Professional Practice LLM (Top-up)

Contact time

The total amount of study time on this course is calculated with reference to the module credit, meaning that 60 Credits equates to 600 hours of study time in total.  By the very nature of this course, the majority of this time is taken up with independent self-study. 

There are the following taught sessions:

• The Legal Research Methods Course includes 4 three hour interactive workshops at the start of the module and 4 one hour supervisory sessions.
• The Dissertation module includes 4 three hour workshop at the start of the module and 12 hours of scheduled supervisory sessions.
• These can be delivered face to face at the School of Law or virtually at a distance.

Independent self-study

In addition to the contact time, you will undertake 560 hours of personal self-study over the year.  Typically, this will involve completing online activities, reading journal articles and books, working on individual and group projects, undertaking research in the library and online, preparing coursework assignments and presentations, and preparing for examinations.

Independent learning is supported by a range of excellent learning facilities, including The Hive and library resources, the virtual learning environment, and extensive electronic learning resources, including legal databases such as Westlaw and Lexis.  

Duration

12 months part-time

Timetables

Teaching will typically take place in the twilight hours. Supervision times are flexible.

Timetables are normally available one month before registration. Please note that whilst we try to be as student-friendly as possible, scheduled teaching can take place on any day of the week; and some classes can be scheduled in the evenings.

Teaching staff

You will be taught by a teaching team whose expertise and knowledge are closely matched to the content of the modules on the course. The team includes senior academics and legal practitioners with a range of private and public law specialisms.

Teaching is informed by the research and consultancy, and currently, 85% of course lecturers have a higher education teaching qualification or are Fellows of the Higher Education Academy.

Assessment

The course provides opportunities to test understanding and learning informally through the completion of practice or ‘formative’ assignments. Each module has one formal or ‘summative’ assessment which is graded and counts towards the overall module grade.

As students on the Programme will already have completed 120 credits of postgraduate study composed of structured taught learning opportunities, the 60 credits which makeup the LLM Professional Practice (Top-Up) are devoted to the preparation for and the creation of a research project in the form of a dissertation. The assessment is divided between the plan for a dissertation in the Legal Research Methods module and the Dissertation itself. In most instances, the Research Plan will be on the same research topic as the final dissertation. However, students can undertake a different research topic if advised to do so by their supervisor.

Assessments include a 3000-word research proposal for the Research Methods module and a 10000-word dissertation for the Dissertation Module.

Programme specification

For comprehensive details on the aims and intended learning outcomes of the course, and the means by which these are achieved through learning, teaching and assessment, please download the latest programme specification document