GDIPL Graduate Diploma in Legal Studies
Key Details
- Attendance
- Full Time
- Award
- Graduate Diploma
- Course Length
- 1 year
- Course Start Date
- September 2023
Course Overview
This intensive, one-year course is designed to enable non-law graduates to convert to a legal career path.
UEA Law School is housed in historic Earlham Hall. You will join a welcoming and collegiate community of legal scholars and students. You will be taught by dedicated lecturers with expertise in a range of legal fields and will be part of a vibrant student body with an active law society.
Each year we welcome an average of 20 postgraduate students onto the GDL from a wide variety of geographical and personal backgrounds, and it is the vibrant and dynamic community they create that completes the student experience.
We place significant emphasis on giving you access to law firms and barristers, and on building your confidence, maximising your employability and developing adaptable transferable skills. You will have many opportunities to build your skills and professional CV through extra-curricular activities and the Law School’s unique employability programme
We believe practical and careers experience is extremely valuable and we’ve developed a programme of opportunities tailored specifically to the needs of our postgraduate students, including placement opportunities. You can also attend careers panels, commercial awareness workshops, mock job interviews, and many other events organised by the UEA Law School and the Careers Service. And you could ‘marshal’, spending a day on the bench with a judge during a trial. You could benefit from the alumni-mentoring scheme, where UEA Law School graduates offer career mentoring to individual students.
The Law School at UEA is home to an active student Law Society, and you will be able to enhance your studies with a broad range of extra-curricular activities. You can get involved with a mooting competition, where points of law are explored in a mock-court setting with an actual judge. The Law Society also holds negotiation, client interviewing, mediation and legal triathlon competitions, the finals of which are hosted by law firms.
You will have the chance to build your experience by getting involved in pro bono activities through the UEA Law Clinic, where students and staff offer free legal services. Our current pro bono activities include Street Law, Norfolk Citizens Advice Bureau Digital Hub, and our multi-award-winning partnership with Norfolk Community Law Service.
Entry Requirements
- Degree Classification
- UK Bachelors Degree - 2.2 or equivalent
- Degree Subject
- Non Law degree (for UK Study)
- English Foreign Language
We welcome applications from students whose first language is not English. To ensure such students benefit from postgraduate study, we require evidence of proficiency in English. Our usual entry requirements are as follows:
-
IELTS: 7.0 (minimum 6.5 in Reading and Writing, and 5.5 in listening and speaking)
-
PTE (Pearson): 76 (minimum 67 in Reading and Writing, and 59 in listening and speaking)
Test dates should be within two years of the course start date.
Other tests, including Cambridge English exams and the Trinity Integrated Skills in English are also accepted by the university. The full list of accepted tests can be found here: Accepted English Language Tests
INTO University of East Anglia
INTO UEA run pre-sessional courses which can be taken prior to the start of your course. For further information and to see if you qualify please contact intopre-sessional@uea.ac.uk
-
- Intakes
This course is open to UK, EU and International applicants. The annual intake for this course is in September each year.
Additional Information or Requirements
The Bar Standards Board (BSB) specifies eligibility requirements for the GDL. All applicants are responsible for ensuring that they meet these eligibility requirements and are advised to consult the website prior to applying:
Bar Standards Board- https://www.barstandardsboard.org.uk
Applicants who have studied in the UK/Republic of Ireland should normally hold a good first degree in any subject, excluding Law. Applicants who have studied outside of the UK should have the equivalent of a good first degree in any subject.
Please note that all students must attend the induction programme.
Special Entry Requirements
We welcome applications from students with non-standard degrees (i.e. a degree that is awarded without classification) or overseas degree holders of a standard equivalent to a 2:2. Such applicants must, however, note the following -
Applicants in this category wishing to qualify as a barrister
Any applicant who has a degree other than a UK/Republic of Ireland undergraduate degree at 2:2 level or above and who wishes to qualify as a barrister will need to apply to the BSB for a Certificate of Academic Standing. This includes applicants with overseas undergraduate degrees and applicants with non-standard UK / Republic of Ireland Degrees. Details of the process are available on the BSB website. Although we do not make admission to the GDL conditional upon having a Certificate of Academic Standing, it is important to note that such candidates will not be able to use the GDL as a step towards qualifying for the Bar unless prior to admission to the GDL they have obtained the Certificate of Academic Standing from the BSB. It is their own responsibility to do this. Admission to the GDL does not imply either that the BSB's requirements as regards a Certificate of Academic Standing are met or that successful completion of the course will count towards qualification as a barrister if the student in question has not obtained a Certificate of Academic Standing as outlined above.
Fees and Funding
Tuition fees for the Academic Year 2023/24 are:
-
UK Students: £9,300 (full time)
-
International Students: £19,800 (full time)
If you choose to study part-time, the fee per annum will be half the annual fee for that year, or a pro-rata fee for the module credit you are taking (only available for Home students).
We estimate living expenses at £1,023 per month.
Further Information on tuition fees can be found here.
Scholarships and Bursaries
The University of East Anglia offers a range of Scholarships; please click the link for eligibility, details of how to apply and closing dates.
Course Related Costs
Please see Additional Course Fees for details of course-related costs.
How to Apply
Applications for the Diploma are made through the centralised Central Applications Board.
Tel: +44(0)1483 451080.
Applicants who need to apply for a visa to study in the UK are advised that the process can take up to two months in some countries. Please make sure that applications are submitted to study in good time to obtain a visa.
If you would like to discuss your individual circumstances with the Admissions Office prior to applying please do contact us: admissions@uea.ac.uk
Employability
After the Course
A Law degree allows students to develop a strong set of transferable skills that can be applied to a wide variety of law and non-law related professions.
Careers
A degree at UEA will prepare you for a wide variety of careers. We've been ranked 1st for Job Prospects by StudentCrowd in 2022.
Career destinations related to your degree include:
-
Legal Practice (solicitor, barrister, paralegal)
-
Other law related careers (NGOs, international organisations, in-house compliance, legal researchers, police)
-
Public Sector (Civil Service Fast Stream, local government, politics, education)
-
Financial Services (tax, banking, insurance, investment, accountancy)
-
Management and human resources (typically through graduate recruitment schemes)
-
Media / journalism