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Assessment tasks are designed to enable students to demonstrate the Learning and Employability outcomes for the relevant level of study. Level Learning Outcomes are embedded in the assessment task(s) at that level. This enables a more integrated view of overall student performance at each level.
The module provides an overview of the legal professions in England and Wales through a critical lens. We will consider topics such as the origins of the professions and why that matters, traditional and new ways of working in the professions, elitism and equality and diversity concerns as well as mental health issues across the branches of the professions. In addition you will have the opportunity to explore what it means to be an ethical legal practitioner and what the role of social justice is in legal practice.
The module is developed for graduates starting out on their pre-qualification journey of professional legal education. It focuses on developing a critical approach to the profession you are seeking to enter. This empowers you to make decisions about your future career and take a path that is appropriate for you. It ensures that you enter the solicitor's profession with your eyes wide open and are in a strong position to work effectively with other branches of the professions, establish positive and healthy ways of working and understand the opportunities and challenges working in the legal professions can bring. This module is both a celebration of the professions and our roles within them as well as an opportunity for you to explore challenges, pitfalls and concerns.
The module learning outcomes are supported through weekly 1 hour lectures to introduce you to relevant topics which draw on the latest research and weekly 2 hour workshops in which we explore those areas further. We do so through individual and group reflection, research and discussion.
Lectures
Hours: 10
Intended Group Size: Full Cohort
Workshops
Hours: 20
Intended Group Size: 25
Guided independent study
Hours: 270
The critical essay provides you with the opportunity to explore the profession you seek to enter or work alongside through a critical lens. You might choose to base your essay on one of the topics we discuss throughout the module, or you might choose your own. The word limit for your essay is 2500 words, and a full assessment brief will be available to you at the start of the module. You will have the opportunity to practice this sort of critical writing throughout the module. You will be given formative assessment tasks as preparation or follow up work which we will discuss in class for tutor and peer feedback.
The professional conversation is an integrated assessment between this module and LAW7043. You will draw on the critical examination of the legal professions undertaken in this module and your experience of that module to reflect critically on the SQE and your own experience of studying for it to provide an examination of the route to qualifying as a solicitor. The integrated assessment helps you locate your experience and preparation for the SQE in its wider context and encourages you to reflect on the process and how you can make the most of it. The pass mark for the presentation is 50% and it contributes 25% of the module mark for this module. You will have lots of opportunities throughout the teaching session for formative tasks that increase your confidence in professional conversations in this context.
The critical essay is due in week 8 of the standard Term 1 teaching term to allow you sufficient time to develop ideas from our in class discussion but also allow space for reflection and for revision for the examination you undertake on LAW7043 The professional conversations takes place at the end of Term 1. You can find more details of the assessment and the support available in the relevant module handbooks and assessment briefs.
Module Coordinator - PRS_CODE=
Level - 7
Credit Value - 30
Pre-Requisites -
Semester(s) Offered -