For those who would like to enter vocational training to be a solicitor or a barrister, Northumbria’s Legal Practice Postgraduate Diploma (LPC) or Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) will equip you with the skills and knowledge you need for a highly successful legal career. These programmes are available in full time and part time modes and have LLM variants, which are eligible for postgraduate loans. For non-law graduates, our conversion course, the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) covers the foundations of legal knowledge to prepare you for a subsequent LPC or BPTC.
“I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Northumbria. The resources, teaching and support I received provided me with the perfect stepping stones towards getting pupillage and becoming a barrister. The practical approach to law which is taken throughout the programme is invaluable when you leave the classroom and enter the courtroom.”
David McCormick Trinity Chambers
For those graduates looking for postgraduate academic specialism, we will be offering a new full-time LLM Framework. Commencing in September 2019, both law and non-law graduates will be able to study a variety of exciting areas, from commercially vibrant subjects such as International Finance, and International Commercial Law, to cutting-edge areas such as Cyber Law and Space Law.
We also offer a range of distance learning Postgraduate Certificate, Postgraduate Diploma and LLM courses, including Mental Health Law, Medical Law, Employment Law and Information Rights law.
Our Law School contains a vibrant, collegiate and growing research community. In the Research Excellence Framework 2014, 99% of the Law School’s submitted research was recognised internationally for its originality, significance and academic rigour, with 50% of research outputs judged to be ‘internationally excellent’ or ‘world-leading’.
Our research community is focused on bringing together academics, research students, judges, lawyers, policymakers, and practitioners in an impact-focused framework, applying rigorous research with global reach to the challenges confronting our society and communities. Research in the Law School is focused around three signature areas:
A number of colleagues also participate in the multi-disciplinary Environmental and Global Justice research group.
We also have a number of smaller research teams, a number of which coalesce as part of the Law and Society group, focussing upon:
If you’re interested in PhD research in any of our research areas, we’d love to hear from you.
Students on our Legal Practice Course and Bar Professional Training Course routes can gain real-life experience and the opportunity to represent real clients through our Student Law Office, one of the largest student law clinics in the UK and former winner of the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for outstanding work.
Relevant sessions in practitioner programmes take place in authentic civil and criminal courtroom facilities, including a real criminal courtroom donated by the Courts Service.
Our professional facilities include a legal skills hub, student law clinic, and a dedicated on-site practitioner law library.
We have a variety of inspirational staff in the Law School. For example, a recent appointment is Professor Christopher Newman. Christopher is our new Professor of Space Law and Policy. He is active in the teaching and research of space law and has published extensively on the legal and ethical underpinnings of space governance. Christopher is regularly invited to lecture in universities and at specialist conferences on space law and policy across the UK and internationally. He has taken the lead in devising our new full time LL.M Framework and his specialism in space law and policy will provide an innovative and exciting pathway within the new framework.
Professor Alistair Rieu-Clark, Chair in Law in Northumbria’s School of Law has collaborated with the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) in pioneering research. The research centered on transboundary water co-operation, a vital precondition for sustainable development, peace and stability. This concerned the implementation of the first reporting exercise under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG framework) and the Water Convention. Read more about this vital work here.
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