The LLM Bar Practice programme combines the vocational elements of training for a Barrister (previously the BPTC) within an internationally recognised master’s level qualification. Its innovative design focuses on developing you to manage both a face to face and digital practice.
The course is experiential with a focus on developing excellent personal and legal skills which are relevant for professional practice as a barrister or in any other professional career. As digital practice has become more prevalent across the professions, the programme incorporates this into delivery and provides you with a laptop with access to key resources as part of your tuition fees.
Programme delivery
You will learn by doing and, in several ways. Significant contact time of 10-16 hours a week, supported by small class sizes means you get to practice your skills weekly. The programme is delivered via in-person and online workshops which enables you to work in a variety of ways. The programme will prepare you for a digital practice as courts and legal professionals move increasingly online and paperless. You will be taught in small class sizes of 1:6 and 1:12, by qualified legal professionals and academics who have experience in teaching and legal practice
Advocacy is taught in our multi-million-pound replica Crown Courtroom, and conference skills are taught in groups of 6 students. You will follow several case studies which enable you to take your client from instruction through to completion of their case using your knowledge and developing those essential skills. Your practice is recorded and stored in the cloud, giving you the opportunity to watch and reflect on your practice anytime. Your contact time is supported by rich digital resources enabling you to learn, practice and reflect in a variety of ways. Using online practitioner texts gives you maximum flexibility over how you use your resources including annotation, bookmarking and printing.
Assessment
Assessments are varied and designed, wherever possible, to mirror tasks that you would undertake in pupillage and then your own practice. The programme has a variety of assessments including oral, coursework, portfolio and examinations. There are 12 assessments in total including the three BSB centralised assessments in criminal and civil litigation. You will have weekly practice on the MCQs, and SBAs needed for the centralised assessments and there are additional practice assessments in every module.
Programme outcomes
At the end of the programme, you will leave us with a valuable master’s qualification, the knowledge and skills required by the legal profession and other potential employers and, with the opportunity to be called to the Bar of England and Wales (subject to you completing your dining obligations and any additional requirements set by the BSB).
If you want to work in the legal profession, the full-time one-year LLM Bar Practice offered by the University of Hertfordshire is the course for you. Our course not only will offer an established route into the legal profession but also enables you to obtain a valuable and internationally recognised masters.
