The College of Law Graduate Diploma in Law
Opening the door to a career in law
If you are finding it a challenge to secure your dream graduate job, now might be the time to think about a career in law. Your current degree could provide a solid background to a legal career and many law firms actively seek trainees who have a wider and more diverse educational background than those who have concentrated only on law.
Your first step to a career in law
- Our GDL is not just an academic conversion course – it’s the perfect stepping stone towards a successful legal career for non-law graduates. We’ve designed our course to meet the realities of today’s legal market and to give you the practical skills to become a highly marketable lawyer.
- All our major courses have been designed in consultation with leading law firms. We design courses that give you the skills that a lawyer will need from day one in practice.
- Our GDL has a strong focus on business and commercial skills that would prove immensely useful in many other careers, for instance the civil or diplomatic service, accountancy, banking and general management.
- It takes between two and four years to qualify, depending on whether you chose to study full or part-time. And as the College has seven centres around the UK to choose from, your path to a career in law can be as flexible as you need it to be.
After the GDL …
What you do next depends on whether you want to be a solicitor or a barrister. If you want to be a solicitor, you take the Legal Practice Course and if you want to be a barrister, the Bar Vocational Course. (The name of this course is changing to Bar Professional Training Course later this year).
Earn an LL.B in Law with The College of Law
When you successfully complete our GDL and go on to pass the LPC or BPTC at the College, you’ll graduate with an LL.B law degree, without the need to study or pay for additional modules. This is a clear demonstration of your abilities that will improve your prospects with potential employers.
The College of Law
The College of Law is the largest and longest established law school in the UK. We are focused on the law and only the law, and are the leading provider of the GDL. We have the pedigree and expertise to ensure high quality, challenging and hugely rewarding legal education, delivered only by qualified lawyers.
Excellent links with leading law firms
The College has strong links with all of the largest law firms in the country, including all of the Magic Circle firms in London. In fact, many major law firms insist that their future trainee solicitors study the GDL and LPC at the College.
Join the Future Lawyers Association
Our exclusive resource for those considering a career in law. It’s free to join and members receive regular updates on legal training as well as contributions from current students, which give a valuable insight into what it’s actually like to study at The College of Law.
What to do next …
We still have places on our full and part-time GDL conversion courses commencing in September 2009.