Studying Law in the UK

1. In the UK, a legal education usually begins with the completion of a bachelor degree in law, known as an LLB, which usually takes three years. However, many students graduate in a non-law subject and then undertake a one year conversion course known as a postgraduate Diploma in Law or GDL.

2. A person wishing to become a solicitor must complete three stages: the first stage involves gaining a law degree; the second stage requires passing a one-year full-time (or two years part-time) Legal Practice Course (LPC); and the final stage entails working for two years as a trainee solicitor with a firm of solicitors or in the legal department of a local authority or large company. At this stage, a trainee solicitor is paid a salary.

3. The Legal Practice Course can be taken in many different formats including full-time and part-time; fees range from £5,000-£10,000. A significant proportion of students have their fees and some living expenses paid for by future employers under a training contract.

4. Course content:

· Skills comprise advocacy, interviewing and advising, writing, drafting and research, accounting, taxation, trusts and tax planning.

· Compulsory 'core' subjects are taught in the first (and longest) part of the course; they are generally Criminal Law, Business Law, Property Law and Civil Litigation, European Community Law, Human Rights Law.

· Optional 'elective' subjects, taught in the shorter second half of the course, are: further CriminalLaw, further Personal Injury, Family Law, Employment Law, further Probate and Private Client, Commercial Law, Welfare Law and Commercial Property Law.

5. Intending barristers also need a qualifying law degree in order to apply to join one of the Inns of Court to study for the Bar Vocational Course, or BVC. It's also mandatory for students to keep terms, which means dining at their Inn a fixed number of times, before they can be called to the Bar, that is, qualify as a barrister.

6. Then the new barrister faces intense competition to obtain a funded pupillage in chambers for twelve months in order to get practical training. All applicants are advised first to do a mini-pupillage or one or two weeks to get some insight into what being a pupil is like. Pupillage is divided into two parts - anon-practicing six months when pupils shadow their pupil master, an experienced barrister, byobserving professional activities, and the second, practicing six months when pupils, with their supervisor's permission, can undertake to supply legal services and exercise rights of audience, in other words, speak in court.

7. To gain a Full Qualification Certificate pupils must learn the rules of conduct and etiquette at the Bar, learn to prepare and present a case competently, learn to draft pleadings and opinions, have advocacy training, and pass a forensic accountancy course which covers the use of financial information in litigation. If successful at the end of the twelve months, the qualified barrister applies for a tenancy in chambers.

8. When a junior barrister has practiced at the Bar for 10 to 15 years, it's possible to apply to become a senior barrister, or Queen's Counsel (QC), whose work concentrates on court appearances, advocacy, and opinions.

LEXIS

conversion course – курс переподготовки, переходной курс обучения

gaining - получение, приобретение

trainee solicitor - солиситор-стажёр, практикант

skills - навыки; умение; практический опыт

welfare law - законодательство о социальном обеспечении

intending – желающий стать, намеревающийся

keep terms -посещать занятия

dining – система учебных занятий в неформальной обстановке, так называемые "занятия в столовой"

funded pupillage – оплаченный курс ученичества

shadow – непрестанно следовать за, непрерывно наблюдать

forensic accountancy course – курс правовой бухгалтерской отчетности