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SQE

MLaw (Solicitors' Practice) - four year Integrated Master's

Already know you want to be a solicitor? Our MLaw is designed for you.

Take the most direct route to qualify as a solicitor with our Integrated Master’s. Over four years you’ll study our practically focused LLB Law content alongside our professional SQE1 and SQE2 preparation modules. During Year 4, you’ll sit the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE) and will only need to fulfil the Qualifying Work Experience requirement on graduation to qualify as a solicitor.

The MLaw - Solicitors’ Practice course is designed to cover a comprehensive legal curriculum over four years. Taught predominantly by qualified lawyers, we focus on the skills that solicitors are seeking, so that you’ll be prepared for the realities of life in legal practice.

 

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Key Facts

Entry requirements

A Level: ABB

GCSE: English Language Grade C/4 or above, or equivalent qualification.

Course requirements ➔

Entry requirements

Next start date

September 2024

See all Start Dates

HOW TO APPLY

 

Learn more about the process for applying to us and where to get started.

 

Ranked Top 10 in the UK for Teaching in the 2024 National Student Survey.

We are one of the UK's longest-established specialist providers of legal education and have trained more practising lawyers in the UK than anyone else.

We've been awarded an overall Silver rating, with a Gold rating for Student Experience and Silver rating for the Student Outcomes in the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) for 2023.

Course Details

MLaw (Solicitors' Practice) - Four year Integrated Master's

UCAS code: M199

For aspiring solicitors, the four year Integrated Master's is the programme to choose. It has a practical focus and employability is embedded in the course. We have over 350 legally qualified lecturers, who use their extensive practical experience to enhance your development. 

The first three years of this programme involve study of our LLB modules which cover the necessary foundation subjects and the syllabus areas for the SQE1 examination. Over years three and four, you will gain all the necessary knowledge and skills to undertake SQE1 and SQE2 examinations to prepare you for a career as a solicitor.

Why choose this MLaw course?

  • This course is eligible for undergraduate loans from the Student Loans Company. If you’re eligible, you will receive funding to gain all the academic knowledge you need to prepare for the SQE assessments.
  • Gain access to ULaw’s bespoke SQE revision app. Find out what it’ll really be like to sit the SQE1 assessments, and improve your success, using our app. With this intelligent revision tool, you can draw on an extensive bank of questions mapped to the SQE syllabus. You’ll get user friendly feedback on your answers, helping you to excel in your course.
  • Optional modules are available to develop and enhance your knowledge and skills in different practice areas. These include Human Rights, Immigration Law and International Trade, to name just a few. Explore all the options below.

When you study with us you also benefit from:

  • Access to a large specialist Employability and Careers Service and pro bono clinics
  • The highest standard of teaching from experienced professionals
  • Small class sizes and a high level of face-to-face tuition
  • A choice of campuses across the UK.

Course Structure

Semester 1

Compulsory modules include:

Common Law Method and Ethics

This module introduces you to the English legal system and looks at how to interpret statutes and the doctrine of precedent. Also, how law is created and the structure of the English court system. These enable you to understand how laws are created and interpreted. Within Ethics, you will consider different approaches to ethical issues, including the social and ethical context of the legal profession.

Academic and Digital Skills

This module underpins all of the other modules on the LLB & MLaw. It develops the academic and digital skills which you will need for both your studies and the workplace, including using the University’s VLE and other relevant platforms and software, legal research and referencing, academic integrity, communication skills, and how to analyse and answer legal problems. 

Contract Law

In this module you will consider the elements of a contract, different types of contractual terms, remedies for breach of contract and the circumstances when remedies can be excluded.  You will also look at connected areas such as misrepresentation, duress, and undue influence.

Semester 2

Compulsory modules include:

The Law of Tort

Tort is a key area of law and considers acts and omissions that give rise to injury or harm to another and amount to a civil wrong. You will consider topics such as trespass to the person, negligence, product liability, employer liability, occupiers’ liability, trespass to land and private nuisance. You will also look at the remedies available when an action in Tort succeeds.

Public Law

This module looks at sources of the UK constitution and principles such as the rule of law, separation of powers and parliamentary supremacy. Also, how the lawfulness of decisions and actions made by public bodies are challenged through exploring the grounds for judicial review and the remedies available. You will learn about the place EU Law has within the UK constitution and consider the key rights and freedoms incorporated into UK law through the Human Rights Act.

Criminal Law

This module gives an overview of the criminal justice system and helps to develop an understanding of the principles of criminal liability. You will look at different criminal offences, including homicide, criminal damage, assaults, sexual offences, theft and robbery, and drugs offences. You will consider what defences may be available and the law in relation to secondary participation and attempts to commit certain offences.

Semester 1

Compulsory modules include:

Critical Approaches in Current Legal Issues

Designed to further develop the academic skills which you developed during your Level 4. Equipping you with the skills which you need to succeed as you progress through the programme. Through topical areas of law, you will develop your critical thinking and evaluation skills, ability to solve legal problems, and research skills.  You will be challenged through debating controversial areas of law and presenting arguments, in order to develop your ability to reflect and understand the views of others.

Business Law 1

This module introduces you to different forms of business organisation such as partnerships and companies and how to choose the most appropriate format to run a business. You will explore company law in more detail, exploring the separate legal personality of a company and its limited liability status and company constitutions. You will look at the different parties involved in a company such as the directors and shareholders. 

Land Law

We look at the nature of land, how the ownership of estates and interests in land operate and the formalities for creating and disposing of those estates and interests. It looks at important topics such as: the protection and enforcement of third party interests in land, the distinction between registered and unregistered land, trusts of land and co-ownership, leases, easements, covenants, and mortgages. 

Semester 2

Compulsory modules include:

Access to Justice and Legal Services

In this module you will look at the history of access to justice and the impact of the legal aid cuts. You will also look at the role of legal technology, legal education and pro bono work in supporting access to justice. The module includes an introduction to the legal profession including looking at some of the rules and regulations that govern how a law firm runs and the equality and diversity of the legal industry.

Real Estate

This module builds on the academic legal knowledge gained in the Property Law module, and applies this knowledge in a practical context.  The module is split into two parts.  The first part explores the legal processes for buying and selling property and the second part looks at different types of transactions concerning leasehold property.

*Choose one:

  • Family Law
  • Employment Law
  • Human Rights
  • Extended Essay
  • Practising Law in a Digital World

*All options are indicative and available subject to numbers.

Semester 1

Compulsory modules include:

Equity and Trusts

In this module you will study the core principles of equity and trusts law which arise in a range of personal, social and commercial contexts. You will look at the distinction between a gift and a trust and how trusts are created. You will explore the management of the trust through the powers and duties of trustees and the rights of the beneficiaries before considering what remedies are available if there is a breach of trust. 

Business Law 2

Building on the content of Business Law 1, this module focuses on the financial aspects of running a business. You will cover the different ways in which a business can raise money as well as how to interpret business accounts. The module covers the principles of Income Tax, Capital Gains Tax and Corporation Tax and also looks at both corporate and individual insolvency.  

Civil Dispute Resolution

This module has a very practical focus and is designed to give you an insight into the work of a dispute resolution lawyer. You will follow a civil dispute case through from start to finish and will look at alternative dispute resolution, starting a claim, court directions, disclosure and preparing for trial. The module also covers the civil trial process and possible outcomes.  

Semester 2

Compulsory modules include:

SQE 1 & 2 Preparation

This module will enable you to start to prepare for the SQE 1 and 2 assessments. It includes the core concepts of legal services as well as ethics and professional conduct. It also includes an introduction to some of the key skills you will cover in your integrated masters – legal research, client interviewing, advocacy, case and matter analysis, legal writing and legal drafting. 

Choose two*:

  • Family Law
  • Employment Law
  • Wills & Succession
  • Human Rights
  • Criminal Litigation and Evidence
  • Graduate and Employability Skills
  • International Commercial Law
  • Legal Technology
  • Mental Health and Mental Capacity Law
  • Research Project (double module)

*All options are indicative and subject to availability.

Semester 1

  • SQE1 Preparation (60 credits)

Semester 2

  • SQE 2 Preparation (20 credits)
  • Practice Area Research Report (40 credits)

*All modules are at Level 7.

Course Start Dates

  • MLaw (Solicitors’ Practice)
    • Full-time: Birmingham, Leeds, London Bloomsbury and Manchester
SQE

What about the SQE?

The SQE is being phased in to become the new centralised way to qualify as a solicitor in England and Wales

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Course requirements

The course demands show you the requirements, prior knowledge and commitments our course will involve.

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Course Information

 

Specific course date breakdowns will be released soon.

Calendar

 

At the end of each semester you’ll get a week for revision before two weeks of assessments.

Exams: Two hours, ten multiple choice questions and two long-form questions

Coursework: Essay, project report or portfolio

Oral presentation

We run mock assessments to allow you to practise before too.

 

Solicitors Qualifying Examinations

SQE1 and SQE2 will be assessed by centralised assessments introduced by the SRA, which will be an essential requirement to qualify as a solicitor in England and Wales.

You will sit your SQE assessments at Pearson VUE test centres in the UK and internationally. For details on how to book and pay for your SQE assessments, as well as request any reasonable adjustments, please visit the SRA website on https://sqe.sra.org.uk.

SQE1

  • There are two multiple choice assessments over two days – one for FLK1 and one for FLK2.
    • FLK1 covers: Business Law and Practice; Dispute Resolution; Contract; Tort; Legal System of England and Wales; Constitutional and Administrative Law; and Legal Services
    • FLK2 covers: Property Practice; Wills and the Administration of Estates; Solicitors Accounts; Land Law; Trusts; Criminal Law; and Criminal Practice
  • On each day the assessment is likely to take five hours, with a break in the middle.
  • Each assessment contains 180 single best answer questions.

SQE2

SQE2 involves approximately 14 hours of skills assessments over five half days. There are 16 written and oral tasks covering the six legal skills:

  • client interviewing including a linked attendance note/legal analysis
  • advocacy
  • case and matter analysis, including negotiation planning
  • legal research
  • legal writing
  • legal drafting

The assessments are set in the practice areas of:

  • criminal practice (including advising clients at the police station)
  • dispute resolution
  • property practice
  • wills and intestacy, probate administration and practice
  • business organisations, rules and procedures (including money laundering and financial services)
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Our course has an innovatively flexible structure, with specific assessments that are conducive to effective learning.

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Employability We Set You Up For Success

We care about your career, which is why we offer support with job applications and other work experience opportunities as soon as you accept your place.

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Fees and Applying

 

Applications for this will be made via UCAS.

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September 2024 fees:

UK students per year - £9,250 per year

International (London) - £17,550 per year

International (non-London) - £16,700 per year

International students are eligible for an international bursary of £2,500 per year which is taken off the fees in the final year of the course. Terms and conditions apply.

If you need to fund your studies with a student loan you can apply via Student Finance.

 

In addition to tuition fees, students will pay exam fees directly to the SRA. The total cost for taking both SQE assessments will be £4,564 (correct as of Oct 2023):

  • SQE1: £1,798 for the two examinations, consisting of 180 questions each, testing functioning legal knowledge.
  • SQE2: £2,766 for the written and oral tasks, testing both practical legal knowledge and skills, including advocacy, client interviewing (with written attendance note/legal analysis), legal research, legal writing, legal drafting, and case and matter analysis.
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We have students from over 120 different countries throughout our campuses, with a dedicated team to help international students.

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Official course data