In this article, Dr Kathryn Dutton, Module Leader for the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL), talks through what students learn in the College’s GDL Programme.
So the College’s GDL programme is entirely online study. We are a fully remote organisation with a parent company based in Australia, who have extensive experience of providing distance learning and online study at the highest level. So, we've got some of the best online learning resources around.
This approach gives you the flexibility to carry out all of your study online, while retaining the ability to talk to tutors and to have that in-depth learning experience.
You receive an academic qualification, worth 90 credits at Level 6, and it's comprised of a number of different modules.
The GDL starts with a very intensive introduction to law, which gives you some of the basic skills that you need to study the law of England and Wales. This introduction helps you learn all the skills that will take you through to the more detailed topics of study on the programme. You look at things like research skills, eg researching case law, and learning how to read the law and developing those habits of mind that form the foundation and the basis for your later study.
The rest of the programme is split into two halves from that point. The 1st half of focuses on Contract, Criminal and Tort law. Contract for example, looks at everyday transactions and basics of contract law. Criminal law looks at the relationship between the individual and the State through the criminal justice system and Tort law looks at civil wrongs, and we consider things like negligence.
Then, you move to the second half of the course, where you will study Land law, Public law, and trusts. And the more eagle eyed amongst you might say, Well, that's 6, and not 7, and there are 7 foundations of law. But our public law module also includes the study of EU law - European Union law. So as a whole, those substantive subjects comprise those 7 foundations of legal knowledge. They give you everything you need to know, and everything that you would study as compulsory on a full undergraduate law degree
Now, terms of how we would assess you for those subjects. You'll be really pleased to hear that we don't have any exams on the Graduate Diploma in Law, We do a really early assessment for the Introduction to Law module, where we will be assessing whether you have got those basic skills that are going to enable you to move on and study the more substantive subjects.Its multiple choice questions and some research and analysis to answer 13 short answer questions.
Now, the assessment is slightly different for the remainder of the modules. The assessment at the end of each module asks you to look at the analysis of a particular scenario. We will give you a real life problem from practice that you then apply your legal knowledge to do well. For example, one of the scenarios that some of my students are working on at the moment is an example of two friends who have gone on a shoplifting spree, and we give the facts and the details of this particular case. Then you would come in with your knowledge of the criminal law, and you would consider what offences these people might have committed, what needs to be proved to establish these offences, and what the defences are. All of these assessments are coursework based, and you're given support from your supervisor to work towards completing them.
So, as with much of the Graduate Diploma in Law, one of the real advantages of The College of Legal Practice is that we try and give things a very practical focus. We try and adjust this information beyond academic study to show you how that would operate in a real world context.
We are lucky to have such an excellent mix of expert tutors from practice, who come in and teach you these modules. So we have experts from every area of law that come in and run workshops with you.
As part of the course, you will have 32 workshops. Prior to the workshops you get, you get a piece of work to complete, which is exactly the same in format as the final assessment you will face. Then in the workshop, we're not just teaching you the law or the content, but we are directly practicing the very assessments that you will face at the end.
Lastly, we are determined to try and give you as much assistance as we can in doing that. In the course you will have supervisions - you will have group meetings with a small number of students and meet in person with a supervisor and discuss your progress and your goals as you travel through the course. We are really committed to meeting you and working with you as individuals. So if you need that extra support, it will be there with you, and you can come and speak to us.
Learn more about our GDL course