Converting Your Degree To Law
If you have a degree in any subject it is possible to convert that qualification to law by undertaking a one year Common Professional Examination (CPE) or Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL). Roughly 30% of trainee solicitors and barristers did not graduate with a degree in law. Some decided to take a GDL at the end of their degree and some may choose to change careers later in life.
The GDL is a qualification in England and Wales and is designed to allow people with a greater variety of educational backgrounds into the legal profession. The course is one year full time or two year part time. The usual law degree is four years long which allows both law and non-law students to graduate at the same time. It is also commonly referred to as the ‘law conversion course’.
Some of the largest providers of law conversion courses are City University London, Kaplan Law School and the University of East London. Tuition fees vary widely from 2000 to 8000 for the one year course.
A normal full time conversion courses last around 36 weeks which includes 4 weeks of assessments. 45 hours of lectures, tutorials, private study and research each week is recommended by the Central Application Board for a CPE/GDL course. The intensity of the timetable will shock many graduates of arts courses whose timetable may have previously been considerably less active.
The CPE/GDL is an intensive one-year foundation course which, while not offering the full range of subjects of a law degree, provides the skills and methodologies to pick things up in the future. To gain entry to a CPE/GDL a minimum of a 2.2 degree certificate is usually required but graduates may want to consider the implications of lower grades in a competitive job market.
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