Diploma in Legal Practice

Students who wish to qualify as solicitors or advocates in Scotland must obtain the Diploma in Legal Practice (DLP) before entering a period of practical training. For intending solicitors the DLP forms the first strand of a four stranded training regime comprising the DLP, a two-year training period with a firm of solicitors, public authority or other recognised organisation, a three-week Professional Competence Course (PCC), and a Test of Professional Competence (TPC) administered by the Law Society of Scotland. This training regime was introduced in September 2000 after an extensive review of training by the Law Society of Scotland, who continue to monitor content and process.

The Director at Aberdeen University is Donna McKenzie Skene

and the Coordinator is Karen Fullerton

The University of Aberdeen Law School has a Professional Education Policy Committee which keeps teaching issues on these courses under review, in so far as it has scope to do so given the prescription of content by the Law Society of Scotland.

The DLP is taught over an academic year (September to April) at the universities of Aberdeen, Dundee, and Edinburgh, the Glasgow Graduate School of Law at its Strathclyde campus, and the Robert Gordon University.

Application process

Admission to the DLP programme is restricted to persons who hold a degree in law from a Scottish University, or institution recognised for that purpose by the University Senate, which degree must include passes in subjects which cover the Law Society's professional examination curriculum (with the exception of European Law). Those passes for Aberdeen University graduates are currently: Foundations of Public Law; Criminal Law; Legal System and Method; Civil Liberties; Contract; Delict (or Non-Contractual Obligations); Commercial Law; Property Law; Commercial Organisations; Family Law; Trusts and Succession; Evidence; Conveyancing; and Revenue Law. Less recent graduates of Aberdeen, graduates of other institutions, and those who have taken the Law Society exams as a pre-Diploma trainee, should produce evidence of passes in equivalent areas.

In order to apply for admission to the DLP, you need to do two things:

1. Application for admission to a DLP programme offered by any of the Institutions mentioned above is by a Law Society application form. Application forms can be collected from the Law School office ("Reception", room C41, Taylor building).
2. In addition to this, if you are applying to Aberdeen University, you will need to complete the Aberdeen application form for postgraduate study, which you can download here.

The Law Society application must be submitted via the DLP co-ordinator in the University at which the applicant has been an undergraduate student of law or, for those who are not such graduates, to the DLP co-ordinator of the Institution in which it is intended to take the DLP. The applicant is required to indicate on the application one choice of DLP provider. Where appropriate, the application is then forwarded to the applicant's choice of provider. Late applications may be accepted, but will not be considered for nomination for any SAAS funded places mentioned below. All DLP providers have a limit on the number of DLP places available and have the discretion to accept or reject an application. The number of applicants for a DLP place is likely to exceed the number of places, and a place is not guaranteed.

Contacts:

• Donna Mckenzie Skene and Karen Fullerton are Diploma Director and Coordinator respectively. Enquiries may be made to the Law School' Diploma Secretary Ms. Jackie Ewen (Room C41 in the Taylor Building) in the first instance on (01224) 272865 or by email to j.ewen@abdn.ac.uk
• Law Society of Scotland

There are also Advisers of Studies: Sarah Arnell, Greg Gordon, and Marichen Meyer (for an appointment with Marichen Meyer email law443@abdn.ac.uk)

The DLP Programme Aims and Content

The aim of the DLP programme is determined by the Law Society of Scotland and is 'to equip students with basic skills and knowledge required for legal practice'. The course emphasises the promotion of skills ahead of knowledge, the latter having been covered in the main in LLB studies or the equivalent. The standard which the DLP aims to achieve is that required for a student to commence traineeship - not to equip for more advanced positions in the legal profession (which the other strands of the new training regime will work towards).

The DLP syllabus is determined by the Law Society and is common to all institutions providing the DLP programme (although teaching and assessment methods may vary to some extent). In Aberdeen most teaching is in seminar or workshop format, with a limited range of lectures, and assessment is generally by continuously assessed coursework. If assessment is undertaken in exam conditions an open book policy applies (subject to some limitation upon the material that may be taken into the exam room). The syllabus comprises seven compulsory courses and one optional course from a choice of two. The compulsory courses are: Private Client; Conveyancing; Civil Court Practice; Criminal Court Practice; Financial Services and Accounting; Professional Ethics and Conduct; and Practice Management. The optional courses are Company and Commercial or Public Administration. The DLP is awarded on an unclassified basis, but endowed prizes are awarded in certain subjects and for excellence in the DLP overall.

Timetable and rooms:

Students will note that the timetable and room allocations for the Diploma in Legal Practice are based on a system of week numbers explained here.

Funding:

Students who embark upon the DLP programme require to accept responsibility for the costs of that programme. The tuition fee at Aberdeen for 2009-10 was £4,350 (overseas students' fee is approximately £8,750). In addition students are required to purchase a set of materials upon which the teaching of the course will be based. Those materials are produced by the Law Society of Scotland and are common teaching materials for all four institutions, who may supplement them with further printed material. These are an essential purchase for DLP study, but DLP students are not expected to purchase other commercially available textbooks. For guidance, it should be noted that the materials used on the DLP programme may cost up to £495.

Historically the Diploma programme has attracted a quota of 300 grants which were available for Scotland but from 2010/11 onwards the system will change and it is unlikely that there will be specific funding for the Diploma. The details of the new system are not currently available.