Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL)

Students studying the Graduate Diploma in LawLaw firms have reported an increase in recruitment, so now is the time to start your legal career and study the GDL (CPE) - a conversion programme enabling graduates in any non-law subject or those with substantial work experience to convert to a career in law.

After completing the GDL, intending barristers progress on to the BPTC before entering the profession as pupil barristers, whilst intending solicitors progress to the LPC before entering the profession as trainee solicitors.

BPP is the leading provider of the GDL and our "Distinctive GDL" is designed to help you make a smooth transition from undergraduate study to the practice of law. Unique feature include:

 

The tutorials are deceptively challenging and really make you think about and apply the law. My tutors are excellent: knowledgeable practitioners who don't just know the theory, but fully understand their practice areas. I always come away feeling that they've consolidated my week of study and tied up any lose ends in my understanding.

Bethan Sheridan-Jones
Part-time GDL, Leeds

 

Preparing you for practice

The GDL may be the first experience you have of law, so we have designed a programme offering you both a solid academic grounding and preparation for the realities of legal practice.

We believe that law is not just about learning legal rules. In addition to teaching substantive law, BPP's Graduate Diploma in Law develops the essential skills of legal analysis, research and presentation whilst practising the application of law to factual disputes - a skill which is developed through our student-centred tutorials.

Small group sessions reflect realistic legal scenarios and are based on past examination questions. This means that your examination skills as well as your legal knowledge, communication skills and commercial awareness develop as the programme progresses.

Using our first-rate library and information resources you will be introduced to the legal research skills essential to any lawyer. By the end of the programme you will be familiar with both hard copy library-based resources as well as electronic media such as Lawtel, Westlaw and Lexis/Nexis. Our award-winning pro bono centre offers the opportunity to gain experience in using law to help real people solve real problems.

You will receive:

  • an induction programme which assumes no prior knowledge of law
  • training on essential legal research skills needed in practice
  • individual feedback on mock assessments and extensive exam technique practice
  • a strong personal tutor support network
  • sophisticated online learning to support face-to-face teaching
  • comprehensive BPP manuals (on paper and on a USB stick), written by BPP examiners
  • all manuals, textbooks, case books and statute books required for the programme (approximately 20 books!)
  • DVDs of all lectures
  • an opportunity to gain experience through BPP's award-winning Pro Bono Centre

Our GDL is designed to provide you with an excellent foundation for the LPC and BPTC and the early years of practice as a lawyer thereafter.

Endorsement by law firms

The following firms send their trainees without law degrees exclusively to BPP to do the GDL:

 

In addition, more than 500 law firms, companies, not-for-profit organisations and government departments choose to sponsor their employees to study at BPP.

You can study the GDL full-time, part-time or via distance learning in our Law Schools in Leeds, London (Holborn and Waterloo) or Manchester. We also have support classes for distance learning GDL students in Cambridge, Dublin, Liverpool and Newcastle. For information on each individual study option please refer to the Essential Programme Guide.