to employers from a wide range of organisations and industries. Students are encouraged to attend for information, career networking and career ideas.

The Careers and Employability Service recognises that the Student Law Society and School staff are active in organising employer talks and events and it will work closely with both to ensure students are given access to as broad a range of employer presentations as possible.

The Careers and Employability Service runs the GO Wales Work Placement and Work Taster Scheme, offering paid and unpaid short-term work experience across a range of career areas throughout Wales. All students are encouraged to explore the many opportunities available related, directly and indirectly, to the legal profession. Placement opportunities have included Pontypridd County Courts, Merthyr and Cardiff CPS, CAB, the Public Defender Service, Social Services, Probation Service and a number of private practice law and specialist consultancy firms. The importance of developing transferable skills (such as confidence, empathy, integrity, responsibility, IT and commercial awareness) cannot be stressed highly enough for those students wishing to enter the legal profession. Securing a broad range of work experience is encouraged to develop these skills and also to provide students with an insight into alternative career routes where legal knowledge and skills are highly valued.

Relevant work experience, job and training contract vacancies are posted on the School Careers noticeboard and students are also encouraged to use the Careers and Employability Service website, where vacancies are updated daily. In addition to this, School staff currently circulate job vacancies notified to them to LLM students via the LLM Legal Practice Organisational Site on Unilearn.

The Careers and Employability Service hosts a generic Careers Recruitment Fair every November in Treforest and students are encouraged to attend to gain potential training and employment information. Although this is not a specific law careers fair, it is considered to be an excellent opportunity to speak to large public and private sector employers about ‘in-house’ training contract opportunities. Students are also encouraged to attend those national Law Careers Fairs open to them as advertised on www.prospects.ac.uk.

Finally, it is anticipated that, as part of the Legal Practice Research Project, students may engage in employer-led research projects. Should a law firm, public body, an in-house practice or third sector organisation wish to engage an LLM Legal Practice student or students to undertake a research project in a particular area of practice, the Law School would be in a position to allocate students to such projects during the Summer term.

Visiting Speakers:

The School regularly provides visiting speakers for the benefit of undergraduate and postgraduate students through the guest lectures that are arranged throughout the week as part of the LLB programmes. The School and University also engage with high profile external speakers such as high-ranking legal officers and past members of UK Government through the Global Choices series, as well as individuals associated with the Business Accountability and Research Centre.

Volunteering:

Students can choose to volunteer at the School’s Legal Advice Clinic to do further work in addition to the two hours per week they are expected to work in the Clinic as part of the Skills for Legal Practice module.

Work Placements:

Work placements may be arranged for students during Stage Two, either in the Legal Advice Clinic or elsewhere.

Employer Forums:

Students are encouraged to attend regular networking events delivered by the Careers and Employability Service, the School and the Faculty where they may meet in a more informal manner a wide spectrum of employers.

Means of Assessment

Formative assessment-scheduled:

In all practice sessions, students will be afforded the opportunity to engage in formative assessment activities to put their learning into practice.

For a two-week period in January each year, teaching is paused so that a mock examination period is scheduled for students to attempt formative assessments in each of the Stage 1 core subject areas and skills.

In particular, as part of the Skills for Legal Practice module, students will participate in formative assessments in the areas of practical legal research, interviewing and advising, writing and drafting, which will be marked and returned to students with feedback.

Project Supervision:

Academic staff will supervise students completing their Legal Practice Research Project. This could entail either clinical or academic supervision depending on the nature of the research project.

Learning Support

Induction:

Full-time students will start in week one of the course with a three-day induction.

Year 1 part-time students will only be required to attend a one-day induction on the Tuesday, which focuses on the legal practice elements of the course, as they do not study the Legal Practice Research Project module until Year 2.

Year 2 part-time students will only be required to attend a two-day induction on the Wednesday and Thursday.

The induction programme will run over a period of three days, as follows:

Tuesday:

Welcome Talk

Introduction to Business Law and Practice and Taxation, Property Law and Practice and Skills for Legal Practice (Practical Legal Research, Interviewing and Advising, Writing and Drafting)

Legal Advice Clinic Induction

Library Resources

Careers and Employability

Student Administration

Textbook Collection

Wednesday:

Welcome Back for Year 2s (Year 2 part-time students only)

Introduction to Litigation and Advocacy and Skills for Legal Practice (Solicitors Accounts, Wills and Administration of Estates, Professional Conduct and Regulation)

Legal Advice Clinic Refresher

Student Administration

Textbook Collection

Thursday: 

Introduction to the Legal Practice Research Project

This will introduce the students to the aims, ethos and learning outcomes of the course. Students will meet the LLM team and will be provided with their learning materials for each module. During the induction week, students will have a full induction in the Clinic which will deal with standards of expected behaviour, attendance, engagement and client care and professional conduct issues. Students will also be introduced to the ICT resources.

As part of induction into the Clinic all students will receive guidance on the Solicitor’s Code of Conduct and will understand what is required of them in relation to the Code for any matters that they undertake during their time at the Clinic. The practical nature of their involvement in the Clinic means that students will be dealing with the requirements of the Code on a daily basis so that they will become second nature to them.

Personal tutor:

We propose that in the first instance, the Course Leader will act as personal academic coach (PAC) to all LLM Legal Practice students. If enrolment numbers are higher than anticipated, we will allocate further PACs in addition to the Course Leader.

Students will be asked to book specific coaching sessions with their PAC in order to catch up with them, consider if there are any issues they can be helped with and also to encourage them with their studies.

Office hours:

All tutors will operate bespoke office hours which will be listed on the Blackboard Organisation site, inside the Course Handbook and also on a notice outside their offices.

Formative Assessment:

Students are expected to engage in formative assessments which allow students to experience and gauge their own learning in a non-formal manner. This process also allows module leaders to monitor how their students are progressing through the module and to adjust teaching and learning as appropriate. Throughout the year, students are also given the opportunity to participate in mock examinations for Stage One, following which they are provided with feedback in readiness for the main examinations.

Progress meetings:

Progress meetings are regularly held by the PACs in order to review the achievements of students, see above.

Research Supervision:

This course requires that part of the 60 credits be achieved by way of a research project. This process will be managed by Rob Wilks, who is also Course Leader and is a member of the Faculty’s Research Ethics Committee, and teaches Research Methods across a range of Law programmes. Rob will recommend appropriate research supervisors for each student to the Academic Subject Manager, who will allocate supervisors to students according to topic and workload.

Online Resources:

Our students will benefit from extensive use of a Virtual Learning Environment called Blackboard, the availability of Panopto recordings, and to Library resources, see below.

Advice Centres:

The Student Advice Zone is located in the Library on the Treforest campus. Staff within the Zone are able to offer advice about a wide range of issues including extenuating circumstances, interruption to studies, study skills etc.. Students can also seek advice about the complaints procedure, if necessary.

DDS Service:

The Disability and Dyslexia Service provides a confidential and professional service where students can discuss their sensory physical, mental health requirements. It is located in the Library on the Treforest campus and offers regular drop-in sessions.

IT/Library:

Students at Treforest have access to online resources through the Library UniLife channel, teaching materials through Unilearn, the University’s virtual learning environment, and access to PCs in the Postgraduate Centre in Ty Crawshay and the Library Resource Centre. The Law collection in the University’s Library is located in a separate section, adjacent to the main book stock, as per the requirements contained within the Society of Legal Scholars’ ‘Statement of Standards for University Law Library Provision’ and contains legal practice materials and materials on the law of England and Wales, the European Union and international law, all of which may be relevant to students studying the LLM Legal Practice. There are, amongst other items, reference books, textbooks, journals, main works with supplements, loose-leaf publications, indexes and citators, practitioners’ works, procedural manuals, encyclopaedias and digests, as well as case reports and legislation. There is also considerable information available online via the Library’s FINDit Databases page through services such as HeinOnline, Lawtel UK, LexisNexis and Westlaw UK. The Law collection in print and online form is accessible to all University students.

Course Exit Points

Progression Route

Upon completion of the LLM Legal Practice, students will be able to embark on a Master of Philosophy or Doctor of Philosophy programme should they wish to continue their studies. Alternatively, upon graduation, students may go on to complete a training contract in order to qualify as a solicitor or enter the legal profession generally as a paralegal or legal assistant, or enter a different progression altogether, as many of the skills they will develop through the course are transferable.

Entry Requirements

Admission to the course is typically through the following qualifications:

Students must achieve a qualifying law degree (usually an LLB (Hons) Law) with a classification of 2:2 or above, or the Graduate Diploma in Law.

The course also welcomes international applicants and requires an English level of IELTS 6.0 with a minimum of 5.5 in each component or equivalent.

Inclusive Curriculum Statement

The University of South Wales operates a policy of inclusive learning, teaching and assessment to ensure that all students have an equal opportunity to fulfil their educational potential. Course teams will have considered ways of designing out any potentially disadvantageous element of courses during the course design process. However some specific needs may remain, details about how to apply to have your needs assessed can be found at: http://unilife.southwales.ac.uk/pages/3040-disability-and-dyslexia-service/

Addendum for Delivery at a Partner Institution

N/A