If you're exploring a legal career and considering your next steps, the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) could be the right starting point. In this article, Dr Kathryn Dutton, Module Leader for the GDL at The College of Legal Practice, shares her insights on why the GDL remains a valuable and strategic foundation for aspiring solicitors and barristers.
In law, it is likely that you will have different ideas about the future and different things you want to do next. If you are considering a career as a solicitor you will need to follow the SRA’s route to being a solicitor in England and Wales.
As you may be aware, in July 2024, the pass rate for SQE1 dropped to its lowest rate ever, at 44% and for January 2025, it rose slightly to 56%.
This pass rate is illustrative of the need to really prepare yourself as thoroughly as possible for the SQE exams. The GDL is your first step, it allows you to gain knowledge of those foundational areas of law in England and Wales.
So, if, for example, you're thinking about being a barrister, you'll see there are seven foundation areas of law that you need to cover – the law subject benchmark statement by the BSB and SRA. We cover the foundation areas in detail on the GDL at the College, then you move onto the academic stage of bar training or training for the SQE.
So, the GDL lets you really gain the confidence and build the confidence in those basic areas of law that you need. I sometimes say to my students, and I've taught law for 25 years and I've been with The College of Legal Practice for 3 years, that what we do on the GDL, is to give you those real basics that you would get on an undergraduate law degree over 3 years.
Of course it is a smaller course, but it's a focused course. The GDL really does give you a depth of legal knowledge and understanding, and lets you have the opportunity to build those skills that you will need to have the academic understanding of law.
Secondly, from an employability perspective, completing a GDL is really going to help you, because you are showing potential future employers wherever you go, that you have taken this period of study to really study those foundational principles.
Lastly, the GDL will give you the best preparation for further study. So no, technically, you don't need to do a GDL for the SQE, but you will need it for the bar training and the CILEx route to become a legal executive
The GDL will, if you take that period of study, increase your chance of passing the SQE 1st time. So, it will save you significant time and money in the long run, and the great news for anybody coming to study our GDL, that you have a discounted rate for our SQE preparation course and LLM in Legal Practice.
Learn more about our GDL course